Introduction
Superman is one of the most beloved superheroes in the pantheon of superheroes, but his existence on screen has been problematic. Some suggest being so powerful, he’s too difficult to write. Or because he’s such a boy scout, it’s impossible to make him interesting. I think they’re excuses to take the character in directions he doesn’t belong, and once that happens the incarnations are fraught with peril.
That’s Superman’s cinematic kryptonite – how he’s being interpreted for the screen. That has become as problematic as anything, with different directors and writers determining just how much of the archetypal Superman we’ll see, and how much they’ll reinterpret to build him in their own image. Here’s a rating of his movies from worst to best.
10. Superman vs Batman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
As the title suggests, the story pits two of DC’s heavyweights against one another. Batman is all paranoid about Superman being an alien and the threat he poses to Earth, after all the destruction that occurred in Man of Steel (2013). Supes is still trying to find out where he belongs. Oh, there’s also a subplot about the construction of Doomsday because, you know, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and what better way to reconcile Superman and Batman’s relationship?
Jesse Eisenberg makes his debut as Lex Luthor, but plays it more like Lenny Luthor from Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). Lenny, er, Lex concocts the most complicated plan in the history of villainy. For sheer confusion, bizarreness, and improbability, it’s up there with the contraptions villains would use to try to kill Batman and Robin in the 1960s series, i.e. turning Batman against Superman, smuggling kryptonite into the country, and manipulating public opinion against Superman. Oh, throw in Doomsday, too.
Superman and Batman fight. I will give credit to director Zack Snyder for the way this is handled, as it does make it probable Batman could stand toe to toe with Superman. Well, right until Batman unravels tragicomically (or maybe it’s just comically), leading to him and Superman becoming chums because their mothers have the same name. Whoever thought this was a good idea knows nothing about good ideas.
Doomsday then appears and everybody quickly unites to topple him. This leads to Superman’s supreme sacrifice, which seems redundant given this happens so early in DC’s cinematic universe that you know he obviously has to come back.
Ben Affleck is good as Batman. However, Jeremy Irons is wasted as Alfred, and Henry Cavill looks like he’s wondering if he’s playing Superman or Will Smith’s Hancock. It’s also a concern that’s not noted often enough (if at all) that when a terrorist holds Lois at gunpoint (early in the film), Superman kills him.
Superman flies at super speed, grabs the terrorist, and shoots through the wall of the room they’re in. We don’t see that. All we see is the standoff and an unspoken agreement that passes between Superman and Lois. Then, instantly, Supes and the terrorist are gone and there’s a hole in the wall. No mortal’s surviving that. Its flippant touches of barbarity like that typify why this Snyder-verse interpretation doesn’t understand Superman, no matter what its defenders claim.
9. Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)
Yes, for all the hoopla that surrounds this film, I rate it this low. The Justice League unite to resurrect Superman so they can stop Steppenwolf’s invasion of the Earth. And that’s it. That’s the whole story. There’s some subplot about gathering Infinity Stones…er, I mean Mother Boxes, to make all this happen. There are also other characters who’ve been rushed into this cinematic universe, trying to reconcile who they are.
Some ridiculous plotting includes the Amazons warning Wonder Woman that their Mother Box has been stolen by firing an arrow into a temple in Greece. Fortunately, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman just happens to be watching television when a newsflash breaks this story. She travels to Greece to find that nobody’s touched the arrow in this time and it’s just waiting for her. This is the level of plotting that holds this story together.
Tonally, this cut is consistent, and I will credit it with aspiring to be epic. Aspiring. There’s a sense of grandeur that’ll overawe you if you let it. Big set pieces are painstakingly constructed for the sake of being epic but mean nothing because the story misreads these characters.
The best example of this is Superman using his heat vision to cut off one of Steppenwolf’s horns. Why would Superman do this? It’s not the seat of Steppenwolf’s power, necessitating it be destroyed. It doesn’t disable Steppenwolf. It’s Superman imposing his whim on Steppenwolf and showing his physical superiority by maiming an enemy – a very unSuperman move.
I once had an argument with somebody on Twitter about how bad these movies are. He told me every movie has (narrative) problems, and that I should just sit back and enjoy the “sweet visuals”. I think that says it all.
8. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)
Superman wants to rid the world of nuclear weapons (just remember, this is during a time of Cold War tensions). To that end, he gathers lots of missiles in big nets and throws them into the sun. Enter Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) and his nephew Lenny (Jon Cryer), who steal a strand of Superman’s hair, stick it in a case with some other plot armor, and hide it in one of the nets.
When the net and nukes hit the sun, it gives birth to Nuclear Man. The sun feeds him his power, so cutting him off from sunlight incapacitates him. Supes eventually does this by moving the moon in the path of the sun to cause an eclipse. But perhaps he should’ve taken a lesson from Lex Luthor who earlier demonstrated that you can accomplish the same result by throwing a blanket over Nuclear Man. No, really.
Richard Donner had lots of plans for the whole franchise when he was making the first two movies. Unfortunately, when he was sacked, the property fell repeatedly into the hands (and minds) who didn’t quite understand the character beyond the fact that Superman wears a cape, flies, and is really, really, really strong.
This fourth and final installment in the Christopher Reeve franchise feels empty, tired, and no longer relevant. And cheap. Very, very cheap, thanks to the budget being slashed and rerouted to Masters of the Universe (1987). Thank God they backed that franchise – oh wait. Also, it’s effectively a rip-off of Superman II (1980). A powerful villain. Superman becomes mortal. Rejuvenation of power, and Superman makes his comeback.
Margot Kidder is a welcome return as Lois Lane. Her admission she still remembers that Clark Kent is Superman is the film’s only narrative highlight. Yet even that’s undone by the misguided (and farcical) romantic subplot between Superman and Lois, and Clark and Lacy Warfield (Mariel Hemingway), the new editor of the Daily Planet whose tycoon father buys the newspaper.
The reason I can’t rate this last is Christopher Reeve – his Superman portrayal (even if he does look disheartened at times) is the only kryptonite to how bad this film is. Reeve had a hand in the story and wanted a movie that contained an important message. Superman almost pulls it off with his speech at the end, thanks to Reeve. At least, fundamentally, Superman is Superman.
7. Man of Steel (2013)
Before friends and I saw Man of Steel (2013), we caught up for a beer and agreed we’d heard no alarm bells in relation to this film. The trailers were good (well, mostly, outside of the appearance of a mechanical tentacle beast). Henry Cavil was a good choice for Superman and Kevin Costner as all-American everyman Jonathan Kent? Well, how could you go wrong?
Insert a plot about a Codex that determines the caste system on Krypton. Even though the scientist-caste Jor-El (Russell Crowe) beating the crap out of the warrior-caste Zod (Michael Shannon) proves immediately this is a redundant system. Clark’s gloomy search for his origins. A David Koresh-like Jonathan Kent. What else can you mess up?
Oh, wait. The plot where the Kryptonians come to Earth and enjoy superpowers. Yet, they want to terraform Earth into a new Krypton, where they’d become ordinary schlubs like you and me. (Well, you). Who would do this? Moreover, why would anyone sacrifice being a god so that you can become frail and mortal?
Then throw in the obliteration of half of Metropolis, and us suddenly needing to understand that Superman cares for us mere mortals. This is because he’s particularly concerned about Zod wanting to kill one stray (and conveniently placed) family, when surely, surely, tens of thousands have already died. But don’t worry, because one incidental character amidst the destruction tells us, “He saved us.” Just in case we didn’t know he’s meant to be the hero of the story. Of course, given the carnage, why would we know?
Fortunately, Superman puts a stop to all this by snapping Zod’s neck. I know there’s some Zack Snyder (pseudo) justification for it, but Superman shouldn’t be resorting to terminal violence to solve problems. That he kills again in Batman vs Superman (2016) shows he has no problem with this when it suits him.
Coming out of the cinema, I said to my friends, “Well, I guess that answers the question of what a Superman movie would look like if you didn’t put Superman in it.” I wanted to love this and they got Superman so wrong. But the visuals are sweet.
6. Justice League: The Theatrical Release (2017)
Zack Snyder exited (or was exited) during production of Justice League: The Theatrical Release (2017), with the studio tapping then-Marvel guru, Joss Whedon, to take the helm. Among other things, Whedon had The Avengers (2012) behind him, and was also the mastermind behind 1990s pop-culture icon Buffy: The Vampire Slayer.
