Ruthye Marye Knoll's journey across the galaxy with Kara Zor-El starts with one devastating loss, and the man whose death sets the story in motion now has a face. Ferdinand Kingsley plays Elias Knoll in DC Studios' upcoming Supergirl, the farmer father whose murder pulls his young daughter into an intergalactic quest for vengeance. His story arrives from Tom King and Bilquis Evely's Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comic series, and it serves as Supergirl's catalyst.
The film's latest trailer offers the first real look at Elias, and the footage moves quickly through his fate. One early shot introduces him on his homeworld, and the rest of the glimpses show him in confrontation with Matthias Schoenaerts' Krem of the Yellow Hills, Supergirl's main antagonist. Elias falls at Krem's hands, and the violence plays out with Ruthye, portrayed by Eve Ridley, watching her father die.
In the source comic, Elias is a simple man killed in cold blood after refusing to laugh at one of Krem's jokes.
This act of cruelty sends Ruthye off planet in search of someone strong enough to help her strike back, and she finds Kara Zor-El drinking her way through her 23rd birthday on a world with a red sun.
Kingsley, known for Silo on Apple TV+ and Reacher on Prime Video, steps into a role that is brief but is extremely important for the story.
Directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Ana Nogueira, Supergirl stars Milly Alcock as Kara Zor-El, with Eve Ridley, Jason Momoa as Lobo, David Krumholtz, and Emily Beecham as Kara's parents, Zor-El and Alura In-Ze, and David Corenswet reprising the role of Clark Kent. This is the second theatrical entry in James Gunn and Peter Safran's new DC Universe, and it arrives in theaters on June 26.
The confrontation between Elias Knoll and Krem of the Yellow Hills can be viewed in the Supergirl trailer below, starting at the 1:12 mark.
Supergirl's Catalyst Will Make the Story Very Emotional
Based on everything Supergirl has shown so far, the film will be the most emotional entry in the DCU yet. Elias' death opens the door to a lot more than a standard revenge plot. The trailer already makes clear that Kara is not in a good place when Ruthye finds her, drinking on a red sun world and hiding from something the audience has not fully seen yet.
Chasing Krem across the galaxy forces her to confront all of it, and the film looks ready to show us her pain in its rawest form. Fans would need to take a handkerchief along to the theatres at this point.
Evidence of how touching the story is set up to be comes from the glimpses of Krypton's fall in the trailer. The movie will weave this into the story as Kara and Ruthye travel together. Fans finally get to see why Kara drinks the way she does, what she lost, and how her grief compares to the young girl she is now trying to protect. The trailer also shows Krypto taking a poisoned arrow from Krem, which adds another gut punch to a story already packed with loads of emotional moments.
Kara's closest companion is dying, a child beside her is begging for justice, and her own pent-up trauma keeps rising to the surface. Viewers get to see all of this because one farmer on a distant planet was killed in front of his daughter, which is what makes Elias' death carry so much importance.
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.
