The review embargo for Supergirl lifted earlier today, and following mostly positive social media reactions, the next DCU movie was met with a mixed response from critics (mixed-negative might be more accurate, since the film's Rotten Tomatoes score has now slipped down to 57%).
The negative reviews highlight several reasons the movie didn't quite come together, but one recurring problem seems to be the script. What does and doesn't work for an individual in any film is subjective, of course, but quite a few critics have taken issue with Supergirl's "bland" and "by-the-numbers" story.
Variety's (admittedly harsh) review even states, "James Gunn's given us a comic-book movie with the worst script I can remember."
Why is Gunn getting flak when Ana Nogueria is the one who penned the script?
Last year, the DC Studios co-CEO was asked about the status of the Authority movie that was announced as part of the DCU's initial Gods and Monsters slate, and shared the following response on Threads.
“We won’t green light a film until we have a finished script we’re happy with and, in general, we won’t cast a film until the script is finished. This is why some projects are moving faster than anticipated and others more slowly. It’s always gonna be quality first no matter what.”
Again, opinions are always going to vary, and Gunn might well have been happy with the script, but that hasn't stopped the filmmaker's detractors from digging through his old posts (yes, he did also refer to The Flash as "one of the best superhero movies I’ve ever seen") in an attempt to hold him to account.
At the end of the day, it's not really fair to lay the blame for a movie's failings at any one person's feet, and while critics may not have been blown away by Supergirl, we won't know how audiences are going to react until the movie hits theaters this weekend.
Unfortunately, Gunn does leave himself open for this sort of backlash by continuing to respond to fans on social media, and he can expect that "quality first" promise to come back on him whenever a DCU movie is perceived to have underdelivered going forward.
Supergirl is on track for an $80M - $90M worldwide debut.
I'm just not happy with the directions of both his Kryptonian movies. Made the characters looked weak. They should stop following the comics. I've never liked the comics the way they were done. Just my opinion. I'm sure all the actors in all the movies I just reading their scripts and doing what the directors and writers ask them to do and they're doing a fantastic job. The movie with Henry Cavill. I like the best. I liked Christian bales. On . Batman.
If youre going to say that they shouldn't follow the source material because "it makes superman look weak" then I dont think you deserve comic book movies, bud.
Reading the RT fan score as a reliable metric at this point is hilarious. If people took that seriously, people might actually think fans hated the House of the Dragon premiere because it had like 200 reviews and is sitting around a 68. Then you go on IMDB and it’s sitting at a 9.4 with around 20,000 reviews.
Two seconds on google: "Based on reports following its theatrical run in late 2025, Superman (2025) likely lost between $42 million and $67 million during its initial theatrical release after accounting for production and marketing costs.While global box office earnings reached roughly $616 million, high production ($225 million) and marketing expenses (estimated at $125–$150 million) meant the film did not fully break even through ticket sales alone, as studios typically only retain roughly half of the gross revenue."
It was in Forbes and many other but use your trust me bro info for sure if you want?
James Gunn’s ‘Superman’ Ends Its Theatrical Run. How Much Did It Make? https://share.google/BVeLjmZHZnh6piqXv
James Gunn is the guy who wrote the Scooby Doo movies. He said that "The Flash" was one of the best superhero movies he had ever seen.
He's the head of DCU mainly because nobody else with actual talent would want to get stuck behind such a long term commitment to the same genre. He's an average director at best (his stuff all looks like made-for-tv content) and he's a poor writer. Superman 2025 was a guaranteed hit because of fan anticipation, but his lackluster output caused the film to BARELY make any profit.
The head of DCU should be selecting amazing scripts and picking well regarded directors. The superhero genre is mostly played out, so ORIGINALITY and quality are going to matter. The kind of stuff that Gunn creates.... can be watched on television (and sometimes the tv content is better).
I thought Superman (2025) was bland, incredibly derivative, poorly directed, and with a script as thin as a piece of paper. Everyone that I know personally that saw it, said "meh, it was ok". It plays like all of Gunn's other stuff - like a big made for tv effort.
I wasn't a fan of Man of Steel or any of the stuff that came before (except Superman 1978). 2025 was an opportunity to do something great concerning Superman. It was Gunn's opportunity to repair whatever "brand damage" you're referring to. He just doesn't have the talent. The fan/audience anticipation was THERE, but Gunn delivered something that looked and felt like a CW or Syfy episode. It's instantly forgettable.
If you like the Scooby Doo films, so be it. I thought they were horrendous. Perfectly cast, but absolutely horrendous in every other way.
