'Supergirl' Lead Actress Following Rachel Zegler, Complains About Fans Having 'Ownership Of Women's Bodies'

Truly, no profession is harder than being a highly-paid actress working at the top level of the entertainment industry. It's impossible to imagine a tougher life than the one lived by Hollywood celebrities, isn't it?

The phrasing is sarcastic, obviously, but that's the exact type of complaint we hear from female celebrities, who are apparently victims of playing characters that fans are familiar with. Seriously.

"Supergirl" is an upcoming release from DC Studios, which is relaunching itself under the creative direction of James Gunn. The first film in this new series, 2025's "Superman," received generally solid reviews, though Gunn unnecessarily courted controversy by making bizarre references to current political issues in a pre-release interview. 

RELATED: 'Superman' Disaster Keeps Getting Worse, Hollywood Tries To Have It Both Ways

While Gunn has yet to say anything similarly idiotic ahead of "Supergirl," the lead actress in the film, Milly Alcock, has apparently taken it upon herself to follow his example. 

Milly Alcock attending the 79th British Academy Film Awards, at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London. Picture date: Saturday, February 21, 2026. (Photo by James Manning/PA Images via Getty Images)

‘Supergirl’ Actress Suffers By Being Paid To Portray Character In Movie

On Tuesday, a new trailer for "Supergirl" hit the internet, and the PR campaign for the film is ramping up. Alcock spoke to Vanity Fair recently about the role and what it's like playing a famous character, and a superhero, as a woman. 

"It definitely made me aware that simply existing as a woman in that space is something that people comment on," Alcock said. "We have become very comfortable having this weird ownership of women’s bodies. I can’t really stop them. I can only be myself." 

What on earth is she talking about? "Weird ownership of women's bodies?" What? Sure, there might be some odd superhero or comic book fans online that say weird, creepy, or aggressive things about actresses in these types of films, but acting as though there's some type of organized backlash to a woman playing a female superhero is delusional at best, and self-aggrandizing victimhood at worst. 

Fans of superhero movies have expressed frustration in the past 5-6 years because studios like Marvel have prioritized lesser-known female characters in an effort to attract women. Like, for example, "The Marvels." Which is why the derisive "M-She-U" moniker developed. That doesn't mean they think they "own women's bodies," it's mocking that these studios are trying to find an audience that doesn't exist and ignoring the one that does reliably show up. 

This film in particular has not been received well, at least through the first few promotional releases, because, quite simply, it doesn't look good. Gunn's big idea was to portray a female superhero as "messy," because apparently that's just like male heroes? Or provides some groundbreaking insight? Which, again, reveals that those in charge often don't understand what people like about these characters, or what they want to see.

Those are legitimate issues that fans have with "Supergirl," which has nothing to do with the gender of the actress. It's pointing out how lazy and uncreative that process clearly was. Acting, as Alcock does, as though "simply existing as a woman" is grounds for criticism is wildly off base and inaccurate.

Alcock also explained that she initially didn't want to appear in a big franchise film, but after other roles dried up for nearly a year, she took "Supergirl" because of concerns that her career might be over. "I was so s***-scared that my life was over at 22. And, of course, it wasn’t," she said about facing career anxiety. "I kind of bullied myself into it."

That doesn't inspire confidence either; she didn't even want to play the part, but "bullied" herself into doing it because she thought it would help her career. Moving forward though, she's clear that she only wants to work with women: "I want to work with a bunch of really cool young women," she explained.

This whole incident is a perfect example of the problems with modern Hollywood. A completely unimaginative retelling of a character few people care about, made because Gunn is following the template from Marvel that's already failed. Starring an actress who doesn't even like the role or big superhero franchises, who's already decided to make herself the victim and invent new fan criticisms to avoid dealing with legitimate concerns. 

Maybe "Supergirl" will do well at the box office. Maybe it'll cross over to be among the few superhero films to bring women out to the theaters. But if you were looking for a blueprint of how to tank a movie — poor quality trailers with awful CGI, lazy writing, an unlikable actress complaining about how hard her life is, and a creative direction that's repetitive and derivative — this is it.