The DCEU Already Has The Perfect Supergirl Story For After The Flash

Despite the uncertainty cast over the DCEU after the merger of Warner Bros. Discovery, Sasha Calle’s Supergirl already has the perfect follow-up to The Flash. This latest live-action rendition of Supergirl won’t be making her on-screen debut until The Flash releases in 2023, with the buzz surrounding the casting of Colombian actress Sasha Calle fading after repeated delays. Yet Supergirl‘s stalled production hasn’t stopped speculation about the character’s future, particularly given the current landscape of the DCEU.

It’s no secret that there are big plans to overhaul the DCEU following comments from new Warner Bros. Discovery owner David Zaslav. Underutilized characters, a universe lacking any unified direction, and the absence of a creative juggernaut like Marvel’s Kevin Feige have all contributed to the DCEU’s fumbles in recent years. In line with these plans to renovate the DCEU from the ground up, the details regarding Ezra Miller’s The Flash movie confirm that Supergirl will be an important character for the franchise moving forward.

With Sasha Calle’s debut performance not set to be revealed until 2023, and the Supergirl solo film arriving sometime after that, she can avoid many of the mistakes that have riddled former DCEU productions by taking inspiration from the character’s comic book history during this phase of the DCEU’s rebirth. In this way, the DCEU already has the perfect plot for the Supergirl solo film in the form of 2013’s “Out of the Past” comic arc. Written by Michael Alan Nelson, this narrative sees Supergirl venture into space after falling terminally ill and feeling unwelcome on planet earth – and if the upcoming Supergirl film follows her compulsion to leave earth, it can delve into brand new territory for the DCEU.

“Out of the Past” offers an intergalactic setting akin to Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder or Guardians of the Galaxy 3, the likes of which have been unseen in the DCEU to date. Through the course of the six-issue comic arc, Supergirl comes face-to-face with more than intergalactic enemies as she doubts her friendships, reminisces on the loved ones she’s lost, and battles against the memories of the heroes and villains she feels have held her back. With this in mind, if The Flash treats Sasha Calle’s portrayal of this character with the respect she deserves, these relationships will already be revealed to audiences before the Supergirl solo film begins by displaying her position as a proud yet brash and lonely Kryptonian.

Another glaring issue in the DCEU can also be remedied by adapting Supergirl’s “Out of the Past” story arc, as the current franchise films have failed to deliver any successful long-term villains. Darkseid may have appeared in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, but that character is now unlikely to return at this point. To combat this lack of long-term threats, “Out of the Past” offers two alternate villains who are intimately tied to Kryptonian lore. The first arrives in New 52’s Cyborg Superman arc, who is later revealed to be Supergirl’s father, Zor-El. In this timeline, Zor-El was rebuilt and repurposed by Brainiac, who is foreshadowed as the next great antagonist in Supergirl’s journey, meaning the same could be true in the DCEU. As a result, highlighting compelling characters integral to Krypton’s legacy is just one way the DCEU’s Supergirl can avoid Cavill’s Superman problems.

As the DCEU moves forward, the origins of characters like Supergirl deserve to be closely inspected. There are many compelling comic book stories that Warner Bros. Discovery could take inspiration from as they begin to refocus the goals of their live-action DC films. Using these stories as tools, films like Supergirl and Black Adam should ascend to levels of success that have escaped the core of DC’s cinematic universe to date. Adapting Michael Alan Nelson’s “Out of the Past” would place Sasha Calle’s Supergirl at the center of the best version of the DCEU yet, and as long as Warner Bros. Discovery can support this Kryptonian star, there’s no reason for the DCEU to fear its looming reboot.