• Milly Alcock is confirmed to reprise her role as Supergirl in James Gunn’s Man of Tomorrow, heading to Atlanta to film soon.
• DC Studios co-president Peter Safran says Alcock is “a major part of what we’re doing” in the DCU going forward.
• The cast now includes David Corenswet, Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Pierre, Edi Gathegi, Isabela Merced, Nathan Fillion, Lars Eidinger, and Adria Arjona.
• A new insider rumor suggests Sinqua Walls — recently added in a mystery role — could be playing Martian Manhunter.
• Brainiac actor Lars Eidinger is comparing the role to Shakespeare, calling it “almost fated.”

Milly Alcock is suiting up again. The Supergirl star has been confirmed to reprise her role as Kara Zor-El in Man of Tomorrow, James Gunn’s Superman follow-up set to hit theaters on July 9, 2027. According to a profile in Variety, Alcock will be heading to Atlanta to join the production soon, with DC Studios co-president Peter Safran making no secret of how important she is to the bigger picture. “She’s a major part of what we’re doing,” Safran said.

That’s about all that’s been revealed — what Kara actually does in the film is being kept tightly under wraps. But the confirmation alone is enough to set the DC fandom buzzing, especially given how much the Man of Tomorrow ensemble has expanded in recent weeks.

A Superman Sequel That’s Starting to Look Like a Team-Up Event

At this point, calling Man of Tomorrow a Superman sequel almost feels like an understatement. The film’s confirmed cast now reads like a who’s who of the DCU: David Corenswet returns as Clark Kent, Nicholas Hoult is back as Lex Luthor, and Lars Eidinger steps in as the film’s central threat, Brainiac. On the hero side, Aaron Pierre is set to reprise his Lanterns role as John Stewart, while Edi Gathegi, Isabela Merced, and Nathan Fillion are all back as Mr. Terrific, Hawkgirl, and Guy Gardner respectively — three of the breakout characters from the first Superman film. Add Alcock’s Supergirl to that list, and you’ve got a roster that’s starting to look a lot less like a standalone sequel and a lot more like a full-scale event movie.

Gunn himself said as much last year, noting that Man of Tomorrow was not “a Superman sequel” in the traditional sense. Given that it’ll be the seventh entry in the new DC Universe by the time it arrives, most of these characters will have already been introduced in their own projects — which is exactly the kind of groundwork that makes a team-up like this feel earned rather than forced. That’s a very different situation than what happened with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which tried to cram a universe’s worth of characters into just the second DCEU film.

Adria Arjona is officially on board as Maxima, though some fans have floated the theory that the casting is a decoy and she’s actually playing the DCU’s new Wonder Woman. Jason Momoa is also rumored to return as Lobo following his debut in this summer’s Supergirl. And this month alone, the production added Scream veteran Matthew Lillard and Friday Night Lights star Sinqua Walls — both in undisclosed roles.

The Martian Manhunter Rumor Heating Up

Of those mystery castings, Walls’ has generated the most chatter. Insider Daniel Richtman has claimed that a casting grid associated with the project listed Martian Manhunter among the roles being filled, and that Walls’ recent addition may be connected to exactly that. “In a casting grid…it said they were casting Martian Manhunter, so I believe the recent casting was for that,” Richtman noted, though he added a caveat: “That being said, Gunn likes to call characters by other names on his grids, so we’ll see.”

Neither Gunn nor DC Studios has confirmed anything. But J’onn J’onzz — the Martian law enforcement officer stranded on Earth who becomes one of the Justice League’s founding members — has been conspicuously absent from live-action DC films for years. If Man of Tomorrow is the moment he finally shows up, it would be a very big deal for a lot of fans.

