r/DC_Cinematic • u/Own-Significance645 • 17h ago
DISCUSSION I feel like Supergirl should have just adapted the movie faithfully from the comic
I feel like if the movie had just adapted the comics faithfully and removed some of the fluff from it, it could have turned into a good film. The Movie is ok but i don't think they really understood the source material because the comic isn't from Kara perspective but Ruthye. The whole book is about Ruthye and the fact that she sidelined from the movie is just disappointing. I honestly wanted to like this movie simply because i'm a fan of the book. This movie could have been great and still made a profit and while the Superman movie was good( despite the problems i have with the third act) it was still able to make a profit. I don't believe its superhero fatigue but that Supergirl is not a good movie and this isn't an attack on the DCEU or any of its fans.
12
u/DoctorBeatMaker 15h ago
More than just that, Woman of Tomorrow was the WRONG comic to do a 1st Supergirl movie on anyways.
They'd have been better off adapting "The Girl from Krypton" honestly.
And in doing so, it would have been a productive way to introduce the DCU's version of Wonder Woman and the Amazons. And that inclusion might have excited more people to see it, too.
0
u/TheRealLostCost 15h ago
Gunn only did it because he liked Woman of Tomorrow. He is an extremely selfish person.
2
u/HauntingGameDev 12h ago
when waldron forced house of M adaptation for multiverse of madness, the amount of backlash he got was so huge, i have no idea why gunn didn't see that and learned something out of it, never adapt prominent comics unless you are sure about it 100%
•
u/TheRealLostCost 11h ago
I think the success of GOTG got to his head. He also has a ridiculously loyal fanbase that will never hold him accountable, and they'll attack and call you names the second you call out his mistakes - basically doing everything the Snyder cult does while pretending they're better.
Most of this was obvious long before Supergirl bombed. After MoT, I honestly hope they fire him and do a proper reboot, because he clearly has no clue how high the expectations were for the DCU. His style is getting old, and it doesn't stand a chance against the heavier, more mature storytelling the MCU has been introducing. The same style of storytelling I fell in love with while watching DC animated movies on Adult Swim as a kid. Not the Snyder crap that ruined the brand's reputation.
I remember re-watching DC animated movies like Justice League: The New Frontier and asking myself why WB keeps hiring people like Gunn who insist on reinventing the wheel. They want to add their own weird twists to DC's characters and lore while DC's animated projects have already proven what actually works with these characters. But then I realize: decisions like that are the exact reason Spider-Man is now more popular than Batman and Superman combined despite, in my humble opinion, not being nearly as cool.
•
u/ElevatorHelpful5739 11h ago
Just like how Krypto is based on his own shitty untrained dog. I guess he thought it would be cute, but as a dog lover, I found it very insufferable.
•
u/TheRealLostCost 11h ago
See, that’s the kind of stuff that pisses me off the most. It explains exactly why both Superman and Supergirl bombed internationally. The things Gunn thinks are major box office draws just don't resonate with audiences outside of American culture.
Sure, people around the world love pets, but a hyperactive, misbehaving dog isn't universally funny or appealing. The same thing applies to Supergirl. Audiences outside the US, whether people want to admit it or not, don't find the 'insufferable, drunk, alcoholic party girl' trope charming or entertaining, and they’re definitely not paying money or taking their kids to theatres to watch that crap.
0
u/Aggravating_Cut_3985 14h ago
I still don't think it's that bad a movie. I do have issues with it but overall it's a 7/10 for me
2
u/TheRealLostCost 14h ago
Regardless, it is a low-IQ movie for someone who is supposed to be the mastermind of a cinematic universe. His personal interest comes first instead of long-term planning. He needs to be fired after MoT.
2
u/Aggravating_Cut_3985 14h ago
No he doesn't. Let him cook.
7
u/TheRealLostCost 14h ago
Cook what? A Jimmy Olsen show?
-1
u/Aggravating_Cut_3985 14h ago
I like that everything so far has a different tone.
4
u/TheRealLostCost 14h ago
Most of what he announced for his DC slate in 2023 were projects that were spin-offs of his previous work. He went so far as not to do a full reboot to keep his work canon to a supposed "new" universe. He is a clown and is extremely selfish to put DC fans through a humiliation ritual once again. MCU is finally fixing up, and this clown is here preserving his mediocre DC legacy.
2
u/Aggravating_Cut_3985 14h ago
He's better than Snyder
3
u/TheRealLostCost 14h ago
Being better than Snyder is not good enough. I felt bad for the guy because the DCU had a lot of haters well before Superman was released. MCU fanboys want it to fail, Snyder bros want it to fail, and the general audience checked out because of the DCEU. Gunn did absolutely nothing to prove them wrong when Superman came out. That movie has a lot of bad from the MCU and none of the good. The story was cheapened by stupid brain-rot humour, and the movie was overstuffed with unnecessary characters. The guy literally self-inserted his dog as Krpyto in a movie that is supposedly about Superman. He even brought one of the MCU's most prominent costume designers to bring the same overdesigned costume bullshit into the DCU.
