Milly Alcock’s Supergirl ending isn’t comic accurate: the real fate of Krem in DC Comics — and the big ways the film rewrites him

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is the blueprint here, and the new movie mostly sticks the landing on the Kara Zor-El and Ruthye Marye Knoll bond. But the film takes a hard left on one huge piece of the story: what happens to Krem of the Yellow Hills. That single change is what people are arguing about on the way out of the theater.

The ending everyone is arguing about

In the movie, the final move is blunt: Kara kills Krem. The idea is that she does it to keep Ruthye from carrying the weight of revenge for the rest of her life. Emotionally clean, thematically loud, and very much not how Tom King and Bilquis Evely wrapped it up in the comic.

If you have read the book, you know why fans are split. The source ends with something quieter and thornier, which is why it stuck with so many readers. Here is a sample of how that conversation looks right now:

'Supergirl, unfortunately, is super meh. It’s an OK movie but a disappointing comic adaptation. Krem was a lame villain, the colour grading and editing are quite bad. I liked the Krypton scenes, and Milly Alcock & Jason Momoa are standouts.' — @BroiElijah, June 27, 2026

How the comic handles Krem (and why it hits differently)

On the page, Krem does not die. He is sentenced to 300 years in the Phantom Zone (DC ’s extradimensional prison). Over that long stretch, he actually reforms. He comes back around, seeks Ruthye’s forgiveness, and means it. Ruthye does not forgive him, but she also refuses to kill him. That is the whole point: the comic draws a line between justice and vengeance and makes you sit with it.

The movie swaps that moral knot for a cleaner sacrifice and a finality you can not walk back. It is not subtle, which is exactly why it is the most debated change in the adaptation.

The villain himself got a makeover

It is not just the ending. The film rebuilds Krem from the ground up and tinkers with Ruthye too. The biggest tweaks:

• Role and power: Comic Krem is a regular (if ruthless) former king’s agent who later falls in with the space outlaws known as the Brigands. No powers, just manipulation and brutality. Movie Krem is the Brigands’ top dog, hyped up with the strength of '1,000 men.'
• Look: On the page he is unpowered and human-scaled; on screen he gets a rugged, post-apocalyptic vibe to match the upgraded menace.
• Scope of villainy: The film widens the rap sheet, folds in new motives, and ties a key push to Krypto’s poisoning.
• Ruthye’s story: The movie alters parts of Ruthye’s backstory to reframe why she is on this hunt and how Kara steps in.

Net effect: he is a more physically imposing antagonist, but less of the morally layered operator that defined him in the book.

So… faithful or not?

Broad strokes, the film keeps the heart of Kara and Ruthye’s journey. Where it swerves is in how it resolves their moral arc, and that is where the discourse lives. The studio is clearly pushing the big-screen run (yes, they even leaned into a 'World Cup'/'World Pup' gag while plugging IMAX ), but conversation-wise the temperature is all about adaptation choices. Early chatter also says the opening is landing below DC’s all-timers, and the audience score split tracks with that vibe. Milly Alcock has been out front in promo, joking about a quirky squirrel connection and even dropping the very calm, very objective 'my Supergirl is stronger than Superman ' line.

Whether you prefer the comic’s tempered grace note or the movie’s finality, the Krem decision is the cleanest example of how the film puts its own stamp on Woman of Tomorrow while trying to keep the emotional core intact.

Did the film’s ending work for you, or do you want the Phantom Zone version back?