Movie Poster for “Supergirl” (Photo Courtesy of Epic Stream)
Alexia: Hi! I’m Alexia Bailey, a sophomore here at CU Boulder. While I may just be in my second year, I’m here to share everything I’ve picked up so far, which is a surprising amount of information. “What’s Eating at Alexia” is my unofficial and unfiltered guide to some of the things that being a CU Boulder Buff brings. Think of it as your guide to navigating everything that makes CU Boulder, well, CU Boulder. Whether you’re a freshman finding your footing or a senior with “no body, no crime” level grievances about finals week, I’m here to share my takes, tips and honest observations on everything from the sometimes-unpredictable Buff Bus system to navigating campus protests (or dodging them entirely). College is a wild, unforgettable ride, and “What’s eating at Alexia” is here to make sense of some of it, one opinion at a time.
Actress McKenna Grace is currently going viral thanks to a moment from the “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” press tour, in which a reporter tells her that they mentioned her Peeta Mellark fan edits to her co-star, Josh Hutcherson. Grace’s reaction, equal parts mortified, amused and deeply online, felt instantly familiar to anyone who grew up in fandom spaces during the mid-2010s. It became a reminder of a very specific era of the internet, one where obsession was earnest, cringe was unavoidable, and loving something loudly was the norm.
In many ways, I miss 2016 the way you miss an old friend. I was ten years old, constantly googling “how to make slime… no borax… no glue,” discovering fandom edits on YouTube, and, somewhere between online discourse and movie trailers, figuring out what I wanted to be when I grew up. That era taught a lot of us how to care deeply, even if it meant caring a little too hard.
Now, I can practically feel your irritated energy through the screen, asking, why should I care? Why does a viral clip, a childhood memory, or a fan edit matter in the grand scheme of things?
Well, because the kids who made those edits, ran those fan accounts, and screamed over casting announcements are now adults, and the media industry is being shaped by them.
That’s why the internet is buzzing over “Supergirl,” set to be released on June 26, 2026. As only the second Supergirl film ever made, following 1984’s “Supergirl,” it arrives on the heels of 2025’s “Superman,” which grossed over $600 million worldwide according to IMDb. This excitement illuminates something deeper than just box office numbers; it also displays a generation raised on fandom now seeing their passions taken seriously, with actresses like McKenna Grace serving as proof that loving something online was never just a phase.
I, personally, couldn’t both relate further and be more excited for the film’s release, as Melissa Benoist’s portrayal of Supergirl in the 2015 TV series is the entire reason I am who I am today. It’s the reason I’m a journalism major, the reason I joined the CU Independent, and the reason I have the friends I do. Watching a woman be strong, compassionate, flawed and relentlessly hopeful on screen at such a formative age taught me that caring deeply was not something to be embarrassed by, but something to be proud of.
And I know I’m not alone in that. For many of us, fandom taught us how to analyze media, how to tell stories, how to build communities and how to advocate for representation long before studios realized there was profit in listening. The same kids who once spent hours making edits, writing think pieces in Tumblr tags and arguing over character arcs are now critics, writers, columnists, filmmakers and journalists shaping the narratives we see today.
So when McKenna Grace laughs at the memory of her Peeta Mellark fan edits, it’s a full circle moment. It’s proof that passion doesn’t disappear when you grow up; it just evolves. The internet may be louder, more cynical and more ironic than it was in 2016, but the core of it remains the same: people caring, sometimes too much, about stories that make them feel seen. That’s what makes “Supergirl” matter. Not because it will inevitably break box office records or dominate opening weekend discourse, but because it represents a generation finally being reflected back at itself. A generation that, however cliché, learned how to love stories loudly, unapologetically and without irony, and is now powerful enough to bring those stories to life.
And that, folks, is the reason my Uncle William calls me Lois Lane.
Contact CU Independent Opinion Editor Alexia Bailey at alexia.bailey@colorado.edu
