The 1984 Supergirl Was Never Good

With a new Supergirl in theaters, the revisionist history is coming, and so is the inevitable claim that the 1984 Helen Slater film was secretly great all along. Adam watched it the night after the new release to head that off. Let's look at why the original is a one-star mess of missing urgency and plot-convenience, how its passive, paragon-of-femininity Kara has no agency in her own story, and why the new film's jaded, active Kara is a vastly improved character by comparison. Plus: why the Star Wars prequel rehabilitation probably won't happen here.