It’s official: With an estimated first-weekend domestic gross of $38 million, DC Studios’ Supergirl is a bomb. Dissecting the poor showing of the sequel to last summer’s much more successful Superman reboot, the New York Times identified the usual suspects: picky consumers, superhero fatigue and “a resurgent misogyny among the core fan base.”
The last factor reared its head in social media attacks on star Milly Alcock’s appearance. Yet one can’t help wondering if the real problem is that, unlike previous cinematic versions of the character, this Supergirl doesn’t comb her hair, wear full makeup or do much smiling.
That much was clear from the character’s cameo at the end of Superman, in which she stumbles drunkenly into her more celebrated cousin’s Fortress of Solitude. A grumpy, chaotic Supergirl intrigued me, so I checked out this film directed by Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya) and inspired by the 2021-22 comic-book miniseries Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.
The deal
Superpowered Kryptonian refugee Kara Zor-El (Alcock) celebrates her 23rd birthday on a road trip through the galaxy with her canine companion, Krypto, in a spaceship with the lived-in interior of a touring rock band’s RV. While her squeaky-clean older cousin, Kal-El (David Corenswet), is saving Earth from various menaces, she’d rather explore solar systems with red suns, which dampen her powers while heightening her susceptibility to alcohol.
While patronizing a dive bar in one of said systems, Kara encounters 13-year-old Ruthye (Eve Ridley), who seeks a champion to help her take vengeance on Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts), the brigand chief who murdered her family. Kara has zero interest in this quest — until Krem shoots her dog with a poison arrow. Only an antidote that the brigand carries on his person can save Krypto’s life.
As she and Ruthye dodge space pirates, seedy aliens and a murderous bounty hunter named Lobo (Jason Momoa), Kara finds herself confronting the memories that make it so difficult for her to embrace the role of defender of the innocent.
Will you like it?
Two things can be true about Supergirl. First, this take on the character as a hard-bitten, reluctant heroine is smart, and Alcock’s performance makes Kara feel like a real person rather than a pandering conceit. Her blasé reaction to the wonders of the universe is a running joke that doesn’t get old, a fitting counterpoint to the wide-eyed sweetness of Corenswet’s Superman.
Second, the story (scripted by Ana Nogueira) is an uninspired mashup of True Grit and Mad Max: Fury Road, without the vivid supporting players of the former or the riveting action sequences of the latter. As Ruthye, Ridley speaks with the amusingly precocious diction of Hailee Steinfeld in the 2010 True Grit. Yet her character never develops beyond that quirk and some generic feistiness, so her partnership with Kara seems to exist mainly to soften the latter’s heart.
Even when female-led genre movies lack a central romance, they often tenderize their heroine by placing her in a maternal role. Here, Kara proves her heroism by saving not just Ruthye but also a bunch of anonymous girls trafficked by the leering brigands as “brides.” The female solidarity theme is always welcome, but it felt fresher when Fury Road’s Furiosa was the one freeing “brides” from their bondage in a fleshed-out world that also included female elders.
The world-building of Supergirl is sketchy at best, offering an unrelenting parade of muddy CGI settings and drooling losers eager to enslave the main characters. Schoenaerts is wasted as a very standard villain, and while Momoa always has charisma to spare, his mysterious character doesn’t add much to the story beyond wisecracks and attitude. As for the action sequences, they climax in a slow-motion ballet of destruction, set to a wispy acoustic cover of Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle,” that reminded me of those cheesy AI concoctions that people post on social media to prove that any fool can produce what Hollywood’s millions do.
And yet, for all the movie’s lackluster aspects, my heart swelled when Supergirl finally took off her jeans and duster and rocked that silly red-and-blue costume — with ’60s-style miniskirt and boots, yet! — because Alcock makes Kara’s disaffection more than a tough-girl pose. Supergirl’s best scenes are the ones exploring her backstory as a refugee who experienced all the destruction and loss her cousin was spared.
While Superman’s plot hinged on the questionable legacy of Kal-El’s Kryptonian parents, in this film we learn that Kara’s mom sent her to Earth with a straightforward message: You don’t always have to be nice (or happy or smiling, one might add) to be good. The discourse around the movie may give young girls the opposite impression — play nice or face the wrath of the fanboys — but I hope some will feel validated by Alcock’s messy, relatable character. With any luck, DC won’t push Kara to the background of the next film in the series, because the sweet and sour combination of Superman and Supergirl could be a dream team.
If you like this, try…
Wonder Woman (2017; HBO Max, rentable): Lest we forget, Patty Jenkins’ take on this beloved character was a box-office smash, temporarily convincing many naysayers that superheroine movies were viable after all.
The Marvels (2023; Disney+, rentable): More of a disappointment (profit-wise) was acclaimed director Nia DaCosta’s sequel to Captain Marvel, featuring Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris and Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel.
Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (2020; HBO Max, YouTube Primetime, rentable): Funny and full of genuine camaraderie, my personal favorite female superhero movie had the misfortune of being released right before the pandemic lockdown.
This article appears in July 1 • 2026.
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