Best Movie & TV Versions Of Superman

Highlights

• Superman, portrayed by Christopher Reeve, is considered the best actor to take on the role due to his perfect portrayal of both Clark Kent and Superman.
• Henry Cavill’s version of Superman in the DCEU was cut short, preventing audiences from seeing the character’s full development and potential.
• Tyler Hoechlin’s portrayal of Superman in the CW universe is already established as a beacon of hope and seamlessly transitions into his role as a father in Superman and Lois.

The heroic Kryptonian known as Superman has been inspiring young superhero fans since he first appeared in the pages of DC’s Action Comics in 1939. Superman has endured as a comic book character to the present day, and he is mostly seen as a symbol of hope and kindness. In fact, Superman is one of the most recognizable characters in all fiction.

This popularity has led to many film and TV studios creating their own media about the hero. As such, many people have played Superman in both TV shows and movies, and the most recent addition to the roster is David Corenswet, who is set to play Superman in the DCU’s Superman Legacy. Before that day, it’s time to look at what came before and see how they rank.

7 Dean Cain

1993-1997

Featured In:

• Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman (1993 -1997)

Dean Cain was the actor who played Superman in the TV show called Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in the 1990s. This prime-time show was focused on adapting the character who was being portrayed by John Byrne in the comics at the time, and so was very focused on the Clark Kent persona of the hero. Also, the show was meant to act as more of a soap opera, which meant a lot of episodes were focused on the love life of the show’s titular characters.

All this meant that the show only really gave Dean Cain the chance to show the world his portrayal of Clark Kent. In this role, Cain was still endearing and heroic, but his role as Superman was rarely given the time to shine. Fortunately, Dean Cain would return to DC when he played Kara’s adoptive father in CW’s Supergirl.

6 George Reeves

1951-1958

Featured In:

• Superman And The Mole-Men (1951)
• The Adventures Of Superman (1952–1958)

There was very little superhero media around when George Reeves starred as Superman in The Adventure of Superman in 1952. This TV show was even created before Spider-Man and The X-Men debuted. All the team had to work with was less than twenty years of Superman comics to adapt. To their credit, the show and George Reeves did a great job of portraying this paragon of good.

However, it is easy to see why modern audiences might not take to this version of the character. Everything in the show is very black and white, and not just in its color pallet. The villains are evil for evil’s sake, and there is little exploration into why Superman acts as the hero he does. The tragic history behind George Reeves’ relationship with the character is also another reason why it’s best to let it rest.

5 Brandon Routh

2005 & 2019

Featured In:

• Superman Returns (2005)
• Crisis on Infinite Earths (2019)

The idea of bringing Superman back into the popular media seemed like a no-brainer in the 2000s. Both Spider-Man and X-Men movies had experienced success at the box office, so, carrying on Superman’s story in the movies made sense. Superman: Returns was supposed to be a continuation of the previous Christopher Reeve movies, but that meant that Routh wasn’t able to put his own spin on the character. Also, the movie was considered to be boring by critics, which meant that Brandon Routh’s portrayal was often given this label.

Luckily, Brandon Routh was given another chance to play the hero in the CW TV universe during their big crossover event in 2019. This version of Superman was from an alternate universe, but Routh seemed to slip into the role much more easily this time around.

4 Tom Welling

2001-2011 / 2019

Featured In:

• Smallville (2001-2011)
• Crisis on Infinite Earths (2019)

Before the CW network started their own connected universe of superhero shows, they ran a successful Superman show called Smallville. This teen drama depicted the early life of Clark Kent before he put on the Superman costume, and it had a very successful, ten-year run. The lead in the show, Tom Welling, was a very likable and accurate version of Clark Kent, and his small-town charm made it easy to see how this character would go on to battle aliens and catch meteors to save the planet.

The unfortunate part of this show was the fact that Tom Welling didn’t get to portray an adult version of Superman in his ten years playing the character. He got to fight a lot of evil and save a lot of lives, but he wasn’t inspiring citizens as the public beacon of good most fans wanted to see.

3 Tyler Hoechlin

2016-2024

Featured In:

• Supergirl (2021-2024)
• Crisis on Infinite Earths (2019)
• Superman & Lois (2021-2024)

The most recent incarnation of Superman comes in the form of Tyler Hoechlin on the CW show, Superman and Lois. This version of the character was already established as a beacon of good in the CW universe and mainly took a backseat to let his cousin Kara shine as Supergirl. That was until he got his own TV show in 2021.

Since this version of the hero is already established as a paragon of hope in this universe, Tyler Hoechlin must now take this portrayal and make it fit with his new role as a father in the show. It is a nice twist and one that works brilliantly. There is little doubt that Hoechlin’s Superman wouldn’t make a difficult sacrifice for an innocent civilian or to help better his family’s well-being.

2 Henry Cavill

2013-2022

Featured In:

• Man Of Steel (2013)
• Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
• Justice League (2017)
• Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)
• Black Adam (2022)

Henry Cavill’s version of Superman is one that seems to not have been given a fair shake. The character was first introduced in 2013’s Man of Steel before being thrust into a shared cinematic universe known as the DCEU that saw him fight Batman and die in his second big-screen outing. Man of Steel is a personal story of how an alien raised by human parents eventually grows to want to become a hero. Sadly, a lot of this character development was cut short when Warner Bros. decided to try making their own shared superhero universe, and Cavill will not get another chance to shine as the DCEU is being rebooted in 2025 as the DCU.

However, every appearance of Henry Cavill as Superman in the past has been spot on. He is never conflicted about diving into the fray and saving people, it is just a shame that Metropolis was attacked by General Zod on his first day in his costume, and that audiences never got to see Superman evolve as originally intended.

1 Christopher Reeve

1978-1987

Featured In:

• Superman: The Movie (1978)
• Superman 2 (1980)
• Superman 3 (1983)
• Superman 4: The Quest For Peace (1987)

It is hard to think of a time when superhero movies seemed like an impossibility in the eyes of fans. The things that happened in the pages of comics were just too big to be put on the big screen. That was until the first Superman movie by Richard Donner made audiences believe that a man can fly. The first Superman movie in 1978 was a big success and much of that was due to Christopher Reeve’s portrayal of the title character.

Everything from the costume to the split dynamic between Clark Kent and Superman was perfect in this rendition, and it is easy to see why Christopher Reeve was cast in three more Superman movies after that. Even in the poor reception of the third and fourth movie in the series, Reeves still manages to shine as the character and continues to prove why he is the best actor to take on the role of Superman.