Supergirl‘s reviews are now out, and they are mostly negative, with a few common elements that help explain why the new DC Universe movie’s box office run is projected to be a rough one. House of the Dragon star Milly Alcock debuted as Supergirl at the end of Superman, the first movie in the DCU. That film teased the Supergirl movie’s story.

It showed that Kara Zor-El is a fan of going to Red Sun planets and getting drunk, which David Corenswet’s Superman does not approve of, and Supergirl explains exactly what is behind that behavior. Directed by Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya) from a screenplay by Ana Nogueira, Supergirl‘s cast of characters includes the return of Corenswet’s Superman and the debut of Jason Momoa’s Lobo.

The DC movie adapts the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comics written by Tom King, who is one of the main creatives of Gunn’s DC Universe, and with art by Bilquis Evely. Now, close to its theatrical debut in the United States, Supergirl‘s reviews have come out. On Rotten Tomatoes, Supergirl stands at a low 59% critics’ score based on 176 reviews at the time of writing.

That has led to the second movie in the DCU Chapter One receiving the unwanted “Rotten” label on the platform. Looking at Supergirl‘s reviews, there are a few common elements among the majority that help explain why the overall opinion skews negative. Those include a variety of factors, which moviegoers can explore before a trip to the theaters below.

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Lobo Ends Up Being A Distraction – “Lobo, meanwhile, does absolutely nothing to serve Kara’s emotional journey in the film. He exists largely as a plot contrivance, moving the story forward.” – Molly Freeman, ScreenRant

After playing Aquaman in the old DCEU and being one of the franchise’s few bright spots, there is a lot of excitement for Momoa’s DC return as Lobo. While the character’s inclusion in Supergirl is part of the list, that does not mean that Lobo is bad — on the contrary. Most reviews agree that Momoa’s energetic Lobo is a comics-accurate scene-stealer.

However, there does not seem to be a particularly strong role for the character in Supergirl‘s larger narrative. In a DC movie where critics are pointing out many story issues, Lobo ends up taking too much of the film’s runway for himself without strengthening Supergirl’s journey. He has explosive action sequences and fun lines, but there is a lack of substance.

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The Visuals Are Lackluster Compared To The Comics – “The newest “Supergirl,” half-heartedly directed by Craig Gillespie, wastes the star quality of its lead actress, Milly Alcock, by surrounding her with ugly visuals…” – Cody Dericks, Next Best Picture

Supergirl is based on Tom King’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comics, taking broad story strokes, keeping Ruthye as Kara’s companion, Krem as the villain, and Krypto as the reason Supergirl’s adventure starts. However, many reviews claim it lacks the same soul of the comics, which was displayed a lot of the time by Evely’s gorgeous cosmic artwork. Unlike Superman, Supergirl is a space adventure.

Ruthye and Kara embark on a journey that takes them across the galaxy, visiting many different planets and locations. In the pages of DC Comics, those backgrounds felt unique and impossible to look away from. However, Supergirl‘s reviews heavily criticize the movie’s visuals for being bland, boring, and overly grey/brown. With the source material that it has, that is a major blow to Supergirl‘s appeal.

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There Is A Lack Of Novelty – “Despite being fairly light on its feet, Craig Gillespie’s bratty, high-flying space western is fatiguingly overfamiliar in a genre that can’t help but keep looking backward for inspiration as it clings to relevance.” – Rocco T. Thompson, Slant Magazine

The matter of superhero fatigue is something that Marvel, DC, and other genre franchises will have to deal with every new release this far in the game. Some projects, like Gunn superhero movies that include Superman and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, manage to bring novel elements. Others, like DC’s latest, seemingly are unable to do so.

Multiple Supergirl reviews criticize the movie for feeling familiar, borrowing elements and visuals from other Marvel and DC movies perceived to be better. There are a lot of comments on how Supergirl feels like a watered-down attempt at Gunn’s cosmic Guardians of the Galaxy franchise at Marvel Studios. In the end, the feeling is that Supergirl could have stood out more.

