When DC Studios announced its ambitious film and TV slate, Kara Zor-El’s upcoming standalone feature\u00a0was announced as\u00a0Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. The title stemmed from writer Tom King and artist Bilquis Evely’s seminal comic book miniseries of the same name, which the film is a direct adaptation of. Eventually, though, the project\u00a0was retitled as\u00a0simply\u00a0Supergirl.<\/p>\n
The change was subtle and not highly publicized. People\u00a0only began to notice it when DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn started\u00a0omitting the subtitle<\/strong><\/a> when refering to the movie on social media. Ultimately, in a June 2025 interview with Rolling Stone (via Screen Rant<\/a><\/strong>), when asked about the movie’s title, Gunn replied: “I think it’s just called Supergirl.”<\/strong> When Rolling Stone noted Superman had also been retitled (having been announced as\u00a0Superman: Legacy), the filmmaker\u00a0explained the reason for it was him being “sick” of subtitles in superhero films:\u00a0<\/p>\n “Yeah. I’m always cutting. Legacy\u00a0was really\u2014we do something called a ‘premortem.’\u00a0A premortem is you get together with your group that’s doing the project. It’s usually about a couple months before shooting, and you go, ‘Hypothetically, if it’s an epic disaster, what are the things that we’re doing today that are going to cause it to be an epic disaster? Everyone here can speak freely.’\u00a0[…]\u00a0One of the things I brought up was, it was called\u00a0Superman: Legacy.\u00a0Even though I was the one that gave it that title, I just wasn’t sure. First of all, I’m sick of the superhero title, colon, other-name thing. And then, also, it seemed to be looking back when we’re looking forward, even though it does have to do with legacy in the movie itself. And everybody was like, ‘Oh, yeah, no, change it.'”<\/strong><\/p>\n While that is understandable, it recently hit me that there could have also been another important reason behind the title change. In fact, it might\u00a0have been staring at us in the face for the last few months, and it may have had to do with a pivotal\u00a0moviemaking factor: Branding.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In early September, James Gunn announced<\/strong><\/a> the sequel to Superman, Man of Tomorrow, which will see Clark Kent join\u00a0forces with Lex Luthor to stop a brand-new threat: Brainiac. The movie is perhaps the most anticipated DCU project at the moment, and it appears to be one of the most monumental chapters in the franchise’s overarching story.\u00a0Aside from that, the film\u00a0may have also been the reason behind Supergirl’s title change.<\/p>\n Gunn is known to enjoy\u00a0planning ahead with his\u00a0projects. He confirmed the Supergirl title change in June, a month prior to the release of Superman. By that point, he likely already had an idea of what the film’s sequel would look like, particularly given how quickly after its announcement the screenplay<\/strong><\/a> and storyboards for it were completed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n As such, he probably knew\u00a0his Superman sequel would be called\u00a0Man of Tomorrow prior to the Supergirl title being publicly modified. If that was the case, he might\u00a0have also been aware of the conflict the title\u00a0Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow\u00a0could have created for the marketability of the\u00a0Superman follow-up.\u00a0You see, for us nerds, two comic book projects having a similar title is no problem. We can handle a Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and a Man of Tomorrow released one year apart. We’re going to watch both. For the general population, however, the titles being so similar was\u00a0bound to cause some confusion, and even a potential loss of business.\u00a0<\/p>\n Someone not in the know regarding superhero films could have\u00a0realistically watched\u00a0Woman of Tomorrow in 2026, and then avoid Man of Tomorrow in 2027, believing they had already watched the movie a year prior. As such, Gunn, assuming he knew\u00a0what he wanted to call his Superman follow-up,\u00a0could have decided to remove “Woman of Tomorrow” from Supergirl, thus keeping the two properties relatively distinct from one another in terms of branding and marketability.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is, of course, speculation. The change could have only\u00a0stemmed from Gunn’s dislike of subtitles, as he told Rolling Stone. Having said that, it’s not unreasonable to assume Man of Tomorrow\u00a0played at least a small part in the title change for Kara Zor-El’s solo story.\u00a0<\/p>\n Supergirl flies into theaters on June 26, 2026. Man of Tomorrow arrives on July 9, 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n Do you think Man of Tomorrow was the reason for Supergirl’s title change? Would you have liked the film to keep its original name? Share your thoughts in the comments!<\/strong><\/p>\n
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