The movie jars between Snyder’s gloominess and Whedon’s search for something brighter and upbeat. Whedon’s pilloried for the mess, but I don’t imagine there was a lot he could do by this stage other than throw a coat of paint on the film and hope nobody noticed the ugly splotches. This also has to be accomplished on top of the messy (and pre-existing) narrative framework.
It’s a pastiche of styles, but at least Whedon strives to bring some contrast to the narrative – especially in representing Superman as, well, Superman. Supes taking a picture with some awestruck kids might seem like a simple scene, but it’s positively Superman, as is Superman making the save against Steppenwolf in the manner that he does.
While Superman has god-like powers, the beauty of the character has always been his humility. Here’s a guy who could destroy us all, but he wants to be just like us. He dresses as Clark Kent because it’s his attempt to fit in. Whereas Bruce Wayne dresses as Batman to stand out. Whenever interpretations try to contemporize the character, they misunderstand that you can’t take the boy scout out of Superman because that’s who he is: the best of us, and an ideal to which we strive.
Whedon tries to offer that with the limited palette he has to use, and (in my opinion) offers the truest incarnation of Superman in the Henry Cavill era. That’s not a shot at Henry Cavill. I’m only using his name to compartmentalize that block of films. It’s just my take, but he seems to genuinely enjoy playing the Whedon Superman.
One final point. Cavill had grown a mustache and was working on Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) when he had to return for reshoots. Rather than shave the mustache, they used CGI to wipe it off his face. The result isn’t great. However, this has no impact on the film. Too many critics hold up this patchwork fix as an exemplar of why this film is bad when it has nothing to do with the narrative quality.
5. Superman III (1983)
Ross Webster (Robert Vaughn) plans to take over the world’s oil supply, but first, he has to eliminate Superman. His first plan, presenting Superman with artificial kryptonite, turns Superman villainous. He then has a breakdown and splits between good Superman (represented by Clark and all his morality) and bad Superman (mean, unshaven, and in a darker suit – pretty much the Zack Snyder interpretation). Good Superman wins.
Ross also has a computer genius, Gus Gorman (Richard Pryor), at his disposal in order to build a supercomputer that will be used to destroy Superman once and for all. Of course, Superman triumphs, with the aid of a remorseful Gus.
Allegedly, Gene Hackman and Margot Kidder were infuriated with the way producers Ilya and Alexander Salkind fired director Richard Donner during the concurrent filming of the first two movies, and refused to return. On the flip side, the Salkinds insisted there was nothing more to do with the Lois Lane character, so she was written out. Instead, we get Lex Luthor Lite in Ross Webster, and Lana Lang (Annette O’Toole). Also, Richard Lester, who took over the completion of Superman II, helmed the film.
Superman III (1983) is effectively a Richard Pryor comedy, with Christopher Reeve’s guest appearance as Supes. Pryor is great, however, it lacks the gravitas of the first two films. That’s fine. Movies can strive for a different tone, but not if it borders on farce, and this movie sometimes gets downright frivolous.
Vaughn and company do their best to carry the load, but there’s just too much silly humor. Reeve, typically, shines. Especially when he gets to play the bad Superman. The junkyard scene where Superman splits into good and bad incarnations remains a pretty cool scene. Also, credit to the ending, where Superman outsmarts the supercomputer instead of simply punching it in the nose.
4. Superman Returns (2006)
Superman Returns (2006) is the spiritual successor to Superman II. The film finds our hero absent from Earth for five years. He’s gone back to Krypton to investigate the possibility of survivors. In that time, the world has moved on without him.
Lois is in a serious relationship and has borne a child. Lex Luthor has crafty plans about developing real estate using Superman’s Fortress of Solitude crystals to give birth to new kryptonite-infused land from the ocean floor. When Superman returns, he has to deal with Lex’s villainy, Lois as a mother, and the reality that he’s fathered her child (in events from Superman II).
After sitting in development hell for a while, the Superman movie we finally get is part homage to the Richard Donner Superman movies and part arthouse flick where Superman is a template for Zack Snyder’s Superman. A melancholy superhero trying to reconcile his place among us, mere mortals.
