8 Harsh Realities Of Rewatching Supergirl Now That It's On Streaming

Published Sep 15, 2026, 9:40 AM EDT

Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more.

Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics."

Supergirl is now on streaming, and by rewatching the DC Universe's latest movie, viewers will be met with some harsh realizations. The first movie in James Gunn's DC Universe was 2025's Superman. The film ended up being a major hit for DC Studios, grossing $618.7 million worldwide, and earning a strong 83% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes with a near-perfect 90% audience score.

Supergirl was the second movie in the DCU Chapter One. Despite the fact that Milly Alcock debuted in Superman as the Girl of Steel and her cameo was well-received, the Supergirl movie did not meet expectations. By the end of its theatrical run, Supergirl made just $126.4 million worldwide. On Rotten Tomatoes, the DC movie stands at a low 53% based on 373 reviews, with viewers giving it just a decent 72% audience score.

Despite Supergirl's status as a box office bomb and another divisive DC movie years after the end of the controversial DCEU movie timeline, the film has found success on streaming. Alcock's Supergirl flew onto HBO Max on September 10. At the time of writing, Supergirl is the most-watched movie on HBO Max worldwide, according to FlixPatrol. The DC film also tops the United States' chart.

Based on that, millions of viewers who did not watch Supergirl in theaters are finally getting to see Kara's latest live-action adventure. DC fans are also rewatching Supergirl on HBO Max months after its theatrical release. Despite the film's streaming success, both of those groups should come away with a few harsh realizations of where certain elements of Supergirl stand after watching the new DC movie on HBO Max.

8 Krem Of The Yellow Hills Is A Flat Villain With A Generic Design

Krem of the Yellow Hills looked like he stepped out of a fantasy story in the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comics with his design, despite the fact that it looked simple. DC went on and cast Matthias Schoenaerts, an actor that was as close to the spitting image of Krem as they could get.

However, for an unfathomable reason, Supergirl changed Krem's design to the point where he was completely unrecognizable. Instead of making him look scarier, Krem ended up looking stupid. Krem's DCU design was that of a generic background character in a sci-fi adaptation. Adding to that, he was just not exciting to follow, without any arc or clear motivations, and his fear of Supergirl from the comics was taken away, making him a powerful character instead.

7 Supergirl Does Not Live Up To Woman Of Tomorrow's Wondrous Visuals

As a whole, Tom King's Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is a much better project than the DCU Supergirl movie. That said, perhaps the hardest hit the story took when adapted to the big screen was the loss of Bilquis Evely's wondrous sci-fi visuals from the comics. Supergirl does have good-looking shots now and then.

However, most of the time, the movie's scope feels rather insular, which does not work for an expansive story with plenty of different worlds, aliens, technology, and so on. Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is one of DC Comics' most visually stunning releases ever, and Supergirl's portrayal of space and the planets Kara and Ruthye visited had rather dull visuals in comparison to the eye-popping colors and unique designs of the source material.

6 Milly Alcock's Supergirl Is Much Better Than The Movie She Is In

The clearest element when rewatching Supergirl is that Alcock's performance as the character is excellent, with the actress perfectly bringing to life this darker, edgier version of Kara. Supergirl's tragic backstory was handled well in the DCU movie, and Alcock's Supergirl brought the emotion in the more dramatic moments, the grit in the action sequences, and the fun in her interactions with Ruthye.

Rewatching Supergirl shows that Alcock was firing on all cylinders as the character, it was just a matter of the movie around her letting the star down. With uneven pacing, a mostly uninspiring screenplay despite the phenomenal story it adapted, and weak villains, Supergirl was a letdown. Alcock's portrayal of Kara deserved better, which is why her upcoming return in James Gunn's Man of Tomorrow is quite exciting.

5 Jason Momoa's Lobo Is Superfluous To The Story

Don't get me wrong, Jason Momoa not only looks pitch-perfect as Lobo, also nailing the character's personality, but he also has plenty of fun moments throughout the movie. That said, upon rewatching Supergirl on HBO Max, it becomes even more clear that Lobo was not needed for the story to progress. He is mostly just there to add excitement, not substance.

This comes back to how Lobo was not part of the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comics, which was more focused on Kara and Ruthye's journey with some nuanced ideas around revenge and such. Lobo is superfluous to the story. If he was to be added, then Supergirl could have done it in a way that added more depth to Kara in connection to his presence.

4 That Needle Drop Does Not Get Better With Time

Kelty Greye & KidMotel's cover of "The Middle" serving as the needle drop in the final battle instantly became one of Supergirl's most criticized aspects when the DC movie dropped in theaters. After months of seeing fans insert several different songs in that sequence, finally rewatching Supergirl and hearing that song there again was quite jarring.

The idea behind that choice is easy to understand, but it simply does not work. Instead of enhancing the fight sequence and being a culmination of Kara and Ruthye's journey, the song choice takes viewers right out of the moment, breaking the immersion. It still shocks me that Supergirl chose not to have Blondie's "Call Me," its biggest trailer song, in that scene, as it would have perfectly fit the occasion.

3 Supergirl's Final Battle Is Mostly Dull

Also, on the topic of Supergirl's final battle, the egregious needle drop is not its only disappointing part. Visually, the battle is incredibly dull. There is a lot of grey and brown onscreen, making it rather uninspired, especially when compared to how Gunn had a vibrant and creative final battle last year in Superman.

The CGI in that final battle was also probably the most fake-looking in the entire movie, which further pulled it down. Alcock finally got to put on the Supergirl suit for an extended period in the DC movie, only for it to be in a fight sequence devoid of any color, which took away the triumphant feel the occasion asked for.

2 Supergirl Feels Like It Wants To Be A James Gunn Movie Without The Director

After rewatching Supergirl on HBO Max, I maintain that the DC movie is closer to Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy movies than the original Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comics. The main problem there is that Craig Gillespie, who is a very talented filmmaker, is a director with other sensibilities. He is not Gunn, and thus has not mastered that comedic, heartfelt, and musically-inspired feel of the Marvel space operas.

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow was a more complex story that looked deep into Ruthye and Kara's psyches, with thought-provoking dialogue, and exploration of different worlds' populations and ideals. The Supergirl movie managed to hit some of those notes with the hero's backstory, but failed to rise to the occasion throughout the rest of the film. If DC was always going on this cosmic fun route from Guardians of the Galaxy with some darker elements added in, then Gunn should have just directed it from the start and made the most out of that concept.

1 The DC Movie's Shocking Ending Change Is For The Worse

Finally, the harshest realization when rewatching Supergirl on HBO Max is that the DC movie fully misunderstands Supergirl's journey based on its shocking change to the Woman of Tomorrow ending. The source material was a story about how not crossing a line that fundamentally would change you due to other people's actions is crucial. It is a story about preserving one's morals and humanity.

That is why Krem lives in the comics, with Kara preserving Ruthye's innocence and even learning more about herself. However, the movie completely changes that by having Supergirl kill Krem after she gets Ruthye to step down and go away.

Instead of using Kara's backstory as a survivor who leaves her rage behind to show Ruthye and the reader that compassion trumps any ugly feeling — Supergirl even pretended Krypto was really hurt just to show Ruthye a better path on their journey, different from the movie really putting the Superdog in danger — Supergirl ends with its lead hero becoming morally compromised. As such, it is the worst aspect of the film, and thus the harshest realization when rewatching Supergirl on HBO Max, with a powerful, emotional moment that caps off Kara's journey being replaced with a familiar Hollywood action trope.