Why the 'Supergirl' movie provides us a cautionary tale | Opinion

The problem with living in an echo chamber, aside from being boring, is that you start to assume everyone agrees with you ‒ because you've curated an existence where you hear only from people who do.

What plays out on social media and in the news exists in the entertainment industry, too. The average person can simply unfollow or block any displeasing voice that sneaks past the algorithm. But the ramifications of that same instinct, played out in the real world, can run into the tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars. Just ask "Supergirl."

The movie, which bombed even by the standards of a film expected to bomb, cost $170 million to make ‒ and roughly that much again to market. That's a steep bet for producers hoping to reach as broad an audience as possible.

'Supergirl' flexed super power in how to alienate an audience

It had to crush producers that star Milly Alcock was regularly quoted in the news media saying things that seemed designed to alienate half her potential audience.

"Milly Alcock is embracing queer interpretations of Supergirl," opens one Variety story published in the run-up to the film's release.

"I've had a few people ask me about her because it's Pride Month and all that, and I think that she's a really great representation of what a modern woman can be," Alcock said. "She can be strong, she can be tough, she can be messy. And I love how this film doesn't center around any sort of love or romance or anything like that at all. She has such resilience ‒ and I think that (the LGBTQ+) community is so, so resilient."

That may not seem like much on its own, but it shows where her instincts go when given the chance. It's the kind of answer a publicist steers an actor away from when the goal is selling tickets, not making a political statement.

Asked about negative online reaction, Alcock went further: "And (the backlash) is from a lot of people whose profiles have no photo, who are burner accounts. Or someone's name and then 'Dad of four, Christian,' which is hilarious to me. But I mean, whose opinion do you really care about? If you're pissing the right kind of people off, you're doing OK."

Why take a swipe at Christian dads – or anyone – when your career hinges on how many people you can get to buy a ticket to your movie?

The Hollywood press did the movie no favors, asking questions largely unrelated to the film itself. But Alcock took the bait nearly every time.

Asked about dealing with "House of the Dragon" fans in the context of her new role, she said, "It definitely made me aware that simply existing as a woman in that space is something that people comment on. We have become very comfortable having this weird ownership of women's bodies. I can't really stop them."

It was a clinic in how to irritate half the country.

Milly Alcock is no Bruce Springsteen, 'The Boss'

If you're Bruce Springsteen – who punctuates his live shows with anti-Trump political commentary – you can get away with it. If you're a 26-year-old Australian actress on the cusp of the biggest break of her career, you can't.

To the baby boomers who grew up on "The Boss," his politics are baked in. That he'd lecture them about it is almost expected at this point.

It also costs him nothing. The tickets are already sold by the time he opens his mouth, and the loss of future airplay doesn't touch him ‒ he sold his entire catalog to Sony Music Entertainment for $500 million in 2021. Lost royalties from fewer streams or less radio play are of no consequence to a man whose income now comes from concert tickets, not the catalog.

"Supergirl," on the other hand, doesn't come with fond high school memories for millions of baby boomers, or the loyalty that comes from being the soundtrack to someone's adolescence. In the comic book world, she was always a second-tier character ‒ Superman's cousin, about as popular as Alfred or Jimmy Olsen.

This can't all be laid entirely at Alcock's feet ‒ the clickbait-hungry entertainment media asked the irrelevant questions in the first place and helped feed the viral pile-on.

A month before the movie's release, Variety's piece on Alcock was headlined, "'Just F---ing Go for It': How 'Supergirl' Star Milly Alcock Learned to Ignore the Trolls and Became a Punk Rock Superhero."

"Supergirl" is now tracking toward a loss that could run into the hundreds of millions. Would she rather have been a "punk rock superhero" or a box office success?

In the end, she was neither.

Derek Hunter is the host of "The Derek Hunter Show" weekdays from 3-6 p.m. on WMAL in Washington, DC, host of "The Derek Hunter Podcast" and author of the book, "Outrage, Inc.: How the Liberal Mob Ruined Science, Journalism, and Hollywood."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why the 'Supergirl' movie provides us a cautionary tale | Opinion

Reporting by Derek Hunter, Opinion contributor / USA TODAY

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This story was originally published July 3, 2026 at 5:30 AM.