Warner Bros.’ Supergirl has arrived to a rough commercial reception, but Ars Technica critic Jennifer Ouellette argues the film is a better movie than its opening-weekend numbers suggest.
Ouellette writes that the latest entry in the DCU’s Gods and Monsters cycle has faced online attacks, mixed critical response and a disappointing debut at the box office, citing Deadline’s reporting on the film’s opening. Her verdict is narrower than the pile-on: Supergirl is enjoyable and competently made, though not strong enough to cut through a crowded superhero market where many viewers can wait for streaming.
A rebuilt DC project
The film comes from a project that predates James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC overhaul. Warner Bros. hired Ana Nogueira to write the script under earlier DC film plans, after Sasha Calle’s version of the character appeared in 2022’s The Flash. After Gunn and Safran took over DC’s screen slate, the movie was reshaped within the new DCU. Craig Gillespie, whose credits include Lars and the Real Girl and I, Tonya, directed.
The story draws from the comic miniseries Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, which itself took some inspiration from the 1968 Western True Grit. Ouellette says Gillespie initially approached the film as a space road movie pairing Kara Zor-El, played by Milly Alcock, with Jason Momoa’s bounty hunter Lobo. In the finished film, Lobo is reduced to a cameo role, while the central relationship is Kara’s alliance with Ruthye Marye Knoll, played by Eve Ridley.
How this Supergirl works
The movie’s setup separates Kara from her cousin Kal-El, played by David Corenswet. Kara spends her 23rd birthday drinking on red-star worlds with Krypto, because those planets do not empower Kryptonians the way yellow-star worlds do. Green-star worlds are lethal to her, a rule the story later uses.
Kara initially resists Ruthye’s request for help tracking Krem of the Yellow Hills, a Brigand leader played by Matthias Schoenaerts, after he kills Ruthye’s family. She joins the pursuit after Krem steals Kara’s ship and poisons Krypto, leaving Kara three days to recover the antidote.
Ouellette singles out the flashbacks to Kara’s childhood in Argo City as the film’s strongest material. In this version, Zor-El, played by David Krumholtz, saves the city under a dome after Krypton’s destruction. The survivors later suffer radiation sickness from kryptonite beneath the city, including Kara’s mother, Alura, played by Emily Beecham. Zor-El eventually sends Kara and Krypto to Earth to join Kal-El.
Ouellette praises Alcock’s performance, especially her rapport with Ridley, and says Krypto makes the most of limited screen time. She describes Momoa’s Lobo appearances as comic relief rather than a full character, and finds Krem thin despite Schoenaerts’ efforts.
Why the movie may be struggling
Ouellette points to several possible reasons for the underperformance: superhero fatigue, limited audience demand for a solo Supergirl film, a predictable plot, and trailers that revealed much of the story. She also notes The Hollywood Reporter’s account of competing versions of the film and creative differences involving Gillespie and Gunn.
She rejects online claims that the box office result can be reduced to attacks on the film as “woke,” misogyny, or criticism of Alcock’s appearance, citing coverage from The Mary Sue around those arguments.
Ars also places Supergirl in a wider run of big-budget disappointments this year, naming Masters of the Universe, The Mandalorian and Grogu, and Disclosure Day as films that missed expectations. Backrooms and Obsession, by contrast, are described as breakout hits.
Supergirl is currently in theaters. According to Ouellette, Alcock’s version of Kara is expected to return in next year’s Man of Tomorrow.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.
