Superman’s New Spinoff Set In James Gunn’s DCU Is Splitting The Fanbase

The new DCU Superman spinoff Supergirl isn’t out yet, but it’s already dividing fans of Clark Kent’s cousin, Kara Zor-El. Supergirl is set to hit theaters on June 26, and James Gunn’s DCU has begun releasing footage of the upcoming DCU movie. Though the movie is still two months out and there’s only a few minutes of footage of the project, Supergirl is already dividing the DC fanbase.

Division among its fanbase is not a novel problem for James Gunn’s DCU. The trailer for the upcoming series Lanterns, for example, drew criticisms about Green Lantern’s suit. Even 2025’s Superman initially drew criticism for its suit. Now, Supergirl is getting the same treatment, but the criticism isn’t being leveled at her suit. Instead, fans are divided about Supergirl‘s visuals and whether it will be able to live up to the comic it’s based on.

Early Fan Reactions Are Split On Supergirl’s Trailer & Visuals

The latest trailer for Supergirl was met with mixed reactions from fans online. Some viewers, such as X user @gosuprime022, pointed out that Supergirl feels very similar to James Gunn’s earlier Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Like Guardians of the Galaxy, Supergirl is a movie set in space to a soundtrack that seems inspired by 1980s pop hits. The Supergirl trailer featured the song “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted” by Jimmy Ruffin from 1966.

Other fans, like user @IamDr7_, were critical of Supergirl‘s visuals. Other fan reactions also pointed out the visual similarities, such as the depiction of space and seedy sci-fi bars, to Guardians of the Galaxy. That post received over 100 likes.

There were, however, several positive reactions to the Supergirl trailer as well. User @InsolnceAxolotl described the trailer as “peak” to the tune of over 600 likes at the time of writing.

The fan account @DCdaily also specifically noted that the visuals of Supergirl were impressive, which received 20 reposts and over 140 likes. That post also included several stills from the trailer that primarily highlighted Supergirl’s powers and some of the deep space locales that will be featured in the film.

Woman Of Tomorrow Raised Fan Expectations For Supergirl

The Supergirl movie was originally subtitled Woman of Tomorrow, as it’s a direct adaptation of Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s 2021 comic of the same name. There are a few differences between Supergirl and Woman of Tomorrow, as Jason Momoa’s Lobo didn’t appear in the comic, but the majority of Supergirl is taken straight from the pages of Woman of Tomorrow. Normally, that would be a good thing, but in this case, the comic set a very high bar for the movie.

Woman of Tomorrow is widely regarded as one of the best modern Supergirl stories and a quintessential story for the character. Combined with the fact that Bilquis Evely’s artistic style is second to none, Woman of Tomorrow‘s quality raised fan expectations for the Supergirl movie. The comic is a roaring space opera with trippy visuals, creative aliens, and vibrant art. Fans were expecting the same out of the film, or something closer to the visuals of Project Hail Mary.

In comparison to the art of Woman of Tomorrow, the visuals in the Supergirl trailer left some underwhelmed. Instead of psychedelic and colorful images of outer space, Supergirl seems to have opted for a more grounded and realistic depiction that’s darker in tone and less vibrant. Some changes had to be made in transitioning this story from comic to film, however, and not every shot of Supergirl can look like a panel of a comic book.

As with all upcoming movies, however, it’s likely too soon to tell how well Supergirl will be able to live up to its source material. One trailer alone is not enough to form a definitive opinion, and Supergirl may well have better visuals in store that DC chose not to share in the trailer. For now, however, fans of DC and Supergirl seem to be split.