It’s a great time for Superman fans, with the Man of Steel soaring into movies, TV, animation and comics. To help us stay on top of it, writer Tim Beedle shares what's grabbed his attention and why in this monthly Super-Family column.
 

Last year, I skipped over 1984’s Supergirl when I was revisiting the Christopher Reeve Superman films. Superman doesn’t appear in it, but more than that, after spending over half a year writing about movies, I felt like it was time for Super Here For… to focus on the comics for a bit.

However, it’s now 2026 and Kara Zor-El is returning to the big screen next month. If there were ever a time to revisit her earlier cinematic adventure, this is it. But first, I should clarify that I’m using the word “revisit” in the loosest possible terms. Prior to my rewatch earlier this week, I’d seen Supergirl before, but I was a kid. The only thing I remembered about it was that it was very strange and I was upset that Superman wasn’t in it. (I still am, if I’m being honest. Especially since the original plan was for him to play a central role.) That’s not much and certainly not the sort of thing that would make me excited to give it another go as an adult.

So, it was a deeply pleasant surprise to discover that I really enjoyed Supergirl this second time around.

That’s not to say it’s objectively good. I certainly wouldn’t go that far. The story is completely nonsensical, the characters’ motives seem to change with every scene and there are plot holes big enough to drive a tractor through. But it’s never boring and our titular Girl of Steel is utterly charming and endearing, largely due to the wonderful Helen Slater.

Whether you’ve seen the films or not, you’ve likely heard plenty about how great Christopher Reeve is as Superman. For many fans, his version of the character is the defining one, and you’ll get no argument there from me. He’s excellent as both Clark Kent and his heroic alter ego. But you never hear much about Helen Slater’s Supergirl, and that’s a real shame because she’s also excellent. Slater, who made her onscreen debut in the film, has an innocent quality about her that you can’t help falling for. From the moment she lands on Earth, her face is a constant display of wonder and delight as she discovers her various powers and learns new things about our world. She radiates hope and goodness, much like Reeve did as her cousin, but with an endearing naiveté that never dips into cluelessness. Kara never seems less than capable, but it makes sense that all of this is new to her. Clark grew up here. Kara didn’t.

I also found Supergirl’s supporting cast to be equally as fun. Faye Dunaway is a riot as the villainous Selina, a witch who wants power—but also seems to be super thirsty for the local groundskeeper and decides she wants him first, and then she’ll worry about power. (Like I said, motivations change. I suggest not worrying about it too much.) Speaking of that groundskeeper, he’s played as a pretty-but-not-so-bright hunk by actor Hart Bochner. You might not recognize that name, but Bochner’s had a pretty long career as an actor including at least one role you’re almost certain to remember—that of the oily, coked up Harry Ellis in Die Hard. (“Hans, bubby, I’m your white knight.”) He’s not quite as memorable here, but he’s still a delight. Other standouts for me were Maureen Teefy as a spunky and fearless Lucy Lane, Brenda Vaccaro as Selina’s cigarette smoking and wine guzzling partner Bianca and Marc McClure reprising his role as Jimmy Olsen from the Reeve films.

Yes, I did mention Lucy Lane, which actually gets to my biggest reason for why you should check out this earlier Supergirl film if you’ve never seen it. If you’re here on DC.com reading this, you’re almost certainly a fan of the character and likely have read some of her comics, and believe it or not, 1984’s Supergirl is one of DC’s more comics-accurate live action films.

Admittedly, that’s in part because the bar’s not all that high when it comes to true comics accuracy. With the exception of non-DCU films like Watchmen, The Road to Perdition and V for Vendetta, none of DC’s live action movies are straight storyline adaptations. The Batman movies might match the vibe of some of the comics, but that's about it. People like the Tim Burton, Christopher Nolan and Matt Reeves Bat-films because they offer a really cool take on the world, not because they’re accurately adapting the comics. The Superman movies are a little different. Richard Donner’s Superman was pretty accurate to the Superman comics of the era, but it still told its own story.

That’s largely what Supergirl is doing, though I’ll admit, I may not have noticed it if I hadn’t just finished marathoning Sophie Campbell’s Supergirl series (which, if you missed it, I wrote about last month). Campbell’s ongoing series is very influenced by Supergirl’s Bronze Age comic books, which would have been the comics that David Odell was referencing as he wrote the screenplay for the film in the early 1980s.

It’s very easy to see the influence. Look, there’s Kara landing in Midvale! There she is changing her blonde hair to brown and adopting the alias of Linda Lee! That’s her enrolling in boarding school, befriending Lucy Lane and infiltrating a deadly amusement park! The thing that Campbell has reminded us is that while recent decades have seen DC playing Supergirl’s adventures pretty straight, or at times portraying her as an angrier or much more jaded variation on her cousin, Kara’s earlier comic book exploits were pretty silly and full of randomness that was often never explained. They weren’t afraid to get weird.

That doesn’t mean that the Supergirl we see Helen Slater playing is better than those more serious takes—which would also include Milly Alcock’s upcoming interpretation. It just means that it’s every bit as true to the comics as those ones are. So, yes, all of those criticisms you’ve likely heard about 1984’s Supergirl are probably true. It is campy, strange, meandering and often nonsensical. But so were many of the comics. I don’t think you’d ever see a live action Supergirl movie produced today that was so clearly influenced by Kara’s Bronze Age adventures. In my mind, that makes it even more wonderful—and valuable—that we have one that was.
 

Supergirl, directed by Jeannot Szwarc and starring Faye Dunaway and Helen Slater, is now streaming on HBO Max.

Tim Beedle covers movies, TV and comics for DC.com, writes our monthly Superman column, "Super Here For...", and is a regular contributor to the Couch Club, our recurring television column. Follow him on Instagram at @notabard and on Bluesky at @TimBeedle.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Tim Beedle and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.