Tripwire Reviews Supergirl

Doesn’t Quite Get Off The Ground

Tripwire’s editor-in-chief Joel Meadows reviews Warners’ Supergirl, out in cinemas now. Warning: a few spoilers ahead…

Supergirl
Director: Craig Gillespie
Stars: Millie Alcock, David Corenswet, Eve Ridley, Jason Momoa

James Gunn’s Superman, which hit last summer, managed to bring back the idea of a cohesive DC cinematic universe despite a script that threw everything but the rocketship at the plot. So we have a second DC movie for summer 2026, this time only produced by Gunn and directed by Aussie filmmaker Gillespie (I,Tonya, Lars And The Real Girl). Supergirl, played by fellow Australian actor Alcock, from HBO’s House of The Dragon, is Superman’s rebellious cousin Kara, also an escapee from the planet Krypton. Kara is contacted by Kal-El (Corenswet in a small cameo) who keeps asking her when she plans to return to Earth. Kara was introduced in Superman and CGI super-dog Krypto lives with her in her rickety space ship cum caravan. Ridley plays Ruthye, a young girl whose parents were slain by evil intergalactic pirate, brigand Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts) and is bent on revenge with the assistance of Supergirl.

The pros here: Alcock is okay as Supergirl, although sometimes her too cool for school schtick does get a little old, Momoa does make a very limited character, Lobo, at least seem fun on the screen. In terms of its cons, the plot is all over the place here, a plot which worked a lot more tightly in the comic series that this is loosely based on. As with Superman, it feels a little bit like the director has thrown everything at the screen in the hope that something sticks. CGI Krypto is annoying here too, making it rather difficult to empathise with him. Ironically since it’s Alcock from the HBO show, Ridley looks as if she took a wrong turn from the House of The Dragon set while Schoenarts looks like a Star Trek villain who has escaped from the cutting room floor.

Its box office has been okay so far but fairly disappointing (looking to gross around $30m in its opening weekend). It does have a clear run in terms of other summer films this year as the next competitor is Marvel’s Spider-man: Brand New Day which doesn’t come out until the end of July. But one of the other problems that Warners/ DC has is that unlike her super-powered cousin, people’s recognition of the character is not great. Also, it does seem that big screen superhero fatigue is definitely a thing now as only Superman placed in the Top 10 list of highest grossing films of 2025. The rest were movies like the latest Avatar, animated juggernaut Zootopia 2 and Jurassic World: Rebirth.

Supergirl is an important film for DC Studios’ head James Gunn. It has to prove that Superman’s box office wasn’t a fluke. DC’s next movie is R Rated Clayface and presumably they are hoping that this more adult take on the Batman villain will do a Joker and surprise everyone. Supergirl isn’t totally without its charms as some of the sci fi touches here are fun and Gillespie’s portrayal of Krypton and Kara’s home of Argo City is visually appealing but it could have done with a director who is able to exercise a tighter rein on a big summer superhero movie.

Gunn has her appearing again in the second Superman film, Man Of Tomorrow, which is scheduled to come out in summer next year. But the studio has to hope that Alcock is enough to draw people into seeing this. It’s admirable I suppose to have a strong female character in a central role in a superhero blockbuster but it has to be matched with a script that offers a story that works on the big screen. Sometimes tales which engage on the comic page lose something in translation and this feel very much like this is the case here. People should go and pick up Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King and Bilquis Evely, a truly enjoyable modern comic epic and perhaps consider sitting this film out.

JOEL MEADOWS

Supergirl is out in cinemas now