Ivan Radford | On 03, Aug 2025

The CW’s Supergirl flew on to our screens for six seasons, airing from 2015 to 2021. In that time, it became one of the most entertaining super-series around. Back in 2016, when the show began its second season, we wrote down some of the reasons why you should be watching Supergirl – and they still stand true today.

1. It stars a female superhero

“Can you believe that?” cries a waitress halfway through the opening episode of Supergirl. “A female hero. Someone for my daughter to look up to.” It’s hardly understated, but Supergirl’s USP can’t really be overstated: she joins Jessica Jones as the first female hero in the modern age of comic book films and TV. And she doesn’t just fly the flag for the cause: she wears it as a cape while saving an airplane. Not bad going for a mild-mannered 24-year-old employee at a newspaper.

The hero in question? Kara Zor-El (Melissa Benoist), who is sent to Earth hot on the heels of her younger cousin, Kal-El (Superman), to protect him. But after a bit of timey-wimey space stuff (involving “The Phantom Zone” and a jail full of mean alien prisoners – hello to the show’s monster-of-the-week premise), she arrives on the planet years later. He’s already become Superman, so she has to find her own path. Kara’s surrounded by other equally super women, from her adoptive sister Alex (Chyler Leigh) to her smart, ruthless boss, Cat (Calista Flockhart). Even her aunt, Astra, is the villain – this is a show full of compelling female role models, placing those bonds before male romance and constantly demonstrating the importance of support and empowerment.

2. It’s happy

If that all sounds a bit cotton candy, that’s because it is: Supergirl is the superhero world painted in bright, primary colours. If you’re tired of DC’s dark, stormy films of the 2000s, Greg Berlanti’s upbeat series is the perfect antidote, especially if you’re watching this with a young niece, cousin, daughter or sister. After all, they can hardly watch Jessica Jones.

3. Melissa Benoist is marvellous

“I didn’t travel 2,000 light years to be an assistant.” That’s the kind of dialogue you can expect from Supergirl, which constantly treads the line between cheerful and cheesy. It often steps into cheesy territory, but the show has a secret weapon to make it work: Melissa Benoist. The actor, who impressed so much in Whiplash, is effortlessly charming, selling both Kara’s own internal conflicts – finding herself, expressing her anger and distinguishing between justice and revenge – and her external enthusiasm. Punching, swooping, flying with oodles of charisma, it’s impossible to get tired of watching her.

4. It crosses over with The CW’s other shows

If you’re a fan of Arrow and The Flash, then Supergirl is an instant must-watch, as the show increasingly crosses over with the other Berlanti and The CW productions. The network even acquired the show from its original home of NBC to make sure that they’re all together in the same place.

5. It has its own style

If Marvel’s movies feel laboured in their interlinking mythology, DC’s TV series manage to connect with each other without stopping them from doing their own thing. The fight sequences are impressively distinct to Arrow or The Flash, as Supergirl’s brains and flying skills inform the action choreography. As with his work on Arrow, meanwhile, Berlanti knows that a show can’t hinge on one person alone, and so we take time to get to know each supporting person in turn. That includes Hank Henshaw (David Harewood), head of a government organisation to defend Earth from aliens, who gets his own out-of-this-world back-story, plus likeable geeky sidekick Winn (Jeremy Jordan) and Jimmy Olson (Mehcad Brooks). Katie McGrath, meanwhile, steals every scene going as Lena Luthor (Lex’s half-sister), who forms a close, complicated and convincing relationship with Kara.

Supergirl also plays light with her relationship with Superman (Tyler Hoechlin), which takes a while to find the right tone, but once it sticks, it works – while setting up Superman’s own grounded spin-off, Superman & Lois.

6. It’s made for comic book fans

Despite the light-hearted mood aimed at a younger audience, over the course of Season 1, Supergirl tackles all the traditional set-ups you could want from a hero, from a mortal-for-a-day episode, which sees her encourage humans to be heroes in their own right (“Last night, I helped a family assemble an IKEA table!”), to a confrontation with an evil twin. Dream worlds and further parallels with Superman’s universe (watch out for Lois Lane’s sister, Lucy Lane) abound, and Benoist even gets a chance to shine by playing against type after encountering some “red” kryptonite that brings out her dark side.

7. Did we mention it’s about a female superhero?

It bears repeating. Supergirl was, and is, a significant milestone in the comic book genre. The show knows it – but that doesn’t mean it can’t have fun. The result is uplifting, inspiring and highly entertaining. Get on it.

 

 

Photo: Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc

 

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