SPOILERS
So I went to see Supergirl.
Is it on the same level as 2025's Superman? No. Is it a terrible film? Also no.
It is a perfectly serviceable introduction to the character in the DCU in its current form.
Could it have used a couple more rewrites and some work shopping with people who had actually read the series? Yes. My feeling is, if you walked in expecting it to be either Superman 25 or Woman of Tomorrow, you are likely going to be walking out disappointed. If you are willing to accept it as a popcorn summer film and as a background to the character that is Kara Zor-el and the wider DC universe then you will likely be satisfied. It is the Iron Man 2 of the DCU. What I feel worked. The depiction of trauma and loss Milly Alcock shines as Kara, honestly she is tremendous and carries the film. I enjoyed Kara being depicted as someone who is heartbroken by loss, self medicating to numb that pain, reeling from it but still self aware. Which is refreshing, she's angry, but not beyond reason or one dimensional. I also thought the nod to Kara wanting to feel something other than the imperviousness of super strength was a nice nod to the feelings of nothingness that can come from depression and loss.
Additionally Kara explaining her relationship with her cousin to Ruthye and describes him as "light" because he doesn't have the same traumas that she and Ruthye have experienced.
That is not to say that Clark does not have loss or trauma or that its less important. He does, but grief, loss and trauma is all subjective and manifests differently for different people.
Kara doesn't dismiss Clark's loss or his perspective, just notes that its different and he doesn't carry the same weight each day and as a result he feels young in comparison to her. What she's seen and lived though has aged her beyond her years and that seemed an interesting subversion of the Kara is actually older than Clark.
Expanding on the House of El Kara's scene with her father Zor-El when he is telling her of his plan to send her away and escape a slow death on the remains of Argo despite his earlier judgement of Jor-El for doing exactly that.
I thought this scene was an effective bit of subtle world building not only for Kara but the wider House of El. The brothers are not quite estranged, but there appears to be a difference in views with Zor-el seeming more peaceful while Jor-El potentially less so (I get strong colonialist/paternalistic vibes at the very least) and it sounds like they jointly warned the Science Council that Krypton was about to collapse which appears an interesting shift from established lore. I also thought the framing of Zor-El trying to help the wider city was a contrast from Jor-El deciding to save his son.
Zor-el seemed a bit perturbed by Jor-El's fixation on his son having god like powers and while the jury is still out on the patriarch of the House of El being space fash, I felt there was an underlying subtext there that Jor-El's fixation was partially driven by the reality that he and everyone on Krypton was about to be dead but sending his son to a world where nothing could harm him and he would be safe from its inhabitants due to having god like powers would be a fairly seductive one. And one that in some way, Zor-El gave into to save his daughter and it seemed like some of his earlier judgement had faded when he had to come to terms that his child would die slowly and painfully.
I appreciated that shade of grey. As the parent of a young child, if I was about to die and there would be no-one left to protect my child the knowledge that he could probably launch any attacker or anyone who would attempt to harm him into orbit would probably be of some comfort to me as well.
And finally big fan of all the Clark and Kara scenes, I felt it did so much to humanise them and managed to walk the line between it being antagonistic or combative. They are different people, experiencing similar pain and trauma but still distinct from each other and looking to the other for comfort and struggling with that vulnerability. Which is just how it is in real life. We don't always have the words, but I felt a lot was conveyed in how Kara spoke about Clark to Ruthye and how Clark kept trying even when dismissed to be there for Kara.
Ambivalent corner The choice to be good (Kara remix edition) I didn't feel that the slightly heavy handed scene with Kara and her mother and the choice to be good was as effective as the scene in Superman 25. It felt like it was trying to set that scene up for Kara's equivalent while applying human patriarchy and the expectation for women and girls to be nice while they get stepped on. Now, I am not saying Krypton doesn't do patriarchy (it does) but this just felt clunky to me and I felt it would have been more effective for the message to have been along the lines of: even on our worst days, we still have the choice to be good and to act with beneficence and non maleficence even as the world falls apart around us. Its easy to be good when times are good, its a lot harder to maintain your principles when times get hard or treacherous. That would have been something distinct from Superman 25's message but also still acknowledging that Kara's journey is different but she still had the will and the integrity to do what is right. I didn't hate the scene, but I didn't love it either.
