Everyone is bracing for Marvel to unload Avengers: Doomsday in December, but the 2026 cape flick I actually have circled in red is Supergirl. DC quietly ran an early test screening, and the chatter coming out of that room paints a picture of a grim, propulsive space trek with a mean right hook and a surprisingly warm heart.
Quick primer: this is Craig Gillespie’s take on Tom King’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, one of the best comics of the last decade. Milly Alcock leads as Kara Zor-El, with Eve Ridley, Jason Momoa, and Matthias Schoenaerts in the mix. The story leans into themes of displacement, revenge, and redemption as Kara leaves Earth behind and gets dragged into a nasty conflict across hostile worlds.
What the test screening crowd is saying
- Several attendees said the movie looks terrific, with one calling the cinematography 'an upgrade compared to Superman's.'
- There is a hallway brawl everyone kept bringing up — think the bruising one-take momentum people associate with Daredevil, mashed with the chaotic creativity of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
- Tonally, it goes darker than last year’s Superman. Human trafficking is a core piece of the plot, and the worlds Kara drops into are soaked in violence. Even so, viewers felt it still finds a balance between gallows humor, bleakness, and some light peeking through.
- Krem of the Yellow Hills — the primary antagonist — split the room. Some found him vicious and genuinely scary; others shrugged him off as undercooked.
- Jason Momoa’s Lobo is not a cameo. People described his role as substantial and essential to how the movie wraps up.
- For comic readers: Lobo wasn’t in King’s final Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow scripts. He’s been folded in here by the new DC Studios braintrust, which gives the film a rowdier counterweight to Kara’s journey.
How it stacks up to Superman
Beyond the 'it looks better' note on visuals, the comparisons got oddly specific. One viewer framed it like this:
'It’s basically bits of Superman 2025, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Logan, Man of Steel and The Last of Us mashed into one film without the R-rated elements. Krypto is Rocket, Kara is Joel/Logan.'
Take that with the usual grain of early-screening salt, but you get the flavor: soulful wanderer Supergirl trudging through brutal territory, with bursts of irreverence and spectacle.
About that Lobo of it all
If you were wondering how much Momoa actually factors in: enough that his presence changes the movie’s temperature and matters to the climax. That’s a swing. It also explains why the tone toggles between nasty space-western and crowd-pleaser — Kara’s grief-fueled mission on one side, a live-wire Czarnian on the other.
Krypto shows up where you might not expect
DC’s most dependable good boy is getting some pre-release shine: Krypto pops up in Puppy Bowl XXII on Animal Planet as part of the Super Bowl pre-game slate, scheduled for 2pm ET / 11am PT. A little cross-promo, a little adoption spotlight — no laser eyes on the field, sadly.
Supergirl lands in theaters June 26, 2026. If the cut shown is close to the finish line, Kara’s off-world odyssey might be the summer’s sharpest swing.