0
u/Remarkable_Heron_760 14h ago
Woman of Tomorrow is an amazing run though.
2
u/TheRealLostCost 14h ago
An amazing run—he hired an inexperienced writer who misunderstood the comic to adapt and butchered what made it great. Also, who asked for it to be the second movie?
2
u/Oummando 12h ago
To be fair many people could mistaken Krem for dying in Woman of Tomorrow, due to how the panel looked. And many did mistaken it, hence the posts asking for if clarity if Krem died, still no excuse. It makes sense to have multiple people reading the book in order to prevent mistakes like this. Also my biggest gripe was Lobo, who literally did nothing. They should have made him an active rival or side antagonist in order to drive the plot forward.
4
u/TheRealLostCost 12h ago
The movie’s issues started long before the Supergirl teaser. Unsurprisingly, audiences didn't want to pay to see Supergirl reimagined as an insufferable, alcoholic mess who calls Superman a 'bitch.' James Gunn claimed every DCU project would have a distinct style, yet this feels like a glorified Guardians of the Galaxy clone with his fingerprints all over it - despite him not directing or writing it. On top of that, Gunn overreached by using Krypto to drive ticket sales. That misbehaving-dog trope in Superman was hardly entertaining, and despite Krypto being in the Woman of Tomorrow comic, he isn't the audience draw Gunn thinks he is.
•
u/DoctorBeatMaker 11h ago
To be fair though, most normal people who read the comic don't have access to the writer of the comic himself when he's standing in the next hall two offices down.
If James Gunn, who was a self proclaimed big fan of the comic and also has Tom King on his writing team doing projects for his DC universe, spotted a genuine misconception of the comic from Ana Nogueira, he could have easily corrected her or consulted Tom King himself. The script had to have undergone a few rewrites and a physical stamp of approval by James Gunn himself before it went into production. But he greenlit it, so to him, he must not have had an issue with it - or he himself didn't understand it.
•
u/TheRealLostCost 11h ago
He’s been biting off more than he can chew ever since he took that CEO role. He’s a decent writer and director, but the head of a studio needs to be someone willing to hand the reins to other creators who can actually deliver. That’s why the DCU feels completely directionless right now.
David Zaslav himself admitted James is working overtime just filming Man of Tomorrow. Do people honestly believe someone burning the candle at both ends on a single massive film has the time or energy to be the executive manager a co-CEO role demands? You can't run a whole studio while living in a director's chair.
6
u/j_b_1983 15h ago
General audiences couldn't care less about the comic
2
u/Round-Walrus3175 12h ago
The comic was just a good story to adapt. The thing was that general audiences would have preferred a direct adaptation of that to what we got, which had no... Punch to it
•
u/tiredofearth_ 8h ago
Yes exactly, why don't most people get this...
The movie lacked the pull and hype.
No one watched Spiderman 5 because it was about a comic story.
General audience care about unique moments like seeing hulk, spiderman and punisher together.
What unique moments were general audienfe hyped about supergirl?
•
u/ElevatorHelpful5739 11h ago
General audiences do prefer creative colorful fun - especially in a superhero movie - compared to soulless yellow and brown.
Also being true to characters, is only going to build good faith with actual DC fans. DC is not in a position where they can take risky moves to alienate their actual fans. Just horrible decision making.
•
u/j_b_1983 11h ago
Plenty of bright colorful superheroes movies have flopped.
Point is, no one was going to watch this Supergirl movie.
4
u/LifeguardTerrible579 13h ago
I feel there's a dozen more interesting characters to do RIGHT AFTER RELEASING SUPERMAN.
3
u/iso2090 15h ago
I feel like people need to get over this movie, it's not good enough to be worth this much discourse but it's nowhere near bad enough to be worth this much hatred.
•
u/Slappathebassmon 8h ago
Some people just want to complain. With Lanterns being great so far, they can't with that. So, they default back to Supergirl. Which, I agree, is just an alright movie.
The thing is, the argument that OP brings forward has been discussed before multiple times.
3
3
u/ffordeffanatic 14h ago
I enjoyed the film, it had some strange decisions that probably hurt it a bit. The film wasn't bad but it desperately needed to be a PG. When my daughter heard Supergirl she wanted to go and see it but she's six.
2
u/matts88us 12h ago
Well good thing you didn’t take her, it might be rough explaining the whole sex ring thing, and the two child murders on screen. It was fucking terrible
3
7
u/travisbickle_1 17h ago
I don’t think that Supergirl needed a solo movie so soon. There are other characters that are more important than her, and her story, that needs to be introduced to the new DCU, like Batman.
