Australian actor Milly Alcock will soon be stepping into one of the oldest lineages in blockbuster cinema. The story of Krypton on screen reaches back almost half a century to Richard Donner’s Superman in 1978, the film that turned Christopher Reeve’s version of Kal-El into the defining modern superhero, and established the cultural imagination of “truth, justice, and the American Way” that Hollywood has spent decades either preserving or interrogating. Since then, the House of El has passed through successive generations, from Helen Slater’s Supergirl in 1984 and Tom Welling’s television-era Clark Kent in Smallville; to Henry Cavill’s brooding alien in Zack Snyder’s DC Extended Universe and now, David Corenswet’s earnest reinvention in James Gunn’s 2025 Superman —  every actor who puts on the crest carries the accumulated expectations about what a Kryptonian hero ought to represent. 

Milly is acutely aware of that history, and her understanding of legacy appears rooted in a sense of stewardship. Asked about joining that tradition, she says, “I think that it’s such a privilege to be a part of a long legacy of such beloved actors and characters. In this reiteration, she is such a different version of Supergirl than we’ve seen in the past and that has made the privilege even more exciting.” 

The new DC Universe under DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran has been designed around reinvention, with Supergirl serving as the second feature in the franchise’s Chapter One: Gods and Monsters slate after the commercial success of Superman in 2025. The film, directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Ana Nogueira, adapts Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s acclaimed 2021-22 comic series Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, a spacefaring revenge narrative that follows Kal-El’s cousin Kara Zor-El, beyond the familiar setting of Earth-bound stories.

Though Supergirl boasts the same crest, draws from the same solar battery, and traces her origins to the same dead planet as Superman, the cultural history of Krypton on screen has overwhelmingly been organised around men. Across nearly five decades of film and television, the defining Kryptonian figures have largely involved the consummation of male saviours bearing impossible expectations. But Kara’s entry to that lineage is shaped by different circumstances, because DC’s current continuity presents her as someone who spent her childhood on a surviving fragment of Krypton, having witnessed death on a planetary scale and arriving on Earth with trauma that Clark Kent never possessed. Those experiences are central to the character’s construction and explain why her relationship with heroism doesn’t stem from some uncomplicated altruism. 

Kara’s defining trait, at least in Alcock’s telling, emerges from the fact that her flaws are neither concealed nor conquered. “I am just so obsessed with Kara,” she says. “I think that regardless of gender or age, all audiences will be able to see themselves within her. I think that her being a woman also adds to those exceeding expectations, but I think the most important aspect of her being able to exceed people’s expectations is her reluctance to be a hero and her absolute kind of solace within her flaws, and that becomes kind of the best quality about her.”

Meanwhile, 14-year-old Eve Ridley plays Ruthye Marye Knoll, the young alien girl whose quest for vengeance across the galaxy alongside Kara drives much of the story. In the original comic, Ruthye was both narrator and witness to Kara’s actions, making her our entry point into the story through the eyes of someone still learning what a ‘hero’ means. Ridley’s own understanding of superheroes appears to have undergone a similar transformation during production. “My view on superheroes was very stereotypical”, she says. “They are strong. They are pretty. They are perfect. And that’s how I grew up, that’s the idea I had. But coming into [Supergirl], I now have a completely different view on superheroes. Kara is not perfect at all, and I think that really shows, especially the younger generation, that you can be yourself. Sometimes that can make you your own hero. So now, I look at superheroes a lot differently.” 

The cultural recalibration helps explain why David Corenswet’s Superman acquired an unexpectedly “punk-rock” reputation after the release of Gunn’s 2025 film, as audiences seemed to embrace Clark Kent’s refusal to meet cynicism with cynicism as a genuinely subversive act (though that reading owed something to Gunn’s own sonic choices, including the particularly on-the-nose Swedish punk outfit Teddybears’ soon viral “Punkrocker”.

Milly is entirely convinced that Kara may have a stronger claim to that title. Asked whether Supergirl embodies the spirit even more fully than her Kryptonian cousin, she chuckles, “Yeah, definitely. I’m sorry, Clark, but I think I beat you on this one.” After all, what could be more punk than inheriting the most recognisable symbol in fiction while remaining fundamentally unconvinced by the mythology built around it? Woman of Tomorrow has often been described as a cosmic riff on True Grit, and Kara often has the air of a reluctant feminist icon in the mould of Ellen Ripley, with just enough Joan Jett in her DNA to suggest she doesn’t “give a damn ‘bout my bad reputation.” Though she may wear the same crest as DC’s incorruptible American optimist, her’s is a story shaped by more lived accounts of mass death and exile (and heaven knows she’s miserable now).

Milly’s playlist during production may also explain why this iteration of Supergirl already feels a little scuffed around the edges in the best possible way. She cites the Australian punk group Amyl and the Sniffers, Irish post-punk sensations Fontaines D.C., and old reliable Radiohead as frequent companions during filming.

For those of us who watched her breakout turn as the young Rhaenyra Targaryen chafe against prophecy, patriarchy, and succession in HBO’s House of the Dragon, it feels fitting to witness that instinct for insubordination find a new vessel in Kara — call it teenage kicks, if you will.

Supegirl hits theatres on June 26