The Flash’s Supergirl is a perfect fit for a dying DC cinematic universe

polygon.com:

Supergirl has a timing issue. In her most commonly used modern backstory, Kara Zor-El is the teenage cousin of Kal-El (better known as Superman), and like him, she was sent to Earth from a rapidly dying Krypton. But Kara’s ship was thrown off course, and by the time she reached Earth, her once-younger super-cousin was a fully grown man, while she emerged from stasis still a teenage girl.

Her film appearances suffer from a similarly unfortunate tardiness: Supergirl arrived in theaters on the heels of the ill-received Superman III, just in time to play as a cheesy, unwanted spinoff of a withering series. Now, DC’s 2023 movie The Flash has introduced a new Supergirl — but after a decade-plus of development and delays, she’s hitting the screen right before a reboot of the whole DC cinematic universe. Once again, Supergirl showed up late. This time, though, she’s also right where she belongs.

[Ed. note: Significant spoilers ahead for The Flash.]

To be fair, the 1984 Supergirl wasn’t the kind of movie that could have set the world afire, no matter when it was released. Still, it’s more a victim of mistimed circumstances than an outright disaster. It isn’t appreciably worse than Superman III or Superman IV; it has some of their cornball-fantasy charm, and less of their disappointment. (It also has an unusual parallel with several Zack Snyder superhero movies, in that there’s a director’s cut that offers both a fuller experience and a test of viewers’ patience.)

In the 1984 movie, Helen Slater maintains a sweet gee-whiz energy as Kara, and she finds some charming notes to play, like the deep voice she winkingly affects when she’s telling a dopey love interest that yes, she can bend steel bars with her hands. Ultimately, though,