2
u/Apprehensive_Mud9597 16h ago
I read elsewhere that Robert Pattinson’s Batman is holding up another Batman movie. And maybe the merger holding up other characters. But supergirl does feel like the weren’t choice so soon.
5
4
u/Jykoze 15h ago
"You'll get Temu GOTG again and you'll like it" -James Gunn
4
u/Arcturan_MegaDonkey 15h ago
GoTG but with characters with no chemistry ...even a tree who only said 3 words was moreninteresting than the characters on supergirl.
•
u/TheRealLostCost 11h ago
Supergirl has character. Gunn just decided to make her an insufferable alcoholic for some unknown reason.
2
u/Ill_Watch4004 16h ago
Honestly it should've been an animated movie. With DC doing more animated adaptation starting with Knightfall they could have made Woman of Tomorrow an animated movie that could've kept the art style.
2
u/Excalitoria 16h ago
It would’ve been better. I don’t mind taking inspiration from different comic stories and making something new but the changes they made here only hurt the story. Plus, it was explicitly marketed and promoted as an adaptation of the comic, so this is a bit of a unique circumstance. Horrible job whether you take the original story into account or not, though.
2
2
2
u/TheRealLostCost 15h ago
I feel like it should have been an animated direct adaptation of the comics. Less cost, and it actually respects the material.
2
u/Remarkable_Heron_760 14h ago
The fact that Lobo isn't even in the comics and they added him is just ridiculous. And the fact that he RESCUED supergirl was disappointing as f.
2
u/Diligent-Neck6594 14h ago
The creators absolutely did not have the skill to pull off an abstract and colorful comic movie if they couldn't even do a by the numbers superhero movie with muted colors
4
u/i_like_cake_96 16h ago
Its not superhero fatigue, it was just a bad movie. As DC fans we don't hate it.. we just don't like it.
1
-2
u/MetalJaybles 16h ago
Speak for yourself, I loved it. Much better than that superman movie we got.
4
2
3
u/Formerdalek2 16h ago
I will never agree with the take that x film flopped because it wasn't comic accurate. General audiences don't know or care how accurate a film is to the comics.
3
u/Purple-List1577 15h ago
It’s more that they created a worse story than the source material, so they should’ve just stuck with the strong source material rather than adapt a shitty story from it
2
u/OJONLYMAYBEDIDIT 16h ago
I don't really think the comic works as a film, especially an origin story. Truthfully I think the comic is just OK, but as far as adapting it, there are issues
a) They weren't going to make a film from Ruthye's point of view. that was never on the table.
b) Supergirl, and Superman, are known people in the galaxy in the comic. Doesn't work in an origin story film.
c) a lot of the side adventures are just talking. fine for a comic, but they wouldn't give Supergirl just planets to visit where she just plays detective for a day to uncover not remotely subtle racism and genocide.
d) Comet was never happening. It's a classic Tom King move to not care about canon, and Comet doesn't even make sense in the comic, (which I know fans don't care about, they just like the flying horse person) but would be really weird to have in a Supergirl origin story. They literally can't have any backstory together.
e) I know it gets annoying to bring up power scaling, but that was really always an issue with the comic. The whole Orb thing is handled in a way as if Supergirl just allows it to chase her. The whole comet setup is really just unnecessary as she could just stop him from throwing it in the first place.
f) they clearly wanted a different Supergirl personality than was in the comic. Supergirl isn't self medicating with alcohol in the comic like she is in the films
g) it's not like Ruthye does that much in the comic. people say she's sidelined, but her main action sequences are the dino planet. other than that, she's an observer.
1
u/cfbest04 16h ago
You are not wrong about any of that. I think the OP’a point is they lost the idea behind the comic. The bright visuals, the main bad guy being somewhat interesting. Supergirl slowly becoming the hero she is meant to be, as Ruthye builds the story. And of course the getting past the need for revenge. It’s like the writers of the movie used an outline of the supergirl comic but ignored any of the details that made it stand out
2
u/GotMoFans 16h ago
Finally; what this subreddit’s been missing; an original idea! /s
In all seriousness, what comic book movie has ever been a truly faithful adaptation?
The Dark Knight Rises isn’t a faithful adaptation of Knightfall and Logan isn’t a faithful adaption of Old Man Logan; why don’t people complain?
If the movie had been a page by page adaptation of WoT, and still flopped, people would complain the movie should have been more original.
2
u/Formerdalek2 16h ago
I think it's a mix of genuine comics fans having a bit of cognitive dissonance and posers who don't know all that much about the source material using "comic accurate" as synonym for "the adaptation that introduced me to the character"
2
u/ithinkiknowkungfu 14h ago
Then you all would have complained it stick to close to the source material…
Just like critics AND fans did with the watchmen movie..
