Since its June 26 release date, Supergirl has received a range of reactions, from fans of the movie who highly praised Milly Alcock’s performance and found the story overall to be profound to naysayers who think the movie was a step in entirely the wrong direction for the still quite new DCU. Supergirl’s reviews certainly skewed more negative, although the Rotten Tomatoes scores for the movie have consistently reflected the fact that audiences remain divided—and audiences and critics certainly remain divided.
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The criticisms haven’t been entirely devoid of deeper commentary, though. In fact, while some backlash to the film has been rooted solely in the fact that women-led superhero movies frequently receive hate, other criticisms involve the child sex trafficking plot being harmful to its audiences, the narrative structure being a bit messy, and the movie failing to adhere to its source material, the comic book miniseries Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. In terms of the latter, there are three concepts in particular that would have improved the movie had they been adapted for the big screen.
Woman of Tomorrow Was Told From Ruthye’s Perspective
13-year-old Ruthye is introduced early in Supergirl, and it’s clear that she is going to be a major character in the narrative. When her family is brutally murdered in front of her, in fact, it begins to feel like the movie is as much Ruthye’s story as it is Kara’s. While that changes over time, with Supergirl ultimately being clearly Kara’s story, of which Ruthye is a significant part, in Woman of Tomorrow, it really is Ruthye’s story in many ways. Kara/Supergirl is, of course, still a major figure, but the comics are told from Ruthye’s perspective.
That’s done through a framing device in which Ruthye is telling the story many years later, looking back. This likely would have caused controversy by not clearly making Supergirl Kara’s story, yet it actually would have been so meaningful. By having Ruthye tell the story and reflect on what it meant to her at the time and what it means to her decades later, Woman of Tomorrow highlighted just how massive an impact Supergirl really had on Ruthye. It would have been amazing to see this on the big screen, but sadly, that was abandoned for the movie.
The Color Scheme of Woman of Tomorrow Was Bright and Vibrant
One of the biggest complaints about Supergirl has been its color scheme, which is admittedly drab and brown. Despite the fact that Kara and Ruthye are traveling to various planets throughout the plot, and flashbacks to Krypton and Earth are shown, the movie overall feels dark, monotone, and just generally not as visually engaging as it should have been. Confusingly, this completely goes against one of the best parts of Woman of Tomorrow, which was beautifully bright and colorful. It would have been incredible to see this adapted for the big screen.
In addition to the fact that following this art style in Supergirl would have been visually stunning, it also would have addressed other issues with the movie, had this color scheme been used. Because the subject matter of Supergirl is so dark, particularly when it comes to the child sex trafficking plot, having a vibrant color scheme would have been one way to offset this; that is, presumably, part of the rationale behind it in the comics. Instead, the color of the movie remains as dark as the storyline itself.
Supergirl’s Decision About Killing Krem Was Better in the Comics
One of the single most controversial aspects of Supergirl is the huge change to Kara’s decision about what to do with Krem in Woman of Tomorrow. In the comics, Kara is likewise confronted with the decision to either kill the villain Krem or leave him alive. In the comics, however, Kara actually does spare his life—a massive difference from the movie, in which Kara makes Ruthye believe she has spared Krem’s life, only to stab him to death while Ruthye isn’t looking.
In part, this still reflects what Kara wanted to do for Ruthye in the original story. Kara didn’t want Ruthye’s desperation for revenge to drive her to do something so dark, changing her forever. The movie’s decision to have Kara kill Krem is a way to demonstrate Kara’s willingness to protect Ruthye from such things while also suggesting that, in her case, she is already too far gone. Yet, it would have been so much more powerful for Kara to make the same choice in Supergirl that she did in Woman of Tomorrow.
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