James Gunn Finally Has to Answer for ‘Supergirl’s Most Controversial Song Choice
The music choices inside a superhero blockbuster rarely become the story on their own, but with ‘Supergirl’, the DCU’s second major theatrical release, one particular needle drop has emerged as a flashpoint that refuses to quiet down. Directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Ana Nogueira, the film stars Milly Alcock as Kara Zor-El, alongside Eve Ridley as young warrior Ruthye and Jason Momoa as the mercenary Lobo, following Kara on a space-faring revenge quest drawn from the acclaimed ‘Woman of Tomorrow’ comic series. It is a movie that swings hard in almost every department, from its intergalactic action to its punk-inflected attitude, and the result has been a deeply divided audience.
The film currently sits at 57% on Rotten Tomatoes, with mixed reactions from critics, though an audience score of 76% confirms a sizable portion of viewers have genuinely embraced it. Many have praised Alcock’s magnetic central performance and the film’s emotional ambition, even as others have taken issue with the writing and certain tonal swings. The broader soundtrack leans into an eclectic, punk-adjacent energy, featuring artists including Sleigh Bells, Wet Leg, Rilo Kiley, Modest Mouse, Wolf Alice, Halsey, and Eagles of Death Metal.
But one song has become the loudest conversation of all. During the climactic battle sequence in which Kara faces the Brigands and Krem of the Yellowhills, a cover of Jimmy Eat World’s anthemic track plays, recorded with a slower tempo and a more ethereal vocal style by artists Kelty Greye and KidMotel. Now, DiscussingFilm has flagged a behind-the-scenes revelation: Craig Gillespie has credited James Gunn with helping to push the decision over the line, and that it was only confirmed in the final week of editing after the team cycled through a staggering 45 different songs.
Gillespie opened up about the exhaustive process in a conversation with Rolling Stone, with screenwriter Ana Nogueira first acknowledging the chaos: “Oh, God. It went ’round and ’round, didn’t it? There were a lot of options.” Gillespie then added his own detail, saying that the song selection was “probably the biggest discussion” and that “it was down to the very last week,” before crediting Gunn directly: “I gotta give James credit for that one.” He also revealed that the runner-up choice was always going to be a remix of another classic, noting that what made the final selection work was its orchestration.
Gillespie had previously described the creative dynamic with Gunn as one of healthy friction, saying it was “great to have more of a director than a studio head” and that the two would “roll the sleeves up and have a healthy debate” that extended all the way down to the smallest music choices. That push-and-pull now has a very specific, very audible outcome, and audiences are not uniformly grateful for it. Fans flooding social media have called the decision jarring, with one widely shared post declaring it may be “the worst needle drop ever” in a superhero film.
There is a defensible argument for the choice on paper, given that “The Middle” was originally written as an anthem of resilience for a struggling young fan, a thematic parallel to Kara’s arc of self-acceptance and loneliness as an outsider on Earth. Some voices have pushed back against the backlash entirely, arguing that the slower cover’s tempo actually meshes with the action choreography in a way that reinforces who Kara is at her core, goodness persisting through violence, and perseverance in the face of hopelessness. Whether that reading lands or falls flat likely depends on where each viewer sits emotionally by the time those final frames arrive.
What is now undeniable is that ‘Supergirl’ has handed the internet its most animated superhero soundtrack debate in recent memory, and the question of whether James Gunn made the right call is one fans will be unpacking for a while yet. So what do you think: does the ‘The Middle’ cover belong in Kara’s climactic battle, or did DC’s boldest musical gamble backfire spectacularly?
