On January 31, 2023, new DC Studios co-president James Gunn released a video online where he confirmed the first batch of projects that were in development for the new “DCU” franchise, a reboot of the larger DC properties on TV and in film that would mingle together like Marvel. Among those titles that were announced were Superman, which released last summer, plus the Lanterns TV series that arrives this summer, and also projects that have stalled out, like The Authority movie and the still-in-development The Brave and the Bold movie starring the Batman family.
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One of the last projects that Gunn announced was a live-action version of Bilquis Evely and Tom King’s comic series, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Though it was initially set to carry the same title as that Eisner-nominated series, it has not been shortened to Supergirl, and the film has finally arrived in theaters. Featuring House of the Dragon star Milly Alcock as Kara Zor-El, the second film in the DCU has finally arrived, and here’s what goes down. Naturally, spoilers followed.
Supergirl Movie’s Ending Explained
Just like the comic book that inspired it, Supergirl tells the story of Ruthye Marye Knoll, a young girl who seeks revenge against Krem of the Yellow Hills following the death of her family. She teams up with a reluctant Supergirl to carry out her revenge mission, traveling across the cosmos in search of Krem and encountering a slew of other ne’er-do-wells along the way, as well as personal life lessons.
The ending of the movie naturally brings all the threads together, as Supergirl and Ruthye track Krem and his pirate gang, the Brigands, to a planet with a green sun Though this is clearly used as a means to keep Supergirl at bay, the green sun eventually sets, making way for a yellow sun to rise, giving Kara her powers back and putting her in a position to almost single-handedly destroy the Brigands’ ship and free their hostages (with a little bit of help from Jason Momoa’s Lobo, who throws some grenades and rides off into the sunset).
At the end of it all, though, it’s all about Krem. Ruthye confronts him, sword in hand, prepared to kill him. Kara arrives before Ruthye can complete her task, though, and pleads with her not to do it, making the case that living a long and beautiful life would be the ultimate act of revenge, not taking his life for the brief satisfaction of having killed him. Ruthye appears to agree, walking away at Kara’s suggestion, only for Kara to pick up the sword and kill Krem herself.
In that moment, Kara killing Krem could be seen as her own act of revenge, since the ticking clock of the film has been that Krem poisoned her dog Krypto, one of her last connections to her home planet. The reality of it, though, is that Kara knows that killing Krem is not only for the good of the entire universe, but she believes that she can handle the weight of his death over her, more so than Ruthye.
At the end of the film, it seems her suspicion was correct, as she takes Ruthye home, but not before inviting her out to finish celebrating her birthday. Later, Kara returns to Earth, changed from her time with Ruthye and willing to finally settle down on her new home planet with Clark, having made peace with how her home and family ended before.
How the Supergirl Movie Drastically Changes the Comic’s Ending
Though there are major swaths of the Supergirl movie that are pretty close to the source material that it’s based on, there are some pretty distinct differences. One of them is the framing device through which the movie is told entirely, with the story of Ruthye’s quest for revenge against Krem of the Yellow Hills and her alliance with Supergirl being written out like a book, taking its cues from one of the comic’s biggest inspirations, Charles Portis’ True Grit. It makes sense why this change would occur for a film, though, but it’s hardly the biggest change, as the ending itself is considerably different.
In the pages of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, both Kara and Ruthye cannot bring themselves to finally kill Krem, both knowing that the amount of killing that has occurred across their journey has been enough. Ruthye even tells Kara, “Let us away to find punishment for this man,” one of the last lines of dialogue before the comic makes a major leap forward into the future.
Decades later, the real ending of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow unfolds, with Kara reuniting with Ruthye, now an old woman who wrote a best-selling book about their journey (though even Ruthye herself calls it “fictitious fiddle-faddle”). The pair reunite and Kara reveals that Krem has been trapped in the Phantom Zone this entire time, noting that to him, he has experienced three hundred years inside the prison and has apparently had a change of heart. After they set him free, Krem not only thanks Supergirl for freeing him but begs Ruthye for her forgiveness, now a changed man after three centuries of reflection.
Ruthye’s only response to this is to violently smack Krem across the face with her cane, walking away as his body tumbles to the ground, and he lies motionless as the red sun rises. It’s a pretty powerful final act, with the now old woman leaving her mark on the man in the same way he did and refusing to forgive him despite spending a hundred years hoping to make amends. Ironically, the final page reveals that Ruthye’s book claimed Supergirl had actually killed Krem with her sword, meaning the movie’s ending adopts the fake ending from the comic.
What’s interesting about this, though, is that the two pieces, the film and the comic, attempt to arrive at the same place in the end. For the Woman of Tomorrow comic, it’s about making peace with what has happened, but also framing the story so that Krem’s allies and friends would hope to take revenge against her for his “death,” allowing Ruthye to carry on and live her own life. For the film, it becomes literal, with Kara electing to take on his death to carry the emotional toll, and to give it a proper Hollywood ending that sets the stage for her next appearance in the DCU, 2027’s Man of Tomorrow.
