At the end of 2025's Superman, she was a high-energy scene-stealer, perfectly paired to her chaotic pup, Krypto. Now Supergirl gives Kara (Milly Alcock) an adventure all her own.

Set far from Metropolis, and based on the comic book miniseries Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, this DC movie launches fans into the cosmos, where the violence and villains are more random. Yet there are evils here that have strong, disturbing parallels to those on Earth. So it's absolutely satisfying to watch a petite but powerful Supergirl dish out attitude with the grudging determination of a lunch lady and kick ass like only a pissed-off superhero can.

Supergirl is better than Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.

Screenwriter Ana Nogueira took the bones of the DC miniseries, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, and dropped its less cinematic elements. The story still follows Kara (Alcock) from her boozy birthday revels in space to a quest for vengeance, sparked by a young girl named Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley). Together, they will hunt down the villain Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts), a member of a band of vicious criminals known as the Brigands. However, Nogueira's version dumps much of Ruthye's tedious narration from the comics, allowing Supergirl to be more centered. Plus, she loops in Lobo (Jason Momoa), a bounty-hunting antihero with big personality, a devil-may-care attitude, and a roaring motorcycle.

Also, taking a page from 2025's Superman, Supergirl leans hard on the cosmic cuteness of Krypto, the flying dog. Supergirl begins where Superman left off, with Kara retrieving her canine bestie. Together, they trek to a red-sun system, where her superpowers vanish, so she can get properly intoxicated. Far from the noble boy scout her cousin Kal-El is, Kara is drowning her agony over the loss of their family and home planet in any booze she can get her hands on. (A flashback reveals why the loss was harder on her. And heads up, comics fans, it's different from the book.)

It's in a dangerous bar that she meets Ruthye, who's seen her entire family slain by Krem, and is now offering her father's sword to whoever will help her spill Krem's blood with it. Kara is not interested in a quest. But when a hulking alien steals the blade, she can't help but intervene — drunkenly. This becomes the pattern for Kara. She retreats to distractions with her pup, but can't help but step in for the underdog. However, this mission gets personal when a run-in with Krem results in Krypto being poisoned by the Brigand leader. Not only does this sideline the superdog from most of another DC movie, but it also puts a ticking clock on their quest. If Kara can't find Krem — who carries the antidote — in three days, Krypto will die.

That still doesn't mean she wants to help a child murder a guy, though. Reluctantly, she brings Ruthye along, equipping her with a Rick and Morty-like suit of protection. In their pursuit of Krem, they will save the day for others, including a bus full of travelers, and slew of girls who've been abducted by the Brigand. In another major shift from the comic, the Brigands aren't just a violence-seeking gang. Here, they have their own sex-trafficking operation, abducting girls from various planets to spawn new Brigands. (There's a line about how the Brigand race has no women, so this is how they procreate. Which makes zero sense, even in a world in which Kryptonians can fly under the yellow sun. Anyway, moving on...)

By essentially creating DC's version of Epstein island, this change adds another layer of threat to Supergirl by recognizing the real-world dangers of rape that women and girls face all too often. Referred to by the Brigand as "the brides," these girls are stolen from their family, robbed of their autonomy, and made objects by their powerful male abductors. In this setting, having a surly, short blonde woman be their savior feels thrilling, because aside from her superpowers, Kara is just like them. Yet it's not her strength that drives her to save them.

Another difference from the book is that Nogueira emphasizes the final wishes of Kara's mother in a thought-provoking way. Rather than simply "be good," Alura In-Ze (Emily Beecham) advises her daughter not to be "nice" but to "be kind." This is a message that suggests not creating a superficial facade of civility, but doing the work, offering the sacrifice demanded to truly express kindness to others. It's a powerful message and an infuriatingly timeless one. It's just a shame these messages don't permeate the execution of the film.

Despite Milly Alcock's terrific performance, Supergirl's girl power message feels sanitized by its director.

