The promotional push for Supergirl is in full swing ahead of the film’s 2026 theatrical release, and a new tie-in could be teasing a key Brainiac connection well before the villain’s Man of Tomorrow debut. James Gunn’s DCU has rolled out a steady stream of marketing for Milly Alcock’s solo outing as Kara Zor-El, with trailers and posters dropping in the lead-up to opening weekend. Fans have been combing through every new piece of Supergirl promo for clues about how the film fits into the wider Superman Saga, and the latest one might be the loudest hint yet.
The newest Supergirl 2026 promo, part of a partnership between DC Studios and Ulta Beauty, features Alcock wearing a t-shirt with Kandor City printed on the front.
Kandor is the Kryptonian capital that Brainiac famously shrinks and bottles in DC Comics lore, so seeing the name plastered in an official Supergirl marketing image has fans questioning whether the detail is a coincidence or an early tease for what’s coming in Man of Tomorrow, which releases July 9, 2027, with Lars Eidinger as Brainiac.
The reference is small, but its timing has fueled speculation that Kandor will play into Brainiac’s introduction, possibly linking both films more directly than fans expected.
Interestingly, the same Kandor name turned up in another DC Studios Superman-adjacent marketing. In April, the Superman Experience: Defenders Unite, an attraction at the Warner Bros. studio tour in Hollywood, opened with an interactive Bottle City of Kandor display.
Visitors can fiddle with dials that switch between time-of-day settings inside the shrunken Kryptonian capital. Seeing the same city name turn up again in Supergirl marketing could be more than just a coincidence. There’s also a chance the shirt itself is a preview of upcoming merch tied to the Superman Experience. A Kandor City design would fit perfectly into a merchandise rollout for either Supergirl or Man of Tomorrow.
Supergirl, directed by Craig Gillespie, follows Alcock’s Kara Zor-El on a cosmic revenge journey alongside Krypto and a young alien girl named Ruthye Marye Knoll, played by Eve Ridley. The film’s first trailer also gave fans their first DCU look at Argo City, the Kryptonian city where Kara was born and raised.
In the footage, Argo appears encased in a protective bubble as the rest of Krypton is torn apart around it, hinting that the city has a meaningful role in Kara’s origin story. In comics, Argo is the floating Kryptonian city that survived its home planet’s destruction and where Kara grew up before eventually arriving on Earth.
Argo and Kandor share that same lineage. Both are Kryptonian cities that outlived the homeworld, just preserved in different ways. Argo was shielded as Krypton fell apart, and Kandor was shrunk down and stolen by Brainiac. With Kandor being teased, it could play a major part in the DCU as much as Argo.
You can watch the new 2026 Supergirl promo below:
DC Studios Could Be Setting Up The Inclusion of Kandor in Man of Tomorrow
The Kandor breadcrumbs feel too deliberate to brush off. A licensed t-shirt in an Ulta Beauty campaign and an interactive Bottle City prop at the Warner Bros. studio tour aren’t the kind of details DC Studios slips in by accident. Both promos spotlight the same Kryptonian city long tied to Brainiac in DC Comics. With the villain making his big-screen debut in Man of Tomorrow, putting Kandor in front of fans now feels like a studio warming audiences up for what the city could mean once the film arrives.
It also makes sense for the city to factor into Brainiac’s first live-action movie outing on a story level. Brainiac and Kandor are nearly inseparable in the comics, and leaving the bottle city out of a film meant to introduce the villain would mean leaving out one of his most defining storylines. James Gunn loves a deep DC cut, and the detailed Kandor display at the Superman Experience suggests DC Studios has already mapped out a polished visual take on the city.
There's a big chance that this design is more than a one-off attraction. DC Studios could reuse the same look on-screen, which wouldn’t be too much of a surprise given how much it’s being promoted now. If Kandor appears in Man of Tomorrow, it would have major implications on the DCU, given its comic history.
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.
