{"id":2628439,"date":"2026-07-11T07:22:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T11:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-new-supergirl-is-a-cheerless-comic-book-movie\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T07:26:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T11:26:34","slug":"the-new-supergirl-is-a-cheerless-comic-book-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-new-supergirl-is-a-cheerless-comic-book-movie\/","title":{"rendered":"The new &#8216;Supergirl&#8217; is a cheerless comic book movie"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-new-supergirl-is-a-cheerless-comic-book-movie%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2628439&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article critiques the recent Supergirl film, describing it as a disappointing and nihilistic reinterpretation of the character. Unlike the 1984 version featuring Helen Slater, which was seen as moderately entertaining and nostalgic of the Reagan era, the new movie is characterized by its bleak tone, lack of patriotism, and focus on chaotic action. The portrayal of Kara Zor-El (Supergirl) by Milly Alcock is limited,embodying a shallow,hipster-inspired stereotype of a disaffected young woman more interested in bar-hopping and casual companionship with her dog than heroic deeds. The plot revolves around a gangster named Krem and a rescue mission centered on saving a CGI dog rather than saving the world. Despite the universe-spanning setting, the film feels disconnected from conventional superhero values, emphasizing frenetic chases and fights rather than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pro-life-professor-breaks-down-why-supreme-court-didnt-go-far-enough-when-it-overturned-roe\/\" title=\"Pro-life prof explains why Supreme Court fell short in overturning &#039;Roe&#039;.\">moral substance<\/a>. it is indeed viewed as a regrettable departure from the hopeful, patriotic spirit historically associated with Superman and his related characters.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While watching the ostentatiously trashy new <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/movies\/\">movie<\/a> <em>Supergirl<\/em>, I could not help but think how the mighty have fallen. Or should I say, how the mediocre have fallen? Not being a reader of any iteration of the <em>Supergirl<\/em> <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2873323\/raw-weird-and-politically-incorrect-how-underground-comics-are-pushing-back-against-woke-culture\/\">comic books<\/a> published by DC Comics, I cannot comment on their quality as compared to the subsequent screen adaptations, but I can say that the 1984 film version, with Helen Slater as Supergirl, was passably diverting and perfectly inoffensive: a piece of <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ronald-reagan\/\">Reagan-era<\/a> hokum somewhat redeemed by practical special effects, a rousing Jerry Goldsmith score, and, though the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/movies-and-films\/\">movie<\/a> was a British production about a gal exiled from Krypton, its makers\u2019 abiding belief that the Supergirl character represented a continuation of her cousin Superman\u2019s commitment to truth, justice, and the American way.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/4644392\/prince-harry-family-meet-king-charles-security-denied\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Prince Harry and family meet with King Charles for the first time in four years<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/4643997\/taylor-swift-reimburse-new-york-city-police\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Taylor Swift reimburses New York City for police overtime during wedding: Mamdani<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4643218\/apache-helicopter-pilots-suspended-after-south-carolina-beach-air-show\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Apache helicopter pilots suspended after South Carolina beach air show<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, yes, while watching Milly Alcock as Kara Zor-El (aka Supergirl) maneuver through outer space in a vehicle that more closely resembles an ill-maintained, barely running motorhome than a spaceship, express a preference for remaining in a drunken stupor rather than marshaling her superpowers, and ultimately consent to participate in a series of incomprehensibly brutal and chaotic fights with assorted alien lifeforms, it becomes obvious that even the marginal achievement of the earlier <em>Supergirl<\/em> movie is preferable to the deadbeat nihilism of this new one.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-15\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of course, the present <em>Supergirl<\/em> \u2014 overseen by DC Studios leader James Gunn, directed by Craig Gillespie, and written by Ana Nogueira \u2014 has already been subjected to extensive critical pans and <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >equally extensive audience indifference<\/a>, so it is perhaps a bit redundant to raise further objections two weeks after its release. Yet there is something singularly unbecoming about a franchise as American as <em>Superman<\/em> (and its adjuncts) being willfully stripped of its <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/patriotism\/\">patriotism<\/a> and good cheer.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the movie opens, Kara is humorously (but completely uncritically) presented as the embodiment of a certain kind of single, disaffected twenty-something female: When not lounging around in that untidy spaceship, she is seen barhopping and indifferently organizing a game of outer-space fetch with her dog Krypto \u2014 her loyalty to whom goes so far as her sharing with him a bowl of soggy cereal. Yes, James Gunn and company have turned Supergirl into a childless cat, er, dog, lady, with hipster affectations.