Remaking classics seems to be a trend lately. Supergirl, aka Kara Zor-El, Superman’s sister, is a character that’s been around since the ’50s, and whether we’re clinging to the past for comfort or just running out of ideas, the DC Universe has decided to crack open the planet Krypton’s other iconic superhero this summer. Yet with the latest film version, as with the multiple attempts preceding it, audiences (including me) are left confused.
This new Supergirl is an adaptation of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, a 2022 DC comic in which Supergirl tags along on a revenge quest led by a girl named Ruthye, whose father was murdered by Krem of the Yellow Hills.
Although the plot structure of the original story is present, I noticed from the beginning that the film holds a much darker tone. Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts) arrives at Ruthye’s (Eve Ridley) home to take her father’s (Ferdinand Kingsley) prized sword collection. He comes looking for trouble, and finds it, violently murdering Ruthye’s father, mother, and brother in front of her eyes. The house erupts in flames, and she’s left to bury her dead. Impressively, and somewhat unrealistically, she soon bounces back and begins searching for a warrior to help her in her fight. That’s when Supergirl (Milly Alcock) shows up. She respects Ruthye’s mission, but has no intention of joining until Krem steals her ship and, shockingly, poisons her dog Krypto in the process.
Fourteen-year-old Ridley is celebrating her first feature film, while Alcock is a more seasoned star, widely recognized for her superb work as Rhaenyra Targaryen in the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon (2022-2024) and in the Netflix series Sirens (2025). She stumbled into the DC world last year in James Gunn’s Superman, drunk and pumped to see Krypto, whom she had left in Superman’s care.
The theme of alcohol abuse is woven into this film’s opening scenes, as when Supergirl is shown drowning her sorrows, grieving her planet’s death. Alcock effectively channels Kara Zor-El’s emotional agony. I learned from this film that Superman and Supergirl’s contrasting dispositions are the result of their histories. While Superman was an infant when he landed on Earth, and remembers only the kindness of the Kent family, Supergirl’s youth in Argo City, the last surviving outpost of the doomed planet Krypton, was painfully tainted by memories of her dying people.
Supergirl is a character of extreme highs and lows. While she is super-powerful under yellow suns, green Kryptonite renders her weaker than the average human. But the stronger she grows, the harder she falls. Meanwhile, Ruthye’s consistency makes her a rock and a determined figure in the story — a surprising and underestimated character who makes the odd pair’s sweet relationship worth following.
Humor is sprinkled throughout, giving the audience a breather between intense themes. The film production traveled to England, Scotland, and Iceland, and the beautiful, alien-like scenery grounds the film amid its otherwise CGI-heavy visuals. The creative, fun soundtrack underlines Supergirl’s confidence and sarcasm, and the wild, wavy hair, retro headphones, giant sunglasses, and comfy attire screams cool.
Schoenaerts plays a truly hate-worthy antagonist as Krem. He makes you disgusted at the sight of him. He’s needlessly violent, empty of mercy, and enjoys what he does. Although these tropes have succeeded before, I was craving more complexity from Krem. We have so little backstory and not an ounce of vulnerability from this character. It’s far more interesting to have a villain that lives in the gray rather than pitch blackness. Teetering between the hazy realms of good and bad with each action is messy and more authentically human. The audience does not want to be spoon-fed how we should feel. Like good journalists, we want the facts to speak for themselves, and how we interpret these often-complex series of events should be up to us. Having a debatable topic or character gives fans something to discuss after the movie ends.
And yet this one-dimensional Krem does not seem to be very good at villainy. The whole plot depends on Ruthye being left alive when he kills her whole family. Krem pays little to no attention to her, despite the fact that kidnapping girls is a crucial aspect of Krem’s hustle. He abducts women to be used as “brides” who are nothing more than machines for producing babies. The film doesn’t go into too much depth on the subject, but even so, I’m hesitant to recommend this film to young girls.
Lobo (Jason Momoa), an alien bounty hunter and mercenary, was the most underdeveloped character in this story. He sticks out like a sore thumb. His random appearance in the plot lacked background and purpose. He did add some much-needed comic relief and fan-girl energy to the movie, but that isn’t enough to justify his presence.
It’s hard to come up with something new with a character that’s been written and rewritten for 67 years. And DC’s shifts in management over the years haven’t helped to make this vision of Supergirl any clearer. The actors involved are talented, but everything about the movie’s premise was stacked against them from the start.
Supergirl
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