Milly Alcock’s salary for Supergirl just surfaced, and naturally it invites a quick comparison to what David Corenswet earned to play Superman. Alcock headlines the newest DC Studios film as Kara Zor-El, cousin of the Man of Steel, in the first leading movie role of her career. Supergirl arrived as one of the biggest bets yet for the rebooted DC Universe, though its opening weekend fell well short of what Warner Bros. wanted.
A new report pegs Alcock’s pay at around $400,000 for the lead role, a slim number by superhero standards. This trails the $750,000 Corenswet earned for Superman last summer. Interestingly, Corenswet wasn’t even the highest earner on his own film, since Nicholas Hoult took home $2 million to play Lex Luthor. Hoult owes his handsome earnings to his standing as the most established name in the cast, having already featured in the X-Men films and Mad Max: Fury Road.
These figures show how much less Warner Bros. spent on salaries for its new Girl of Steel compared to Superman. Alcock’s contract also included a small box office bonus, the kind of payout that only triggers when a film performs. With Supergirl stumbling in theaters, that money now looks unlikely to hit her bank account.
Supergirl told a darker, space-set story of Kara and Ruthye on a quest for vengeance, and it came with a heavy price tag. According to Variety, Warner Bros. spent roughly $170 million on production and another $120 million on marketing. The film opened to about $37 million at the domestic box office and around $62 million worldwide. Current projections point to a global finish near $200 million, which would leave the studio staring at close to a $100 million loss.
Alcock first turned heads as the young Rhaenyra Targaryen in the opening season of House of the Dragon, then slipped into the DC Universe through a brief appearance as Supergirl in last year’s Superman. Her tenure as the character has plenty of road left still. She will suit up again as Kara in next year’s Man of Tomorrow, James Gunn’s Superman follow-up, and DC Studios already plans to include her in another movie after the Superman sequel.
How Alcock’s Supergirl Pay Stacks Up Against Other Superhero Debuts
A $400,000 paycheck for the lead of a superhero tentpole sounds low; however, it's pretty standard for a first-timer in Hollywood. Henry Cavill, the last actor to wear the Superman cape on the big screen, earned a reported $300,000 upfront for 2013’s Man of Steel, almost the same range Alcock got more than a decade later. Studios often pay first-time franchise leads modestly, then reward them later if the films click.
Marvel Studios used this approach to good effect when they began their cinematic universe. Robert Downey Jr. took just $500,000 to kick off the entire MCU with Iron Man, Chris Evans started at $300,000 for Captain America: The First Avenger, and Chris Hemsworth pocketed only $150,000 for his first outing as Thor. Each actor eventually became one of the highest-paid actors in the business once audiences embraced their heroes. This long-term upside is the reason studios usually keep the early checks small.
A notable DC example is Gal Gadot, who earned $300,000 for 2017’s Wonder Woman, then collected a reported $10 million for Wonder Woman 1984, a raise of more than thirty times once the first film sailed past $800 million worldwide. One hit was all it took to move her into a completely different pay bracket.
However, the downside of this model becomes pretty obvious when a film underperforms commercially, as seen with Supergirl. Low upfront salaries only pay off if a movie is a box office hit. Fortunately, Milly Alcock has a chance at redemption with Man of Tomorrow, where a stronger commercial performance could push her payday closer to what her peers earned after their breakout films.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
