My Review of Supergirl (2026)

 

Written by Ana Nogueira

Directed by Craig Gillespie 

Supergirl: "Here's the thing. My cousin and I have very different ideas about what it means to be a hero. He sees the good in everyone and I see the truth."

Oh, DC - what to do with you? You came out swinging last year with Superman (2025) amid a petulant hate campaign and sadly, it seems that Supergirl (2026) fell victim to an even more mean spirited one. Is this the end of the DCU? Of course it isn't. 

Now I'm not gonna pretend that this isn't a movie without it's flaws and I'll delve into them during the review. In the comic book world, Tom King's a divisive writer but his miniseries Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow was one of the few things that DC fans seem to like. I can see why it was chosen as a potential adaptation.

Having already met Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl (Milly Alcock) in her cousin's movie, her solo adventure focused on her going from planet to planet getting drunk. It's also Kara's 23rd birthday and aside from Krypto and her well meaning cousin, Superman (David Corenswet), Kara's basically got nobody. Then she's roped into the big story itself.

Let's throw in Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley). The poor girl had to witness her parents being murdered by Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts) and she naturally wanted revenge. This was something that Kara wanted no part in but then Krypto got poisoned and had three days to live and the antidote was on the Brigands person. Those reasons alone were enough for Kara and Ruthye to team up.

Putting the source material to one side, when watching this movie yesterday I was reminded of Birds Of Prey (2020). In some aspects, the dynamic between Kara and Ruthye wasn't that dissimilar to Harley Quinn and Cassandra Cain. It's a slightly gentler version with Kara opening up about her life on Krypton, her parents and the differences between herself and her famous cousin.

Anyways as Kara and Ruthye ventured through different planets in order to get to Krem and his cohorts, there was also the presence of intergalactic bounty hunter, Lobo (Jason Momoa) himself. He's only in a handful of scenes, was moderately helpful to Kara and Ruthye and Momoa was well within his comfort zone, performance wise. Lobo's inclusion felt like a set up for an inevitable future solo project of his to be announced.

With most comic book movies, the third act was something of a mixed bag. There's a subplot involving human trafficking and changes made to Krem's character to give him more context. Krem wasn't a particularly compelling baddie to watch but at least Ruthye got closure, Krypto got cured (was there ever a doubt?) and Kara did what was necessary to stop Krem and his crew.

As for Superman and the Krypton scenes. I liked how they were spread out throughout the movie and I'd argue they're handled well here. Kara's parents Zor-El (David Krumholtz) and Alura In-Ze (Emily Beecham) were written as good people and there's a nice backstory for Krypto. Kara's scenes with Superman were some of the best in the movie, especially the final scene between cousins. I love their rapport so much.

- For the first time in a while, there are no mid or post credit scenes and honestly, they're not missed here.

- Seth Rogan had an uncredited role as a small alien that Kara met on the space bus. There was a lot of different aliens in the movie, including Sklarian Raiders.

- We had to wait until the third act for Kara to don her Supergirl costume. She used a lot of martial arts and got shot with Kryptonite as well.

- There's a few changes made to the source material, some being more noticeable than others. Most were fine tbh.

- Standout music: Claudia Sarne did good with the score and other than that, there's Cheek To Cheek by Ella Fitzgerald and Catch These Fists by Wet Legs.

- Chronology: Kara turned 23 and one of the many planets she visited was named Bilquis, after the artist of the source material. We also saw Krypton, Argos City and Metropolis.

Supergirl (2026) might not hit the same way that her more famous cousin's movie did a year ago but I'll side eye the hell out of anyone who'd claim this to be a bad movie. It's not bad in the slightest. As an adaptation to an acclaimed comic book miniseries, it's mostly faithful to the source material. The colour palette's a bit too drab and Krem isnt an interesting baddie but Milly Alcock has proved to be fantastic casting as Supergirl. 

Rating: 7 out of 10