Is Supergirl Worth Watching? Here’s What The Reviews Say

It’s been a couple of weeks since Supergirl was released, and its box office run has been underwhelming to say the least. Deadline believes the movie could lose about $125 million. It was released on June 26, 2026, with a production budget of $170-$186 million, and, as of the time of writing, has accumulated $108 million worldwide. Like I said, underwhelming. But beyond the finances, how is the movie itself? Is it worth watching? Let’s turn to the critics and see what they had to say about the movie.

What Critics Are Saying About Supergirl

Variety

Owen Gleiberman wrote a pretty scathing review of the movie.

I was shocked to see that the director, Craig Gillespie, who made the arresting “I, Tonya” and the fabulous “Cruella,” could churn out a piece of product this generic in its action and its attitudinizing.

Roger Ebert

Tomris Laffly gave it 1 and a half stars out of four.

Most offensive is perhaps the 101-level feminism that “Supergirl” still tries to sell, nearly a decade after “Wonder Woman” (and many similarly-minded flicks since then) sparked a frustrating discourse in culture, as if one’s love and support of a female superhero would measure their commitment index to feminism and representation in media.

IGN

Clint Gage gave it a 6 out of 10.

Supergirl borrows from the best, but Milly Alcock’s great take on Kara Zor-El gets lost in the spare parts from other movies used to assemble her story.

Empire

Leila Latif gave it 3 out of 5 stars.

The result isn’t disastrous by any means, just blandly safe. You just wish Gillespie would let these freak flags truly fly.

Forbes

Paul Tassi was very disappointed with the film, saying:

Supergirl is so bad that it makes me fearful for the future of the DCU if this is the kind of project that gets approved, and the writer of it so impressed Gunn she’s now assigned to two more films, Wonder Woman and Teen Titans.

The consensus between the critics seems to range between negative and below average. Any positive reviews are probably few and in between.

Supergirl IMDB Score

On IMDB, Supergirl has a user rating of 6.1/10, based on 46k ratings. 23.2k users gave it a 7 or higher. Compare that to the first movie in the DCU, Superman. That movie has a 7.0/10 based on 427k ratings, with 303k people giving it a 7 or higher.

Supergirl’s Rotten Tomatoes Score

Supergirl’s Rotten Tomatoes Score is also not looking that great. With a critic’s score of 54% based on 349 reviews and an audience score of 70% based on 5,000+ reviews, this can’t be what DC and Warner Bros. were hoping for. Especially when you compare it to Superman’s score. It has a critic’s score of 83% based on 504 reviews and an audience score of 90% based on 25,000+ reviews.

That’s everyone’s opinion on the movie. But what do I think about it?

My Thoughts on Supergirl

I don’t think this is an unwatchable garbage piece of film. The way some people are talking about this movie, you would think it’s the worst superhero movie to ever exist. Supergirl is just fine. Nothing more, nothing less. Similar superhero movies or even worse ones have made more money and have received more love from the critics, so why is Supergirl in particular being rejected so hard by everybody?

I think it’s because people have seen so many superhero movies that “just fine” ones no longer cut it. In order for a superhero movie to do well nowadays, they either have to be about an A-list hero like Batman or Spider-Man, or they have to be exceptional. Supergirl is neither of those.

Let me reiterate once again that I don’t think Supergirl is a terrible movie; its biggest sin is that it’s average to below average. If Supergirl had been released 10 years ago, I think the critical and financial reception would be through the roof. But the days of average superhero movies getting a pass with the critics and easily clearing hundreds of millions at the box office are over. Unfortunately, Supergirl didn’t get the memo.

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