My Rankings of Superman on the Big Screen

Before I give my opinion, let’s look at Superman in a little more detail.

IN COMICS

Superhero comic books have many different timelines, story arcs written by different writers, and different adaptions. Superman through the ages of comics changed as well.

A brief history of Superman changes through the ages of comics. In the Golden Age of comics, Superman could lift large objects without any effort, such as boats and cars, he could outrun an express train and was mostly bulletproof. In the Silver Age, Superman gained absurd powers and could transform into strange things. The Bronze Age, his powers remained at a god-like level, but his intellect grew. In the Dark/Iron Age of comics, Superman’s powers reduced to just his core abilities like flight, speed, strength, x-ray vision, super hearing, and heat vision. His intelligence reduced to that of an average person and, though his strength was tremendous, it was far from limitless. In the Modern Age, he regained super intelligence but frequently he lost his powers. Then in the latest DC’s NEW 52 & Rebirth, he is back to the Golden superpower set, kept super intelligence and gained a new power, Super Flare.

ON THE BIG SCREEN

The movies of the comic book superhero also had its adaptions, pulling from aspects for different ages in comics and creating their own.

People’s opinions on these superhero movies will vary greatly and for different reasons. Some may like a certain comic era of the Superman character who want to see those characters on screen whereas others may not have ever read a Superman comic that like the movie for different reasons such as action or storyline.

Movies on the Big Screen:

• Superman and the Mole Men – Actor: George Reeves – Nov 1951

• Superman – Actor: Christopher Reeves – Dec 1978

• Superman II – Actor: Christopher Reeves – Jun 1981

• Superman III – Actor: Christopher Reeves – Jun 1983

• Superman IV: The Quest for Peace – Actor: Christopher Reeves – Jul 1987

• Superman Returns – Actor: Brandon Routh – Jun 2006

• Man of Steel – Actor: Henry Cavill – Jun 2013

• Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Actor: Henry Cavill – Mar 2016

• Justice League – Actor: Henry Cavill – Nov 2017

So, let’s break down the Superman character in the big movies.

SUPERMAN’S ORIGIN

George Reeves’ version of Superman never knew any details of his origin. In Superman: The Movie, with Christopher Reeves, it features the imprisonment of General Zod and gang. Man of Steel, with Henry Cavill, is the only Superman movie to-date providing a back story including the battle of Zod and Jor-El which provides context for the story of the movie – proof that Kal-El is the living legacy for the entirety of Krypton.

MAIN IDENTITY

Superman is the superhero, his human identity is Clark Kent, and his Kryptonian name is Kal-El. We see in each of the movies, these three identities are more predominant than the other where George Reeves’ predominant identity is Clark Kent, Christopher Reeve’s is Superman, and Henry Cavill’s is Kal-El.

SUPERMAN POWERS

Strength

In the comics, Superman's strength has varied wildly. From having the strength to carry objects like boats and trucks with minimal effort, taking nuclear bombs to the face and laughing, to obscene strength to where he could throw planets around like basketballs.

In the movies, each Superman had varying power. George Reeves’ Superman was like the Golden age of comics where he could carry large objects. Christopher Reeves’ and Brandon Routh’s Superman characters weren’t as obscenely strong as the Silver Age comics throwing planets, but he was still the most powerful version of the character to appear on the big screen to date. Routh’s Superman had the most impressive feat of strength in any onscreen version of the character where he rips an entire continent out of the Earth and throws it into space. For the DCU, Henry Cavill's version of the character isn't quite as strong as Christopher Reeves/Brandon Routh, but he makes up for it with an increased versatility. In Man of Steel, Superman is shown exerting tremendous effort to keep a metal spire from collapsing while buying time for his oil rig co-workers to escape the crumbling structure. Henry Cavill punches the hardest.

