Super-Traumatized Girl
By Manny Vazquez, M.S., LMFT, Trained in Trauma Informed Care
Sunday, July 12, 2026
Friends, this year, for the July 4th weekend, one of the most anticipated movies was Supergirl, a story of Superman’s cousin, who faces a number of demons, some of her own making, some due to traumatic events in her life, and others brought about by the enemy of our souls, it seems.
I have read a smattering of reviews online of Supergirl, and the vast majority of them miss the point of the movie entirely. Some focus on how messy Supergirl seems at the beginning of the movie. Other reviews focus too much on the perceived lack of beauty that Supergirl has in this movie; these reviewers point to the fact that in the comic books, Supergirl was super attractive.
These short-sighted reviewers don’t seem to understand that the point of the movie was not Supergirl’s beauty or lack thereof, or how messy she was; rather, the point of the movie was to address some very horrifying issues facing society today, and also to address problems that we all face when we lose people who are very dear to us.
Spoiler alert! If you have not seen Supergirl, and I do recommend you do (it was the best movie I’ve seen in a long time!), please stop reading this review, unless you have no plans to see the movie. If you are not going to see Supergirl because it is getting bad press, please allow me to assert that the bad press is most likely coming from the enemy of our souls, as Supergirl exposes some things in the world that he does not want us to know or understand.
Ok, welcome back, if you paused the reading of this blog to see Supergirl.
Now, allow me to continue with this review of the movie Supergirl:
At the outset of the movie, we find Supergirl not living her best life. She lives on a planet with a red sun because it robs her of her powers, and she is able to get drunk. The movie does not portray Kara (Supergirl) as promiscuous or evil, or anything of the sort. What it portrays is a young girl who is in severe emotional distress and pain because of the trauma of losing her entire Family and her people, except one, her cousin, Clark Kent, who is Superman, and her dog, Krypto.
We learn that Supergirl’s home planet was destroyed. We also learn that her Dad found a way for her home city to survive the destruction of their planet, and then that city, too, was destroyed, leaving Supergirl stranded on Earth
with her cousin, Superman.
I’m sorry, but if these events had happened to me, I would be severely traumatized, as well. And my life would be very messy, indeed.
Many of the reviewers of Supergirl appear stuck on the imagery of Supergirl as a slob and her lack of beauty, as well, which was the opposite of the attractiveness she has in the comic books. These reviewers have missed the point of this movie entirely.
Another protagonist in the movie is a young girl who witnesses her Family slaughtered by an evil man who wants weapons designed by her Dad. This girl sets out to find this man, to kill him so she can avenge her Family. Enter Supergirl. The young girl who lost her Family and Supergirl cross paths, and the young girl convinces Supergirl to help her find the evil man who killed her Family, so she can kill him.
Reluctantly, Supergirl agrees to help this young girl. We soon discover that this evil man leads an army of superhuman men, who kidnap young girls so that their race of men can continue through the abuse of these girls. The portrayal of what these evil men do to these young girls is hard to stomach, which I believe is a big reason this movie is failing at the box office.
Supergirl, of course, defeats this army of evil men and rescues the latest group of girls who had been kidnapped by them. Supergirl also rescues our other young protagonist from seeking vengeance on the man who killed her Family. She tells this beautiful young lady that killing this evil man will not help her find closure; instead, it will lead her down a dark path from which she will probably not return.
As the young girl walks away from the wounded evil man, Supergirl turns her attention back to him and kills him, not because of vengeance, but because she knows that if he recovers from his injuries, he would surely resume his activities of kidnapping young girls to continue his evil practices. Supergirl had to kill him to protect innocent lives. She had no choice. But she could not let our other protagonist do it because it would have ruined this young girl in the process.
So, there you have my review of Supergirl, in my view, this year’s best movie. I wish reviewers would take more care when reviewing movies. I wish they would look beyond their biases and perceive the importance and poignancy of the underlying messaging in most movies.
I know Warner Bros., the makers of Supergirl, will most likely lose a lot of money with this movie. I’m praying that that they at least break even because they keep bringing us good movies, and they need to continue, whether reviewers like it or not.
The recent Superman movies have been equally as good, as they examine the struggles of a man who has nearly infinite power, but who has a finite mind. We see his struggle time and time again when he realizes that he cannot help the entire world, even though he has “Super” in his name.
And in Supergirl, we see the struggles that Kara had, as well, when facing not only actual demons who were stealing young girls but her own inner demons, who had arisen in her because of her severe trauma over losing her entire world and her beloved Family.