Friends don't let friends talk about the Phantom Zone
I have mixed feelings about Kara killing Krem, which is a substantial change from WOT. I'm not sure about it, and I don't think it served any story telling purpose other than to sidestep the issue of the phantom zone and having a prison in another dimension. It reminded me more of Amos Burton from the Expanse than Kara Zor-El. What I feel didn't work
The loss of Ruthye's voice.
I think the story lost a lot from not having Ruthye acting as the narrator and it would have actually been a great way to expand on not only Kara as a character, but also the lawlessness and poverty of the universe. Life looks hard on the planets we see in Supergirl, having someone who is living through that acting as the audience surrogate would have been a great opportunity to get an outside perspective on Kara's story and how she presents. It could have also potentially been a way for us to learn more about Krypton not from the earth/Superman perspective or even the perspective of Kara but how the wider universe saw them.
Were they elitist? Respected, feared, people seem to clearly know about Krypton but it lacks depth to understand whether Krypton's collapse has had wider impact on the universe and feels overly sanitised compared to Woman of Tomorrow. Throw at least one of those cards on the table, DC.
The Bilquis Brides and the family of Bomar
In Woman of Tomorrow, Krem is a low level, opportunistic shitebag who when presented with a chance to become a genocidal mid level opportunistic shitebag grabs onto it with both hands.
Given Superman's themes I did wonder if someone at WB/DC got cold feet when it came to Supergirl 26's script, adjusted their collar in a cold sweat and went ahem, we can't have two films with genocide and war depictions in them in a row. Instead there is an inexplicable shift to gender-based violence and child sex trafficking and if I was being unkind, it feels like someone went "we need to do something to draw the women in because this is Supergirl," and someone responded with: "how about beating the crap out of intergalactic rapists?" What is tedious about this, is there does not need to be a sexual threat in a heroine focused film to make woman and girls care about the film and its characters. Krem was enough of a threat as a killer without that shift and the risk escalates as he moves around the galaxy evading Kara and Ruthye.
Writing out Maypole on Corrun in favour of the Bomar family adds nothing and in fact takes away something quite powerful from the earlier messaging of the film - it is your choice to be good, but its also your choice to commit evil. By removing the genocide of the purple minority and the collusion of that town in Woman of Tomorrow with the Brigands to enact mass murder we lose a chance to witness the limitions of a Kryptonian's powers when it comes to greed and self interest and the lengths people will go to, to convince themselves and others that their evil deeds are just. The shift to the Bomar family and the brides just doesn't hit the same way as you can empathise with them to an extent. They are desperate to get their only daughter back so they handover Kara and Ruthye thinking (like Ruthye's parents before them) that if they give in, they can walk away. You can empathise with them and understand them trying to do their best on a lawless, crippled world. However, this feels like a lack of courage in the writing by making the choice to step away from that chapter of the WOT story. Being squeamish about depicting people who look nice and kind and very affable but capable of atrocities if it serves their best interest is a bit of a cop out. On a lighter note. I love Jimmy Eat World's The Middle, my son was born to that song. But seriously, Blondie's Call Me was right there for the final battle scene. Come on!
I feel like I am being a bit harsh on a film that I actually enjoyed, but I had to step away from it being an adaptation of Woman of Tomorrow because that isn't a favourable comparison. If you want a fun film then its a fun film that establishes the character of Kara but it seems afraid of some of the themes and topics that were in Woman of Tomorrow. Supergirl 26 feels like a missed opportunity rather than the crash and burn many are painting it as.
