Craig Gillespie’s Supergirl, starring Milly Alcock as the title character, with Jason Momoa, Eve Ridley and David Corenswet, feels a lot like déjà vu; that mysterious sensation that you’ve been there or done that before. While it’s a playful cross-pollination of DC’s beloved source material, Tom King’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, and the guiding hands of James Gunn’s aesthetics and production style, Supergirl forms into something that’s both intensely fun to watch yet lacking any surprises.
Supergirl releases June 26, 2026 in theaters.
Supergirl Official Synopsis
From Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Studios comes “SUPERGIRL,” directed by Craig Gillespie from a screenplay by Ana Nogueira, and produced by DC Studios’ James Gunn and Peter Safran.
When an unexpected and ruthless adversary strikes too close to home, Kara Zor-El — aka Supergirl — reluctantly joins forces with an unlikely companion on an epic, interstellar journey of vengeance and justice.
The film stars Milly Alcock as Kara Zor-El/Supergirl, Matthias Schoenaerts as Krem of the Yellow Hills, Eve Ridley as Ruthye Marye Knoll, David Krumholtz as Zor-El, Emily Beecham as Alura In-Ze, David Corenswet as Kal-El/Superman and Jason Momoa as Lobo.
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, “SUPERGIRL” arrives in theaters and IMAX nationwide on June 26, 2026, and internationally beginning June 24.
Review – Milly Alcock Delivers a Strong Debut Despite a Predictable Story
In this iteration of the classic superheroine, Alcock’s Kara Zor-El teams up with a young alien girl named Ruthye Marye Knoll (Ridley). Ruthye’s entire family is murdered by a ruthless space pirate named Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts). Initially, she solicits the help of any available mercenary to help her get revenge, but after Supergirl saves Ruthye from being robbed of the rare and custom sword her father crafted as his final creation, she reluctantly agrees to help. This kicks off a galaxy-spanning road trip filled with bounty hunters, criminals, strange planets, and moral dilemmas.
One thing Supergirl does extremely well is not telling your typical origin story; we don’t follow her journey from cradle to metaphorical grave, and instead, we get some very emotional and stylish flashbacks to fill in the gaps without dwelling on the details too long. Screenwriter Ana Nogueira’s scripting is smart in assuming that we all know about the death of Krypton, Clark Kent, and the effects of Kryptonite, so it doesn’t waste time retreading old ground. Instead, it shows us the effects all those elements have on the second-to-last Kryptonian unveiled in the rebooted DC Universe, and how she decides to move through this world. The years of loss and loneliness have pushed her over the edge of drunken cynicism, and despite her cousin Clark’s (aka Superman) best efforts, Kara still struggles with a sense of belonging.
A Loving Tribute to Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow
It’s worth noting that the story takes substantial inspiration from Tom King’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow series, taking the heart of its story and condensing it into a film package. The book’s Brazilian superstar artist, Bilquis Evely, even gets an on-screen shoutout, with the planet Bilquis and the city of Evely being two locations in the film. It’s a very sincere and equally creative way for a film to pay homage to its source material that we don’t usually see outside of the end credits.
Lobo Steals Scenes While the Villains Fall Flat
Lobo’s (Jason Momoa) role in the film is purely for entertainment purposes, although not necessarily one that shifts the plot forward very dramatically. In the process of bounty hunting, Lobo ends up needing rescuing along the way by Ruthye, which provides some much needed character development.
Jason Mamoa might have been born to play Lobo. It’s been something he himself has been asking for since before the film’s announcement, and now that he’s finally in the role, the portrayal feels almost second nature. Eve Ridley similarly does an amazing job as Ruthye Marye Knoll, and honestly, it isn’t her fault if the character is a bit annoying at times because she plays even those moments up with depth.
The villain himself, Krem, and his band of space-biker-pirates, are unfortunately a pretty uninspired bunch. Their designs are pretty neat and very Heavy Metal (the genre and the magazine), but the personalities are sorely lacking: space bullies with no emotional depth or serious motivations except for continuing their male-only species (logistical questions arise) by kidnapping women from other planets for breeding. I’m sure there’s a commentary on the “incel” movements and their inherent misogyny somewhere in there, but any potential discussion that could be had is dwarfed by the simplicity of Krem and his gangs’ roles. In other words, they’re not even that deep.
