The Supergirl trailer looks straight-up like a Guardians of the Galaxy movie

This new DCU superhero flick seems weirdly familiar

The DC Universe achieved liftoff with 2025’s Superman, but whether this new superhero movie franchise can maintain velocity (especially amid the turbulence of a messy corporate buyout) depends on the success of its second feature film: Supergirl. Now, we have our first trailer for the follow-up movie, and it feels weirdly familiar in a way we didn’t expect.

From Cruella and I, Tonya director Craig Gillespie, Supergirl picks up where Superman left off. Sort of. Despite featuring the familiar faces of Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon) as Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl (along with her poorly trained dog, Krypto) the upcoming film doesn’t seem to have much in common with Gunn’s take on the Man of Steel. Instead, Gillespie’s vision for the film looks a lot more like Gunn’s previous work directing the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy for Marvel.

From the blaring rock and roll soundtrack (the trailer features Blondie’s 1980 hit “Call Me”) to its setting deep in outer space, Supergirl looks way more like Guardians Vol. 4 than a Superman follow-up. The trailer even introduces some sort of space-pirate gang that look suspiciously like the Ravagers. The entire thing is exactly what we might have expected from Gunn’s take on the DC Universe — until he revealed a fresh take on the genre with Superman.

With the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, Gunn did the seemingly impossible: He carved out a distinct voice within a franchise that demanded uniformity. Before Superman, a lot of people (myself included) assumed his take on the DC hero would look a lot like those Guardians movies. In some ways, it did (rock-heavy soundtrack, team-up-based fight scenes, and the spotlighting of lesser-known heroes like Rocket Racoon or Mister Terrific), but Gunn also found a way to carve out a new approach, one that channels Superman’s do-gooder nature and trades nihilism for optimism.

Judging from the trailer, Supergirl doesn’t seem particularly interested in all that. As its superheroine says in reference to her cousin: “He sees the good in people. I see the truth.” This is followed by a scene in which she wields a mace-like weapon to knock out dozens of space pirates at once.

The fact that Supergirl feels distinct from Superman isn’t a surprise. Gunn has made it clear the DCU won’t force each new movie and show to conform to some sort of overarching cinematic style. He wants each director and showrunner to tell a story that’s true to its characters and source material, rather than taking the MCU approach of jamming each new project through the same basic framework. “It’s really important to me that every project has its own stamp on it,” Gunn told IGN earlier this year. “Every one of these movies is completely different.”

That’s great news, and it’s nice to see that Gunn really means it. However, the fact that Supergirl looks like a Guardians of the Galaxy spinoff rather than its own distinct thing is also concerning. I can’t help but wonder whether Gillespie simply assumed he should make a James Gunn-style movie and ran with it — or whether Gunn himself has already fallen back on his signature style.

Either way, it’s a bit concerning to think that just two movies into the DCU, Gunn and company may already be repeating themselves. Hopefully, when Supergirl actually arrives next summer, it will feel like its own distinct take on the superhero genre.

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Supergirl flies into theaters on June 26, 2026.