{"id":578246,"date":"2026-04-02T22:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T22:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/578246\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T22:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T22:16:08","slug":"how-supergirl-star-milly-alcock-put-spotlight-on-fan-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/578246\/","title":{"rendered":"How \u2019Supergirl’ Star Milly Alcock Put Spotlight on Fan Backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSupergirl<\/a> star Milly Alcock<\/a> gave an interview to Vanity Fair<\/a> and \u2014 at first glance \u2014 the actress played things so safe that, if anything, one feels for the interviewer. <\/p>\n

\n\tTake this quote from Alcock about her character in the upcoming DC Studios release: \u201cShe\u2019s not trying to save the world\u2014she\u2019s just trying to save her own. This film is an excellent reminder that the world can be crumbling around you, but you can be the hero of your own story\u201d \u2014 which sounds like a studio PR talking point drafted by ChatGPT.<\/p>\n

\n\tOr the way she handled being asked if she had spoken to other actresses who had played Supergirl, such as Melissa Benoist and Sasha Calle. Alcock said she hadn\u2019t because, \u201cThey\u2019re just people living their lives. It\u2019s not like we have this blood bond.\u201d Deftly handled.<\/p>\n

\n\tThen came this exchange. The interviewer asked the former House of the Dragon star: Has the famously fickle\u00a0Game of Thrones\u00a0fandom prepared Alcock for the inevitable backlash she\u2019ll face? Alcock replied, \u201cIt definitely made me aware that simply existing as a woman in that space is something that people comment on. We have become very comfortable having this weird ownership of women\u2019s bodies. I can\u2019t really stop them. I can only be myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHer statement seems inarguable. Alcock was 21 years old and playing a teenager on the first season of the HBO fantasy drama. Fans made all sorts of (sometimes gross) comments about her (as they did about Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner on the original Game of Thrones). If anything, Alcock seems rather Zen and non-reactive about this.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut the response to Alcock in many online corners has been as if the actress went on a militant feminist rant slamming all male fans and threw a massive pity party for herself. Sample: \u201cAlcock signaled to everyone that this film is going to be garbage \u2026 if anyone had any doubt, she has dispelled them\u201d and \u201cYour movie isn\u2019t even out and you\u2019re already a victim of nothing happening to you, shut the fuck up\u201d and \u201cthey know their movie\u2019s gonna suck, we know they\u2019ll blame men as always\u201d and \u201cshe\u2019s Rachel Zegler<\/a>-ing [the] film\u201d and \u2014 in a response to a tweet<\/a> pleading with fans to stop mocking Alcock\u2019s looks \u2014 \u201cShe\u2019s facing ridicule because she preemptively attacked the fans \u2026 she deserves [the bullying], and she deserves the much much more that is coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s all so ironic that it almost seems too obvious to point out how ironic it is: Alcock says women in fantasy franchise IPs get backlash and rude comments about their looks and the result is backlash and rude comments about her looks.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne gripe being made by some fans is that whenever a project isn\u2019t successful and has a female or Black lead \u2014 especially titles made by Disney \u2014 that those creatively responsible suggest fans were too sexist or racist to appreciate their efforts. But Alcock never even suggested Supergirl would get backlash, only that she expects to get personally objectified and trolled (which \u2026 she is).<\/p>\n

\n\tOthers counter that some female action icons in the past have universal acceptance, like Sigourney Weaver in Aliens and Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2. But it\u2019s rather easy to cite legendary performances from decades ago and say: Look how accepting we are. It\u2019s true that the quality of Supergirl and Alcock\u2019s performance will determine its legacy more than anything else. But Alcock was mainly talking about the downside of her experience on House of the Dragon \u2014 where her performance and the first season were acclaimed, yet she still endured plenty of trolling.<\/p>\n

\n\tAttempts out there to lump in Alcock with Snow White star Zegler and ousted Scream franchise star Melissa Barrera<\/a> are interesting because they speak to something broader: Young women in franchise roles tend to receive outsized \u201cSTFU\u201d backlash.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis isn\u2019t to defend Barrera<\/a> or Zegler\u2019s controversial<\/a> comments. Their remarks were newsworthy and tactically unwise. Same goes for Wednesday star Jenna Ortega<\/a>, whose comments<\/a> about her Netflix hit\u2019s writers became a major controversy while she was promoting the first season.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s about proportionality: The level of vitriol that seems to accompany young female actors not saying precisely the \u201cright\u201d thing, and how such backlash often gets weaponized along with critiques about their looks. Another young fantasy franchise lead, The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey, has managed to not say anything particularly controversial, yet still received a level of online bullying during season two last year that was outright grotesque (one might say they were ridiculed for \u201cjust existing\u201d).<\/p>\n

\n\tThis isn\u2019t a \u201cright wing fans are all toxic\u201d argument, either. While not a fantasy franchise star, the most bashed actor last year was Sydney Sweeney<\/a> for being presumed to be conservative, all while insisting she\u2019s \u201cnot a political person\u201d and otherwise trying to avoid saying anything controversial at all. Sweeney was even labeled a Nazi by some on the left for appearing in a wink-wink jeans ad (\u201cMAGA Barbie\u201d read a USA Today<\/a> headline). Did her looks play a role in this? Of course. Has Chris Pratt \u2014 who likewise seems to lean vaguely conservative \u2014 ever received the level of nuclear blowback Sweeney did? Not at all. <\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a circular trap: Studios want young female stars to be hugely popular on social media and seem relatable and authentic. But you can\u2019t be popular, relatable and authentic and also be boring. But to not be boring, you have to say or do interesting things that won\u2019t please everybody. But if you say or do things not everybody likes, you will get backlash from \u2026 somewhere. And if you\u2019re a young woman \u2014 particularly one navigating comic or fantasy franchise IPs \u2014 that backlash is likely going to be loud. (And heaven help you if you happen to be remotely feminist or political, in either direction, and express that).<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd the idea that a young actress doing dozens of interviews promoting a project and also interacting with fans on social media might say one thing that could spark outrage? That\u2019s not something that\u2019s merely possible, but inevitable. Just how boring, exactly, do we want our stars to be?<\/p>\n

\n\tThis isn\u2019t to say that young male actors get a free pass and never get pounced on \u2014 Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet\u2019s epic opera and ballet flub comes to mind. But for young actresses in franchise films, they can have super powers and bold sass on screen, while in real life, the message seems to be: You better act perfect, look even more perfect, and STFU.<\/p>\n

\n\tSupergirl is released in theaters June\u00a026. Below is the latest trailer:<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Supergirl star Milly Alcock gave an interview to Vanity Fair and \u2014 at first glance \u2014 the actress…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[221645,49,48,361,127925,75,29466,50568,869,46483,871,8917],"class_list":{"0":"post-578246","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-bella-ramsay","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-celebrities","12":"tag-dc-films","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-jenna-ortega","15":"tag-melissa-barrera","16":"tag-milly-alcock","17":"tag-rachel-zegler","18":"tag-supergirl","19":"tag-sydney-sweeney"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}