Puerto Rican supermodel Joan Smalls is transformed into a high-fashion superwoman in today’s exhilarating short by director Barnaby Roper. “I was playing around with the fact that the summer brings blockbusters. This year this includes Man of Steel, which is being released the same week as this film,” explains Roper of the video that employs the New York-based filmmaker’s signature technical wizardry. “I tried to show a strong individual female character and Joan was the perfect person—she gives really strong poses.” Stylist Keegan Singh built up Smalls’ heroic look by plundering designers including Balmain, Rodarte and Altuzara for powerful silhouettes and then finished the looks off with piles of tough jewelry from Eddie Borgo. Smalls, who modeled in New York for three years before her big break walking exclusively for Ricardo Tischi’s Givenchy couture show in 2009, has become an industry favorite featuring in cover stories for W magazine as well as various editions of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, and fronting campaigns for Gucci, Stella McCartney and Estée Lauder who, in 2011, made her their first Latina face.