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Supergirl Does Not Live Up To James Gunn’s Superman – “Supergirl never reaches the clarity, precision, or narrative confidence that made Superman such a pleasant surprise.” – Jon Negroni, Thank God for Movies

Gunn’s Superman movie was a monumental release for the franchise. Featuring one of DC’s biggest heroes and serving as the first movie in the DCU, it had to succeed. Superman ended up being a box office hit with overwhelmingly positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, Corenswet’s first time as Clark Kent boasts a high 83% critics’ score and a near-perfect 90% audience score.

By being the DCU’s second movie and a Superman spinoff, Gillespie’s Supergirl was always going to be compared to Gunn’s DC film. Sadly, based on the majority of Supergirl‘s reviews, the consensus is that the film feels less inspiring, precise, and consistent than Superman. When the action draws to a close at the end, it does not leave viewers as energized about the DCU’s future.

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The DC Movie’s Script Has Issues – “He’s given us a comic-book movie with the worst script I can remember. (It’s by Ana Nogueira.)” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

One of the biggest complaints around Supergirl relates to Ana Nogueira’s script. Some critics find that particularly worrisome due to how many DCU projects are currently on the writer’s plate. She is expected to return for at least two of the shared universe’s most important movies, with Nogueira officially writing the highly anticipated Wonder Woman DCU reboot and a Teen Titans movie.

There is a wide range of comments regarding the Supergirl movie’s script. Those include criticism about how it feels unfocused and fails to properly make Kara as complex as the movie keeps suggesting she is. Another commonly pointed out flaw is that the screenplay fails to adapt the heart and epic scale of the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comics, as well as how Supergirl’s stance on violence is not consistent.

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The Characters’ Emotions Don’t Quite Work – “In the end, you can’t help but wonder why the emotions of these characters don’t pack as much of a punch.” – Tomris Laffly, RogerEbert.com

Supergirl is a heavy story. As the DC movie’s trailers have made clear, it tells an alternate take on Krypton’s destruction, which brings about a much darker origin story for Kara Zor-El than the one most fans know. This sets up Supergirl as a complex character from the get-go, with the movie taking her on a journey that tests Kara’s morals and worldview against Ruthye, who is set on a mission.

That is a solid setup for an emotional narrative, but many critics believe that the Supergirl backstory was rushed and not given the necessary time to breathe so that its big emotional punches could land as intended. Additionally, Supergirl’s tone, with Kara often leaning into a drunk and edgy persona, was not too much of a hit with critics.

2

Krem Is A Boring Villain – “Where the story is weakest is its villain, Krem.” – Lynn Venhaus, PopLifeSTL

A superhero movie or TV show is only as good as its villain. Well, given how the vast majority of Supergirl reviews found Krem of the Yellow Hills, the DC movie’s main foe, to be boring, it helps understand why the response to the film has been negative. Criticisms of Krem include his generic design, which is compared to that of a background Guardians of the Galaxy character by some.

The Supergirl movie villain is also criticized for trying to look menacing, but the DC film never settles on a firm identity for the character. There are moments where Krem is frightening, and others where he is more comedic. As such, making him a worthy foe of the first Supergirl solo movie in several years ended up leaving many critics underwhelmed.

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Its Third Act Earns The Flash Comparisons – “Third-act VFX so rough it makes The Flash look like Avatar.” – David Gonzalez, The Cinematic Reel

Finally, most critics agree that Supergirl‘s VFX looks rough. That said, the third-act CGI and backgrounds have easily come out as the biggest source of complaints. The film was even compared to Ezra Miller’s The Flash, which is one of the most panned superhero films ever, when the topic is CGI, as the 2023 DCEU movie’s multiverse cameo sequence clearly showcases.

The VFX in Supergirl‘s third act is said to distract from the movie’s climactic final action sequence, with characters standing on noticeably fake backgrounds, and so on. All those reasons have contributed to Supergirl‘s reviews currently standing on the negative side, though its Rotten Tomatoes score could fluctuate after the movie is released. That said, they should help fans understand where Supergirl stands.

Release Date

June 26, 2026

Runtime

108 minutes

Director

Craig Gillespie

Writers

Ana Nogueira

Producers

James Gunn, Lars P. Winther, Nigel Gostelow, Peter Safran