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\">Milly Alcock and Matthias Schoenaerts in Supergirl. (Courtesy of Warner Bros)<\/p>\n<p>&#8221; data-large-file=&#8221;https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2026\/07\/localimages\/LA.Film_.Supergirl.071526.jpg?w=696&#8243; height=&#8221;658&#8243; width=&#8221;1024&#8243; &#8220;https:><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Milly Alcock and Matthias Schoenaerts in \u201cSupergirl.\u201d (Courtesy of Warner Bros)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alcock plays the role with admirable tenacity, but the fact that her take on the character was already fully evident by her cameo in last year\u2019s Gunn-directed <em>Superman <\/em>film demonstrates the limitations with which she has been shackled: There is nothing that the new movie reveals about Kara that did not come across in that one scene a year ago.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-16\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-2\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That is not to say that<em> Supergirl<\/em> is not stuffed with character and incident. The plot turns on the annihilation of three-quarters of a family by a so-called \u201cBrigand\u201d named Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts), a roving gangster who demands pie from the victims from whom he plunders. (We are a long way from the suave Lex Luthor.) The remnant of the family taken out by Krem is young Ruthye (Eve Ridley), a girl who makes public her plans for redress at a bar where Kara is conveniently getting drunk. Little could Superman creators Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel have guessed that a descendant of their original creation would end up at the bottom of a bottle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At first indifferent to Ruthye\u2019s plight, Kara only consents to pursue Krem when the fellow poisons Krypto, whose life can be saved by the administration of an antidote in the possession of \u2026 Krem. To repeat, this version of Supergirl is a childless dog lady, and the stakes are not the fate of America or the world but an admittedly cute (though obviously CGI-manufactured) pup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/4623661\/film-review-were-all-too-old-for-new-toy-story-nostalgia-technology-lilypad\/\">WE\u2019RE ALL TOO OLD FOR THE NEW \u2018TOY STORY\u2019 MOVIE <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-17\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-3\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What follows in this depressingly desert-bound, earth-toned movie \u2014 one that calls to mind the world-building of the last <em>Mad Max<\/em> movie, 2024\u2019s <em>Furiosa<\/em>, more than bright-hued comic books \u2014 is a series of increasingly frenetic chases and fights. At various points, Jason Momoa logs appearances as a muscle-bound mercenary called Lobo. Surely I can\u2019t be the only critic who feels this character has adopted the look of Randall \u201cTex\u201d Cobb from the Coen brothers\u2019 classic comedy <em>Raising Arizona<\/em>?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/on-cicadas-and-what-they-have-to-teach-us\/\" title=\"On Cicadas And What They Have To Teach Us\">long stretches<\/a>, the only reminder that this film exists in the Superman universe is occasional FaceTime-like messages from the Man of Steel (played, as in last year\u2019s movie, by David Corenswet), who functions as a kind of long-distance substance abuse counselor to the wayward Kara. Shockingly, in the finale, Kara \u2014 now, at last, dressed as Supergirl and presumably aware of the costume\u2019s moral weight \u2014 counsels Ruthye against exacting revenge on Krem but, outside of Ruthye\u2019s presence, she proceeds to do just that in the name of her (happily soon-to-be-fully recovered) dog.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yes, this movie takes the Supergirl character on a voyage throughout the universe, but the filmmakers could have just as easily plopped her down in a dog park across the street from a bar.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-25\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-4\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Peter Tonguette is the Life &#038; Arts editor of the <\/em>Washington Examiner <em>magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supergirl&#8217;s decline: from 1984 charm to today&#8217;s chaos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2691,"featured_media":2628440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/LA.Film_.Supergirl.071526.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[82567,82566,82565,37932],"class_list":["post-2628439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-cheerless","tag-comic-book-movie","tag-supergirl","tag-superhero-films"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/LA.Film_.Supergirl.071526.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2628439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2691"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2628439"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2628439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2628443,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2628439\/revisions\/2628443"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2628440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2628439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2628439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2628439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}