Supergirl is Guardians but also John Wick

One of the most anticipated movies of the summer is Supergirl, and as we move into spring, it is now just under three months away. Time to step up the marketing! And they are, with a full trailer which outlines the plot, teases Superman, reveals Jason Momoa in his new DC role as Lobo (Aquaman swam so Lobo can fly), and gives us plenty of Kara and Krypto.

I really like the look of this movie; while fully admitting it is heavily cribbed from Guardians of the Galaxy, down to the hero using outmoded Earth tech to listen to music in space (though I agree, Kara, I too, am clutching onto my iPod for dear life). In fact, this trailer looks like “what if Guardians but Gamora was the protagonist the whole time?”. Supergirl is directed by Craig Gillespie, and the sole writing credit belongs to Ana Nogueira, but James Gunn is producing and is heavily involved behind the scenes. Maybe too involved? There are unsubstantiated reports of behind-the-scenes drama, with rumors of competing cuts of the film and arguments over tone.

We’ve seen this before with superhero movies, most disastrously with Suicide Squad (mark David Ayer), but most triumphantly with Iron Man. Studios always fight about their superhero movies, there’s too much money on the line not to. What bothers me is less rumors of drama and more how consistently these rumors plague superhero movies centered on women. It happens like, every time. Next in the playbook will be blaming any problems with the film—real or perceived—on the highest-ranked woman involved. If, however, the movie does well, expect to hear lots about the triumph of James Gunn and Craig Gillespie. Women like Ana Nogueira will be conveniently elided from the narrative.

Those are problems for the summer, though. Right now, they just have to convince everyone to go see this movie, and they are doing an admittedly good job so far. This trailer lays out the central conflict: space baddies have infected Krypto with something, and Kara Zor-El has three days to save him. So, it’s John Wick in spaaaaaace. She ends up on a revenge mission with Ruthye Marye Knoll, played by Eve Ridley, another girl lost in space, looking for revenge, and Lobo is tagging along, too. I quite liked Jason Momoa’s surfer bro approach to Aquaman, but he seems especially locked in as Lobo—the role he allegedly wanted all along.

Again, Supergirl looks very fun. If there really is an argument about tone, perhaps the producers and director should consider the general state of the world and err on the side of fun and uplifting optimism. I get that Kara is a darker character than Clark Kent, but that dynamic can still be fun. And a movie about a girl and her dog bopping around space, doing little missions, probably shouldn’t get too deep into the dark weeds. The tone of this trailer is just about perfect, Kara is obviously Going Through It, Clark is Clearly Unhelpful, Krypto remains The Cutest, and everyone loves to hate a bad guy who hurts a dog.

Maybe don’t mess with this. If, that is, they’re even messing with it all. I’m still not sold on that. Right now, I’m more inclined to believe the hot take industrial complex is ramping up to devour yet another superhero movie starring a girl. The haters can’t get enough of trying to drive actresses who star in superhero movies into therapy.