The first trailer for Supergirl was released earlier this month, and it certainly looks like a lot of fun. A follow-up to this summer's Superman and the first DCU movie without James Gunn at the helm, all eyes are on Cruella helmer Craig Gillespie to see what he does with the Maiden of Might.
Gunn may not be in the director's chair, but his fingerprints are all over Supergirl. From the Blondie song in the teaser to a villain who looks like he's stepped straight out of Guardians of the Galaxy, the filmmaker's influence is hard to ignore. He is the one overseeing the DCU, of course, so that was to be expected, and given that he's delivered hit after hit, there are worse people to have than Gunn keeping an eye on this movie.
Supergirl is based on—or at least heavily inspired by—the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comic book by Tom King and Bilquis Evely. In that, the 21-year-old hero heads to a planet with a red sun to get drunk on her birthday. There, she encounters a young girl, Ruthye, and the evil Krem of the Yellow Hills (who murders Ruthye's father and shoots Krypto with a poisoned arrow).
Supergirl accompanies the girl as she sets off on a mission of revenge, and along the way, they come across all manner of alien threats and societies. That leads to them clashing with Krem and the Barbond Brigands, a tribe who go planet to planet in an array of galaxies, murdering and torturing whole civilisations.
Assuming the villains we've seen in the teaser are the Brigands, it's a pretty faithful adaptation. Krem, however, has ditched his red hair for a punk-rock inspired appearance that veers on generic; it's too soon to judge him, of course, but it speaks to a larger issue with DC Studios' Supergirl movie.
There's still plenty of time for this to change, but Supergirl's colour palette is dull, washed out, and about a dozen different shades of brown. The comic, in contrast, was a bright, vibrant series that, even while exploring some pretty horrifying corners of the DC Universe, still delivered the sort of jaw-dropping sci-fi visuals that made it a sight to behold.
Now, the risk of translating that directly to the screen is that it could look cartoonish or too out there. While there are splashes of colour here and there, including in the bar scene, this movie otherwise looks pretty dull. Krypton is grey and generic. An alien planet that Kara Zor-El lands on is all on Earth-tones, as is the town where Supergirl battles Krem's men. It does somewhat feel like this might have been done on purpose, especially as in the trailer's final scene, the only thing that pops off the screen is the titular character's costume.
With the DCU's first full-blown sci-fi tale—remember, none of the story takes place on Earth—Gunn and Gillespie had the opportunity to take some big swings and make Supergirl look unlike any other comic book movie. Instead, it's Superman by way of Guardians of the Galaxy, not a bad combination in terms of quality, but rather underwhelming from a visual and cinematography standpoint.
Supergirl has already missed the mark in some respects. Kara was never an irresponsible drunk in King and Evely's comic, though those few pages from issue #1 are what Gun is going all in on for her DCU debut. Ultimately, it's just a shame the artist's work hasn't been used as a basis for how this movie looks because that would have undoubtedly elevated this adventure to new heights.
We'll see, and there's no reason to believe Supergirl won't still be a fantastic movie. However, visually, it may be one of 2026's most uninspired efforts thanks to a desaturated take on the DC Universe's cosmos that hasn't exactly left us eager to see more of it.
Supergirl arrives in theaters on June 26, 2026.