Supergirl's First Reactions Are In — And the DCU's Winning Streak Just Got Its First Real Test
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The embargo lifted, and critics finally weighed in on whether Milly Alcock's Supergirl can keep pace with last summer's Superman. The verdict on her: unanimous. The verdict on the movie around her: a genuine split — and the most argued-over review cycle James Gunn's DCU has produced yet.
Every James Gunn DCU release so far has arrived with critical consensus pre-loaded. Superman landed as a near-unanimous hit last summer, the kind of launch that made the score feel like a formality before it ever posted. Creature Commandos and Peacemaker Season 2 kept the streak alive, each one clearing the bar Gunn set without much suspense. For a rebooted universe still proving it could outrun the wreckage of the old one, that uninterrupted run of goodwill was the whole point — proof that the new regime had a handle on tone, casting, and the thing that's hardest to manufacture: critics rooting for you before the lights go down.
Supergirl is the first to break that pattern. Not because it's a misfire — the early reactions are too warm for that — but because, for the first time in the Gunn era, the word out of the first screenings genuinely splits down the middle. The raves are real and they're loud. So are the shrugs. And they're often pointing at the exact same movie, sometimes the exact same scenes, and arriving at opposite conclusions. That's not the texture of a flop or a triumph. It's the texture of a film that's going to be argued about, which is a more interesting place for a comic-book tentpole to land than either extreme.
It also makes the film a live question in a way the previous DCU entries never were. When consensus is locked before release, there's nothing to predict — Superman's Rotten Tomatoes number was a foregone conclusion weeks out. Supergirl is different. The gap between the "everything I wanted it to be" camp and the "simply put, just fine" camp is wide enough that the final critical score is anyone's guess, which is exactly the kind of outcome Kalshi has built a live market around. The prediction-market platform — where users 18 and up across all 50 states can trade on real-world results, entertainment included — currently has an open market on where Supergirl lands on Rotten Tomatoes. And for once, the people placing those trades are working with the same uncertainty the critics are: nobody knows yet. That split is what makes this the most genuinely interesting test case the rebooted universe has faced.
Everyone Agrees on Alcock
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If there's one line running through nearly every reaction, it's that Milly Alcock nailed it. ScreenRant's Ash Crossan kept it simple: "Milly is excellent." The Mary Sue's Rachel Leishman went further, calling the film "everything I wanted it to be" and praising how it separates Kara from her cousin: "Kara isn't her cousin and I really loved how this movie makes that clear. She's a different kind of hero and perfect in every way."
Den of Geek's David Crow said Alcock "absolutely owns the role and will change our idea of Supergirl forever," framing the film as "a straightforward, poignant story with lots of emotion." MovieWeb's Joseph Deckelmeier, a longtime fan of the Woman of Tomorrow comic the film adapts, went in with sky-high expectations and came out satisfied: "Milly Alcock IS Kara."
Even the reviewers with reservations about the movie carve Alcock out as the highlight. One reaction described her as "jaded and brash, yet optimistic and so damn cool." Brandon Davis of The Brandon Davis Show wanted to love the whole film and ended up only liking it — but still called Alcock "great." Total Film's Fay Watson called her "perfect, bringing humour, heart, and incredible drunk acting."
And Almost Everyone Agrees on Momoa
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The other near-universal takeaway: Jason Momoa is having the time of his life as Lobo. The alien mercenary is the role Momoa has openly called a lifelong dream, and the reactions back up the casting. Chris Killian of ComicBook noted that while Alcock shines in Kara's tragic backstory, "Jason Momoa is having the fraggin' time of his life as Lobo." Even Tessa Smith, one of the film's harsher early voices, singled out "Jason Momoa's Lobo & Milly Alcock" as the things that shine. When a film's two leads are the most consistently praised elements across a split review cycle, that's usually a sign the casting did its job even where the script didn't.
The Movie Itself Is Splitting the Room
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Where the consensus fractures is everything around the two leads. Killian summed up the tone as something nobody expected: "If you threw GOTG, True Grit, and Mad Max into a DC blender, you'd get Supergirl — a grimy, funny, yet surprisingly somber space adventure." He flagged the practical effects as "Oscar-level good" and praised David Corenswet's Superman cameos — a casting choice several reactions called "peak."
The Hollywood Show's Junior Felix called it an outright soar: "Gorgeous set pieces and dazzling action sequences... the future is bright with this Supergirl." Gizmodo's Germain Lussier landed in the middle, calling it "incredibly emotional" and "a perfect companion and follow-up to Superman with better characters and more complex relationships" — while noting it "doesn't quite have the resonance" of last year's film.
Then there's the more skeptical camp, and the knock is remarkably consistent: the villain. Mama's Geeky's Tessa Smith didn't hold back: "Supergirl is a mixed bag for me... some adaptation choices and a bland villain keep it from greatness. It's, simply put, just fine." The villain in question is Krem of the Yellow Hills, played by Matthias Schoenaerts, and he comes up again and again as the element holding the film back. Brandon Davis offered a parallel read, saying the film "soars at times through a scattered adventure" and that "Kara's arc payoff could've benefited from better story structure."
That's an unusually wide spread for a single review cycle — real raves sitting directly beside "just fine" verdicts, and often pointing at the same two culprits: the villain and the structure.
What This Means for the DCU
Superman set an extremely high bar last summer, launching Gunn's universe with strong reviews and $618 million worldwide. Craig Gillespie's Supergirl — written by Ana Nogueira and adapted from Tom King and Bilquis Evely's acclaimed Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow — is the first DCU title where the early word is genuinely divided rather than uniformly glowing. That doesn't make it a stumble. But it does make it the franchise's first real Rotten Tomatoes question mark, and the gap between the rave camp and the "just fine" camp is wide enough that the final number is anything but locked in.
That uncertainty is the whole story here. With Superman, the critical consensus was a foregone conclusion well before the score posted. With Supergirl, it isn't. The raves point toward fresh-certified territory; the mixed reactions, with their shared villain complaint, point lower. When a film's reception is this split this close to release, the final critical number becomes a genuine open question — the kind of outcome that's actually worth having a read on rather than assuming.
Watch The Final Trailer Below:
Alcock, for her part, isn't going anywhere. She's already confirmed to reprise the role in Man of Tomorrow, and DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran has said her Supergirl will play a major role in the universe's future. Whatever the consensus lands on for this one, the DCU is clearly building around her for the long haul.
Supergirl flies into theaters June 26. With the reactions this divided and full reviews still landing, where the film ultimately settles on Rotten Tomatoes is genuinely up in the air — and Kalshi has a live market on exactly that. If you've got a read on whether the raves or the reservations win out, it's worth a look before the score locks in.
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