There are ways to dance around how to say it, but ultimately, Supergirl is fine. In a vacuum, it’s a B-movie with an A-budget, allowing for sufficient performances to be washed over with elaborate visual effects, great makeup design, some neat-looking worlds, and a handful of action scenes (some that work better than others). Having this be a story with a female superhero at the center should also be appreciated, but unlike when 2017’s Wonder Woman finally arrived, this feels more like when Black Widow came along well past a time when it felt necessary. Sure, the notion of doing the movie is better than not having it. Still, it only means so much when the results amount to a feature that is aggressively average in execution. Matching that against the many other blockbusters surrounding it, let alone the impossible stakes created by the oddity that is the atmosphere surrounding the DC universe, it all ends up feeling more detrimental when it’s not a result that offers much more than decent entertainment.
Milly Alcock stars as Kara Zor-El, a cousin of Superman who was actually present when her home planet, Krypton, was destroyed, with all her loved ones dying around her. As a result, she hasn’t had a smooth transition coming to Earth in the way Clark did. She’s far more jaded, and to push away her pain, she often travels to planets that revolve around red suns where she can get drunk (as the superpowers she has only come from yellow suns, like the one in our solar system). While trying to celebrate her 23rd birthday by way of even more drinking, Kara becomes entwined with Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley), who is on a revenge quest to find Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts), the space pirate who murdered her family. Ruthie needs help with this, however, and once Krem also injures Kara’s loyal dog Krypto, the two team up in an effort to find this vile character.
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This particular Supergirl story is largely adapted from the acclaimed 2021 comic miniseries “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” by Tom King and Bilquis Evely. It’s not a bad angle to take, as it essentially puts Kara and Ruthie into the shoes of Rooster Cogburn and Mattie Ross from True Grit. That said, taking this route ultimately means the film will feel pretty plot-heavy, leaving only so much room for us to really get to know Kara. Now, you can arguably feel as though the opening credits montage delivers as much as needed about her current state of mind, with the scattered flashbacks filling in some blanks. That’s all well and good, but for being a cinematic take on this particular story, it’s not nearly as thrilling as it could be.
It’s less about the structure and more about the execution. It’s fun to see different planets, the interactions with a variety of aliens, and the occasional appearance by Jason Momoa as Lobo (though, despite his enthusiastic presence in all respects in and outside the film, still feels shoehorned in when considering the scenes involving him). That said, either director Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya, Cruella) just doesn’t have it in him to create any real sense of wonder for this stuff, or there’s far too much of an assumption that aiming for a low-key familiarity is the proper way to go. Whatever the case, the feeling of business-as-usual ends up doing more harm than good when there are only so many others things to praise beyond the obvious.
Casting-wise, it’s not a large ensemble, but everyone is relatively good. Alcock has the role and clearly passed all the tests necessary to carry such a mantle as Supergirl in this new DC universe, but as talented as she is, I can’t say this felt like an era-defining character so much as one who provided what was necessary. Young Ridley’s work as Ruthye similarly gets the job done, without the pairing of her and Alcock feeling like a hugely memorable pairing. Schoenaerts does a little more than just let the makeup speak for him, as he plays a grimy jerk, but the lead villain is clearly designed as more of an obstacle than a character. That said, I do enjoy having villains who know they are evil and relish the chance to keep acting as such. If anything, it’s getting the amounts of David Corenswet’s Superman that we do that makes me wish there was a better match-up between his optimism and Kara’s cynicism.
As far as seeing Supergirl in action, it’s hit and miss. The film’s first half is superior and features most of its best moments. Seeing drunk Kara in action makes me wish we had more of it, if only so we could get the DC equivalent of Drunken Master on full display. That said, a slightly more sober Kara also ends up in a close-quarters brawl, using a teleporter in fun ways that make for a unique little tussle. Comparatively, yes, it’s fun to see a Kryptonian at full power dominating the action. Still, Supergirl ends up feeling like one of those comic book action movies with a 3rd-act battle that goes on and on. When this feels like a fault in even some of the best films of this era and genre (Captain America: The Winter Soldier comes to mind), then it’s certainly not helping a movie that is far less interesting or visually ambitious.
There should be something to be said about starting out with a flawed female character who is willing to lead a messy life to deal with trauma. Honestly, that’s more of a common trope at this point than something unique, but for a superhero film, I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt as being a direction to take that doesn’t require the woman to be the most noble character and can, instead, go along with the idea that anyone can have issues. With that in mind, while it’s not just a matter of saying, “The comic did it better,” whether it’s a direction problem or an adaptation issue, there’s just not much going on here to make the character development stand out in any especially interesting way. As a result, Supergirl ends up feeling like “just another one of these” as opposed to a significant moment for cinema when tackling a character that historically hasn’t been a unanimously well-received cinematic figure.
It would be nice to have walked away from Supergirl thinking it was more than just fine, or at least the kind of film I was pleased with, for not trying to be the most epic superhero adventure but still one that really nailed a sort of “week in the life of…” type film. Instead, what others might call struggles, this film seems to regard as good enough in its efforts. Even thematically speaking, where 2025’s Superman succeeded by really wanting to prove something about who that character is in a manner we hadn’t seen in a while, Supergirl isn’t really leaning into anything that’s not more than a little familiar at this point. I have no doubt everyone involved put in the work, but the results just feel so plain (with one exception: the terrific makeup design, which I once again want to shout out). There’s certainly room for more of Alcock’s take on this character that I’ll be happy to see in the future. Still, as a standalone effort, this movie merely gave me some action, some humor, and whatever.
Supergirl opens in theaters and IMAX on June 26, 2026.
