Superman FAILED...Now The DCU's Future Is Up to Supergirl!

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:00]What is going on everyone, Badger here.

[00:00:02]Thank you so much for watching. We've had a couple of interesting articles come out regarding Superman, Supergirl, and the future of the DCU. The first, of course, from Variety and their exposé on Milly Alcock and all the fun things that she's up to, and also from Puck News and their analysis of exactly how much Supergirl needs to make and what Warner Brothers Paramount would be happy with because it's not nearly the number that you think it is. So, this is, of course, the main article that multiple sites will be referencing. There was a lot said, but among it was when they mentioned Superman. Now, of course, we have widely reported the truth that Superman, for all intent and purposes, was a failure. It lost 42 million theatrically. It wasn't till months later that it entered even into the break even, let alone a pittance of profit, which, I say again, studios don't make 200 million dollar movies just to break even and then eventually hit uh profit months later through multiple ancillary sources. So, that aside, uh they mention it right here where they write that Superman, which made more more than 600 and barely more than 600, made 18, uh was considered a promising beginning, but not a home run.

[00:01:24]And a home It's very interesting their phrasing. A home run is exactly what was promised. It was supposed to smash through the Man of Steel record. It was supposed to make an easy billion dollars and get everyone on board with David Corenswet Superman and Gunn's DCU as a whole, and it hasn't. In fact, all it did was further fracture the audience into Gunn gunners, Snyder cultists, whatever you want to call them, fans, and then just the normal everyday people who are caught in the middle who just want some good entertainment, just want their heroes treated with respect. Now, of course, when you break into what Superman made versus what Man of Steel made, even without adjusting for inflation, Man of Steel's 670 million back in 2013, which sold Here's the other thing is how many more tickets it sold. It sold Here, I even asked. I did my due diligence. So, according to Grock, the machine overlord, Man of Steel 2013 sold roughly 8 to 10 million more tickets domestically than Superman.

[00:02:28]So, that should speak to the interest level and then of course BVS made over 800, which if you adjusted would be well over a billion dollars. And again, many more tickets sold. Meanwhile, Superman's barely hit the 618 and of course, as reported by Forbes, lost 42 million theatrically before eventually breaking even and then going into profitability many months later. And this is including the lying from James Gunn where he said that it left to go to digital video on demand early so that people would understand that in context with Peacemaker season 2, which of course was a lie. And thank you Ted Sarandos from Netflix for confirming it under oath that the reason it actually went early is cuz it was underperforming and they wanted to try to get to those extra money sources.

[00:03:22]All of this means as they point out here, "Promising beginning is not the same thing as a home run." And a home run is what they need. And of course, they further lost the audience with Peacemaker when they opened up with their orgy scenes in the first couple of ones and it was barely related to Superman if at all. Yes, we had the Sydney Harberson, one of Lex's gang and then Lex himself show up for a minute to help them find their salvation prison planet, but it tangentially related to Supergirl Superman, and you did not need to see one to see the other at all. So, it it's a house of cards, and it's all kind of falling down, but there's one main card left, and that is Supergirl. And as they say, there is a lot riding on the movie.

[00:04:10]They need it to be an absolute home run.

[00:04:13]Literally, everything is stacked against it, including Supergirl just being lesser known than Superman. And if at one point, the Superman emblem, and I still think it is, is almost if not slightly under the recognizability of like the Christian cross. That symbol is everywhere, and we all know it. And so, when James was like, "Well, you know, Superman's not as widely known." It's like, "What?" So, if that applies to Superman, it almost certainly applies to Supergirl. And now we're finding out, according to Puck News, Scott Mendelson, exactly how much Supergirl's going to need to be considered good enough.

[00:04:52]Because just like with Superman, apparently we were told it was good enough to continue going forward and not stop James from making his Man of Tomorrow sequel that's not a sequel. For Supergirl, now of course the budget can't be agreed upon. Earlier in the Forbes Australia, when they did the exposé, they called it a $200 million film. Puck News, specifically Scott Mendelson, is putting it somewhere around the 160 million. I can guarantee you it was probably higher than that. It was probably 200 million or more. But the budget alone, without marketing, is somewhere in the 170s, which puts it, oddly enough, around the Mandalorian and Grogu and what they need. Um 425 million is apparently what we are being told. So, Puck argues Supergirl can gross less than Superman and still be spun as a win for DC Studios and Warner Brothers. Warner Brothers would surely prefer Supergirl to clear 500 million worldwide.

[00:05:50]However, the report adds good reviews, good legs, and a global gross of 425 million may be good enough. Now, that's a lot of things. The good reviews, the good legs especially because rarely do they keep it in there the full 45 days and have it be profitable the entire time without significant drop-offs. We saw Project Hail Mary go all the way and then some and then do a re-release and then of course made well more than 600 million, but that's a horse of a different color.

[00:06:20]So, Milly, it's all on her and apparently the goals, much like in military standards, have gone lower where she doesn't have to make more than 600. even have to make more than 500.

[00:06:32]Yes, I'm Ron Popeil. For three easy payments of You get the idea. 425 is the golden number that they're looking at for it to be considered good enough, which good enough for what? I don't know because no matter whether this flops or not, they're still shooting Man of Tomorrow right now with Milly Alcock.

[00:06:52]Now, what's not helping is the current uh let's just say news cycle where look, it's not necessarily Milly's fault.

[00:07:01]They're asking her about it. It was in that Supergirl article where they asked her about the trolls and the people who have ownership over her body even though we're the ownership most fans claim is over the characters and their depictions and if someone doesn't add up and doesn't jive with the most common depictions of that character, we can be quite vocal about it. It's not an attack on Milly and I'm not trying to act like there aren't people that have said horrible things. I don't think she's ugly or retarded-looking or anything like that. Uh just not my preferred Supergirl look. That's just me personally. So, does she have a point?

[00:07:39]Yes, but here's is thing, it never works. Attacking the fans, even if it's justified because everyone just gets lumped together for better or worse.

[00:07:48]We've seen it with Brie Larson who's had a long road to redemption, and we've seen it with Rachel Zegler who's never coming back. Now, again, this is variety and this is them mentioning it in the context of what she dealt with in House of the Dragon, but her responses aren't doing her any favor and she needs all the favors. So, Puck Puck News, Scott Mendelson saying that in order for the DCU to continue moving forward outside of Man of Tomorrow, Supergirl has to do better than promising, but not as good as apparently Superman and they only require 425 million even if they'd be happy with 500 million or more. And I don't even think it's going to hit that.

[00:08:28]You let me know what you think. You think it's fair that it's all on Supergirl's shoulders? I don't know. But hey, life's not fair. If it was, we'd be getting a better DCU. Anyway, let me know what you think about this. Make sure to like, share, and sub. If you have done that, thank you. If you're going to do that, thank you. And Well.

[00:08:49]Bye.