2025’s Superman will feature the cinematic debut of The Engineer, an important character from DC Comics who may play a central role in the DCU reboot. Superman will be the first movie of DC Studios’ new cinematic universe and will star David Corenswet in the eponymous role in a setting that will veer away from the typical origin story. Instead, Kal-El’s DCU legacy will begin in a version of Metropolis where superheroes are well-established, with the confirmed cast for Superman debuting more obscure DC heroes like Metamorpho, Mr. Terrific, and Guy Gardner.

Superman is the first movie on the DCU’s confirmed release slate, in a phase dubbed “Chapter One: Gods and Monsters.” By looking at the myriad characters set to be introduced in Superman, it looks as though several will go on to star in further DCU installments. Among those is the Engineer, whose arrival offers a clue to some of the Superman story details while also posing a significant challenge for the iconic hero to overcome. Here is everything you should know about Angela Spica before her DCU debut.

Who Is Playing The Engineer In Superman?

The Engineer is played by María Gabriela de Faría, a Venezuelan actress and singer born in September 1992. De Faría is best known for her work in South American television, landing her big break with Nickelodeon Latin America in Isa TKM in 2009, starring as the titular Isabella “Isa” Pasquali. As is the case for many teenage Nickelodeon stars, this role would also facilitate de Faría’s foray into music as she recorded tracks for the show.

De Faría starred alongside John Leguizamo in her first movie role as Natalia Calvo in 2012’s The Trip 2. Her most famous roles include Maria Salazar in Deadly Class, Olivia in Crossing Point, and Esperanza in The Exorcism of God. Outside South America, de Faría is a relative unknown, with her role as Angela Spica in Superman being her most prominent to date. Depending on her fate in Superman, this may be a role that de Faría will reprise throughout the DCU.

Why The Engineer Is In Superman (2025)

Superman will deliver a fresh take on the Man of Steel and Metropolis by featuring a large cast of DC Comics characters that have yet to appear in live-action. The Engineer will be one of these and will reportedly embody a villainous role. Nicolas Hoult’s Lex Luthor is also starring in the movie, though whether he will immediately assume his place as Superman’s arch-nemesis remains to be seen. For now, it seems apparent that Superman, with everything known about his moral compass and values, will likely come to blows with the Engineer.

This is because the Engineer is a founding member of The Authority, a team with markedly fewer scruples than the famously virtuous Superman. This team is already slated to appear in a self-titled movie within the confirmed DCU release slate, suggesting that Spica will, at least, survive her encounter with Superman. Her presence in Superman, therefore, is likely intended to introduce the Authority and their cinematic debut while doubling as a rival of the eponymous hero.

The Engineer’s DC Comics Origin & Team Explained

In DC Comics’ Wildstorm Universe, Angela Spica is the second DC character to carry the mantle of Engineer, although she is more well-known than her predecessor. As a highly intelligent youth, “Angie” Spica was chosen by the original Engineer to continue his studies into nanotechnology, which she combined with her own research on human-machine fusion. Spica would subsequently replace her blood with nine pints of advanced liquid machinery, imbuing her with near-limitless machine-based abilities. She was then recruited by Jenny Sparks to found the Authority, a team of metahumans that operate outside the bounds of government using extreme methods.

The Authority originate in an alternate universe in DC Comics where they overtook the power of governments to enact justice as they see fit. This typically entails violent means that contrast the nonlethal methods typically displayed by more famous superheroes like Superman and Batman, though they still ostensibly operate in the guise of virtuous heroes with abilities that mirror their more mainline counterparts. The more hyper-violent members of the Authority include the Superman and Batman pastiches, Apollo and Midnighter, which makes Spica’s rumored role as Superman‘s antagonist an interesting choice.

The Engineer’s Superpowers Explained

The intelligent machines that have replaced the Engineer’s blood can manifest countless augmentations that help to make her one of DC’s most powerful superheroes. By willing it, Engineer can coat her skin in protective metal that can protect her from situations as intense as an atomic blast, manifest lungs that allow her to survive in the vacuum of space, and create nanobot machines that operate independently of her own body, including duplicates of herself. This technology also allows the Engineer to shapeshift and stretch her body.

The Engineer can also interface directly with machinery, a common trope among cyborg characters that allows them to extract and hack data within computers. The machinery in her blood can also store vast amounts of information like a supercomputer, giving her access to all the knowledge contained on Earth. Her nanobots have also been deployed to afford a measure of telepathy and can even infect an enemy’s body to shut it down completely.

Suffice it to say, Angela Spica boasts an array of powers capable of giving even Superman a run for his money. Whether the DCU will depict every capability that Spica has displayed throughout her DC Comics tenure in Superman remains to be seen. Nevertheless, the fact that her DCU career is likely to continue in The Authority, it looks as though Superman may not be the apex figure in the DCU as he typically has been in previous cinematic outings.