Milly Alcock Makes Supergirl Her Own
We have to talk about the woman of the hour, Milly Alcock, as Supergirl herself. Alcock builds on the rebellious, devil-may-care, attitude she teased in her first outing in James Gunn’s Superman and gives us a Kara Zor-El that is unique positioned amongst past versions. One of the beauties of this rendition, unlike her more frequently rebooted cousin, is actually that there have been less on-screen iterations of Supergirl to compare her too, and the ones we do have (Helen Slater’s campy but charming approach versus Melissa Benoist’s lovable and adventurous take) all live in their own worlds. Because of that, it’s easy to take Alcock’s version as its own thing; she’s wild on the surface, good at heart and punk-rock from start to finish.
The characterization of making her the jaded hero as opposed to the plucky ingénue (and even passing some of those traits onto Lobo as the sidekick) is a big breath of fresh air; it’s especially great to see a younger female superhero that isn’t reduced to tropes or eye candy. With a little more time, Alcock’s Supergirl could very well be influential to the upcoming generation of girls and women who love their comics and pop culture-related entertainment.
James Gunn’s Influence is Tangible
The tonality of Gillespie’s film is light-hearted, and vividly presented; you could draw comparisons to James Gunn-crafted films, such as Guardians of the Galaxy from Marvel (he used pop music to fuel many of the cooler sequences as he did in GotG) and of course the latest offering, Superman, with its bright visuals and upbeat tonality. Even in its darker moments, Supergirl is never too overwhelming. For a first outing, I totally approve, though it will be fascinating to see how Alcock could play with a more serious tonality when that inevitably arises.
The set pieces—while very CGI-heavy—are gorgeous and immersive. The action is intense and we get a sense of Kara’s passion and anger. But at the same time, the battles leave something to be desired as even during the final battle (and the film holds off on suiting her up in the traditional red-and-blues), it still feels as though she’s holding back a bit. Perhaps it’s a setup for future installments where she might be fighting opponents who are more worthy of her abilities, but it would feel better if we got a bigger payoff in that regard.
On a similar note, it feels a bit risky to debut with a protege in tow. While it was probably smart to have a naive and innocent foil to her hardened demeanor, and again it’s all based off a book, I wonder if having a sidekick couldn’t wait until the sequel. That way the solo debut could actually be solo, instead of having assistance from a newbie swordswoman and a anti-hero bounty hunter.
While the film’s score is composed by Claudia Sarne, the film relies on licensed music, and the selections (which also feature one from my favorite UK bands, Wolf Alice!) are spot on in driving the scenes forward and instilling that emotional core to certain moments that require them. That’s why it’s a bit painful to say that the original soundtrack is honestly not very memorable at all. For the Woman of Tomorrow’s big break, I was expecting a theme, an anthem, a leitmotif, that’s fresh and fascinating and that holds its own along with the classic themes of superhero cinema like John Williams’s Superman Theme or Danny Elfman’s Main Title Theme from Spider-Man. Instead, the film ends up recycling Williams’s score during its most triumphant moment and outside of that we’re not left with much else to ponder.
Craig Gillespie’s Supergirl is a bold and ambitious approach to a familiar character that, perhaps without the context of its masterful source material and without the predictability of the framework of American cinema, would be a more impressive outing for the Girl of Steel. But with an introductory sequence that’s reminiscent of another revenge-for-killing-my-father film (Mortal Kombat II), a score that lives in the shadow of its predecessor, and an overall story condensed until its devoid of a lot of the depth of its source material, the déjà vu is strong with this one. Still, Supergirl lives up to the popcorn, Summer action flick, vibe we’ve come to expect from the genre.
PROS
- Fun casting
- Great world building
- A great popcorn flick for the comic nerds out there
- The Punk Rock and Roll aesthetic was the right choice for this iteration of Supergirl
CONS
- Overly condensed adaptation of Tom King’s much more introspective comic
- The sidekick, Ruthye, can be annoying at times
- The second and third acts drag on a bit longer than needed
Rating – 3/5 Pocky
Elijah Isaiah Johnson is a writer/illustrator/animator. His most recently published works include the Amazon best-seller Nightmare Detective, Noir is the New Black, the Comixology Indie best-selling series Leaders of the Free World, The Formula and much more.
