SUPERGIRL Cut Several Scenes From Early Screenings, But Fans Got More Superman Instead

Now thatSupergirlhas landed in theaters around the world, fans are digging into every bit of behind-the-scenes information they can find.

One interesting thing has surfaced from a critic who attended one of the film's early test screenings, and it sounds like audiences originally saw a version of the movie that featured several scenes that ultimately didn't make the final cut.

Before we get into it, consider this your spoiler warning if you haven't seen Supergirl yet.

Film critic Dan Marcus of The Film Frontier shared on X that he attended a test screening earlier this year and was surprised by how little the movie actually changed before its theatrical release.

"The cut wasn’t very different than the one I saw earlier this week. Besides more scenes on Krypton and an alternate opening, it was the same film. Krem had more of his backstory cut from the finished film, though."

One of the biggest differences involved the movie's villain, Krem. In the theatrical version, audiences are introduced to him as a ruthless pirate who scavenges worlds for valuables while abducting young women to sell as brides on his home planet. What the movie doesn't spend much time exploring is why Krem became the monster he is.

Marcus explained that the earlier cut filled in some of those blanks, saying: "He talked about how he was abused as a child, but how that upbringing made him stronger. He revealed he was going to do the same with Ruthye, threatening to make her his wife."

Those scenes would've added another layer to the villain, but it's understandable why they may have been trimmed if the filmmakers wanted to keep the story focused on Kara and Ruthye's journey.

The opening of the movie also went through some changes. According to Marcus, the test screening began with Krypton's destruction before moving into the tragic sequence where Krem murders Ruthye's family. The theatrical version instead opens with Supergirl waking aboard her ship before leading into the rest of the story.

While a few moments were removed, the finished movie actually gained something fans probably won't complain about. Marcus says the theatrical release includes two additional scenes featuring David Corenswet's Superman.

Those moments are expected to play an important role moving forward, especially since Supergirl appears to help lay the groundwork for the upcoming Man of Tomorrow, which is currently slated for 2027.

Even with the deleted material, Marcus doesn't think moviegoers missed out on a dramatically different experience. He estimated that the version he originally watched was only about 10 to 15 minutes longer than the final release, and it still didn't include a post-credits scene.

Although he preferred the original opening, Marcus ultimately said: "The finished film didn’t feel that much different than the cut I saw in February."

So why trim a movie that was already comfortably under the two-hour mark? Director Craig Gillespie recently addressed that decision, explaining that keeping the story moving was always the priority.

"I hate a long film. Because it’s this road trip between two women [Milly Alcock and Eve Ridley]... The more that we kept it lean and true to just their mission, the better the film was. There is a ticking clock in this."

That philosophy certainly comes through in the final product. While some fans may be curious about the deleted Krypton material or Krem's expanded backstory, it sounds like the overall story remained largely intact from the test screenings to the theatrical release.