Brandon Routh acquits himself well as the new Superman. Although, arguably, Clark Kent feels unnecessary in this story. They didn’t need to bring Clark back at all. Certainly, there’s nothing suspicious about Clark and Superman disappearing at the same time, being absent for the same amount of time, and returning at the same time.
Kevin Spacey brings a petty nastiness to Lex Luthor. Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor was a prison boss, while Kevin Spacey’s version is a prison-heavy. The rest of the cast is solid, with Sam Huntington being the standout as Jimmy Olsen.
The effects in the film are gorgeous, and there are also some truly awe-inspiring scenes – such as Superman hovering above Earth listening to distress calls, and flying up to the sun to recharge. However, the Luthor plot is so-so and the Lois/child sub-plot is answering a question I don’t think anybody really asked.
One final qualifier. Supes stalking his son is creepy and very unSupermanish, but as far as atypical Superman behavior goes, I don’t think anything can top Superman snapping Zod’s neck in Man of Steel or killing the terrorist who holds Lois hostage at gunpoint in Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice.
3. Superman II – Theatrical Release (1980)
Lois Lane uncovers that Clark Kent is Superman and they begin a romantic relationship, leading to Clark surrendering his powers (to be in a relationship of equals). Three Kryptonian supervillains – Zod (Terence Stamp), Ursa (Sarah Douglas), and Non (Jack O’Halloran) – come to Earth.
Escaping prison, Lex Luthor curries their favor. A de-powered Clark discovers that the Kryptonians are on Earth and he subsequently goes on a journey to recover his powers. He fights the Kryptonians and then lures them to the Fortress of Solitude for a final battle.
Richard Donner was hired to direct the first two films concurrently, but following a falling out with the producers, he was fired and replaced by Richard Lester. Lester had to refilm a lot of it to get a director credit. He also had a comic style, introducing flourishes of humor where they had no right belonging, e.g. a man in a phone booth trying to continue his conversation as the Kryptonians blow him (in his booth) and defiant Metropolis citizens down the street.
Still, the core of Superman II is excellent. The Clark-Lois love story plays out as a contrast to the Kryptonians and their villainy. Typically, Reeve and Kidder are great and enjoy fantastic chemistry. Stamp, Douglas, and O’Halloran are all good as the villains, and Gene Hackman is Gene Hackman – brilliant.
The best thing about the film is how it ends. Supes doesn’t just will himself to tap into some untapped well of strength – as Wonder Woman does over Aries in Wonder Woman (2017), or Superman does both in Man of Steel (flying into the world-building machine when its terraforming should’ve de-powered him) and Batman vs Superman (carrying a kryptonite spear that should incapacitate him). Too often in superhero movies, it becomes a story about the hero willing themself to victory, and/or a battle of who can punch hardest.
Superman’s already tried that here in the battle over Metropolis and concluded it can’t work. So he lures the Kryptonians away from Metropolis and outsmarts them in the Fortress of Solitude – the most super-powered superhero there doesn’t rely on muscle but brains to overcome the villains. How novel.
2. Superman: The Movie (1978)
Nowadays, superhero movies are the lifeblood of cinema. But back when Richard Donner tackled the project of adapting the world’s most famous superhero to the screen, there was no template to follow. Even superhero TV shows that were contemporary to this incarnation, such as Batman (1966 – 1968) and Wonder Woman (1975 – 1979), were light-hearted.
Donner treated the source material reverently. Sure, there are still campy moments, but it respects the source material and adapts it seriously – from that first appearance of Jor-El (Marlon Brando) to the death of Jonathan Kent (Glenn Ford) being a life lesson for young Clark to the appearance of Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) and his comic sidekick Otis (Ned Beatty). These are actors with serious marquees, and they all revolve around the introduction of Christopher Reeve.
Reeve’s portrayal is superb. He has a quiet nobility and gentleness that’s perfectly suited to portray the Man of Steel, and he plays the goofy Clark Kent to a tee. The scene in Lois’s apartment, where Clark takes his glasses off, draws himself up, and his voice deepens as he briefly considers telling Lois his true identity, before thinking better of it and deflating back into Clark is sublime, and shows the delineation Reeve applied to Superman and Clark.
Back then, films like Superman: The Movie were never nominated for Academy Awards unless it was for something like Best Special Effects. However, if this film was released today, Reeve would surely be nominated for Best Actor.
