Why Supergirl Barely Wears Her Superhero Costume In Her Own Movie

DC Studios

"Supergirl" looks like a pretty faithful movie adaptation of Tom King and Bilquis Evely's comic book series "Woman of Tomorrow." However, while the film will cover the broad strokes of its source material, viewers might be surprised to learn that Milly Alcock's Kara Zor-El barely wears her Supergirl costume. Instead, she travels around the galaxy in her regular clothes, which was a deliberate choice by the movie's creatives. 

Here's what DC Studios' Chantal Nong Vo had to say during a set visit attended by /Film:

"First of all, she's off the job when you meet her, so she's always being Supergirl on Earth. When she comes to other planets, it's how she gets a break. So, we think that when she's on break, she wouldn't necessarily be in costume, and it's more fun for her to be incognito."

"Supergirl" will see Alcock's character go full "John Wick" on the DC Universe. Her dog, Krypto, gets poisoned, forcing Kara to embark on a cosmic crusade and recover the antidote. That said, Nong Vo claimed the movie is also a coming-of-age story, so the Supergirl costume has symbolic qualities as a result. As she told it:

"So, this journey is she's already been a hero, but not in the way where she's her full self and her full whole self. And so, the movie really is about kind of accepting who you are, accepting your past, processing it, and then that's who she is in the end, in that symbol, you know, the super suit is symbolic of that."

Of course, there were downsides to having Kara dress in her regular clothes, as it meant that the film's creators struggled to decide on outfits for her to wear instead. However, one legendary punk band's t-shirt made the cut.

DC Studios

Kara will be a pretty messed up hero in the "Supergirl" movie, and her grungier clothes reflect her punk rock edge. She's even a fan of the band Blondie in the film, as evidenced by her choice of t-shirts. Some fans might assume Blondie would be an immediate choice for a band t-shirt given their popularity in the rock scene, but costume designer Michael Mooney revealed that it took a while for the movie's creatives to land on this choice. In his own words:

"Oh, we went through hundreds of different bands, and then [director] Craig [Gillespie] settled on Blondie. Well, I think you'd have to ask him that, but we went through every band that you could possibly think of, and they were all a little bit alternative. So, we occasionally put up some mainstream bands, and he just went, 'No, no, it's not that. It's not that.'"

Mooney added that he and his collaborators had to print around 30 t-shirts and tweak the original designs with just the right amount of pink. The folks behind "Supergirl" didn't want the bright colors to stand out too much, so they made lots of different versions of the clothing. These are, admittedly, the aspects of the filmmaking process that many of us viewers tend to overlook, but you can't fault the "Supergirl" team for chasing perfection.

"Supergirl" flies into theaters on June 26, 2026.