It’s pretty clear that the big comic book studios are currently fixated on one massive problem: figuring out who is going to carry the mantle when the current heavy hitters eventually pack it in. Both DC and Marvel are leaning hard into their next generation of heroes right now, though they are tackling it from completely different angles.
Over at DC, they’re aggressively expanding their new cinematic universe, and Supergirl is officially locked in to be a massive piece of the puzzle moving forward. Chatting with Variety recently, DC Studios co-head Peter Safran didn’t mince words, calling Kara Zor-El a “fundamental part” of their grand plan. It’s no shocker, then, that she’s slated to rock up in the upcoming Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow. We already caught a glimpse of Milly Alcock’s take on the character at the tail end of Superman (2025), which perfectly set up her absolute disaster of a dynamic with David Corenswet’s Clark Kent. While the studio is keeping her exact role in the sequel under wraps, we do know the main gig involves Superman reluctantly teaming up with Lex Luthor to put a stop to Brainiac. The shoot got underway last month, and the cast list is already looking absolutely chocka. On top of the returning crew from James Gunn’s first flick, we’ve got Sinqua Walls, Aaron Pierre fresh off the Lanterns series, Adria Arjona (supposedly playing Maxima), and Matthew Lillard, who everyone reckons is stepping in as Plastic Man.
While DC is busy front-loading their roster with fresh faces, Marvel is staring down a generational handover they actually predicted nearly two decades ago. It sounds mental, but a largely forgotten 2008 animated flick, The Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, essentially mapped out the exact headache the MCU is going to face in the wake of Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. Back then, it was just a modest, straight-to-DVD release aimed squarely at a younger crowd, dropping right around the time Marvel was just finding its feet with Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. But the core concept underneath it all was pretty bloody sharp: you simply can’t rely on the same old heroes forever.
That 2008 film threw us into a bleak future where Ultron had won and the original Avengers had been wiped out. Tony Stark was living off the grid, basically playing dad to the orphaned kids of Earth’s mightiest heroes—a new generation forced to shoulder a ridiculously heavy legacy. Looking at the state of the MCU today, it’s hard not to notice the parallels. Marvel Studios has been quietly doing the hard yakka to set up this exact sort of changing of the guard for years. The legacy heroes are either gone or gearing up for retirement, and the board is constantly being reset with younger players taking the spotlight. The likes of Kate Bishop, Ms. Marvel, Cassie Lang, and Riri Williams are the living embodiment of the transition The Next Avengers explored yonks ago. It’s funny how a cheap 2008 cartoon suddenly feels a lot more relevant than anyone gave it credit for.
