Like her cousin Kal-El, Kara Zor-El a.k.a. Supergirl can be a tough assignment for some writers. Since her debut in 1959’s Action Comics #252, written by Otto Binder and penciled by Al Plastino, Supergirl has generally been portrayed as the sweet girl next door, who just so happens to also have incredible powers. Later riffs on the character offered more variety, such as the shapeshifting alien who shows up in the ’80s or Peter David’s strange “Earth-Born Angel” from the ’90s. But the mainline Supergirl, the one adapted for the 1984 movie and the recent CW series, tends to be a genuienly good person.Which was a challenge for the current person tasked with bringing the Maid of Might to live action. Speaking to Variety, Ana Nogueira admitted, “I was always like, ‘I can’t get my head around the version of the character that is so sunny.’” cnx.cmd.push(function() {cnx({playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530",}).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796");});So why did she get tasked by James Gunn and Peter Safran with writing the upcoming Supergirl movie? Because of the 2021-2022 series Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King and Bilquis Evely. Upon reading that series, she found a “rougher and grittier and edgier and funnier” character. When she read Woman of Tomorrow, Nogueira realized “There she is,” seeing in that story a believable version of a person who “watched Krypton completely be destroyed.”Nogueira’s journey with Supergirl isn’t that different from that of James Gunn himself. Gunn initially turned down DC‘s offer to give him a Superman movie because he couldn’t relate with such a good character. He eventually found a hook by putting his own skepticism into all of the supporting characters and letting Superman be an actually good, wholesome person in the movie. The results speak for themselves.As Nogueira notes, Woman of Tomorrow gives her and director Craig Gillespie an even clearer on-road for the character. Despite its mixture of deep space sci-fi and high fantasy stylings, Woman of Tomorrow is fundamentally an adaptation of True Grit, the western novel by Charles Portis and inspiration for John Wayne and Coen Brothers movies. The story is told from the perspective of young Ruthye Marye Knoll, who recruits a hungover Supergirl to help her get revenge against the man who killed her father, a cowardly mercenary called Krem of the Yellow Hills.Viewers got a taste of that Supergirl at the end of Superman, when she smashed into the Fortress of Solitude to retrieve her dog Krypto. Some viewers might have been surprised by Milly Alcock’s take on Supergirl as an inebriated party girl, but the short scene highlighted the qualities in the character that appeal to Nogueira. Not only did she witness the destruction of her planet, something that Superman only learned about later in life, but she also lives in the shadow of her nearly-perfect cousin.Certainly, talk of an edgy Supergirl can raise some eyebrows. Evil Supergirl can be just as dull as evil Superman, despite the relatively strong notices directed to Sasha Calle in The Flash. But in her reading of Woman of Tomorrow, Nogueira sees not a character who is mean for the sake of meanness, but rather someone whose attitude comes from a place of real emotion.If Nogueira and Gillespie can keep focused on that emotion, their gritty and edgy Supergirl can stand out not just next to Superman, but also next to other depictions of the Maid of Might.Supergirl arrives in theaters on June 26, 2026.The post Supergirl Screenwriter Promises a Grittier and Edgier Maid of Might appeared first on Den of Geek.