‘Supergirl’ and the Best Women Superhero Movies of All Time

Supergirl has always been an unlikely pioneer. While Superman’s cousin and fellow refugee from the planet Krypton was not the first female superhero, she was the first DC or Marvel superhero to get her own movie, back in 1984. Unfortunately, the film was pretty ill-regarded — though if we’re being real, it’s not any worse than the Superman sequels of its day, and is actually considerably more charming in some ways. Still, the movie was a box office bomb, and superheroes movies were so scarce for the next 20 years that even fewer of them were led by women.

In fact, even after the superhero boom of the early 2000s, resulting in multiple cinematic universes, it took a while for either DC or Marvel to actually promote one of their characters to the lead, discouraged by spun-off bombs like Catwoman and Elektra along the way. So it’s remarkable (if long overdue) that a new version of Supergirl is heading to theaters as the second-ever entry in a new DC film series, only following last year’s Superman (which introduced House of the Dragon Season 1 darling Milly Alcock as Kara Zor-El in its closing minutes). This is a much better Supergirl movie than the hokey 1984 movie, with much cooler source material (a terrific graphic novel called Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow). But how does it stack up against the history of women superheroes at the movies?

Here’s a quick guide to five essential female-led superhero movies that can easily stand with the best of the genre.

1. No, this isn’t meant as a sign of the low quality of female superhero movies in general. The Marvels holds an ignominious position as the only Marvel Cinematic Universe movie that’s failed to break $100 million at the North American box office. But it’s also a slept-on delight and a major improvement upon Captain Marvel, the blockbuster it semi-sequelizes. This movie brings back Brie Larson’s mega-powerful character from that movie, and saddles her with two teammates: Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), the now-adult daughter of Captain Marvel’s longtime friend; and Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), also known as Ms. Marvel, a comics favorite — and an onscreen one, too, for anyone who actually checks out Vellani’s performance here or in the Ms. Marvel series. Though it’s clear that The Marvels has been reworked through reshoots and re-edits (as is the case with a lot of MCU entries!), the zippy spirit of this teleportation-heavy space adventure shines through. Here’s what a lot of people missed about this movie: It’s okay, even commendable, for a female-driven superhero movie to work first and foremost for kids. 8-to-12-year-olds everywhere will dig The Marvels, and plenty of older viewers will too.

   Stream The Marvels on Disney+

2. Kara Zor-El’s big return to a starring role (she had a small part in 2023’s dizzying The Flash) is a much more modern interpretation of Supergirl. Some 21st century comics tend to characterize her as less purely idealistic than her cousin, having experienced firsthand the trauma of Krypton’s destruction, while Superman was sent away as a baby. It’s a fascinating variation on the Superman mythos, and leaves Kara plenty of room to develop as her own woman, as seen in the new movie from James Gunn’s DCU regime. Based on the Woman of Tomorrow comic, the story is actually sort of an outer-space True Grit, with Kara playing the John Wayne/Jeff Bridges part (at the ripe old age of 23) of an experienced fighter recruited by a young woman to assist with her quest for revenge. Supergirl isn’t quite as far-reaching or provocative as its source material, but Mlly Alcock is terrific as Kara, both charming and haunted, and the outer-space setting (only a few brief scenes take place on Earth) gives it an eclectic sensibility that has more in common with a Star Wars spinoff or a Mad Max movie than more typical superhero fare. Supergirl may be the most recognizable distaff version of a famous hero, but this movie draws clear lines of distinction between her and the big guy.

4. It took way, way too long for Scarlett Johansson’s mercenary-turned-superhero character to get her own solo movie. So long, in fact, that it arrived as a prequel set before the character’s Endgame death. It was also the first Marvel movie after that mega-hit, and the first one since the pandemic-induced theater closures of 2020, so it makes sense enough that the response to it was relatively muted. But Black Widow is actually top-tier Marvel, a pulpy spy thriller that gives one of the best Avengers her due through a stand-alone story that nonetheless draws upon what we already know about the character from other movies. Basically, it’s an object lesson in the advantages of a broader Cinematic Universe without feeling like it’s assigning you a bunch of homework. It’s also a female-fronted superhero movie that doesn’t lose interest in any other women; with Florence Pugh as Natasha’s adopted sister and Rachel Weisz as their fake mom, this has more complicated relationships between women than almost any other MCU title. And Johansson and Pugh still get to kick ass!

   Stream Black Widow on Disney+

5. This sorta-spinoff from Suicide Squad, which introduced Margot Robbie’s version of beloved Gotham City rogue (and on/off Joker paramour) Harley Quinn, did what Catwoman was supposed to do back in 2004: Turn a classic femme-fatale bad guy into a more sympathetic antihero with the help of an ultra-charismatic movie star. No offense to Halle Berry — it’s not really her fault Catwoman turned out as it did — but Robbie nailed the assignment on Harley, capturing both her outsized, broadly accented cartoony-ness and the wounded, smart, complicated woman underneath. Robbie continued with Harley for one movie, James Gunn’s wonderful The Suicide Squad, before the DCEU imploded and she seemed ready to leave the part behind. But at least we got Birds of Prey, which like Black Widow has multiple fun parts for women, rather than assigning its heroine the token-girl role. Though much of it plays more like a Guy Ritchie crime caper than a traditional superhero movie, the action sequences (guided by John Wick guys) are some of the most fun in the entire superhero canon, and director Cathy Yan gives the characters and costumes pops of comic-book color, while also nailing the uneasy camaraderie between Harley, Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett), and cop Montoya (Rosie Perez).

   Stream Birds of Prey on HBO Max

6. Look, it’s hard to beat the queen — or in this case, the demigoddess. Though she had a hit TV show in the 1970s, it took 75 years from Wonder Woman’s first comic book appearance to her big-screen debut in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, a movie that didn’t even have her name in the title! Thankfully, that movie was followed by a proper showcase for the character. Director Patty Jenkins mixes a bit of Indiana Jones adventure, some fish-out-of-water comedy, men-and-women-on-a-mission grit, and a surprising amount of earnest romance to come up with one of the best modern superhero origin stories. The film follows Diana (Gal Gadot) through her introduction to the world of man, as represented at its best by Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), and at its worst by the whole of World War I. Gadot hasn’t exactly acquitted herself well since, but she’s remarkably well-cast as Wonder Woman, with just the right mix of innocence and fierce conviction. The No Man’s Land sequence, where Wonder Woman strides on to the battlefield because she’s there to save lives rather than strategize, is genuinely moving, as is her quick attachment to the dashing Steve. Hopefully the character will return to screens soon — Supergirl screenwriter Ana Nogueira is rumored to be working on a script — but for now, this version is pretty damn great.

   Stream Wonder Woman on HBO Max

Jesse Hassenger (@rockmarooned) is a writer living in Brooklyn. He’s a regular contributor to The A.V. Club, Polygon, and The Week, among others. He podcasts at www.sportsalcohol.com, too.