Supergirl Becomes a Disaster for DC's Reboot Plans
DC Studios’ reboot under James Gunn and Peter Safran got off to a workable start with 2025’s Superman, but Supergirl, the second DCU feature they launched, is described here as a major failure that exposes the weakness of Gunn’s promise to greenlight only scripts that were fully finished. The film, directed by Craig Gillespie and based on the comic Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King and Bilquis Evely, reportedly went through 10 test screenings, three alternate endings, three different composers, and an expanded Superman cameo from David Corenswet in a desperate attempt to fix it.
The review says the core problem is Anna Nogueira’s screenplay, which turns a thoughtful comic about heroism, trauma, revenge, and resistance into a pile of clichés and clumsy “feminist” dialogue. It criticizes her portrayal of Kara Zor-El, played by Milly Alcock, as a “cool and messed up girl” type, with the character spending much of the 108-minute film drunkenly bar-hopping on planets lit by red suns so her powers keep disappearing and returning. The film also introduces Ruthye Mary Knoll, played by Eve Ridley, whose family was slaughtered by the space pirate Krem of the Yellow Hills, played by Matthias Schoenaerts.
Ruthye wants revenge and recruits Kara, who initially refuses, then agrees only after Krem poisons her super-dog Krypto and gives her 72 hours to find an antidote. The article says the villain is cartoonishly bad, the movie borrows heavily from Mad Max: Fury Road, and its attempts at feminism feel shallow and exploitative. Jason Momoa appears as Lobo, the intergalactic bounty hunter, but the character is said to be dropped into the story without enough context for non-comic readers.
Visually, the film is criticized for generic planets, dark and muddy cinematography, and weak digital effects that make action scenes hard to follow. The piece argues Gillespie fails to bring the flair he showed in I, Tonya and Cruella, and instead delivers a forced imitation of Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy style. It concludes that Supergirl may be a box-office bomb, with opening forecasts in the territory of The Marvels and Black Adam and possible losses of up to $200 million, a result that could undermine the future of the DCU and complicate Gunn and Safran’s plans if Warner Bros. leadership under David Ellison loses patience.