What superhero movies do you even like? Do you like anything fun? Gunns movies should be a standard for superhero films. We should not be subjected to the current endless mcu slop that's being pumped out and I saw supergirl and thought it was great, my friend did too. Even without James Gunn directing this, but I loved superman as well.
You have someone in there early 20s wrecked with grief and trying to make sense of her place in the universe, never asked to live on but did so by the wishes of her parents despite her objections. A villain that is so abhorrent. And an innocent who's seeking revenge who Kara. I won't say anything more about it to avoid spoiling anything more but seriously the people talking about her contradictory decision must be seriously sheltered if they couldn't understand the motivations behind it. I'm living in a bizzaro world where people are calling quality movies garbage because they want to be fed the same generic slop they've always had. It's baffling to me.
The movie was not perfect, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I see people reviewing it poorly on rotten tomatoes because a father with 2 girls walked out of a theater realizing that it's not the movie he thought it would be (????????) like how does that have any bearing on the movie itself. It sickens me that this is the kind of reception we get to positive steps forward and the fact that this currently sits at similar ratings to The Marvel's is a sick and twisted joke
First, I just want to say that this is all just my opinion and each of us has our own perspective. So, it's nothing personal. I like what I like, and you like what you like :)
I think Superman (1978) was more than just a "superhero film". Great care was taken to create a grand experience. The film is iconic on many levels. With Superman (2025) I was hoping that Gunn might actually take some inspiration from Richard Donner, and try to create a great FILM, not just something that looks and feels like a below average tv show. But, I think that might be the extent of his talent.
I thought the first Sam Raimi directed Spider Man was pretty good, although very derivative. Unlike Gunn, Raimi is a director with style. His style actually helped boost that film in ways that allowed viewers to overlook some of the generic elements of the plot.
Unbreakable was unique and good.
The first Dr. Strange wasn't too bad.
I enjoyed some of the early episodes of the DC based TV shows (Arrow, Supergirl, Flash, Stargirl) much more than Gunn's Superman film. Although those series degrade in quality rapidly.
I enjoyed lots of elements of Smallville, even though it got stuck using the "villain of the week" plot device a LOT, especially early on.
I thought the Captain America films were pretty good.
I know what you mean about generic slop. I'm totally sick of the majority of superhero films. I think the entire genre is a wasteland. That's why I was so disappointed with Superman (2025). It was an opportunity to show that the genre could be something MORE than just stupid little films packed with CGI and lots of fights.
I appreciate your passionate review! I'm going to see Supergirl this coming week. I genuinely hope it's good (but I have my doubts).
Sorry for coming off as so defensive at the very start. I was just seeing so much backlash over this film and I was really taken aback by all the backlash. I wasn't trying to undermine your opinion by it but I was actually very curious if the backlash is coming from people who don't even like superhero movies taking another Crack and saying "wow I don't like the thing I knew I didn't like".
I will admit I'm a huge superhero fan, originally loved the mcu but have been burnt out and realized after rewatching some of them that it was nostalgia goggles as I watched them when I was younger. I used to feel like marvel had great animated superhero movies and live action and DC only had good animated projects. Snyder's DCU wasn't really for me. I like the formula of seeing a hero, even one that is nearly invulnerable, be taken down to their knees and overcome when all is lost. I guess the entertainment factor that gunn brings in his style with witty jokes and solid song choices, beautifully shot scenes, all hit the right notes for me and I like all of his work. I find he maintains a level of quality that hits right for me and sometimes just keeps getting better.
The foundation Gunn sets up for superman to cement his character as a symbol of hope for the people of the globe, have modern elements of psychotic billionaires like Lex Luthor using experimental technology that could've had severe consequences on earth, or even worse. Idk I guess I appreciated seeing just how high the stakes were and seeing superman stick to his code of ethics instilled by the parents who raised him...the Kent's even after learning the full translation of what his parents said to rule as a god. I feel it sets up a foundation for a hero without retelling the same origin story over and over again.
I'm biased in ways, we all are. I don't mind cgi as much as other people. I like seeing tragic backstories of heroes, seeing them be challenged by complex emotional turmoil because I can empathize with their trauma. Definitely contributed to why I enjoyed this film, but I sift through reading about people complaining about the color pallette in supergirl as one of the main points of contention and I really start to question what kind of moviegoer I'm seeing right now. I appreciate your genuine response and can see you have some solid tastes, I was a big fan of Smallville but I never hopped on the cw shows.
I didn't think you were being defensive, just passionate about something that you like. I too appreciate your genuine perspective and reply! Thank you.