The Villain Bringing a Shakespearean Lens to Brainiac

While the hero roster grabs headlines, it’s worth paying attention to what’s happening on the villain side too. Eidinger — a celebrated theater actor making his biggest Hollywood splash yet — has been talking about his approach to Brainiac in a way that suggests Gunn is going for something philosophically rich, not just visually spectacular.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Eidinger described watching a rehearsal on set and having a moment of genuine awe: “I saw an actor in the Superman costume, suspended on wires in front of a blue screen. I looked at that image and thought: This is the essence of fiction. It’s as significant an image as Hamlet holding the skull: Superman, in that Superman pose, hanging from wires in front of a blue screen.”

He went further when discussing why superhero stories resonate with him on a deeper level. “These films have a serious philosophical ambition. They carry great allegorical weight for me. Take just the word ‘super’ — it’s used as a superlative, for something excellent, wonderful. But ‘super’ really only means ‘over’ or ‘above.’ So Superman is the Übermensch. You have the Super Ego. There’s already a deep psychological dimension built in.”

It’s a casting move reminiscent of Gunn’s choice to cast Chukwudi Iwuji — another theater-trained actor — as The High Evolutionary in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. That gamble paid off spectacularly. Eidinger, for his part, says landing in the Superman universe felt inevitable, even if it wasn’t something he’d chased. “Being in the Superman universe wasn’t a dream or burning desire for me. But now that it’s happening, I can see a certain inevitability in it, something almost fated.”

What Supergirl’s Role Could Look Like

As for Alcock, the timing of her Man of Tomorrow involvement is particularly interesting given that her solo film hasn’t even hit theaters yet. Supergirl — directed by Craig Gillespie and based on Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s acclaimed 12-issue miniseries Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow — is one of Warner Bros.’ big summer releases, and early trailers suggest Kara’s arc centers on processing grief and trauma while stepping more fully into her identity as a hero.

If that’s where her character ends up by the time Supergirl closes, then being called upon by her cousin to help take down Brainiac in Man of Tomorrow would be a natural next step. Whether she’s a full supporting player or something closer to a substantial cameo — like Clark’s brief appearance in Supergirl — remains the question. But Safran’s language suggests it’s more than a glorified walk-on.

Gunn has consistently proven he can juggle large ensembles without losing the thread. The Guardians films gave every character room to breathe, and Superman managed to introduce Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, and Mr. Terrific without overshadowing Clark’s own story. The bet here is that he knows exactly what he’s doing — and that every name on this ever-growing call sheet has a reason to be there.

Man of Tomorrow opens July 9, 2027.

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• Milly Alcock has been confirmed for James Gunn’s Superman: Man of Tomorrow, her third DCU appearance
• DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran called her “a major part of what we’re doing”
• Alcock revealed she nearly turned down Supergirl because the pressure of leading a blockbuster terrified her
• She also opened up about online trolls, comparing her experience to the backlash Brie Larson faced
• Supergirl hits theaters on June 26, 2026

Milly Alcock isn’t going anywhere. Just weeks before Supergirl lands in theaters, DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran has confirmed that the 26-year-old Australian actress will appear in Superman: Man of Tomorrow — James Gunn’s sequel to last year’s Superman — making it her third appearance in the DCU overall.

“She’s a major part of what we’re doing,” Safran told Variety in a cover story interview with Alcock. She’s already set to head to Atlanta to begin filming. The movie reunites Gunn with his Superman ensemble — David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult co-leading as Clark Kent and Lex Luthor, with Rachel Brosnahan, Isabela Merced, Frank Grillo, and Aaron Pierre (as John Stewart/Green Lantern) all reprising their roles. Lars Eidinger has been cast as Brainiac, the film’s main villain, while Adria Arjona is rumored to be playing Maxima.

So Alcock’s Kara Zor-El is being woven into the very fabric of this new DC universe — not just a one-off cameo, not a franchise obligation, but a genuine throughline. That’s a remarkable position for someone who, not long ago, was seriously considering walking away from the whole thing.