Within the script, Nogueira creates opportunities to display Kara's complexity. In some scenes, she seems a carefree party girl. But when she's alone with her dog, her grief throbs. In front of Ruthye, she tries to keep it together. Having her upbringing disrupted by the end of her world means that Kara's not great at playing with others. She's pugnacious but smart, reckless but kind. And Alcock masterfully swerves from one side of Supergirl to another, making her a crackling and compelling character onscreen — certainly more dynamic than the Woman of Tomorrow comic's depiction of an ever-stoic hero who abruptly curses.

Nogueria finds other ways to work more women into the plot line as well. For instance, the abducted girls create a focal point for the spreading malignance of the Brigand — and in the third act, some of these captives will get a chance at revenge. But even little details, like swapping a dragon out for a trio of female raiders as adversaries, bring greater representation to this DC offering. (Women can be villains too!)

However, Supergirl lacks the presentation of lived experience seen in Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman, where Diana got to be delighted by babies and ice cream while also being a powerful warrior, or Cathy Yan's Birds of Prey, where an action sequence has a brief beat so one heroine can hand off a hair tie to another mid-fight. This movie yearns for such moments of specificity.

Director Craig Gillespie has made a dazzling array of movies, from the sexy, better-than-the-original remake of Fright Night to the Tonya Harding biopic/comedy I, Tonya to the fabulously fashion-forward Cruella and the GameStop short squeeze dramedy Dumb Money. He's shown a skill for crafting character. And it's not like Supergirl is flat. If anything, it feels like Gillespie got out of the way of Alcock, Schoenaerts, and Momoa. Alcock is not falling into the social pressure to be a (super)girl who smiles to appease. She even gets a beat where she plays up a valley girl voice to undermine a man she assumes will be placated by that. Schoenaerts oozes with sleaze, whether he's murdering innocents or snarling at kidnapped girls, and Momoa has the chaotic himbo energy that's made him such fun on red carpets and in Fast X. (He's so much better suited to Lobo than the nautical saga of Aquaman.)

However, there's just something lacking, keeping it from knitting it together beautifully. The action scenes are full of stunts. But none of the blows hit as hard as when Krypto gets shot in act one. The costuming by Michael Mooney and Anna B. Sheppard is surprising, as Supergirl wears a T-shirt, jeans, and trench coat for most of the film as opposed to her signature supersuit and cape. That it's a Blondie tee feels a bit reductive, as if Blondie is a band for girls. This shorthand is echoed in a soundtrack that includes songs from female-fronted bands like Wet Leg and Rilo Kiley, standards sung by Ella Fitzgerald and Winnie Ama, and a cover of Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle," performed by Kelty Greye and KidMotel.

The issue is not these acts or these songs, but that this approach to capturing girlhood or sisterhood feels like a "nice" superficial exterior to Nogueira's more challenging screenplay. For instance, "The Middle" cover falls into the cliché that's become rampant in movie trailers, where the memorable song is slowed down and song softly, as if that inherently gives it a new or deeper meaning. Its use makes Gillespie's choices feel strategically pandering to a female audience instead of organic to Kara's story.

Watching Supergirl, I wasn't able to fully enjoy the ride, because these details kept snagging my attention. I was jerked out of the movie by cosmetic choices that felt not exactly out of place, but certainly not smoothly integrated. Still, there's a lot of great stuff in this DC spinoff.

Alcock is captivating as the conflicted Supergirl, who's not sure if she's a hero or of her place in the universe. Schoenaerts is spectacularly creepy as Krem of the Yellow Hills, while Momoa is snarling fun as Lobo. The story runs more smoothly, dramatically, and satisfyingly than the comic. It shows more often than it tells and creates a greater complexity to its title character. And Nogueira does a sublime job of balancing Kara's processing of grief with comedic moments that allow for breath and laughs. So, this movie won't be bogged down by mourning like a series of the MCU ones post-snap.

But, in the end, while I enjoyed myself, I was never really blown away by this superhero movie. I left pleased, but not in awe, not craving a chance to see it again immediately. Still, if Warner Bros. greenlit a sequel, I'd be game to give Kara and her crew another go.

Supergirl opens in theaters on June 26.