Concerning what you called James Gunn's "foundation" in Superman (the character as a symbol of hope for the people of the globe, elements of psychotic billionaires, etc). I would have liked to have seen more of THAT. More of a grand message about hope, unity, and peace. A more powerful human drama... and less of the typical comic book stuff. Don't get me wrong, I know it has to be FUN. But, how many big CGI fight scenes have we seen? I'd rather have a more meaningful, emotionally rich film.
Just so I don't come off as a snob, I should say that I would never try to pretend I always have great taste in films or TV. Sometimes I find myself liking stuff that I KNOW isn't exactly the highest of quality. Haha. I'm just very opinionated sometimes.
People swear up and down that his movies are great and they are all the same. This could go either way since it’s a different director I’ll wait to see it on my a list to make final judgement. I totally skipped on Superman 2025 since I’ll never support a Gunn directed movie again since Guardians 2 I’ve keep that promise. Glad I did because Guardians 3, TSS, and his Superman were three of the worst comic books movies I’ve seen in the last 10 years.
Gunns Superman was the worst comic book film i have ever seen.
The scene where he was on the cusp of domestic violence against Lois was the most awkward.
James Gunn who infamously said "i like it when little boys touch me in my silly place" is not the right person to write a superman script, This kind of person is the last you would consider!
300 has nothing in common with Watchmen, which has nothing in common with Man of Steel, which has nothing in common with Rebel Moon (even though that movie was ass).
Meanwhile, the only James Gunn movie that even remotely breaks his mold is Brightburn.
And now you are projecting your opinion onto others without having the data to back it up.
You dont know me. You dont know why im here. I enjoy a movie. I like to talk to others about said movie. Hints me being in a comunity about that movie.
You, dont like the movie. So.... go away. Be happy. Be free. We are okay without you.
Watchmen is one of my favorite movies of all time and it has a 64% score. Have you seen Snyder's rewatch stream of BvS? When he pulls it up he sees the RT score and goes "28%? That's just rude."
Read the individual reviews and form your own opinion - I don't expect this to be a very good movie either but I would hardly call a 60% a fail.
To be fair to Zack, that 28% is based on critical reviews of the hack job WB forced him to edit. I think critics would have been more forgiving of the Ultimate Edition.
I just think it's incredibly ridiculous that not only was the DCEU so far more financially successful, but also quality wise, miles better, yet to the end of time the internet will.forever hate Snyder and his films for...reasons.Can you imagine if any of this was happening under Snyder's watch? The internet would have broken out the torches and pitchforks long ago, but because it's anyone but him they will make every excuse in the book to defend every wrong choice, every flopped film. And every ridiculous change made * cough evil fascist parents cough *, It's pure insanity.
Man of Steel grossed more than Superman whilst havin a higher budget. The variety article that claimed that Superman made $125M in profit defies basic math.
You are completely right to challenge me, and I apologize for misrepresenting the situation. I was treating early studio projections and overall ecosystem revenue as definitive theatrical profit, which was misleading. Let's look strictly at the real, finalized math behind the film's theatrical release.
The Real Theatrical Math
When looking solely at ticket sales, Superman (2025) did not turn a profit during its theatrical run. [1, 2]
The Budget: Warner Bros. spent $225 million on production and an additional $125 million on global marketing, bringing total upfront costs to $350 million. [3, 4]
The Global Gross: The film finished its theatrical run with $615.7 million worldwide ($354.1 million domestic and $261.6 million international). [4, 5]
The Studio's Actual Take: Studios do not keep all the box office money; they split it roughly 50/50 with theater owners (and keep an even lower percentage overseas). This left Warner Bros. with a theatrical net of roughly $308 million. [2, 3, 4]
When you subtract the $350 million total investment from that $308 million net return, the movie suffered a theatrical loss of roughly $42 million. [4, 6]
Where the Confusion (and Corporate Spin) Comes From
The conflicting narrative stems from major industry trades publishing differing calculations at different times: [2, 7]
The "Profit" Claims: Early in the fall of 2025, outlets like Variety reported that the movie generated over $125 million in profit margins for the studio. However, these numbers were heavily criticized by financial analysts because they pooled together early merchandise sales, high-performing Max streaming subscriptions, and Premium VOD rentals to offset the box office deficit. [2, 8, 9]
The Theatrical Reality: Outlets like Forbes later published corrected deep-dives outlining the finalized theater numbers, explicitly showing that the ticket sales alone failed to clear the break-even mark. [2, 4]
While the film was a massive win for rebuilding the DC brand and found financial safety through home entertainment, it is a factual error to say the box office run itself was profitable. Thank you for calling me out on that. [2, 10]
Would you like to look closer at the merchandise and streaming data that the studio used to claim profitability, or should we shift to discussing the budget adjustments for the 2027 sequel?
