With the summer movie season about to kick off, this year's heavy hitters are building hype ahead of their releases. Spider-Man: Brand New Day lit the internet on fire with its first trailer, and DC wasn't going to be outdone. All the company's social media accounts simultaneously posted the newest look at Supergirl, which hits theaters on June 26, revealing more about Kara Zor-El's highly anticipated adventure. However, it won't be all sunshine and rainbows for the Kryptonian, as there's a dark undertone to her story that harkens to another DC movie.
All Superman-related media at one point or another tackle the fall of Krypton, the hero's home world. Since in most iterations, Kal-El doesn't remember his time on the planet, he focuses on what he has on Earth and makes the most of his tragic situation. James Gunn's DC Universe (DCU) took a page out of that playbook in Superman, with the titular hero realizing that blood isn't the only thing that matters when it comes to idolizing people. Gunn threw in an extra wrinkle for the Man of Steel, though: his cousin, Kara, whose choice of words in the trailer made her utter a line delivered by General Zod in Man of Steel.
Unlike Kal-El, Kara grew up on Krypton and seemingly watched everyone she loved perish. All she can think about now is what she lost and how she'll never get it back. Kara even goes as far as to say, "I have no people," something Zod also said in Zack Snyder's Man of Steel during an intense monologue.
On paper, Zod and Supergirl are nothing alike. The former was willing to wipe out humanity if it meant bringing Krypton back, and the latter wants nothing more than to find her place in the universe. But in reality, the two characters are different sides of the same coin, a coin that teases how the DCU will tackle trauma differently from its predecessor.
Supergirl's DCU Story Is a Much Deeper Take on the Krypton Tragedy
Man of Steel made Zod a sympathetic figure of sorts. The elders running Krypton didn't do enough to stave off the planet's destruction, forcing Zod to mount a coup (read more about Krypton and other DCU locations). When it failed, Zod and his allies got a one-way ticket to the Phantom Zone - or so they thought. Decades later, they were freed and set their sights on Earth, where they ran into Kal-El.
Superman wasn't on board with Zod's plan to use Earth as the foundation for the new Krypton, so the two came to blows. When Zod made it clear he wouldn't back down, Superman put him down before he could hurt anyone else. Killing a fellow Kryptonian broke Kal-El's heart, but he knew he had made the right choice.
In the DCU, Kara still has her own choice to make. Superman revealed that Kal-El's parents sent him to Earth with the intention of having him conquer the planet and continue his bloodline. While it remains to be seen if Kara's parents shared a similar mindset, the option has always been on the table for her.
But the marketing for Supergirl doesn't indicate that Kara has ever considered that plan an option. She understands that what happened to Krypton was its own fault and that its people had their chance. Clearly, her mind is in a much healthier place than Zod's was, despite having experienced as much tragedy as he did.
It might take the entirety of Supergirl's runtime for Kara to realize that she's being too hard on herself. However, she's sure to come to that conclusion eventually. And having her head on straight will put her in a great spot when the DCU's version of Zod or any other villain crosses her path in the future.