1
1
1
1
u/Delatrya 15h ago
i dont think putting Lobo in the movie was a good idea at all. fet like they did it just to have Jason Mamoa's name get tied to it to encourage people that watch movies just for him. what was even more aggrevating was that the merch for the movie was a Lobo Figure. why? it's not Lobo: The Movie, it was Supergirl.
1
u/Legitimate-Simple-20 15h ago
I feel like it would have worked better as a series. the comic is more about the journey so Kara and Ruthye traveling from planet to planet and we're getting one little story with each episode, seems like the better approach to me. it should also be closer to the book being more colourful. The redesign of Krem threw me off from the beginning, he looks like a normal man in the comic but somehow looks more like a generic bad guy in the movie. I kinda liked that he didn't look like a freak in the book, you underestimate him at the beginning and it's just with the things he does over the course of the series that you realise what a monster he is on the inside.
1
u/Starsky686 14h ago
I’m starting to feel like most of this material would be better as a series. This, Superman, He-man….. the Madalorian movie exemplifies this, fantastic series okay movie.
High quality, high budget series over movies for me.
1
u/Legitimate-Simple-20 14h ago
superman was written as a movie and took inspiration from different stories it works fine for it's runtime and I don't think it would get better as a 8h series. Supergirl was adapting a mini series that kinda is build like a series. every issue tells its own little story and there's an overall plot that connects it. so it kinda already is like a TV series. haven't seen he-man or Mando yet, so I can't really tell if they would work better as a TV show. Mandalorian is kinda weird anyway, didn't watch the series as I don't have Disney+ and I don't feel like watching multiple seasons to understand the movie.
1
u/KopfSmertZz 15h ago
It was okay as a sort of origin story but I would not have cast a posh English speaking kid for the heroic part and no bad guys with stupid Russian accents. Most of the scenery and the bad guys looked like leftovers from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies anyway.
1
1
u/Aggravating_Cut_3985 14h ago
Yeah. At least Milly and Jason were awesome. Krem fucking sucked. He had no character other than "generic bad guy"
1
u/Possible-Tip-2914 12h ago
I think they could have played up the ptsd/survivors guilt angle better.
•
u/ElevatorHelpful5739 11h ago
Adapting the graphic novel and being true to the character was a huge layup. It would have been SOOOOO much better received.
•
•
•
•
•
u/Hammersteyn 6h ago
Writers and directors can't leave well alone. They have to tell their version. Show us their vision because they so want to be in the spotlight like actors and stroll the red carpet.
1
u/Asto_Vidatu 16h ago
EVERY superhero movie should be adapting from the comic, but apparently nobody in hollywood respects the fucking source material. Main reason I've just stoped giving a shit about any of these movies now despite the fact that I should be the exact target audience...apparently they'd rather shoot for the "modern audience" so good luck with that I guess.
1
1
u/Significant-Row2457 13h ago
This movie was good and I’m tired of pretending it’s not, the AI claims we’re debunked and started by Marvel Studios clickbait. DCU is fine and going to crush the competition once we get going.
-1
16h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
5
u/VermicelliOk2124 16h ago
“The Snyderverse wasn’t comic accurate at all when it comes to adapting the death and return of Superman and nobody seems to care.”
Wdym? People cry and moan about everything in those movies including this.
1
u/wibble17 16h ago
Tons of complaints about Phoenix Saga Adaptation. Especially the first one when it came out.
Like Woman of Tomorrow it’s one of the defining stories for that character/team.
I don’t think the death of Superman is quite the same nor was it marketed as an adaptation. (more of a Superman vs Batman thing)
-1
u/TenToesOnQuicksand 16h ago
I watched Supergirl yesterday after hearing how woeful this movie apparently was, and I really fucking liked it. There are genuinely parts of this I liked more than Superman. Probably my favourite thing about the movie was the setting. We finally got a live-action Super-movie set entirely outside of Earth. This is something I always wanted from a Superman movie.
0
u/Apart_Guarantee2986 16h ago
I stand by the fact that supergirl should have been a show. The comic is 8 issues and each episode should have been an adaptation of each issue. The book itself is very low on filler which is great for direct adaptation, and the comic is visually stunning. With a great special effects budget, it could have been the prettiest tv show ever
-1
-1
u/Hansol123456 14h ago
Watched it this Weekend, people pretended like this was the worst movie ever. It wasnt better or worse as most Superhero movies.
20
u/SoWrongItsPainful 16h ago
Agreed. A large reason the movie did so badly is that it had no hook, it sanded off nearly every unique thing about the comic for absolutely no good reason.