Supergirl and Superman: Who Kara Zor-El Is

Supergirl is Kara Zor-El, the Kryptonian cousin of Superman, and Milly Alcock plays her in Supergirl (2026), directed by Craig Gillespie. She first turns up in Superman (2025), directed by James Gunn, where she arrives at the Fortress of Solitude drunk near the end of the film, so she is easy to miss on a first viewing.

The credits list her as Supergirl, with an uncredited Supergirl credit and a younger version billed as Young Kara.

Is Supergirl just a female Superman? The films say no. Superman, born Kal-El, was raised on Earth by his human parents, while Kara in Supergirl (2026) is 23 and spends her time partying her way across space, far from the planet where her cousin lives. Her powers, her friends and her problems belong to her, and the film follows her across several worlds rather than around Metropolis.

Supergirl (2026) reached US theaters on June 26, 2026, runs 108 minutes and carries a PG-13 rating. It earned about $126 million worldwide on a $170 million budget, according to The Numbers. David Corenswet, who plays Superman in Superman (2025), also appears as Superman in the Supergirl film, so the two stories share a lead. If you want the full film rather than the character, head to our page for Supergirl (2026).

Kara's arc runs from a brief, messy cameo to a lead role in which she stops avoiding the consequences of her choices. Her first scene is in Superman (2025), after Superman has beaten his clone, Mister Terrific has closed the rift and Lex Luthor has been arrested. Kara Zor-El turns up at the Fortress of Solitude drunk, to take Krypto home, while the robots comfort her cousin with footage of his childhood on Earth.

Supergirl (2026) starts with Kara at 23, partying through space. She meets Ruthye on the planet Holzherr. Ruthye's family was killed by the outlaw Krem and his Brigands, and she wants Kara's help with revenge. Kara refuses. Krem then hijacks Kara's ship and shoots her dog Krypto with a poisoned dart, which leaves him only a few days to live. Finding the antidote becomes the mission, and Ruthye joins her.

The pursuit crosses the galaxy and includes a fight with a group of raiders. It leads to Bilquis, where Krem's gang kidnaps young women to force them into marriage. A local couple offers shelter, but the wife tries to drug Kara and give her to the gang. Lobo, a bounty hunter chasing one of Krem's lieutenants, sides with Kara in the fight. Kara keeps Ruthye from killing Krem. He escapes and kills the husband and his family, and Kara, guilt-stricken, sets off after him alone.

Barenton is the turning point. Its green sun drains her powers, and Ruthye finds her and nurses her back. Later Ruthye is captured and kept on the Brigands' ship beside Lobo, and she frees him before Krem catches her. Once the sun turns yellow, Kara regains her strength, puts on the Supergirl suit and, with Lobo, fights the Brigands until the kidnapped women go free. She tells Ruthye that killing Krem will not ease her pain, and Ruthye walks away. Supergirl then kills Krem herself with his sword, takes the antidote and saves Krypto. She asks Ruthye to stay for the rest of her birthday week, then goes back to Earth to meet Superman.

Supergirl's relationship to Superman is that of cousins, and Superman (2025) names her as his cousin Kara Zor-El. Both are Kryptonians, and Kara only makes Earth her home at the end of Supergirl (2026). Corenswet's Superman appears in her film, which makes the family link more than a passing mention.

Krypto is the second link between them. The dog is with Superman in Superman (2025), and in Supergirl (2026) he is Kara's dog, whose poisoning starts her quest. Her family on Krypton also appears in the cast, with David Krumholtz as Zor-El and Emily Beecham as Alura In-Ze.

Her closest ally in the film is Ruthye, played by Eve Ridley, a young woman who wants revenge on Krem, played by Matthias Schoenaerts. Jason Momoa plays Lobo, the bounty hunter who fights alongside her later. Her circle looks nothing like Superman's Daily Planet colleagues, and that is a large part of why the two characters feel distinct.

Yes, Supergirl survives, and she is alive and living on Earth at the end of her own film. After Krem is dead and Krypto is cured, Kara invites Ruthye to finish celebrating her birthday week, then returns to Earth with Krypto. She reunites with Superman at their Metropolis apartment, tells him she wants to stay and calls Earth her home.

She first appears in Superman (2025) and returns to Earth at the end of Supergirl (2026). A reader following the release order meets her first as a surprise and then as a lead.

Kara's best moments are the ones that separate her from Superman: her drunk arrival at the Fortress in Superman (2025), her recovery on Barenton, and her quiet reunion with him in Metropolis. The first is a very short scene, and arriving drunk to collect Krypto is a funny beat. It also reframes the ending, because Superman's calm, earnest world suddenly has a messier relative in it.

The low point on Barenton is the most revealing stretch of Supergirl (2026). The green sun strips her powers, and it is Ruthye, a young woman with no powers at all, who finds Kara and nurses her. That reverses the usual hero and civilian roles, and it gives the later suit moment real weight when the sun turns yellow and Kara fights the Brigands with Lobo.

The conversation where Kara tells Ruthye that killing Krem will not take away her pain is the line that defines her, although her own choice a few scenes later complicates it. The closing reunion at the Metropolis apartment works because it is quiet, and I pick it over any of the fight scenes as the moment that explains why she is Superman's cousin and not his echo.