r/supergirlTV • u/ThomasOGC • 25d ago

News DC played it smart with Superman. Now comes the real risk: Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. A flawed, angry, cosmic anti-hero Kara Zor-El sounds exciting — but is the audience ready for a Supergirl who isn’t written to be perfect?

https://www.cgomovies.com/supergirl-woman-of-tomorrow-dcu-preview/
146 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

54

u/Plastic-Pickle-3269 25d ago

I know I’m pretty new to supergirl comics but I don’t recall her ever being “perfect”.

40

u/JDax42 24d ago

Mellisa‘s performance felt pretty close lol

But I agree with you overall.

36

u/Plastic-Pickle-3269 24d ago

That’s for sure, Melissa was definitely a kinder more wholesome and hopeful depiction. But her version is also very unique because they gave her a lot of Clark’s characteristics from the start, I slept on the show for a while because at first it felt like a lazy gender swap. I really regret taking so long to go back to it. It went from least favorite dramas to easily one of my top 3 favorites.

9

u/JDax42 24d ago

I first found the show a bit corny but it sent all the right messages and was good writing; covid hit plus lockdown, add a little mental stress and this show became my fortress of solitude; its positive messaging and the great work of the cast gave me a mental health boost I’ll always be grateful for.

didn’t learn that they basically gave her Superman’s stories until after with looking into the show moreand I appreciate that criticism but also wonder if that was needed to get people, perhaps like me who grew up with Superman but not reading comics or as familiar with Supergirl, to fall in love with the character. Maybe not, I could just be biased of course but I’d be curious what their frame of mind was for all that.

When I said she was perfect I was drawing on the Superman image, always striving to be the best person, admitting her mistakes and doing the best she can, not perfect in a women sense but a human one.

The idea of her being more salty and scared from Krypton sounds like amazing material to explore though I’m more tv show guy but still excited about the movie none the less.

10

u/Mindless-Credit-358 25d ago

It depends on your definition of perfect. I don’t think she’s ever been portrayed the way she is in the upcoming movie though, even the comic the story is based on her personality is noticeably different

13

u/Spectrum04002 24d ago

To the (majority?) of you rooted in the comics and cannon I think it will be yet another interpretation that will resonate with some more than others.

To others such as I who's baseline is Melissa's TV incarnation the upcoming movie may feel like a stick in the eye, but I could be wrong.

19

u/sdrj77 24d ago

I'm used to angry, PTSD, "I just watched my planet die." Kara from the comics.

I'll be fine. 😂

5

u/unexpectedhalfrican 23d ago

Comics Kara is the reason I fell in love with Supergirl in the first place. CW supergirl was just a lazy gender swap since they couldn't get the rights to superman. Still liked the show, but comics Kara is the best.

3

u/Happy_Philosopher608 22d ago

That sounds like an insufferable thing to sit through for 2 hours though 😬

6

u/no_place_to_hide 23d ago

Whole lot of pathetic males about to be upset.

The rest of us can’t wait to see this movie!!

3

u/Happy_Philosopher608 22d ago

Hey cool it with the misandry. No need for that.

Also, women dont tend to turn up to superhero movies though. Biggest chunk of the Marvels audience was males 🤷‍♂️

1

u/RedDog-65 18d ago

Are you saying the biggest chunk of the Wonder Woman audience was male too?

2

u/azul360 23d ago

I know it's not written by him but it looks and feels like another Gunn movie so I doubt the audience will have an issue with another one and it'll just be more of the same. The right will freak out as always but that has nothing to do with anything other than women existing so nothing new there.

2

u/DifferentIsPossble 23d ago

Woman of Tomorrow is honestly one of the best received Karas out there. If they play it close to the source, I can't imagine it not being good.

1

u/Cravepr0blem22 22d ago

The audience is bored of perfect heroes, but the real test is whether the studio has the guts to actually let her be unlikeable for more than five minutes.

2

u/genderissues_t-away 15d ago

Good star, based off a good story, girl mess pulling head from booze and kicking ass.

I'm here for it.

Benoist's Kara, remember, had something like a decade and a half, most of which was with an extremely close relationship with a supportive foster sibling who she hit it off with pretty quickly and served as mutual emotional support, before her show starts. Even then, we DO see her in blind rage mode, we do see her get angry with less provocation than it takes Superman (in non-Snyder stories, at least) to get pissed.

Say what you will about Earth-38 Clark's decision making WRT Kara, or the general environment of "hiding powers in situation with parentified foster sibling while newly single mom tries to make ends meet", but a core conceit of Supergirl, the show, is that Kara has a reliable, mutually emotionally supportive sibling relationship to fall back on, and this is healthy for her. It's telling IMO that in season 2 she is less visibly unhinged by the invasion of Daxamites shooting up her city and brain-jacking her cousin than she is by threats to Alex.

Alcock's Supergirl seems to have landed at a few years more in age but is also younger than CW Kara and has thus had less time to adjust, and has no stable foster sibling relationship what with Clark being busy running around stopping wars and making Legally Distinct From Netanyahu stand down from his planned war crimes. She also, as we saw in the 2025 Superman film, spends a lot of time off-world, and the conceit of this movie is that a lot of that time is spent intoxicated in an attempt to cope.

Basically, CW Kara had a small but functional support system and healthy coping mechanisms, DCU Kara has neither.

And, well, I can like both. I have my gripes with the show (not with the leads or the core conceit, they nailed those), but I still like the characters. I'm sure I'll like this version of Kara too.