Super Speed

In Superman and the Mole Men movie, Superman’s exploits are limited – he bends the barrel of a rifle, bullets bounce of his chest, there are a couple of scene where he flies (where a jet engine sound is used for his takeoff and landing) and that is about it. In Superman: The Movie, he flies around the Earth so fast that he travels backwards through time, this time warp power is pulled from the overpower Silver Age version of the character. In Man of Steel, Superman has super speed where he can break the sound barrier which is based on more modern age of comics.

Heat and Laser Vision

In the Christopher Reeves movies, his heat vision takes the form of two highly concentrated red laser beams. In Superman Returns, Brandon Routh’s heat vision it a dim red light for heat vision, it was nice touch was how the director didn't overpower the hero. Lastly, the Man of Steel’s heat vision is like a beam of plasma with a more fiery look and color to it.

Other Superpowers

Yes, Superman has other powers which were showcased in Christopher Reeves, Brandon Routh and Henry Cavill Superman movies, such as, super hearing, super breathe, and freeze breathe.

MY OPINION

Superman is in my top ten of superheroes. I grew up with him, from reading Superman comics in the mid-70s, watch Superman animated series, to the launch of Superman: The Movie in ‘78 and every Superman movie since. Unlike the fanatic comic book fans, I don’t mind movie adaptions of characters.

Here is my order of Superman movies from my worst to best:

9. Superman IV – I experienced a tortured journey of silliness and clumsy delivery. It is a terrible, nonsensical and ridiculous movie. But as bad as the story is Christopher Reeves still manages a few impressive heartfelt scenes.

8. Superman and The Mole Men – It’s old. Without CGI and visual effects, George Reeves gives a first good live-action performance for Superman. The story is paced well and has good elements of mystery.

7. Superman III – A mixed bag for this movie. With the weak climatic battle and the comedic moments this is where Superman’s movie appearances began a major downturn. Looking past all that, Reeves is magnificent, and his evil Superman is so distinct, you can tell he put a lot of emotion into it.

6. Justice League – With cheesy CGI, Superman’s resurrection is supposed to be a pivotal moment, but overall effect was very underwhelming. Henry Cavill plays a very good Superman, even thou the movie seems like a hodgepodge of scenes crammed together with no sense of tone, lack of action and no emotional connection.

5. Superman Returns – It is among the more under-appreciated superhero films. The basic premise of Superman Returns is a great one. The problem is they spent half the time establishing Superman’s origins when they’re already so familiar to us – the title says it ‘Superman Returns”. So, why try to surpass Superman: The Movie 1978 version. This is probably the warmest and most human Superman movie with a lot of drama and not much action. It definitely captures Superman’ old-fashion retro charm.

4. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – This movie has received a lot of criticism and flack by fans. It had its lack luster moments. It is less upbeat and hopeful the other versions, but it takes a different spin where Sups self-examination and conflict has him asking himself what separates his actions from those of vigilantes like Batman. The climatic battle between Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Doomsday was very exciting. It is visually superb and faithful to the comics.

3. Superman II – It has the reputation as the best Superman film, mostly likely because it has the most action. It is one of the most ambitious Superman stories put on the big screen. Director Donner was fired before finishing and Lester was brought in, so the movie went in a couple directions. It is a stunning sequel to its predecessor and matches the overall tone of the original: heroic, fun and casual. I love the movie presents humanity by removing Sups powers, bringing him done to our level.

2. Superman: The Movie – It still puts a childish smiling grin on my face when I watch it even after 40 years. It is a legendary superhero movie that created the structure of superhero movies and other movies have drawn inspiration from. But it is flawed, some slow points, Lex Luthor doesn’t feel like a threat and I am not a fan of the time warp stuff of the Silver Age.

My favorite is Man of Steel – This movie has aspects of the Superman I know from New 52 & Rebirth. It removes the iconic red shorts and reboots the character in the movie as DC did in the comics and marks it as the flagship movie in the new DC Extended Universe. It follows more elements of Superman mythology than any other movie on this list, hands done, Henry Cavill is a great and believable Kryptonian / Superman and the action scenes are amazing.