SPOILERS: If you haven’t seen Supergirl yet and you don’t want the ending spoiled, skip this story.
One of the most controversial aspects of the new Supergirl movie is its ending, which is divisive and differs from what happens in Tom King’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comic, on which the film is based. The comic has a strong message about breaking the cycle of revenge. Like in the film, Ruthye gets the opportunity to kill Krem in the climax, but Supergirl talks her out of it, with him instead being sent to languish in the Phantom Zone.
In the movie, Supergirl (Milly Alcock) still talks Ruthye (Eve Ridley) out of killing Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts), but then coldly executes him herself as Lobo (Jason Momoa) looks on approvingly. According to a recent interview with director Craig Gillespie, James Gunn was strongly in support of the new ending, with him telling Collider:
“It was amazing because that was something James [Gunn] felt very strongly about, and it was in the script. There were conversations leading up to that day of, like, ‘Do we shoot a backup version?’ And every time, it would come back, like, ‘Nope. Just go with that.’”
That sentiment is backed up by the film’s writer, Ana Nogueira, in a Variety interview:
The ending between Kara and Krem was always in it, from the pitch — truly from the very beginning. Because the comic ends with Ruthye killing him, but in the far, far future. We knew we weren’t gonna be able to do that kind of time jump, and I find it’s quite a dark ending of the comic. He essentially has changed, and she kills him anyway, because she still just has this anger, and you understand there’s this element of deserve, right? So, we wanted to craft a villain who would deserve this, but we also wanted Kara to really care about preserving Ruthye’s innocence, and to feel like she could take on [killing him], that she could be the one to bring justice to this man, and do it without burdening this child. It’s different for Supergirl, and I think it will feel different for audiences.”
One thing worth noting is that Nogueira seems to have misinterpreted the ending, with the comic not, in fact, ending with Ruthye killing Krem in the future. Instead, she merely thwacks him on the head and lets him live.
The new ending is drawing comparisons to Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, which ended with Superman killing General Zod. How do you feel about the change? Let us know in the comments.