'Supergirl' Attacks Fans Again As Box Office Red Flags Grow
Variety has released a new cover story titled, “Just F—ing Go for It’: How ‘Supergirl’ Star Milly Alcock Learned to Ignore the Trolls and Became a Punk Rock Superhero.”
The interview comes after Alcock previously addressed potential fan backlash to Supergirl, where she talked about online reactions and how fans discuss women in major franchise roles.
The article also makes it clear Supergirl is a movie with a lot riding on it, especially after James Gunn’s Superman made over $600 million at the box office, which Variety describes as a promising start, but not a home run [...]
According to the interview, Alcock says she drew from her House of the Dragon experience, where online fandom pitted younger cast members against the older versions of the same characters.
The piece then shifts into superhero fandom, describing it as a battleground for backlash, organized attacks, trolls, and incels.
Alcock also responds to the reaction from her previous Vanity Fair comments, where she said people have become comfortable with a “weird ownership of women’s bodies.”
In the new Variety interview, Alcock says she didn’t even say “men,” adding that the online reaction proved her point..
Maybe Alcock is simply answering the questions she’s being asked. Maybe the studio and PR teams are coaching her on how to handle the perceived backlash narrative.
Either way, the campaign is now putting the attention on trolls, incels, and toxic fandom instead of selling audiences on why they should pay to see Supergirl.
Instead, the message is starting to sound familiar: if you don’t like it, you might be part of the problem.
Marvel already went down this road with Brie Larson. Captain Marvel rode the Avengers: Endgame wave to over $1 billion, but The Marvels didn’t have that same protection and collapsed at the box office.
The lesson is simple: you don’t grow an audience by lecturing it. You make a movie people want to see, and let the movie speak for itself.