After a great start, DC’s new cinematic universe is already slowing down

While Kara Zor-El’s appearance at the end of James Gunn’s Superman was a very pleasant surprise, Warner Bros. Discovery’s plan to fast-track a standalone Supergirl feature always felt a little dubious. It seemed odd that, after Superman , the studio wanted to flesh out its new cinematic universe with films about another Kryptonian and one of Batman’s less notable villains . But Gunn implored fans to have faith in his vision and trust that the DCU would become a world of interconnected stories that put WBD’s last batch of comic book movies to shame. Though hopes were high for Supergirl , the movie has turned out to be a bit of a dud. Critics have been rather down on the project , and its lackluster box office performance has it on track to lose WBD somewhere between $100–120 million . Films flop all the time, and Supergirl not resonating with audiences probably wouldn’t be a huge deal if we knew that DC Studios had more exciting things coming down the pike. But Supergirl feels like it could be an early sign that Gunn’s grand plan for the DCU is falling apart before it even really gets off the ground. Loosely based on Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comic miniseries, the new Supergirl film follows Superman’s cousin Kara (Milly Alcock) as she embarks on an interstellar bender that culminates in her dog being poisoned by crew of sex-trafficking pirates. …