When Superman premiered last year, it was carrying over a decade’s worth of baggage from the ultra-gritty Snyderverse. It held the promise of a fresh superhero world that emphasizes fun. Now, Supergirl is no different. Whereas Superman was tasked with restarting a dying cinematic universe, Supergirl wants to prove that the former wasn’t just a one-hit wonder, and it does exactly that amid a few struggles.

Though David Corenswet’s Superman does make quite a few cameos in the film, Supergirl is about Clark Kent’s titular cousin. It’s also based on the award-winning book, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, written by Tom King.

Celebrating her 23^rd birthday, Kara Zor-El travels to planets with a red sun, the only places where she can get drunk as a Kryptonian. In one planet, she meets Ruthye Marye Knoll, who, after seeing Supergirl’s resilience, asks Kara to hunt Krem, the leader of the Brigands who killed her whole family. Kara initially refuses, but when Krem poisons Krypto, her dog, she goes off on her own to find the Brigand.

A classic tale of revenge

As with the original book, Supergirl is a tale of reluctant revenge instigated by a child desperate for it and a more mature mentor who knows better. Despite Kara’s nihilistic tendencies, she believes that revenge isn’t the right path for Ruthye.

It’s your standard fare of a revenge tale, somewhat bordering on a classic Western. In essence, it follows much of the structure of the original book. There are, however, some interesting changes, which may or may not be helpful to the story.

By switching to a more traditional plot structure, Supergirl trades away the book’s fleshed out relationship between Kara and Ruthye. Though Kara still cares for her young protégé, Ruthye has unfortunately been reduced to a fiery platitude, telling people who she is and how much she wants to kill Krem. At one point, Kara even makes fun of her little speech.

Krem, on the other hand, feels much more ferocious. Though the book’s Krem was evil in his own right, he was more of a mundane type of evil, just-an-average-Joe evil. The movie’s Krem is the type you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. He looks like he took a few too many steroids.

On the one hand, these changes make for a smoother film. Though the movie starts off slow, it eventually rolls towards a superhero-level fight at the end. On the other, it loses the message of the original story about the complexities of revenge.

On James Gunn’s universe

Normally, it’s a compliment to have a movie comparable to a James Gunn movie. There is another side to the coin, though.

Despite being tagged as fundamentally different from the tone of Superman, it’s clear that Supergirl was influenced by Gunn’s vision. There are jokes, random aliens, and a liberal use of older songs. On a micro level, it just doesn’t hit as hard as a Gunn flick, though.

For one, in a Gunn movie, each unnamed alien has so much character that you’d hardly believe that they’re just extras. In Supergirl, background characters, even those with speaking roles, don’t lift up from the screen. They just blend into the background. Likewise, the Brigands, despite how much eviler their actions are, don’t look like anything beyond generic sci-fi villains.

On a larger scale, keeping up with Gunn’s vision makes sense. Supergirl’s take on Kara’s story complements Superman’s story so well. Kara’s origin, explored in the film, contrasts with Clark’s. Ultimately, it helps turn Clark and Kara into fully fleshed out characters, rather than the tired stereotypes of Mr. Goody Two Shoes and his apathetic sidekick.

It also helps that Lobo, played by Jason Momoa, adds an interestingly cosmic element to the universe’s growing cast of characters. Finally spreading his wings away from Aquaman, Momoa has finally found a role perfect for him. He steals all the scenes that he’s in.

Should you watch Supergirl?

Supergirl is not on the same level as Superman. While the latter is Gunn at his absolute best, the former is a Gunn-esque film that drops the original story’s message in favor of a plot friendlier to the big screen.

That doesn’t mean that it’s a bad movie. In fact, it does well to expand the lore started by the first film. Supergirl is still a worthy, albeit smaller, addition to the growing DCU oeuvre.