Published Jul 7, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT
Adrienne Tyler is a movies & TV features writer, with a focus on horror. She has written for Netflix, FanSided, & more. She was a regular guest on the Netfreaks podcast and was a YouTuber at some point. Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once.
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James Gunn’s DC Universe is only getting started on the big screen, but after its first box office bomb, it’s bringing back the biggest Superman problem of the DC Extended Universe’s Snyderverse. The superhero genre is still quite popular, and while the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand, the world of DC Comics is starting all over again after the failure of the DCEU. Led by James Gunn and Peter Safran, the DC Universe officially launched in December 2024 with the TV show Creature Commandos.
The plan for the DC Universe is to cover film, TV, comic books, and video games in the same continuity, with those projects that don’t fit into it being labeled as part of the DC Elseworlds branch. The movie side of the DC Universe began in 2025 with Superman, directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as the title superhero. Superman was well-received by critics and was a box office hit, but, unfortunately, the DC Universe’s second movie, Supergirl, couldn’t replicate that success.
Directed by Craig Gillespie, Supergirl stars Milly Alcock as the title character, who made her first appearance at the end of Superman. Expectations were high for Supergirl as the DC Universe’s second movie, but so far, it has been a critical failure and an even bigger box office bomb. To make Supergirl’s performance even more disappointing and alarming, it’s repeating the biggest problem that the Snyderverse’s Superman went through.
Supergirl follows Kara Zor-El, Superman’s cousin, who was raised on Krypton and saw everyone around her die, thus having a completely different upbringing and perspective than her famous cousin. Kara copes with her trauma by partying on different planets with red suns, but her life takes a turn when she meets a young alien named Ruthye (Eve Ridley).
Kara and Ruthye team up after the same threat that poisoned Kara’s dog, Krypto, kills Ruthye’s father, and so they set out on a revenge mission. As promising as Supergirl was thanks to its lead character, story, connection to Superman, and being a DC Universe movie, it unfortunately fell very short. At the time of writing, Supergirl has a 54% Rotten Tomatoes critics score and has grossed $101 million against a budget of $170-186 million.
Supergirl’s failure is reminiscent of what happened in the DCEU’s Snyderverse with Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The DCEU kicked off with Man of Steel, which, even though it wasn’t exactly a critical hit, was a big box office success, grossing $670.1 million against a budget of $225 million. Man of Steel was followed by Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which, as the title says, saw the battle between Ben Affleck’s Batman and Henry Cavill’s Superman.
Despite its potential and the excitement around it, Dawn of Justice was a failure with critics, and while it performed well at the box office, it had a historic box-office drop in its second week. This was a big reason for Warner Bros.’ subsequent changes to its DCEU plan, and it never recovered from all that panic, ultimately leading to its end and the creation of the DC Universe.
The DCEU walked so the DC Universe could run, and the latter has a lot to learn from the former, both good and bad. While Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice had a disastrous box office drop, Warner Bros.’ mistake was panicking too early and changing the DCEU’s plan all of a sudden. Supergirl’s box office flop and critical reception are disappointing, especially after Superman’s success, but the DC Universe should know better than to panic.
The DC Universe has one more movie coming in 2026 with Clayface, and it has other projects lined up for the near future, most notably The Brave and the Bold. Supergirl will give the DC Universe an idea of what the audience is currently interested in when it comes to superhero movies, what works and what doesn’t, and it can make the necessary adjustments to future movies, especially those from the world of Superman.
The DC Universe must learn from the mistakes of the DCEU and the Snyderverse, and one of the biggest lessons should be not to panic. It’s to be seen how Clayface performs at the box office and how it’s received by critics, as well as how Supergirl’s failure will impact future Superman movies.
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Science Fiction
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Craig Gillespie
James Gunn, Lars P. Winther, Nigel Gostelow, Peter Safran