Supergirl 2026. With last summer’s tease at the end of James Gunn’s Superman, we all knew it was coming. How to feel about it? The Mgmt. took the liberty to watch the trailer first, and you can read the consensus here.

I’m certain you’ll find continuing coverage here at theloftusparty.com, so stay tuned for more as we enter the new year. And if you’ve followed any of my Superman commentary, you’ll know Christopher Reeve is the only Superman the world needs. As for Supergirl? Just like Superman in the 80s, I was just a simple child when I was first introduced to Supergirl. My heart will forever belong to Helen Slater as the 1984 portrayal of Supergirl.

Turns out, I haven’t actually seen this movie in like, maybe a decade. To be honest, it wasn’t critically acclaimed within the Superman series at the time. Although it did top the US box office the first weekend it was out. November,1984! But the critics weren’t too impressed. And now that I am older, I can understand why.

Sure, you could say the movie is pretty campy. The plotline fits the bill in terms of your standard superhero story. Supergirl must save the planet from an evil villain looking to rule the world.

However, a fun twist being that the arch nemesis is a practicing witch. And she does in fact use her powers for evil. At first glance, we can believe that Selena wants to defeat Supergirl because she’s there to take back the Omegahedron (is this like a dodecahedron?) that is giving Selena mystical powers. Surely she’ll be able to rule the world now.

But! Grown up me has deduced what’s really going on here… 

What we have here is Supergirl getting in the way of Selena’s spell. A spell to make the hunk she sees chopping wood (aka Bianca’s man as we’ve learned from the video above), fall in love with her. According to the spell, the next woman he sees, he falls in love with.

After coming to his rescue from Selena interrupting his date with Linda Lee, Supergirl is the first woman he sees when he awakens from being knocked out (coincidently by Supergirl during the rescue mission). So naturally, he falls in love with her. It’s no wonder Selena is pissed! And now she’s out for revenge.

Ok, it is kind of clear if you’re paying attention to it… or even old enough to get it.

Besides for the campy storyline, the acting is actually quite good. The movie has a great cast. When I was a kid, I had no idea who any of these people were so it amazes me now to realize there was a lot of potential here. And good for them for jumping aboard this wild unknown. Yeah, the Superman movies were a hit, but I see it’s sometimes hard to parallel something that people have already grown to love. It just doesn’t share the same vibe.

Here we have Faye Dunaway, Peter O’Toole, Peter Cook, and Brenda Vaccaro. All big stars for many, many decades. And here comes an opportunity to be in a superhero movie. A spin-off from an already popular superhero franchise. In hindsight, they were all probably too big to star in this movie. But honestly, it wouldn’t be the same without them. And according to X, there are plenty of fans out there who still rank this their #1 Supergirl movie.

So yes, it’s safe to laugh at how hilariously cheesy this movie actually is. But what is it that makes this Supergirl movie special? It’s because it is campy. Fun and light-hearted, not taking it too seriously. The type of superhero movie that emulates the comic book world, and pulls you out of reality. The world could use a little more campy right about now. Again, just plain fun. And Helen Slater nailed just that.

Whether or not the new Supergirl teaser trailer appeals to you, for nostalgia’s sake, I recommend going back and watching the 1984 movie with Helen Slater. Right now you can find it on HBO Max and Amazon Video. Then we sit and wait to see what James Gunn can do with the new Supergirl this upcoming summer.