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“Supergirl Lives” & The Power of Kevin Smith

KryptonSite’s Craig Byrne unleashes his appreciation for “Supergirl Lives” director Kevin Smith.

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My “origin story” as a fan of director Kevin Smith began over twenty years ago when I watched the movie Mallrats. I admit now, I mostly watched because I wanted to see the Stan Lee appearance and I knew there were comic book references. I appreciated the movie, but I appreciated it even more once I saw Chasing Amy and Dogma and went back and saw Clerks and saw how all of the pieces of Smith’s “View Askewniverse” came together.

Kevin SmithAt Comic-Con in 2001, I purposely asked Mr. Smith a question at his panel because I heard a rumor that those who did would get to see Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back early, during the week of the Con. It was true. Seeing that film – the ULTIMATE View Askew movie – in a room full of other fans was quite an awesome experience. Jay and Silent Bob became one of my go-to movies to watch when I want fun times, something that I still do to this day. I bought the soundtrack. And, even though the movie was largely out of theaters by the time my birthday came along that year, I dragged a group of friends 50 miles to the University of Maryland to watch the film at a screening there with me that December.

What I appreciated (and appreciate) the most about Kevin Smith’s work is that he gets the mindset of the comic book and sci-fi fan, because he is one. He will debate the independent contractors on the guest star. He will have characters questioning the sexual urges of Archie Andrews, which really has me wanting to see him directing Riverdale someday. He knows Affleck was the bomb in Phantoms, yo. He made Daredevil and Green Arrow cool again years before they got their respective TV series. And he put Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher into one of his movies before it was cool to do so.

While I did see Smith again at a 10th anniversary screening of Mallrats, and I did ask a probably stupid question at that panel that I’ve long since forgotten, I’d never really met the guy. Imagine my surprise late last year, during the annual Warner Bros. Television set press tour, when we were invited to watch Smith directing a scene from tonight’s Supergirl episode “Supergirl Lives.”

All the stories you read about the actors praising him as a director? They’re true. He treated us, visiting members of the press, like we were special guest stars in our own right. He invited us to see the process. Crew were applauded. Cast was applauded. Heck, we were applauded. Rather than having an ego as a well-received director helming an episode of Supergirl, you could tell he was having the time of his life. Part of me wished I had a time machine, to tell my younger self that I’d someday be seeing Mr. Smith directing, and that he’d treat myself and others like welcome guests.

“I can’t say enough amazing things about Kevin Smith,” Melissa Benoist told us soon after we watched her, Ian Gomez, and Mehcad Brooks shooting a scene for the episode. “I’ve been a fan for ages. I was really anticipating working with him and so excited about it, and he just exceeded all of my expectations. He’s so supportive and encouraging. The atmosphere on set… We work crazy long hours, and the energy that he brings is only positive. You guys saw how many rounds of applause there were. That’s like a daily occurrence, all day, and I don’t know how you keep that up. He’s wonderful. He’s [unintelligible] about this genre. He knows it so well, so knowledgeable about it. I just truly look up to him,” she said.

Tonight’s episode of Supergirl is Smith’s third venture into Greg Berlanti’s DC Comics world on The CW, with a Supergirl encore coming later this year. Hopefully there are many more to come in the future. But for this longtime fan, the experience of seeing the man directing was a treat, and I can’t wait to see the finished product.

“Supergirl Lives” airs tonight (January 23) at 8PM (ET/PT) on The CW. Come join the discussion of the episode on our Supergirl forum!

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Supergirl

About the Supergirl Toxic Discourse…

KryptonSite discusses the online discourse around the new Supergirl film.

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The latest film from the “DCU” movie universe, Supergirl, launches in less than a week, with Milly Alcock taking on the role of Kara, cousin of Kal-El. She was first introduced in a very fun scene in last year’s Superman film, and there are many people looking forward to seeing it.

However, in some of the more toxic areas of the Internet, people aren’t so enthusiastic. In fact, take a look in certain online social media places and there are a ton of sexist and misogynistic comments about Milly Alcock, the movie, and even Milly’s appearance. “She doesn’t smile!” they say. Some have even compared her appearance to a character from Mad Max. None of those things are true, by the way.

This bad behavior was made even worse when former Superman actor Dean Cain admitted he “laughed,” and then went on to follow one of the main misogynist grifters one could find on X. Why is it necessary for an actor to insult another actor like that? Would Dean like it if people called him names? Probably not. (And be the better person – don’t do it.) I know some complained about the media coverage — but the point was that what Dean Cain said about her was bad and it should be discussed. That is news.

Some of the people and outlets posting rage bait and doom and gloom repeatedly have their reasons: If you pay for a blue check on X and get engagement, you can get paid for what you post, so if someone posts something infuriating that gets a lot of replies, they get a lot of money for it. Some are angry that the Zack Snyder “Snyderverse” films are dead, and blame James Gunn and anything peripheral to him for it… even though Gunn is not director of the movie, so that does about as much good as attacking James Wan and Aquaman for how awful Batman v Superman was. Some of these people will complain about any social commentary that they don’t agree with; there’s a throughline between the Supergirl haters and those who’d complain that someone ate their comm badge on Starfleet Academy, for example. And finally, there are the folks who took issue with Milly Alcock’s “Dad of four; Christian” comment, that the haters of the film usually have profiles that say things like that. She’s not wrong. One of the most toxic online posters about Supergirl literally says “I became a #1 bestselling author by standing for Christian values” in his profile. His “Christian values,” by the way, are not Christian at all, if one looked around this profile. He spews racism, homophobia, hate, and misogyny like there’s nothing else in the world. Milly Alcock was not attacking Christians with her post.

