If you’re sitting at DC Studios right now, the box office number is ugly enough on its own. But to me, the real nightmare is what comes after it.
As of July 6, 2026, Supergirl is in freefall. Trade coverage and follow-up reporting have the movie suffering a brutal second-weekend drop in the mid-70% range, after an opening that already came in below expectations. That is not a wobble. That is the kind of collapse that tells you audiences did not like what they heard, did not like what they saw, or did not feel any urgency to show up in the first place.
And yet the worst news for DC is not just the collapse itself. It is the sense that James Gunn and the studio are still treating this creative direction like it deserves protection instead of scrutiny.
That’s the part that jumps out at me.
Because when a movie underperforms this badly, the normal instinct should be self-examination. Was the script strong enough? Did the trailers sell the movie? Did the tone connect? Did the ending work? Did this version of Supergirl actually give people a hero they wanted to spend two hours with?
Those are fair questions. Necessary questions, honestly.
Instead, what I’m seeing is a studio that still seems committed to Ana Nogueira as a major part of DC’s future. That isn’t rumor. Variety previously reported that Nogueira was tapped to write the new Wonder Woman movie, and recent coverage around Supergirl has only reinforced that she remains part of the larger DC conversation. So if you hated Supergirl and were hoping the film’s performance would force a major creative reset, that hope looks premature.
That’s the worst news.
Because this is bigger than one bad weekend. One flop can be survived. A bad creative read that gets repeated across multiple tentpole characters is how you poison a whole slate.
And let’s be honest about where a lot of the backlash is coming from. Not all criticism is trolling. Not all disappointment is sexism. Sometimes audiences reject a movie because the writing feels off, the emotional arc doesn’t land, and the character they came to see never quite feels heroic. That’s not a culture-war talking point. That’s just movies.
The ending debate around Supergirl only poured gasoline on that fire. Coverage over the past week has highlighted the controversy around the film’s change to Krem’s fate versus the comic, with even comic readers arguing that the adaptation misunderstood what made the original ending work. When you’re already losing audience trust, that kind of argument does not help.
And neither does the perception that DC is talking past fans instead of listening.
I’m not saying a studio should obey every angry post online. That would be stupid. But there is a difference between ignoring noise and ignoring signals. A disastrous box office drop is a signal. Weak word of mouth is a signal. Fans walking out cold on your interpretation of a major character is a signal.
If Gunn’s answer is to keep the same people in place and press forward like nothing happened, then the bad news is not behind DC. It’s ahead of them.
That’s what makes this moment so revealing.
Supergirl bombing is embarrassing. Doubling down after it bombs is the real danger.
Sources
- Forbes on Supergirl’s projected second-weekend drop
- GamesRadar on Supergirl’s opening and DC response
- GamesRadar on the ending controversy and Ana Nogueira comments
- Variety report on Ana Nogueira writing Wonder Woman
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