Why Alcock Almost Said No to Supergirl

In the same Variety profile, Alcock got refreshingly honest about how close she came to turning down Supergirl entirely. It was her first time as No. 1 on a call sheet — the lead of a major studio blockbuster — and the weight of that nearly broke her before she even suited up.

“I was like, ‘I have to do all that?! No!'” she said. “Because she’s in, like, every scene. My personal experience of being Milly mirrored Kara’s experience, which was ‘Hide. Run away. Pretend it’s not happening.’ And then you have to face it to heal a part of yourself that you’ve been neglecting.”

But she talked herself into it in the most Milly Alcock way possible.

“I looked at myself in the mirror, and I was like, ‘Who am I to turn down this opportunity?’ I knew that it was what I needed to do, because it scared me. And I thought, ‘Well, I get one big, bad, beautiful life. Why not f**king go for it? Just f**king go for it! What are you, scared? Get over yourself.'”

She also found a deeper connection to the character than she expected. Kara, as written in Tom King’s 2022 comic series Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow — the source material for the film — is someone at war with herself, navigating grief and rage across the galaxy. Alcock says that mirrored something real in her own life.

“What Kara was going through that I was going through is she’s someone who has been at war with themselves. And I think that’s a very universal feeling — especially for women,” Alcock said. “So it’s been a really surprising journey. I never thought taking on a superhero film would do that. But it has! And what a beautiful thing.”

On Trolls, Brie Larson, and “Proving My Point”

Alcock has already gotten a taste of what comes with playing an iconic female superhero in 2026. In a recent Vanity Fair piece, she commented that her time on House of the Dragon made her aware that people have a “weird ownership of women’s bodies” — and the internet responded exactly the way you’d expect.

The backlash drew comparisons to what Brie Larson experienced after Captain Marvel, when her comments about film criticism drew years of coordinated online harassment. Alcock, for her part, seemed more amused than rattled.

“I didn’t even say ‘men’ — I said ‘people!'” she told Variety. “And they got so angry. I was like, ‘You’re proving my point. You’re proving my point!'”

She’s clear-eyed about where the noise comes from. “I guess women know that this is just how it’s always been, unfortunately — it’s from a lot of people whose profiles have no photo, who are burner accounts. Or someone’s name and then ‘Dad of four, Christian,’ which is hilarious to me. But I mean, whose opinion do you really care about? If you’re pissing the right kind of people off, you’re doing OK.”

She also acknowledged the psychological toll of it, even when you know better. “Sometimes people reinforce beliefs that you have about yourself, and you’re like, ‘Now someone’s said it! It’s true!’ And you’ve got to remind yourself that it’s not. It’s something I’m trying to get better at. I’m Gen Z! Yeah, I grew up online, so I’m actively trying not to engage — although how could you not?”

Oh, and she hasn’t watched Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, or Black Widow in preparation for the role. “Which is probably not great,” she admits. “I should just lie.”

What to Expect From Supergirl

Directed by Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya) from a screenplay by Ana Nogueira, Supergirl follows a 21-year-old Kara Zor-El who, after an adversary strikes close to home, joins forces with a young girl named Ruthye (Eve Ridley) on an interstellar journey of vengeance. Matthias Schoenaerts plays the villain Krem of the Yellow Hills, while Jason Momoa shows up as Lobo — a role that takes the former Aquaman star in a very different direction.

Alcock also teased that fans expecting wall-to-wall cape time might be surprised. “I don’t wear it as much as people will think. It’s a journey,” she said, suggesting the suit takes a backseat to the more grounded, personal story the film is telling.

Fandango debuted a new exclusive image of Alcock in full Supergirl costume as part of their Summer Movie Preview, and it’s a striking look at the character ahead of the film’s release.

Supergirl opens in theaters and IMAX on June 26, 2026 — the first of three DCU projects hitting in the next calendar year, ahead of HBO’s Lanterns and the R-rated horror film Clayface. And after that? Alcock will be back, flying into whatever James Gunn has planned next.

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