The original Supergirl film from 1984 is one of my childhood favorites, though it is an extremely terrible film. This is not the fault of Helen Slater, who does a terrific job portraying the character and working with what she is given. It’s more an issue with the film’s script, which was written by horny old men. As a result, 1984’s Supergirl is little more than a two-dimensional soap opera in which the titular hero and the primary antagonist (a goofy witch played by Faye Dunaway) have a prolonged catfight over a man. It’s also mostly an excuse for the male gaze to linger on Helen Slater while she flies around in her skirt. The story is shit, the plot is full of gaping holes, and the film flopped in theaters so miserably that it took almost three entire decades for Hollywood to give us another female-led superhero drama. Indeed, 1984’s Supergirl was cited as “evidence” that audiences “just didn’t want to see female action heroes on the big screen,” which is absolutely not true. Films like Aliens (1986) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) demonstrate that audiences were perfectly capable of accepting female action heroes at the time; the makers of Supergirl (1984) simply didn’t care enough to make a good film.
But now, 42 years later, a new Supergirl film (2026) has come along to help us forget all about that 1984 travesty. I saw the film last weekend, and I was deeply satisfied. Craig Gillespie’s new film is much more character-driven than its predecessor, exploring the titular Kara Zor-El’s anguish over losing her home planet of Krypton (something that her cousin, Kal-El/Superman, never personally experienced, since he was just a newborn when Krypton died). Milly Alcock is phenomenal in the role, communicating both vulnerability and strength. I love the fact that Alcock’s Supergirl never wastes time fighting with anyone over a man, and she is never framed onscreen for the male gaze either. (She doesn’t need to be; that woman is already compelling enough to look at all her own, without any need for being sexualized.)
But most importantly (for the storyteller in me, at least), Supergirl deserves special mention for avoiding the typical superhero movie mistake. For the past two decades, damn near every superhero movie has culminated in some kind of “end of the world” plot. They’re all about trying to prevent the destruction of the universe or whatever — which is totally a noble goal, of course; but it is overused way too often in superhero films these days. Not every superhero movie needs to feature an alien invasion or a portal to hell opening up in the sky and what-not. It’s refreshing to see a superhero film where the hero goes on a much smaller (but no less important) kind of quest — a quest to save her dog, Krypto, and to help avenge the murder of a young girl’s family. In many ways, Supergirl feels less like your standard superhero flick and more like a Western that just happens to take place in outer space. (This is a compliment.)
I’ve always liked Supergirl a little bit more than Superman. I love both characters, but Kara Zor-El has always captured my heart in a way that Kal-El can’t. So it was extremely important to me that this new Supergirl movie should give her character the solid respect she deserves. Well now I finally have what I’ve always wanted: a Supergirl movie where Supergirl isn’t just a sex object, but a real three-dimensional character with a unique soul of her own. Milly Alcock is now my favorite onscreen Supergirl ever, and I don’t think anyone will be taking her place anytime soon.
Unfortunately, not everyone seems to enjoy Supergirl (2026) as much as I do. Before the film was even released, there was a passionate campaign by misogynist internet trolls to vilify the film, and to humiliate anyone who had anything positive or nice to say about it. Dean Cain (“Nobody’s Favorite Superman,” who played Big Blue in TV’s The Adventures of Lois and Clark) even weighed in, making fun of Milly Alcock for her ear piercings and for her looks. An awful lot of toxic men have even compared Alcock to “the Feral Kid” from George Miller’s Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981), which is just unacceptable. And again, all of this was said before the film was even released and before anyone could even give Alcock’s performance a chance.
First of all, the earrings argument is dumb because everybody knows Kryptonians are just normal mortal humans when they live beneath a red sun, such as the native sun of Krypton. It’s also dumb because we have seen Kryptonians wear clothing and jewelry in many other adaptations of the same source material, including 1978’s Superman: The Movie. So it is completely believable that Kara Zor-El might have had her ears pierced when she was still a young woman on Krypton, long before she came to Earth and was empowered by our yellow sun.
Secondly, everyone knows the quickest way for men to punch down on women is by targeting their bodies and vilifying their looks. Creeps like Dean Cain should be ashamed of themselves for continuing to perpetuate such commentaries against Alcock.
Some viewers have more solid reasons for disliking the film. It is partly based on a graphic novel entitled Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, which has quite a fanbase; and some fans of the graphic novel take issue with the film for not adapting that story well enough. I can respect and understand this argument, but I do think it is being leveled against Supergirl somewhat inconsistently. Other superhero films have been partly based on popular graphic novels as well, including 2008’s The Dark Knight (which is partly inspired by Batman: The Long Halloween, one of the most successful Batman stories ever told). In fact, The Dark Knight takes many liberties with The Long Halloween; yet I have never heard a single person accuse the film of “bastardizing” that comic. Of course, Batman is a male superhero, so the filmmakers are given much more leeway to do whatever they want. But when the exact same thing is done for a female superhero movie, everybody and their lawyer suddenly thinks every comic book adaptation needs to be 100% accurate. The same comic book fans who are fine with Batman murdering Ra’s al-Ghul or Two-Face will give Supergirl hell just for “not smiling enough.”
Movie culture has become so toxic and divisive over the past decade, it simply isn’t fun anymore. We can’t even wait for a film to be released before people start politicizing and shitting all over it. Movies are no longer treated as art, but as mere investments, even by regular moviegoers. And I am pretty Gods-damned sick of it.
Having said all of that; I consider Supergirl (2026) to be the best film I have seen this year so far, and I highly recommend it to anyone else who might be a Supergirl fan, or who might just want to see a female-led action film that doesn’t feature any sex or romantic subplots. I look forward to seeing this film again, and I look forward to seeing Milly Alcock return as Kara Zor-El in a future film.
