The social embargo on Supergirl has lifted, and the first reactions are in ahead of the film’s June 26 release. Milly Alcock is winning people over almost universally, but the movie around her is splitting the room.
That’s worth pausing on. First reactions, by their nature, tend to run hot, they come from the critics and press who got early access, often in the immediate afterglow of a premiere, and they skew positive far more often than the eventual review consensus does.
So when a first-reactions wave carries this many qualifiers â “messy,” “bland villain,” “just fine” â alongside the praise, it’s a more mixed picture than this stage of the cycle usually produces.
Milly Alcock Is The Consensus Win
The one thing nearly everyone agrees on is Alcock.
Across the board, her Kara Zor-El is being called the best thing about the film â “fierce and vulnerable,” “a total badass,” “excellent,” a performance critics say “absolutely owns the role.”
Even the lukewarm reactions single her out as the highlight. Several reviewers framed her exactly the way the marketing has: a heroine with a hard, messy edge worth rooting for.
Eve Ridley’s Ruthye also draws repeated praise, with more than one reaction calling Alcock and Ridley the emotional core of the movie and a “dynamic duo.”
The Film Itself Divides
Past the lead performance, the reactions scatter. On the high end, Geeks of Color called it “the best blockbuster of the summer,” and Germain Lussier said it’s “highly enjoyable,” a strong companion to last year’s Superman with better characters and more complex relationships.
The middle is where most landed: enjoyable but flawed. One reaction called it “a messy film” whose strongest moments come when it lets its characters be vulnerable, adding that it “still soars” despite script issues and an uninteresting villain. Another summed it up as “not a classic, but pacey fun.”
And the misses were specific. Tessa Smith of Mama’s Geeky said adaptation choices and a “bland villain” keep it from greatness, landing on “simply put, just fine.”
Another reviewer who went in hopeful came away finding the film “bland” and wishing Alcock had been given stronger material. The recurring knocks â a weak villain, an uneven script, “messy” pacing â show up often enough to be the consensus criticism.
Everyone Keeps Reaching For Mad Max
One throughline jumps out: the comparisons. Reviewer after reviewer reached for the same touchstones, Mad Max most of all, plus Guardians of the Galaxy, with a few invoking John Wick-style motivation and even Thor: The Dark World.
The picture they paint is a serious, tonally heavier, dirtier space road-trip than some expected from a “superhero movie with needle drops.”
One critic admitted he’d assumed it would play closer to Superman and instead found something grimier and more self-destructive.
That tracks with the James Gunn-era tone DC has been leaning into, and it’s the same chaotic energy critics are responding to in Jason Momoa’s Lobo, who earns some of the most consistent praise in the bunch.
Geeks of Color called him “pitch perfect,” another reaction called his Lobo “a blast,” and Peter Gray pointed to his “trademark chaotic charm.” (Momoa being a genuine metalhead playing comics’ most metal character is its own story â we broke down the Lobo playlist Easter egg here.)
Another says the movie soars and “Momoa IS LOBO.”
What It Means Going Into June 26
A quick but important caveat: these are first social reactions, not full reviews, and not a Rotten Tomatoes score.
They’re the early, enthusiastic end of the spectrum by design, and the formal review consensus could land higher or lower once embargoes fully lift.
Still, the shape is clear: a star turn everyone agrees on, wrapped in a film people can’t agree on.
For a cycle that usually skews glowing, “Alcock is great, the movie is divisive” is a more guarded opening note than DC would have hoped for, and it arrives the same week the box office tracking has Supergirl fighting to win its own opening weekend.
Reviews and box office are separate questions, and a divisive movie can still find an audience. We’ll know which way it breaks soon enough.
Supergirl opens June 26. Reactions quoted via the critics’ and outlets’ public posts on X.
For everything we’ve covered on the film â box office tracking, cast, and more â see our full Supergirl movie guide.
