Supergirl is tanking at the box office … but it isn’t the heroine’s fault

The plot of Craig Gillespie’s Supergirl should have been a crowd-pleaser. Superman’s jaded super-cousin teams up with a vengeful alien girl to enact revenge on a ruthless bandit who poisoned her dog. It’s a classic (if basic) tale of grief and retribution, set to the backdrop of intergalactic mayhem.

What we got instead was a muddy visual world that screamed “budget Mad Max: Fury Road in space”, paired with a pointless villain, thin storyline and perfunctory dialogue. This is reflected in its global box office, which sits at only $US104.7 million at present ($150 million) for a production budget of $US246.9 million ($355.8 million). In other words, Supergirl is not super.

Its flop is particularly disappointing after the success of predecessor James Gunn’s Superman, which many considered a major rejuvenation of the DC Universe. Supergirl instead joins other female-led superhero movies that have packed little punch.

Catwoman, starring Halle Berry in 2004, failed to match its $US100 million budget, grossing $US82 million worldwide. Captain Marvel (2019), led by Brie Larson, performed well financially but was raked over the coals online, with many Marvel fans sharing scathing reviews before even seeing it. The heroine ensemble in The Marvels then failed to recoup its budget in 2023.

Marvel’s Madame Web (2024) then tanked, with Dakota Johnson becoming the new target for online hate. The female stars usually bear the brunt of the blame. Alternatively, fans default to the belief that “female superhero movies just don’t work as well”.

But there’s no reason Supergirl couldn’t have gone gangbusters. Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon) is inspired as the eponymous character, bringing a humorous sense of angst that contrasts deliciously with the stand-up nature of David Corenswet’s Superman. And its exploration of familial grief and fractured identities are tried and true thematic gems.

Yet, similar to the female-led superhero flicks before it, audiences weren’t convinced. Why? It has nothing to do with the stars. Alcock, Berry and Larson have proven they’re capable of carrying a film. The real issue lies behind the camera.

It’s no secret that some superhero diehards are prone to toxic attitudes. Largely male-dominated and chronically online, some of these fans have helped “review bomb” titles such as The Marvels and Birds of Prey before watching them, steeping their criticism in misogyny. The hate against Captain Marvel on Rotten Tomatoes ahead of its release was so extreme that the site had to remove some of the worst offenders.

This demonstrates an in-built resistance to female-led superhero films, at least among powerful factions of the genre’s primary audience. To impress these already dissatisfied fans, studios must not only make a good movie, but an outstanding one. That’s a tough mission for titles hinging on lesser-known Marvel or DC characters.

As a result, studios seem to be hedging their bets. In Supergirl, for instance, the inclusion of Jason Momoa and Corenswet – the former as Lobo the intergalactic bounty hunter – appears pointless. Superman is sporadically seen through a tiny screen, and Lobo does little other than sneer before inexplicably saving Supergirl near the end of the film. The movie arguably would have been stronger without them, allowing the female characters to stand on their own. Yet, the studio still felt the need to pepper in testosterone and well-known IP.

Instead of pushing boundaries, it opted for safe, sanitised routes, hoping not to alienate “finicky” long-time audiences. This is ironic given that boundary-pushing generally helps to diversify and expand audiences, and could therefore help studios break from this cycle.

A prime example of this was the axing of Batgirl in 2022. Despite already being in post-production, the $US90 million Warner Bros movie was cancelled as a tax write-off following the WarnerMedia and Discovery merger – simply getting the film off the studio’s ledger reportedly made more financial sense than releasing it. DC Studios co-chair and co-chief executive Peter Safran, who was new to the job when the decision was made, said following the move that the film “was not releasable”. It came as even more of a shock when the theatrical release of male-led The Flash proceeded in 2023 despite repeated allegations of abuse and misconduct by its star Ezra Miller.

Pair this with the general exhaustion around superhero movies, and it’s no wonder lesser-known female-led titles are struggling to land.

There are exceptions. Patty Jenkins’ 2017 Wonder Woman starring Gal Gadot was a major success, grossing $US822.9 million globally. It was praised for the care with which it depicted the mythology of Wonder Woman, its contrast to the darker grit pervading earlier DC instalments, and its nuanced take on Gadot’s character.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was similarly applauded for its portrayal of Shuri (Letitia Wright), who assumed a position of authority while grieving for her brother. Scarlett Johansson in 2021’s Black Widow was also warmly received, though its earnings were hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

These remain outliers, however. Unlike most other female-led superhero flicks, these titles gave context to their powerful heroines, building worlds around them rather than slotting them into pre-built, IP-driven and male-dominated universes.

The deeper into the 2020s we get, and the more superhero fatigue sets in, studios are seemingly less willing to build these rich worlds around female characters. Sure, heroine-led movies are still being made, but they’re trying to satisfy the wrong audience. The heroines are already super; the movies just need to match them.

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