Watching – Supergirl (2026)

Supergirl (2026) – TLDR I was whelmed, entertained, but wanted it to be more.

Kara Zor-El was always supposed to be more than a female Superman, at least once they got past the initial “it’s all a dream / what it” issues. She went through many years of finding her place, eventually finding it in the 80s as part of the Legion of Superheroes and getting her own series and having way more sass than Superman ever had. Then she met her end in the ultimate sacrifice in Crisis on Infinite Earths #7. It didn’t stop them from bringing her back, as clone, angel, shapeshifting blob, etc. and once again she’s caught in an identity crisis.

I haven’t yet read the Tom King run that inspired this movie but it got good reviews at the time (2021-2022). Apparently the movie pitch drew inspiration from True Grit, the grizzled gunfighter and the kid bent on avenging her family. I get that in this DC Cinematic reboot that she’s a survivor of tragedy who hasn’t found her place on Earth who solves things differently than her cousin but on a drunken bender to deal with her loss still feels off.

As a movie, the storytelling struggles and it’s difficult to figure out what sort of audience it was trying to find. Like it wanted to appeal to the Harley Quinn fans but also had a serious Guardians of the Galaxy vibe with the music choices (not great choices in my humble opinion). The colour palette definitely tended to the orange and browns instead of the four colours we saw in the recent Superman, but at least it’s not the gritty grays of the MCU and it did serve the story arc of Kara stepping up to the role of the suit representing the defence of others.

Meanwhile, there are a number of plot holes that didn’t need to be there and for a few brief moments I hoped that kryptonite wouldn’t show up (I mean there are only two Kryptonians left currently so that little green rock shouldn’t be as common as it seems sometimes) but they found many other ways to keep the super power level from overpowering the challenges. The villain is straight out of the source material but I would have loved a name brand villain like Brainiac or drop some DC aliens into the mix like the Dominators or the Khunds (okay, that last one might track poorly if not said clearly on the big screen).

The look of Lobo was pretty close to the comic, particularly the classic Simon Bisley / Keith Giffen version (an act of art done as satire but like Judge Dredd, the over the top cartoonish violence was taken as a feature and not a critique). The comically huge hook and chain, oversized cigar, and his catchphrase “Bastich” (though I didn’t catch the screen version call himself “The Main Man” or cursing “FRAK!!!”). He really feels like more an Easter Egg or a back door intro than a featured character though he does play a significant part as some of the random chaos in a couple of scenes.

Overall, glad I spent money on it in support of the Supergirl. There’s much that could be done with the Maid of Might as we saw in the tv series and time will tell if she gets another chance as a part of a team in another DC movie.

I also believe that there was a lost opportunity of a mid credit scene of Lobo feeding his space dolphins …