Should superpowered women have edgy sexuality?

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Supergirl is a box-office bomb. Seems $280 million doesn’t buy what it used to.

The result was not superhero fatigue. Audiences loved last summer’s Superman, while the new Spiderman sequel just had one of the biggest opening box offices ever. In its first few days Spiderman Brand New Day earned more than Supergirl’s worldwide total in six weeks.

Since Kara Zor-El has a dud movie starring a chick, while Clark Kent and Peter Parker are guys with hit movies, can audience sexism be Supergirl’s kryptonite?

That’s what the thought police contended. Low attendance for Supergirl reflects “Resurgent misogyny among the core fan base, which is largely male.” The New York Times. Why were reviews negative? “There’s a simple answer: misogyny.” Entertainment Weekly.

On the other hand maybe Supergirl is just a bad movie. The antagonist is cartoonish. Kara doesn’t stand for anything other than rescuing her flying dog – there’s nothing to care about. Supergirl is an unappealing character, a drunkard who gets into pointless bar fights. She gives people the finger – Clark Kent would never do that, Clark always tries to redeem others.

Last summer’s Superman succeeded in large part because it dropped the dark brooding of previous films in the series and showed Clark as earnestly optimistic -- a true son of a Kansas farm. Supergirl depicts Kara as a depressed person who grew up in a space pod, doesn’t care about the American way, doesn’t even want to live on Earth.

Fair enough if the director’s interpretation of the character, but why expect anyone to go to the theater to watch that? The Netflix series Jessica Jones concerned a superhero who was desperately unhappy, yet overcame her PTSD to fight for the downtrodden. Supergirl lacks that kind of redeeming quality.

In the new flick Kara doesn’t even don her iconic red suit till a few minutes before credits roll. Mostly she wears a filthy trench coat. Producers went out of their way to make her unappealing. Surprise -- audiences find her unappealing.

Misogyny didn’t stop the 2017 film Wonder Woman, starring a woman, from being a box office smash, doing well with male audiences.

Though Diana of Themyscira swoons for the dashing Chris Pine in the romance subplot, she tells him she enjoyed casual sex with other Amazonian women on the all-girl magic island. This made the film’s female superhero sexually exotic.

Queen Maeve, the Wonder Woman-like superhero in the Amazon Prime hit series The Boys, also was sexually exotic – bisexual and into threesomes. That made her engaging. In Supergirl, Kara has no sex life.

Maeve in The Boys, as portrayed by Dominique McElligott. Photo courtesy Amazon MGM.

Audiences expect to hear about the sex lives of important female characters but don’t necessarily expect this of important male characters. Maybe that’s chauvinist, but it’s how audiences work. My guess is most women in the audience for a female-led movie want to hear about the heroine’s sex life.

Presenting a heroine with no erotic longings, Supergirl missed a chance to make Kara interesting. Who wants to go to the cineplex for a film about an incel with heat vision?

That leads to the first question for the 2026 Summer Blockbuster Part Two – should superpowered women have superpowered sex lives?

Zendaya towers over husband Tom Holland. Last weekend Zendaya and Holland appeared in the new Spiderman and also in The Odyssey, which have already combined for nearly $2 billion in ticket sales. Photo courtesy Sony Pictures.

Doing promotional interviews in advance of the film, Milly Alcock, who plays Supergirl, said her character’s Kryptonian self was bisexual.

But there’s no reference to bisexuality in the movie. Supergirl doesn’t have a boyfriend or a girlfriend or any interest beyond alcohol and the stupid flying dog. The sight gag of the stupid dog crashing into something got old fast.

Helen Slater, Supergirl of 1984, flew with arms daintily spread. Her hair was windblown even when she’s standing still. Photos courtesy Warner Bros Pictures.

The first Supergirl movie, from 1984 starring Helen Slater, like the current Supergirl movie depicted the heroine as chaste. Slater’s character crushed on a handsome groundskeeper but, fearing a relationship with Supergirl would put him in danger, left her love unrequited.

Like the sexless current Supergirl film, the sexless Supergirl of 1984 was a box-office bomb.

Like the current bomb, the basic problem of the 1984 iteration was bad movie – a ridiculous antagonist (Faye Dunaway as a wicked witch!), no emotional stake for the audience.

In the successful Superman of 2025, Clark and Lois Lane share a spectacular full-mouth kiss while floating midair. This is entertaining. Summer movies are supposed to entertain.

Producers of the 1984 film wanted Supergirl dainty and ladylike. Slater flew with arms daintily outstretched. At least the new Chick of Steel flies with her fists balled. She means business!