The Woman Behind the Cape

Supergirl has been portrayed on screens since the 80s through the Supergirl movie (1984), the Supergirl TV show, Smallville, The Flash movie (2023), Superman: The Animated Series, and Justice League Unlimited, just to name a few. They have all illustrated how strong Supergirl is and can hold her own against her cousin Superman. So how does the movie Supergirl (2026) compare to the other iterations above? 

I found the film made a unique choice of focusing on the woman behind Supergirl, Kara Zor-El. Kara is a mess at the beginning of the film, which isn’t really shocking as the film moves along. When Kara tells Ruthye that she is from Krypton, Ruthye is surprised because she thought that the inhabitants all died in an instant. However, Kara responds that the gods aren’t that kind. Kara’s parents were initially able to save the citizens who were near Argo City after Krypton’s destruction. 

However, they didn’t realize that the process caused a harmful chemical exposure to their people. Kara had to watch as those around her started dying in masses due to radiation poisoning. Her father helped her and Krypto escape to Earth. However, when she got there, Clark found her, but he doesn’t speak Kryptonian or know the culture. She doesn’t fit in a world whose ways were mostly different from her own. She is the only remnant of Kryptonian society, which is devastating, causing her to drift off to planets surrounding a red sun so she can experience physical pain to take her mind off the sorrow she constantly feels. 

It creates a dissonance as Ruthye gets to know Kara. She sees that Kara has so much power and potential, yet she wastes her time partying and getting drunk all the time. In a sense, I get where she is coming from. No one wants to see their heroes struggle and fail. However, that is why I like this version of Kara. Her messiness is relatable. People don’t get over trauma quickly, especially the type that Kara has faced. It takes time, which is what we see in the film. She knows the pain she feels will never truly go away, but instead of running away drunk all the time, she decides to stop and live her life in the present. I think Milly Alcock did a great job of portraying Kara with such vulnerability and strength. Her range of emotions made us feel Kara’s trauma and root for her to overcome her pain and obstacles in her life. 

I also liked that the film had a brief cameo from Superman/Clark. It helped to distinguish Kara from her cousin. Clark is kind, bright, and wants to see the best in everyone. He lived a good life due to his parents and therefore experienced safety and stability while growing up. However, Kara had to witness her people suffer and die. She has no one who can relate to her circumstances now. While Clark sees the goodness in society, Kara sees the truth and what lies beneath, which may not always be pleasant. It makes me curious to see if in future movies, they will work together or continuously bump heads because of their different outlooks on society. 

How did the rest of the characters stack up in the film? Most of them were underdeveloped. The villain Krem was very one-dimensional in his pursuit of trafficking and money. He is not memorable by the end. Ruthye was an odd addition. She went after Krem for killing off her entire family, yet she barely had any fighting skills, which is wild since she went around asking people to help fight for her cause. Why would you want to fight for someone who can’t add anything to the battle? It made no sense. However, Ruthye does have a great ability to track people down, hide, and escape. I just wished she used those skills to help Supergirl. The character of Lobo was meh. He came in with a bang and left in a similar fashion, which kind of fits his personality based on what I have seen in the cartoons. He was funny, but I did wish that he had more interactions with Kara.

Overall, I think what would have made the movie better is if they took the villain and Ruthye’s quest out and focused on Kara’s stages of grief. I think it would have been more effective because it would put more emphasis on the fact that heroes struggle like anyone else. Despite the pain they are going through, they learn to overcome the grief and lead a productive life. I wish there were more superheroes like Kara out there. We need examples of people overcoming pain and mental issues, considering how bleak society is right now.