The plot does everything a Superman movie should do: show us Krypton, send baby Superman to Earth, ground him in some good old country morality with the Kents, introduce the villain, introduce Superman, unveil the master plan, and pit the hero against the villain.
The only grievance would be the solution where Superman reverses Lois’s death by either spinning the world back in time or by going back in time himself (I’ve heard both posited). It’s like Superman in Man of Steel snapping Zod’s neck. If there is such an absolute solution, why isn’t it always applied whenever there’s trouble?
It’s beautifully set up, with Superman again confronting his inability to stop death, realizing he has limitations, and Reeve’s rage as he flies into the sky is magnificent, but it’s an easy out. It might’ve worked (or been palatable) had there been some disastrous repercussions that dissuaded Superman from taking such action again.
For example, in Smallville, Clark (Tom Welling) uses a similar narrative mechanism to restore the life of his love interest, Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk), but is warned that it’ll come at a cost. Sure enough, in the reset timeline his father, Jonathan Kent (John Schneider) dies instead. This is a direct result of Clark now saving Lana. It’s an ingenious way to put a price on a magical solution and ensure it’s not employed again.
Interestingly enough, director Richard Donner had intended on using the reversing time solution to appear at the end of Superman II. Although Donner has never really been clear on what he would’ve done with it.
1. Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (2006)
After Margot Kidder commented that Richard Donner had shot enough of Superman II to cut together his own version, a fan petition led to exactly that happening. Donner had to rely on screen tests, Lester footage, and memory to edit his own version. What emerges is a much stronger rendition of Superman II, one that has its darker moments and isn’t weakened by inexplicable humor. It also shows just how Supes recovers his powers.
Arguably the most debatable aspect of Donner’s version is he used the reversing time device to close the story after Superman has defeated the Kryptonians. In the commentary, Donner talks about how this was always the plan for Superman II, and they would’ve done something different for Superman (had he remained the director).
Some fans argue this ending is lazy, and that at least when it’s employed in Superman it’s motivated because Superman does it to bring Lois back to life. I kind of like it here.
Some fans interpret it to mean Superman’s undoing the damage done to Metropolis, but I see it much more poignantly: even though reversing time re-powers Zod, Ursa, and Non, and banishes them back into the Phantom Zone (risking that they one day again might escape), he’s willing to take that chance to spare Lois the heartbreak of knowing their love can never be. He carries this pain alone, while she is able to continue her life obliviously.
Ultimately, Donner’s version is always going to be a hybrid of best intentions cobbled together from what’s available, but at least it shows a grandeur to the character that the theatrical release too often undermines.
One side note. I don’t see Clark confronting the bully in the reset timeline as an error. Sure, now that the timeline has been reset, the mortal Clark and the bully never have their altercation. But suggesting Clark can only visit the bully if this has occurred implies Clark’s motivation is revenge. It’s not. The bully is a bully.
The way the diner’s owners respond to his arrival and his method of fighting (e.g. hitting Clark in the back of the head) tell us this isn’t the greatest guy in the world. Clark is teaching him a lesson regardless of the fact they no longer share a history.
The Future
James Gunn is now overseeing the DC universe, which can be seen as Warner Bros’ admission that their initial foray was wrong. It’s a shame because Henry Cavill could’ve made a great Superman. The issue is he was given a character who was far from super, and an alter ego who existed purely because he needed to.
But Gunn is a good storyteller. He did wonders with The Suicide Squad (2021) and Peacemaker is fun and entertaining. It has a similar irreverence to Gunn’s previous platform, Guardians of the Galaxy, but hopefully, that doesn’t mean he’ll inject the same unrelenting humor into Superman, reducing him to the comic buffoon that Thor became in the Marvel universe.
Superman was always meant to be super in every sense of the word. Richard Donner clearly got it and imbued his version of the character with majesty. He’s not flawless. He struggles with doubt and pride. However, he’s always reaching for something better.
Bryan Singer tried for that nobility, but Superman Returns is largely a homage to Richard Donner’s movies, and consequently, Singer’s Superman never gets the chance to break out and truly become his own character. Zack Snyder went epic aesthetically, but his Superman is monotonal, bordering on pedestrian. Here’s hoping his successor will fare better.