Just today, there have been completely fabricated “online reactions to a Supergirl screening” from people with only 120 social media followers that have no basis in reality. Or, those who did post positive reviews are getting attacked by the opposition, claiming they are “shills” and lying. Sometimes a movie is a movie, and people have different opinions. I mentioned earlier that I didn’t like Batman v Superman; for others, it’s their favorite film. So, differences of opinion happen. I do still resent it, though, that even back then there was a group of fans insisting that every negative review of BvS was “paid for by Marvel.” If that’s the case, where is my check?

The Internet has also been a place for hit pieces about how Supergirl will “flop.” Maybe it will. We’ll know in a week or so. But, the reasons for posting such things are mostly, again, wishful thinking from the crowd still butthurt that Starfleet Academy had a gay Klingon in it. They’ll find something new to grift their hate on in a few weeks, anyway.

I have not seen Supergirl yet, and I won’t see it until opening night like almost everyone else in the world can. Who knows, maybe I won’t even like it. But I think it deserves a fair shot going in next week. A friend told me his teenage daughter is looking forward to it. Honestly, her opinion matters more than mine or any random neckbeard on the Internet’s opinion would. I do worry that the negativity surrounding the film has killed some of my excitement, and worry that others have had that same feeling, but hopefully, we can fly above and just enjoy the film. Supergirl hits theaters June 26.

Disclaimer, but necessary to mention: Those who have followed KryptonSite for 25 years know that in my younger days, I posted some things that I saw as “jokes,” primarily age-related, that might have read as pretty awful. I apologize for that, and I have apologized for that. It isn’t funny to look back at, and it wasn’t funny then.

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Smallville

Supergirl & Smallville Writers Have A New Comic Book-Inspired Series

Eric Carrasco, Alfredo Septien, and Turi Meyer will be showrunners for El Gato starring Diego Boneta.

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Prime Video, which recently has been the home of some of the best comic book-inspired series with shows like Invincible and The Boys, is currently casting a live-action adaptation of the comic book series El Gato Negro by Richard Dominguez. (El Gato Negro translates to “The Black Cat,” so we wouldn’t be surprised if there is a title change to avoid Marvel’s Black Cat.) With the working title El Gato, the showrunners include veterans from Supergirl and Smallville.

Eric Carrasco wrote several memorable episodes of Supergirl between Seasons 2 and 4 and eventually served as a story editor on the series. He wrote the Justice League vs. the Fatal Five animated feature and is a producer for Zack Snyder’s upcoming Twilight of the Gods. He’s also been an Uber — err Ride Me Now driver for two stoners from New Jersey in their reboot movie. What’s also very cool about Eric is that one of his earliest industry jobs was working on a TV series called Smallville. Perhaps you’ve heard of it.

The other two showrunners need no introduction when it comes to SmallvilleAlfredo Septien & Turi Meyer were among the most prolific writers for the show, on the team for six seasons with episodes including “Vengeance,” “Labyrinth,” “Bride,” “Salvation,” and “Finale Part 1.” Turi Meyer also directed two episodes of Smallville, and the two of them returned to the DC Universe with DC’s Stargirl on The CW in recent years.

The series will star Diego Boneta as the main character, Frank Guerrero, who returns home to Mexico after the death of his father and finds himself neck-deep in a nest of vipers – his estranged family – who are vying for control of his father’s business empire. But Frank’s grief is interrupted when he learns his only inheritance, a seemingly worthless parcel of land on the border, sits atop the lair of a famous costumed vigilante — his father, “El Gato.” Now, Frank is in the crosshairs. To survive, he’ll have to solve mysteries decades in the making and unravel the truth about his father’s connections to a modern-day terror plot.

“This is a pulp thriller,” Eric Carrasco said in a quote posted by Variety earlier this year. “It’s a family drama, it’s everything I love about spies and masks and secret identities. A lot of us on this team – Diego, and Andrew Mittman, and Steve Stark, and Carla Gonzalez Vargas, and I – have been at this for a long time now, and it’s a genuine thrill to finally make the show with MGM Television and Prime Video.”

El Gato will be produced by MGM Television which is part of Amazon MGM Studios. Hopefully we’ll learn more about this project as development progresses! For now, though, congratulations to Eric, Al, and Turi!

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Supergirl

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow Release Date Announced

The Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow film is currently scheduled for a 2026 release.

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The Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow film has had a release date announced — and it’s less than a year after James Gunn’s Superman.

Warner Bros. announced Tuesday that the new film for the Maid of Might — based on the comic by Tom King and Bilquis Evely — is on the schedule for June 26, 2026. Of course, plans can and often do change, but that’s where it’s set for now. The film is said to “depart from the earnest take on the character” that was seen on The CW’s Supergirl TV series.

Milly Alcock will play Supergirl, and it is expected that we will see her before this movie — in Superman, perhaps? Craig Gillespie (Cruella) is the director.

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