Supergirl bombed and men are blamed. Masters of the Universe proves them wrong.
A viral Substack says the “manosphere” killed Supergirl. But a bigger 2026 flop pokes a hole in that theory: Masters of the Universe, a well-reviewed “guy” movie, bombed even harder. Here’s what the numbers actually say about why these movies fail.
Supergirl is a confirmed box-office bomb, and the search for someone to blame is on. One popular theory, making the rounds on Substack and in major outlets, points the finger squarely at men, specifically the online “manosphere.”
But there’s a problem with that explanation, and it’s sitting right there in the 2026 box-office numbers. A movie that bombed even harder than Supergirl was a well-reviewed film aimed squarely at guys. Let’s look at what the data actually shows.
The “manosphere” argument
First, let’s fairly lay out the theory, because it’s being made seriously and widely.
A widely-shared Substack piece argued that Supergirl “didn’t fall, she burned up in the Manosphere.” The case: the film’s lead, Milly Alcock, faced a torrent of online abuse over her casting and appearance from the moment she was announced, and a toxic, largely-male online ecosystem was primed to celebrate a female-led superhero movie failing before it ever opened.
Major outlets echoed versions of this. The New York Times noted that female-led superhero movies have been “rejected almost uniformly” over the past five years, suggesting it may reflect “a resurgent misogyny” among a largely male fan base.
Warner Bros. executives themselves reportedly said they were surprised by the “ferocity” of the backlash, having believed the culture had “evolved past” that kind of campaign.
It’s a real phenomenon worth acknowledging: online pile-ons targeting women in genre films absolutely happen, and the venom aimed at Alcock was real. The question is whether it explains the box office.
The problem: Masters of the Universe
Here’s the comparison that complicates the whole theory.
Just weeks before Supergirl, another big-budget 2026 movie face-planted at the box office: Masters of the Universe. And it was, by any definition, a “dude” movie, He-Man, swords, sorcery, based on a boys’ 80s toy line.
By the numbers, it bombed harder than Supergirl:
Budget: a reported $170-200 million
Domestic opening: just $29.3 million
Global opening: $54.3 million
Second weekend: dropped 70%, cratering fast
Variety called it one of the biggest box-office bombs of the year. And critically, this wasn’t a movie people hated, it held a 67% critic score and a strong 87% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, with reviewers praising its cast and playful tone. Good reviews, decent word of mouth, a male-targeted property, and it still flopped.
Why that matters
Here’s the point that undercuts the single-cause explanation.
If a well-reviewed movie made for the manosphere’s supposed demographic can bomb this badly, then “misogyny” can’t be the master key that explains why Supergirl failed. Masters of the Universe had no gender-backlash narrative, no controversy, decent buzz, and it still didn’t show up on the scoreboard.
What both films actually shared was a much less dramatic problem: their appeal was too narrow, and general audiences just didn’t turn out. Masters of the Universe drew mostly nostalgic Gen X men over 45; it never reached kids or new fans. Different audience, same fatal issue, not enough people wanted to buy a ticket.
What the reviews actually flagged about Supergirl
For Supergirl specifically, critics pointed to concrete, non-culture-war problems, and some came from exactly the audience the movie was made for.
Reviewers widely cited a bland, “drab” color palette, a muddled and unoriginal script (reportedly 30 minutes were cut after test screenings), weak villain changes, and a joyless tone. These are craft complaints, not politics.
But the most striking criticism came from women.
A ScreenRant writer published a piece titled “I Took My Young Daughter To Supergirl And I Regret It,” objecting to a child-sex-trafficking subplot, the film’s villains kidnap and cage young girls (around 13) to sell as “brides” for an all-male alien race.
She wrote that her daughter didn’t connect with Supergirl at all, but with the victims, girls her own age, and came away disturbed. Multiple female critics raised the same objection: a movie marketed to empower young girls put girls their age on screen as trafficking victims.
That’s the detail that really scrambles the “men killed it” thesis. Some of the sharpest criticism came from women who wanted to love it, and were let down by the movie itself.
Female-led movies clearly can succeed
The strongest counter-evidence is that the “audiences reject female heroes” claim isn’t even true.
Wonder Woman (2017) earned over $820 million worldwide with strong reviews and enthusiastic audiences. When a female-led superhero movie connects, people show up in droves. The films that have struggled recently, The Marvels, Madame Web, and now Supergirl, share weak reviews and mixed reception far more reliably than they share a female lead.
In other words: the common thread in these flops looks a lot more like “the movie didn’t land” than “the audience is bigoted.”
So what’s actually going on?
There’s a long-running pattern in Hollywood of studios blaming audiences when a movie underperforms, rather than the product itself. Supergirl’s own co-CEO Peter Safran acknowledged the film “didn’t meet our box office expectations,” but framed it as one piece of a broader strategy, not a creative miss.
When the explanation becomes “the fans are toxic” or “the culture isn’t ready,” it conveniently skips past questions about script, tone, marketing, and the choices that were actually made.
None of this means Alcock wasn’t mocked online. But there’s a difference between “some men were cruel” and “men are why the movie lost money.”
The Masters of the Universe comparison shows a beloved-by-critics male movie can bomb just as hard with zero gender-war narrative attached.
The bottom line
The claim that the “manosphere” sank Supergirl doesn’t survive contact with the 2026 box office. A well-reviewed movie made for men bombed harder weeks earlier. Supergirl drew a majority-male audience (59%), meaning its own target demographic of women largely didn’t turn out, and some of the loudest criticism came from women objecting to the movie’s content, not its gender.
The simplest explanation is usually the truest one: audiences, of every gender, decide with their wallets, and increasingly, they’re not showing up for expensive movies that don’t give them a compelling reason to.
Blaming the customers is easier than looking in the mirror. But the box office keeps sending the same message, and it isn’t really about who’s in the cape. It’s about whether people wanted to watch the movie.
This time, not enough did.
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Article compiled and edited by Derek Gibbs (entertainment editor) and the Clownfish TV newsroom.
Hat Tips:
Variety, ScreenRant, and ComicBook.com (June 2026), verified for the Masters of the Universe box office ($29.3M domestic / $54.3M global on a $170-200M budget, 70% second-weekend drop), its 67% critic / 87% audience Rotten Tomatoes scores, and the Gen-X-male / over-45 demographic skew
John Pavlovitz Substack and The New York Times (June 2026), verified for the “manosphere”/misogyny argument, the online abuse directed at Milly Alcock, and the Warner Bros. “surprised by the ferocity” executive quote
ScreenRant (June 2026), verified for the “I Took My Young Daughter To Supergirl And I Regret It” piece and the child-trafficking-subplot objection raised by female writers, plus the drab-visuals/muddled-script critical complaints
Cosmic Book News and Deadline (June 2026), verified for the Supergirl audience demographics (59% male, target female audience not turning out), the Wonder Woman $820M worldwide comparison, and Peter Safran’s “didn’t meet expectations” statement