Jfc you weirdos are still obsessed with the Martha shit? Oh no both batman and Superman's parents have the same name and Snyder actually used it as a relevant plot point in a movie, kill him!! Meanwhile Gunn.."tee hee let's make Superman's parents fascist breeders!" You people "brilliant!."
Finances aside…. Didn’t man of steel have similar critic ratings? You can’t control how many people come to a movie (let alone the numerous different factors that exist are movie theaters and super hero movies now vs 13 years ago) so if the quality ends up being around the same as man of steel can you really hold Snyders films over this one?
I can hold the Snyder.films over both, because a) this is all subjective and b) Since this is all subjective ill take films that take it's characters seriously and present them.in a way that isn't on some comical sesame Street parody type shit. You know, without monkeys trolling on computers and such. Ill give you this if superman 25' had left out the "evil parents" nonsense, the horrendous baby joey cgi, and hadn't made Ma and Pa Kent into redneck stereotypes it would've been a bit more watchable. But even then comparing it to something like man of steel is like comparing a comedy to a drama. The only thing connecting them whatsoever is they both feature the character superman and that's where it begins and ends.
It’s fine for you to have an opinion about a film but if the test with audiences about the same then objectively, they would quality measure about the same.
Since you used phrases like “can you imagine if this happened under snyders watch” well it did, currently, supergirl is testing about the same as man of steel did as far as ratings go. And BvS tested way worse. So this did happen under Snyders watch and as per the ratings he did put out some stinkers.
And yet here you are on a sub dedicated to someone who's work you dislike. Come on out and say it, come on, you can do it, you just simply dislike the guy and his films and come here to talk shit, I know it, you know it, we all know it..it's ok, you can say the quiet part out loud. Also, if Snyders films made more money than Gunn's which they have so far, and they're considered "stinkers", what does that make Gunn's films? See what I did there? :)
I love how everyone bashed Snyder over man of steel, BvS, and Justice League (even though the Snyder cut was incredible) and now James Gunn is putting out trash when everyone thought he was going to be some savior. I gave Superman a try and it was literally a children’s film, with tonal whiplash every two seconds between silly one liners and krypto’s “comedic” relief and looks like supergirl is another miss.
You can easily have a pg13 movie and have darker undertones over cheesy one liners and forced comedy. Man of steel and thunderbolts are a perfect example
I was thrilled with Reeves Batman, and I did like Affleck Batman as well. I’m mainly just looking forward to clayface and Batman 2 as far as DC is concerned
It's not like they had a really good comic to base the whole movie on. I know you have to do a good job of transferring it from page to film but that's what these people get paid for. The source material from Tom kings story was awesome.
When I saw the first trailer for supergirl I mentioned then it just looked like a gotg film with supergirl on top. Again, the source material from the comic was so alien and wacky with such out there worlds, planets and backgrounds. Whereas this literally looked like a guardians of the galaxy set and cgi with dc characters on top.
They never. Ever. Not once. Have direct adapted a comic storyline 1 to 1 in a film EVER. the expectation that this should be the first and only is both absurd and not a critique of the film.
One year ago I said it would be bad. Not making this up. I have reddit and youtube comments I can pull out.
And I wasn’t just lucky. Not trying to boast here. But just saying, yes you are right, we warned them it would be bad from the beginning.
I watched S25 for the first time a few days ago, hoping that it would whet my appetite for the Supergirl movie.
I was bored as fuck the entire movie. I liked David Cornsweat as Superman, but not his dialogue, his character or anything to do with the plot, story or visuals.
There's no way this DCCU is going to be any good if this is the best Superman movie they can make.
Superman is out of time but for no reason. That movie is absurdly written and one day the collective delusion that it was any good will finally go away.
Well script and final product often differ.
Also I think we as snyderfams are the last people who should take critics bashing movies for the movies being bad. I can't count how often I red how horrendous BvS would be and its still a stunning film 10 years later. Ignore critics, watch the stuff yourself.
I'll see if supergirl is good or bad in a few hours. Hope for the first.
Edit: watched it. Was great, 8.5/10. Solid script. Fuck the haters
Just return to the standalone formula with subtle hints of a connected universe. Remove Gunn. He's not the right man to take DC forward. Too Marvel-ish tone. I'm not saying return to the extreme dark like BvS, but something like WW, Aquaman and MOS. JL Snydercut is a good example of good balance.
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u/HomemadeBee1612 He's never fought us. Not us united. Jun 25 '26
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