Supergirl (2026) is great, actually

I have long a)go accepted that I cannot fathom the point-of-view of a large segment of the movie-going populace.

I keep loving movies that tank at the box office, and movies that the general public loves I can barely finish.

I'll get to my actual analysis of this movie a little further down, but I need to rant for a second: because it seems this movie could not win.

To me the clearest analog that illustrates how bizarre the criticism this movie has gotten is Captain Marvel (2019). There was so much pushback in that movie about how Carol "didn't take damage" and "had a weak character arc because it took her too long to get her powers" without ever addressing the fact that it's really problematic for a male audience to cry out as one "why won't she bleed more? We came here to see women bleed!" I always thought that criticism was disingenuous, but if I ever needed it proven, it was this summer when those same viewers were filled with people hating on Kara for taking too much damage. Reviewers have created a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't dichotomy to hide that what they really want is: no women in these roles.

My analysis? This movie is incredible. In another year it'd be my favorite movie of the year, but this year is stuffed with Spider-Man Brand New Day, Backrooms, Obsession, The Odyssey, and so many others that it'll get crowded out, but it's still a phenomenal movie that all involved should be proud of. Definitely in my Top 5 DC movies, maybe my Top 10 Superhero movies.

This movie does an excellent job of examining Kara and Ruthye through a 4-Corner Opposition that also pits them against Lobo and Superman, where all four exist on an ideological spectrum: Superman being the furthest naive, Ruthye just back from that, Kara being closer to being nihilistic, and Lobo being the furthest extreme of that spectrum. They discuss this dichotomy in the film, and in that Kara makes the mistake of saying that Ruthye is also too world-weary for Superman to understand, but Ruthye looks at her when she says it and Kara cuts herself short. As a general rule, when characters tell you out loud what the theme is: listen.

What's being discussed here is: has Ruthye gone too far over to that other side where Kara and Lobo exist, and if not, should she? To that end, the argument is posed over and over again in the film: should Ruthye exact revenge for her father's murder?

The end of the film has been very polarizing for people to that regard. Kara successfully convinces Ruthye to step back from the brink of taking her revenge as Lobo watches on in the distance and Kara wears her Superman suit for the first time: in a weird way, all four characters are 'here' even if Clark isn't present. Ruthye stops short of taking the life of the man who killed her father: only for Kara to tell her not to watch, then stepping in and killing him herself. Even more so, Kara makes clear "this is for my dog." She makes a statement that her action, while it may or may not have been just, was one of revenge.

A lot of people are reading this as a contradiction / lapse in storytelling. To which I say: are we all watching the same movie??? To me this is not a story about if Kara should succumb to nihilism and revenge or not: that's already done, that bridge has been crossed. She makes that clear. She's not as far gone as Lobo yet, but she's on the path and she knows it. She also makes it clear: that is not a bad thing. She does not judge herself for this, if anything, she judges Superman's naivete.

No, this is a movie about Ruthye, about weather or not they should let Ruthye go down that path, and on one side you have Kara saying no, and on the other you have Lobo saying yes. In the end, Kara changes not by "coming to the light," but by deciding that those in the light are not "lesser" or "naive." She accepts Ruthye's purity and chooses to preserve it... but that doesn't mean Krem deserves to live. He has to go, Kara just doesn't want Ruthye to be the one to do it.

Kara saves Ruthye from going down the same path she has, accepts that there's something worth preserving of innocence, and in the end Returns Home to Earth and Has Changed, now accepting of who Superman is. She's not like him, but she accepts him, through her experience helping Ruthye.

This is a beautiful movie. It's True Grit in space. I do not understand the hate. 10/10, would watch again, will watch again. Do not understand what is wrong with people.