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It wasn't that long ago that it was a big deal seeing a woman headline her own superhero movie. I remember how critical it felt when Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman film hit theaters in 2017, and the applause that erupted from my theater when the film's credits rolled. At the time, the superhero space - in movie theaters at least - was primarily one that affirmed the physical and personal experience of being a man's man, even when the characters onscreen were meant to be everymen. Paul Rudd got ripped to play Scott Lang in Ant-Man, while Jeremy Renner brought a tough guy sensibility to... Hawkeye, a dude who drinks coffee straight from the pot in the comics. Sure, Tony Stark is a genius who went to MIT, but that genius was partly ensconced through a shot of him sweatily hammering a piece of metal in a tank top like he was in a Fast and Furious movie. Don't get me wrong, I love that shot from Iron Man, and I don't think there's anything wrong with masculinity or with idealizing characters in superhero media. But this did set a precedent for how female superhero movies of the past decade have presented themselves to audiences. 

Perhaps in an overcorrection, the 2017 Wonder Woman movie went far in the opposite direction, idealizing Diana of Themyscira as exceptional not just because she's a warrior demi-goddess, but because she's a beautiful woman. When I left the theater after seeing it, I remember feeling frustrated by how every time Gal Gadot walked into a room full of men in Europe, the other characters seemed to gasp and say, "Oh my god, a woman," implying that her beauty was a justification for why they paid attention to her. It felt alienating to watch, because not every woman looks like Gal Gadot, nor are they perfect like Wonder Woman. The Diana I love from DC Comics is adored around the world because her beauty emanates from her ideals and her actions, in addition to her looks. Of course, Patty Jenkins's film is set during World War I, two years before the Nineteenth Amendment was passed, but her Wonder Woman movie left me hoping that we'd someday get a more complex treatment of an iconic DC heroine on the big screen. 

DC Studios's Supergirl embodies a messiness we haven't seen in DC films yet

And this brings us to our current era, with DC Studios's Supergirl. Milly Alcock's appearance at the end of James Gunn's Superman movie this summer was a delightful shock to fans expecting a more clean-cut version of the character. Kara quite literally crashes into the movie at the Fortress of Solitude, slurring her words as she says, "What the hell, dude? Why did you move the door?" Her suit is dirty, she's got a ratty old parka on, her mascara is smudged, she's a bit of a mess. After rambunctiously reuniting with her dog, Krypto, Kara tells her cousin, "Thanks for watching him, bitch!" before going back to party on other planets, presumably.

While her appearance is brief, Alcock's Supergirl is a bold departure from what we've been trained to expect from DC's female superheroes in cinema. Instead of being presented to us as the Paragon of Female Existence, this Supergirl is, well, a young woman who happens to be Supergirl. She doesn't need to have perfect hair and makeup or a flawless costume in order for us to be invested in her character. This, of course, ties into the Superman movie's theme of Clark being human just as much as the rest of us, and it was a wise decision on Gunn's part to include Kara in the film for this reason.

It's refreshing to see Supergirl characterized this way, because women are already expected to be impossibly perfect across so many dimensions in society today. But the reality is that it's impossible to be perfect, or even give a performance of perfection, when you carry the scars from wounds that life has dealt you. As next year's Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow film will extrapolate on, Kara was a teenager when she saw her home planet and everyone and everything she's ever loved explode into nothingness. Unfortunately, today, there are a lot of people in the world who can resonate with that basic piece of her lore. Luckily, Supergirl has her baby cousin Clark around, along with her dog Krypto, but this Kara is far from interested in being anyone's role model. She's just trying to make it through the day in one piece. 

I remember, when the first issue of Tom King and Bilquis Evely's Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow came out in 2021, seeing some fans who were unhappy that Kara got drunk and threw up in the book. Hopefully, by the time the film adaptation comes out next year, the world will be more willing to accept a Supergirl who is trying to find ways to cope with the darkness in her life. 

A lot of us could use a character like Supergirl in these times, and I'm glad that it looks like DC films have grown beyond the 2017 Wonder Woman movie within this dimension. 

Enjoy our guides to how to watch the recent DCEU, the Arrowverse, and James Gunn's upcoming DCU. Oh, and don't forget our guide to what's coming up for DC projects on the big and small screens.