The DCU has an uphill battle ahead of it. On one end you’ve got the MCU to compete with, which would have been a daunting task if it was ten years ago. But you also have one of the most toxic fanbases in the world frothing at the mouth to point out any little inconsistency from the source material or cry and complain about anything they consider “too woke”. This has kinda been the fate that has befallen Supergirl, the follow-up to last year’s mostly enjoyed Superman. Whether it be claims that star Milly Alcock isn’t pretty enough to just having a hate boner for any director not named Zack Snyder, the film has already suffered heavy casualties of online discourse, which is honestly so tiring. It’s such a superficial and brain poisoned way to view art and media and is not the way to go about deciding if a movie is good without seeing it.

Well, I have seen Supergirl, and, yeah, this movie isn’t good.

For all the criticisms I had for 2025’s Superman, it looks like a pristine diamond when compared next to this much anticipated follow up. While Superman is full of life, a goofy but sincere voice and a colorful style, Supergirl is bland, surface level and often downright ugly to look at. It really seems like it’s chasing the tail of James Gunn without really understanding what makes his movies fun and memorable in the first place. It’s not needle drops and gross alien freaks. Those help, but not when they’re superfluously thrown in there expecting it to elevate the narrative and characters. Let me tell ya, it did not work here. Maybe the DCU really is following in the MCU’s footsteps with starting pretty strong and then stumbling right when you get to mile one.

Despite all of that, there is some good here. Milly Alcock is a good actress. House of the Dragon is more than enough proof of that. Yet she’s given nothing worthwhile to work with here. She’s presented as this grief stricken wanderer drinking away her problems, but this idea is presented in such a superficial way. There’s no real edge to her, no real sense of internal struggle. She’s jaded and troubled, yet these setbacks never really get in the way of her doing the right thing. It’s like the writers tried to circumvent the “Mary Sue” accusations, but also worried that making her too rough around the edges, especially as a female character, would drive people away. So you’re left with a character with no real arc, no real struggle and no real emotional conclusion by the end. Those two minutes we get of her in Superman somehow do more to make the character likable and interesting than the entirety of the character here. Alcock does shine in more emotional scenes, like her flashbacks to Krypton, which were some of the best moments in the film for me. She’s got all the tools to be a solid super heroine, but the material just wasn’t there.

The rest of the cast is pretty much in the same boat. Eve Ridley’s Ruthye, Supergirl’s vengeance-lusting sidekick suffers from flat writing and uninteresting characterization. Matthias Schoenaerts villainous Krem has some diabolical moments, but he ends up being pretty forgettable, honestly looking like a run of the mill minion from another sci-fi movie. Jason Momoa truly, genuinely shines as Lobo. You can tell he’s having fun with it, and he manages to be a fun injection into the film. It’s just too bad he’s a complete non-factor to the story. Seriously, you remove Lobo from this and nothing changes. His impact on the story is incredibly minimal, so while he is a lot of fun to watch onscreen, his overall inclusion in the narrative amounts to a hot load of nothing. Ironically enough, some of the best moments in the film come from the very brief inclusions of David Corenswet’s Superman. Every minute he’s onscreen he pretty much reaffirms why he was a tremendous pick to wear the cape, exuding a goofy, likable charm that no one else in the film manages to capture.

A negative that did carry over from Superman to here was the visuals, but for different reasons. Superman had a lot of color, but also felt insanely washed out at times while the visual effects occasionally looked pretty janky and rubbery. This is actually something I think Supergirl does way better. I think the effects are a huge upgrade, from particle effects to the prosthetic work that can be found on a ton of goofy side characters. It really does feel like Diet Star Wars at times. The problem here is in the coloring and design choices. The whole film is caked in this ugly brown and gray color palette that makes the whole thing look muddy and ugly to look at. And the thing is, the film takes place across multiple worlds and planets, and they all look the exact same; grimy, rundown and dusty. There’s no variation, no telltale signs of what makes these settings different. Watching the trailer, you’d think the entire thing takes place on the same planet, but no, it’s, like, three different ones. You could say the dirt aesthetic is supposed to contrast to the bright blue of Supergirl’s outfit, but she doesn’t even wear it until the end of the film. They Surfing Dracula-d her! This movie is loosely based off of the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comic series, but those astonishing visuals and colors did not make the jump to the screen at all. I haven’t read the series, but I can’t imagine much of what made the story great made it in either.

Narratively, it’s a bit of a mess. The story gets super repetitive with Supergirl finding the bad guys, her powers get nullified in some way, they fight for a bit, and then the baddies escape. This happens multiple times, and there’s no clear sense of urgency or danger being built in between these encounters. The action ends up being pretty decent, but also feels like a pulled punch compared to the bonkers stuff we saw in Superman. All of these sequences end up having some built in contrivance to make these encounters end in a stalemate, and it never really comes down to any weakness in Supergirl’s worldview or vices, which would make for an interesting mountain she’d have to climb to finally succeed. I already spoke on how weak the characterization of Supergirl is in this, but to pile on, they really don’t do a good job selling what her outlook really is. We hardly learn anything about her other than she’s jaded and she likes to drink. Me too, man, but I’m not exactly called interesting because of it. She also constantly reaffirms that revenge will taint your heart to Rutheye, but the film never shows any reason why she’s so staunch on that despite the fact she kills people herself. The film occasionally builds some interesting differences and parallels to her and Superman, but they’re never capitalized or expanded upon, leaving us now with two Kryptonians different only in the fact that one likes to swear. 

This was pretty disappointing all things considered. I don’t know what I expected, but a boring, bland, dredge of a film was not it. As a followup to Superman, it’s a huge step back, both as an establishment of the universe’s next big character and as an expansion of the universe itself. I didn’t want this to be a cheap imitation of James Gunn’s style, but this halfway approach just made the film devoid of character and true meaning. And it sucks because all players involved are capable of much better. Director Craig Gillespie is; star Milly Alcock is; producer James Gunn certainly is. I have no clue what happened here, but I’m not ready to call the DCU a failure quite yet. Marvel’s output range was good to meh up until the first Avengers movie hit theaters, so the DCU still has some time to pull it together before I’m ready to call a time of death. But it looks like this movie is the DCU’s The Incredible Hulk; a forgettable outing that’s best moved past as quickly as possible.

RATING

KRYPTONITE DELIGHT

Kryptonite is the bane of any Kryptonian’s existence, but for us mere mortals, it’s just an ordinary rock you can stand to eat. Okay, maybe you can’t eat it, but you can destil it into a bright, neon green cocktail like this. This drink combines sweet and bright flavors with a few earthy, botanical notes to give it the flavor palette of something extraterrestrial, yet still grounded. The combination of celery juice and gin really helps to reel back the flavor of the Midori without completely eliminating it, making for a slightly melon, slightly tart cocktail that packs a bit of saltiness. Kara may need to get her drinking under control, but this is so good that it may just be worth one, deadly sip.

INGREDIENTS

• 1oz Midori
• 1oz gin
• 1/2oz Benedictine
• 1/2oz celery juice
• 1/2oz lime juice
• pinch of salt
• GARNISH: lime peel diamond

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Add ingredients to a cocktail shaker and shake with ice.
2. Strain into coup glass.
3. Garnish with lime peel cut in the shape of a diamond.