James Gunn has explained why Supergirl has ear piercings despite having bulletproof skin, and the answer is far more fascinating than the question deserves. It touches on something genuinely layered about Kryptonian physiology established in his 2025 Superman film. Kara Zor-El's origin story on Argo City fills in every remaining gap, making this one of the more rewarding pieces of world-building in Gunn's DCU so far.

While the question started as a fan nitpick, the answer reveals just how layered Gunn's DC Universe world-building truly runs.

Supergirl can have ear piercings because, under a red sun, her skin is as soft and pierceable as any human's. Kryptonian superpowers are not innate; they are powered entirely by yellow solar radiation, meaning a red sun switches them off completely. 

"Wait... if Supergirl's skin is bulletproof, how does she have ear piercings?" a question @tobbigray on Instagram Threads lobbed into the void, not expecting a director to actually answer it.

Which James Gunn settled cleanly, "As explained in Superman, the same way she gets drunk — she goes to a planet with a red sun. Not to mention she was raised on a chunk of Krypton so didn't even experience super powers until her teens," confirming that the piercings are fully intentional, lore-accurate world-building.

Gunn's answer carries two distinct explanations, both of which deserve unpacking. The first is physiological: on any planet orbiting a red sun, Kryptonians lose all their abilities and become biologically ordinary. Kara Zor-El could visit such a planet, get her ears pierced as any teenager would, and return to Earth with the piercings intact; her invulnerability simply does not undo healed skin. The second explanation is rooted in her upbringing: Kara grew up on Argo City, a surviving fragment of Krypton, which orbited a red sun, meaning she lived a completely powerless life until she was well into her teens.

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While the physics of Kryptonian skin makes for a fun argument, Kara's full origin story is what truly makes the ear piercings make sense.

Born on Krypton: Kara Zor-El was born on Krypton to scientist parents Zor-El and Alura, niece to the legendary Jor-El, making her Superman's first cousin. She grew up in Argo City, a domed fragment of Krypton that survived the planet's explosion through a protective energy shield. Her childhood was, by all accounts, a normal Kryptonian one: school, friends, family, and access to advanced technology, all under a red sun that gave her zero superpowers whatsoever.

The disaster that ended Argo City: Krypton's instability eventually caught up with Argo City too, threatening it through kryptonite poisoning and external attacks that the dome could not indefinitely hold back. Zor-El and Alura made the devastating decision to build a rocket and launch their teenage daughter toward Earth, instructing her to find and protect her baby cousin Kal-El. Some versions of her story involve suspended animation or a detour through the Phantom Zone, which is why she arrives on Earth as a teenager while her cousin is already a fully grown, famously caped adult.

Kara's arrival on Earth and early days as Supergirl: Waking up on an alien planet with sudden superpowers, a language barrier, and a cousin who skipped straight to adulthood was, understandably, a lot to process. Kara adopted cover identities like Linda Lee and later Kara Danvers, lived with foster families including the Danvers, and slowly adjusted to Earth's culture, customs, and gravity. The loneliness of that adjustment period, arriving as a refugee with no home left to return to, is central to who she is as a character.

Becoming Supergirl beyond Superman's shadow: Becoming Supergirl was not an overnight transformation but a conscious decision to channel an impossible loss into something purposeful. Her early adventures alongside Superman established her as a hero in her own right rather than simply a sideline extension of the Superman brand. She later joined superhero groups, including the Legion of Super-Heroes in certain comic eras, building a legacy well beyond her famous cousin's shadow.

Supergirl's powers, legacy, and story across decades: Under Earth's yellow sun, Kara Zor-El possesses the full Kryptonian power set, superhuman strength, flight, heat vision, freeze breath, and near-invulnerability, with weaknesses including kryptonite, magic, and, crucially, red sun radiation. Her origin has been rewritten across decades of comics, from her 1959 debut in Action Comics #252 through Post-Crisis, New 52, Rebirth, and now James Gunn's DCU film adaptation Supergirl starring Milly Alcock. The core, however, remains consistent: survivor of a destroyed world, powerful beyond measure, and still very much a teenager figuring life out.

Whether Supergirl is actually stronger than Superman remains a genuinely active debate among fans and comic historians, with strong arguments existing on both sides. What the ear-piercing question ultimately confirms is that Kara Zor-El's humanity, her teenage experiences, her powerless years, her very normal desire to accessorise, is not incidental to her story. It is the story.

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What are your thoughts on James Gunn's explanation for Supergirl's ear piercings? Let us know in the comments.