Supergirl review: is it suitable for your child?

Story

As Kara Zor-El, or Supergirl (Milly Alcock), struggles with her identity, she goes on a multi-day partying spree. She runs into 13-year old Ruthye (Eve Ridley), who is seeking someone to help her get revenge on Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts) for killing her family. Kara initially declines to help Ruthye, but Krem forces her hand by poisoning her beloved dog Krypto, leaving the dog with only days to live unless Kara gets the antidote.

In a race against the clock, Kara and Ruthye hunt down Krem and his crew, with the dual aim of saving Krypto and taking revenge for Ruthye’s family. But Krem’s crew is involved in a plot to continue their species, and Kara and Ruthye get caught up in it.

In this journey of self-discovery, revenge and loss, will Kara and Ruthye be able to save Krypto’s life and free the other girls from slavery?

Themes

Trauma; parent death; child death; human trafficking; alcoholism; grief; slavery

Violence

Supergirl has some violence. For example:

The movie has a subplot that focuses on violence towards young women. There are no scenes of sexual assault, but it’s strongly implied that young girls are being kidnapped, trafficked and used as sexual slaves.
There’s a lot of violence, particularly towards women and children. Parents are killed protecting their children, and 2 children are murdered by a male character.
Much of the violence leads to significant injury or death, except to the main characters.
A teenage boy has an axe thrown at his back and he collapses to the ground, presumably dead. His mother screams in distress, picks up a knife and tries to stab the man who killed her son, before getting knocked back and killed.
A man blows up a spacecraft full of villains, before he’s stabbed and murdered.
Kara gets hit hard on the back of the head and bleeds.
Kara stabs a character in the stomach, but they don’t die.
Kara wakes up hungover and notices a weapon embedded in her leg. She pulls it out, and her leg bleeds.
Krypto bites and mauls a character’s arm.
Krem stalks a girl. He grabs her by the throat and stabs both her parents as they try to protect her, and they fall to the ground dead. He then slits her throat and drops her, killing her.
Kara kills Krem in revenge for what he did to Ruthye and Krypto, stabbing him in the stomach and throat.
Kara snaps a character’s arm in a graphic way.
A fight scene shows alien pirates and Kara in a brawl that has several visual glitches as they teleport around. They punch, electrocute and hit each other.
A character tries to blast a weakened Kara with a laser, but she gets her powers back and survives.
Kara is involved in a bar fight and eliminates an entire bar full of aliens.
Kara is shot by Kryptonite arrows and nearly killed. She’s saved at the last moment by a male character.
Two female characters get in a verbal argument and scream at each other.
Ruthye attacks and kills a guard.
A man is beheaded, and his head is put in a bag.
A male character holds a knife to a young girl’s throat.
Kara is often slammed into walls by larger male characters, which injures her.
A scary character sneaks up behind Ruthye, hitting her hard and knocking her out.
Ruthye defiantly spits in Krem’s face.

Sexual references

Supergirl has some sexual references. For example:

An alien character looks at Kara suggestively, before she gestures to herself and says, ‘Seriously?’
There’s a subplot that involves implied sexual slavery.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Supergirl shows some use of substances. For example:

Kara has a serious substance abuse problem at the start. She travels to planets with a red sun so she can get drunk every night. This is often presented in a fun or comic way.
Kara’s ship is in an extremely messy state, and empty or half-full bottles of alcohol are shown throughout.
Kara parties and drinks at a club.
Kara is often visibly hungover and sick.
Kara drinks to the point of getting drunk several times. She stumbles around, slurring her words.
A character smokes a hookah on public transport.
A character smokes cigars several times.

Nudity and sexual activity

There’s no nudity or sexual activity in Supergirl.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in Supergirl:

An iPod is shown.
Kara refers to an alien character as ‘Squidward’, a major character in SpongeBob SquarePants.

Coarse language

Supergirl has some coarse language.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Supergirl (2026) is a dark and edgy take on the traditional Supergirl story, focusing on Supergirl’s experience of navigating through trauma into young adulthood.

Supergirl might be an enjoyable and engaging story for older teenagers and adults, but it isn’t suitable for children aged under 16 years because of its themes of grief, death, alcoholism and human trafficking. Parental guidance might be a good idea for sensitive teenagers aged up to 17 years.

These are the main messages from Supergirl:

Your grief doesn’t define you.
Sometimes the best revenge is to live your life to the fullest.

Values in Supergirl that you could reinforce with your children include found family, self-acceptance, responsibility and kindness.

Supergirl could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues and questions like the following:

The movie has themes of female empowerment, but empowerment is often tied to violence, including liberation from sexual violence. Is this problematic?
Men in positions of power commit significant violence towards women and children. How are women oppressed in real life? What can we do to change this?
Kara relies on alcohol and drunkenness to dull her feelings. This is not only self-destructive but also leads to conflict between her and other characters who care about her. You could talk about the problems of using alcohol as a coping strategy and explain the dangers of binge drinking.