Supergirl is the second step forward in James Gunn’s DCU, an outing building on the legacy of Superman, the live-action debut of the universe last summer. Unfortunately, despite killer casting in the form of Milly Alcock, the response to Supergirl from critics is muted as a Rotten Tomatoes review score takes shape.
“Super-Horrendous” reads Variety’s review headline, and while that’s certainly on the more dire end, Supergirl currently has a still-fluctuating 59% Rotten Tomatoes score, which the site classifies as “rotten.” That’s below well below Superman’s 83% and pretty poor in the overall era of superhero features, which critics like more often than you might think.
There is obviously not a long list to compare Supergirl to in the DCU, given that it is just the second film in that universe. Other offerings are Peacemaker and Creature Commandos, but this Supergirl score is still a low score in context. We might as well slot it into the old DCEU chart for comparison purposes:
- Wonder Woman – 93% critic score
- The Suicide Squad (Gunn) – 90% critic score
- Shazam – 90% critic score
- Superman (DCU) – 83% critic score
- Birds of Prey – 79% critic score
- Blue Beetle – 78% critic score
- Zack Snyder’s Justice League – 71% critic score
- Aquaman – 66% critic score
- The Flash – 63% critic score
- Wonder Woman 1984 – 59% critic score
- Supergirl (DCU) – 56% critic score
- Man of Steel – 56% critic score
- Justice League (Original) – 40% critic score
- Black Adam – 39% critic score
- Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom – 33% critic score
- Batman V Superman – 29% critic score
- Suicide Squad – 26% critic score
The complaints are relatively uniform. Milly Alcock is a great pick for Kara, but the direction by superhero newbie Craig Gillespie is underwhelming. Same with the central villain, Matthias Schoenaerts’ Krem, dismissed as a poor foil for a movie this ambitious. Supergirl is described as Mad Max-like on the positive side with a relentless pace, but at times, there are comparisons to it being a subpar James Gunn “impression,” a movie and script in his style, but without working as well as his films. It also raises questions about co-writer Ana Nogueira, where Gunn was so impressed with her Supergirl script that she’s now writing Wonder Woman as well.
James Gunn’s DCU plans feel risky, at present. Doing a Supergirl film immediately after Superman, then Man of Tomorrow, the Superman sequel, three years in a row, is a lot of weight on a single corner of the DC Universe (plus a Clayface film is out this fall). Gunn also has to juggle the fact that everyone loves Matt Reeves’ The Batman and cannot wait for The Batman Part II, but Gunn’s own DCU version, The Brave and the Bold, may conflict uncomfortably with those films and that fandom.
It is still too early to know the fate of the DCU, given that we are just two films in and the second doesn’t even have box office returns in yet (though Supergirl weekend tracking keeps sliding downward). At this point, it seems pretty clear that James Gunn is good at writing and directing superhero movies, but guiding an entire universe and managing others needing to craft their own films is several levels above that. A middling Supergirl movie is not a misstep DC needed right now.
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