Superman

Superman is the original superhero, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and published in Action Comics #1 in June 1938. The character established the template that nearly every costumed hero since has built on: extraordinary powers, a secret identity, a commitment to protecting the innocent, and a set of personal limits that made the stories interesting to tell. Superman has appeared in every medium available since his debut, from newspaper comic strips and radio dramas through animated shorts, television serials, feature films, animated series, and the current DC Universe under James Gunn, where David Corenswet plays Clark Kent across multiple projects beginning with Superman in July 2025.

Superman in Comics

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster spent years developing and trying to sell Superman before DC Comics, then National Allied Publications, published him in Action Comics #1 with a June 1938 cover date. The character’s premise combined elements of the pulp hero, the science fiction alien, and the immigrant experience, a child sent from a dying world to find a new home, in ways that resonated immediately and have continued to resonate through every subsequent era of publication. Siegel and Shuster’s original contracts with DC, and their decades-long legal battle to recover credit and compensation for creating one of the most commercially significant fictional characters in history, became one of the defining creator rights cases in American popular culture.

Superman’s comics history spans eight decades of continuous publication across numerous titles. The Silver Age revival in the 1950s and 1960s introduced key concepts including the Fortress of Solitude, the Phantom Zone, and an expanded mythology around Krypton. John Byrne’s Man of Steel miniseries in 1986 substantially rebooted the character, removing many of the Silver Age additions and grounding the origin in a more contemporary setting. The Death of Superman in 1992 became one of the best-selling comics events in the medium’s history, with the funeral issue selling millions of copies to readers who had never previously bought a comic. Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman, illustrated by Frank Quitely across twelve issues from 2005 to 2008, is widely cited as the definitive modern Superman story.

Superman on Screen: The Early Era

The Fleischer Studios animated Superman shorts, produced from 1941 to 1943, were technically innovative productions for their time and established the visual language of Superman in motion before any live-action adaptation. Kirk Alyn played the character in two film serials, Superman in 1948 and Atom Man vs. Superman in 1950. George Reeves starred in the 1951 feature film Superman and the Mole Men, the first theatrical Superman appearance, before taking the role into the Adventures of Superman television series that ran from 1952 to 1958 across 104 episodes, making him the dominant screen Superman for an entire generation.

The Christopher Reeve Era

Richard Donner directed Superman in 1978 with Christopher Reeve in the title role, Margot Kidder as Lois Lane, and Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor. The film’s tagline, you will believe a man can fly, was literal in its ambition, and the production’s commitment to playing the material sincerely rather than ironically produced what remains the most influential superhero film ever made. Reeve’s performance defined the dual identity concept for mainstream audiences, his Clark Kent and his Superman convincingly two different people through physical performance alone. The film grossed $300 million worldwide on a $55 million budget. Superman II in 1980, substantially co-directed by Richard Lester following Donner’s departure from the production, introduced General Zod and is frequently ranked alongside the original. Superman III in 1983 and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace in 1987 received weaker critical and commercial responses. Reeve returned to the character in all four films despite the declining quality of the later entries. A reconstructed Richard Donner Cut of Superman II was released in 2006.

Superman on Television

Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman ran on ABC from 1993 to 1997 with Dean Cain as Clark Kent and Teri Hatcher as Lois Lane, prioritizing the romantic relationship between the two leads over superhero action and building a large audience on that premise. Superman: The Animated Series ran from 1996 to 2000 as part of the DC Animated Universe alongside Batman: The Animated Series, with Tim Daly voicing Clark Kent and Dana Delany voicing Lois Lane. The series is consistently cited alongside its Batman counterpart as the strongest animated version of the characters. Smallville ran for ten seasons from 2001 to 2011 with Tom Welling as a young Clark Kent in the years before he became Superman, developing a serialized mythology that sustained one of The WB and later CW’s most successful properties across the decade. My Adventures with Superman, an animated series streaming on Max, began in 2023 with Jack Quaid voicing Clark Kent in a version aimed at a younger audience with a more contemporary romantic comedy register.

Brandon Routh and Superman Returns

Superman Returns, directed by Bryan Singer and released in June 2006, positioned itself as a sequel to the 1978 and 1980 Christopher Reeve films rather than a full reboot. Brandon Routh played Clark Kent as a version designed to evoke Reeve’s interpretation, with Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. The film grossed $391 million worldwide against a production cost of approximately $270 million, a result Warner Bros. considered disappointing relative to the investment. The planned sequel did not materialize and the Superman film series was rebooted rather than continued.

Henry Cavill and the DCEU

Man of Steel, directed by Zack Snyder and released June 14, 2013, relaunched Superman for the DC Extended Universe with Henry Cavill as Clark Kent. The film received divided critical response, with praise for its visual ambition and Cavill’s presence alongside criticism of its darker tone and the scale of destruction in its climax. Cavill returned in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016 and Justice League in 2017, and a brief post-credits appearance in Black Adam in 2022 signaled a potential return before James Gunn and Peter Safran’s appointment to DC Studios confirmed the DCEU continuity would not continue.

David Corenswet and the DCU

Superman, directed and written by James Gunn and released July 11, 2025, launched the DC Universe with David Corenswet as Clark Kent. The film deliberately bypassed the origin story and presented a Superman already established as a public hero, while examining his optimism and decency under scrutiny from Lex Luthor, played by Nicholas Hoult, and a world that does not uniformly trust him. Rachel Brosnahan played Lois Lane. The film grossed $618.7 million worldwide and was received positively by critics. Corenswet’s Superman appears in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow in 2026 and leads Man of Tomorrow in July 2027, making him the first actor to appear as Superman in four consecutive years across live-action productions.