DC’s $200M Sci-Fi Epic Officially Becomes a Streaming Smash Hit

The narrative at the start of this year may have been that it's a difficult time to be a superhero movie, since they haven’t enjoyed quite the same guaranteed box-office dominance in recent years. However, the record-breaking success of Spider-Man: Brand New Day may have put an end to that, and Avengers: Doomsday will surely do the same. All in all, it was a bad year to be a lesser known superhero, let's put it that way. But luckily, streaming can save the day.

Following a disappointing theatrical run, Supergirl is already finding a much bigger audience at home, climbing to become the No. 1 movie on HBO Max following its September 10 streaming debut. The result gives one of DC’s most divisive recent releases an immediate second life on streaming. Craig Gillespie’s (Cruella) Supergirl put Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon) front and center as Kara Zor-El after her brief introduction in Superman.

The cast is led by Alcock as Kara Zor-El/Supergirl, alongside Eve Ridley (3 Body Problem) as Ruthye Marye Knoll, Matthias Schoenaerts (The Old Guard) as Krem of the Yellow Hills, Jason Momoa (Aquaman) as Lobo, David Krumholtz (Oppenheimer) as Zor-El, Emily Beecham (Into the Badlands) as Alura In-Ze, Ferdinand Kingsley (Silo) as Elias Knoll, and David Corenswet (Pearl) as Clark Kent/Superman.

What Is 'Supergirl' About?

It's got a pretty simple setup. Kara is decompressing and regathering her thoughts off-world, just trying to get away from the stresses of being Supergirl, while also celebrating her 21st birthday — with Krypto by her side. While there, she bumps into Ruthye Marye Knoll, a young alien girl whose father has been murdered by a dangerous man named Krem of the Yellow Hills. Naturally, Ruthye wants her revenge, and she asks Supergirl to help her track him across the galaxy.

After that, it's all-out revenge, space Western, and Kara's own introspection. The whole idea is that Kara is more than just Superman's cousin; unlike Clark, who was raised on Earth and never truly experienced Krypton, Kara remembers losing her home, her family, and her entire world. Ruthye and Kara bump into Lobo in a bar — sounds like the start of a joke — and it gets wild. However, it didn't land. Produced at blockbuster scale, Supergirl struggled to justify its enormous costs at the box office, with reports estimating that the DC Studios production could ultimately lose around $100 million.

Supergirl is streaming now on HBO Max.