Look up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane!
No, it's SUPERMAN!
Welcome to another installment of Superhero Syndrome! Click here in case you missed the first Superhero Syndrome where we examine the adventures of Batman.
In Superhero Syndrome, we look at the on-screen live action careers of various comic book characters throughout their years. Along the way, you might come across some films or TV shows you never knew existed.
Today we take a trip down Memory Lane to view the on-screen career of probably one of the most popular superheroes of all time: Superman!
Before we get started, let's take a minute to acknowledge the simplicity of the name of one of the greatest superheroes to be invented. Superman. He's a man that's super.
Let's take another moment to acknowledge the HUGE bullet that was dodged....we ALMOST had THIS as our next Superman:
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| Yes, Nicolas Cage almost became the next Man of Steel |
Over many decades since the Superman character was created in the 1930's, many of Hollywood's higher-ups have tried to bring the icon to the big and small screens because....well he's a cash cow. Who wouldn't love to zip up into the skies whenever they wanted? Or shoot lasers from their eyes? Or be strong and fast enough to do whatever you wanted??
His abilities have captured the hearts and awe of people worldwide and have made fans of people of all ages, races and creeds. Let's see this classic hero through the eyes of America as they watched the character evolve on-screen:
Let's go back to where it all started for the boy in blue on-screen. In 1948, Kirk Alyn made motion picture history by becoming the first of a long line of actors to portray Clark Kent and the Man of Steel!
Now, let's be realistic....this was 1948! Don't expect to watch this 15 part black and white series and see mind bending special effects, Matrix style.
It all had to start somewhere, and here we have it. For a motion picture that tries to depict a man who can fly, shoot lasers from his eyes, see through walls and be super strong in the 1940's, this was actually not bad at all!
In this series, the origin of Superman is shown and he takes on a villainess named the Spider Lady as she plots to take over Metropolis.
My Rating:
4.294893498 out of 5 stars (It was the ORIGINAL for crying out loud!!)
Click here to see a full feature length version of all the episodes of the serial put together by a fan with amazing edits to make it even better.
Don't let the title of the serial fool you. You will not see a couple of super powered beings going toe to toe in this. Atom Man is, in fact, Lex Luthor! In this serial Luthor has an atom disassembling machine in which he tries to terrorize Metropolis with Superman battling him every step of the way.
What makes this serial pop even more than the first? We are introduced to "The Empty Doom"!!
....Oh....don't know what that is? It's known to us as THE PHANTOM ZONE!
Above that, there are some cool references to this serial that we see in later on screen Superman works that you probably had NO IDEA were borrowed from it. In this serial, Superman is exposed to a synthetic Kryptonite during a public event. Sound familiar? Superman III may jog your memory.
When the Man of Steel escapes from "The Empty Doom", the Daily Planet prints a paper with the headline: Superman Returns. Does the title sound familiar?
All in all, pretty cool series.
My Rating:
4.5382439 out of 5 stars
Now we get to one of the most iconic portrayals of the son of Krypton on screen in motion picture history: George Reeves!
The Adventures of Superman made TV history by becoming the first television show portraying the Man of Steel!
Although he battles gangsters and human villains, the Superman character in this series is the staple for future classic portrayals.
While this show made history, there were some factors that people still make fun of today; namely how he'd stand there while people shot him, yet he'd duck when the shooter would throw the gun at him.
Unfortunately, one of the major black holes of this show is the untimely demise of George Reeves. His death at the young age of 45 was trumped only by the mystery surrounding the cause of his death. While he suffered a bullet wound to the head, there were still conflicting theories as to whether he was murdered or committed suicide.
Reeves was so iconic that fans were surprised to find that "Superman" could die by a gunshot wound and a movie, "Hollywoodland", was filmed which gives a fictionalized account of what happened that fateful day.
But as far as the show itself, pretty darn good for its time and a big step forward from the serials!
My Rating:
4.482123458 out of 5 stars
Technically this doesn't count as an on screen portrayal of Superman as this show never officially aired; but a pilot was produced and can be seen here.
One may wonder how successful this show could have been had it not been for the death of George Reeves (which is why this show was scrapped). This show was meant to ride the coattails of the wildly popular Adventures of Superman series which had been cancelled a few years earlier.
I personally believe that this show was way ahead of its time as it featured the first ever non-comic portrayals of characters which later became the reason a little show called Smallville became one of the best shows of all time. The role of Superboy was played by Johnny Rockwell.
My Rating:
4.2853079 out of 5 stars
This rating is based on the content and ground breaking direction the creators laid out for this show.
What more can be said than: Christopher Reeve was the quintessential characterization of Superman and the model for all "Supermen" to come afterwards!
**Gotta take a second to brag that I met him when I was a child and he was as cool as he is in the movies!!**
This movie gives us the origins of Kal-El along with his adaptation and eventual saving of the world.
The story along with the fresh new special effects and incredible acting made this not only a great superhero movie, but just an all around classic! On top of all the great things about the movie, one of the most recognizable things about it is the score (music) by the great John Williams who also did the tremendous score for the Star Wars movies! Come on, who DOESN'T recognize that song from the Superman movies and start thinking about flying right away?!
My Rating:
4.78187990 out of 5 stars
Not just capitalizing, but building on the popularity and sheer awesomeness of the first installment, Superman II is brought to the screen with Reeve reprising his role.
This movie sees the Man of Steel being the favorite son of Metropolis. As he continues to play his role, a trio of super powered baddies show up to wreak havoc in the home city of Kal-El. They have a history with his family and a huge score to settle.
General Zod (played by Terence Stamp) makes his on screen debut and just strikes fear into the heart of the audience!
Superman vs three people with powers like his? Yes sir!
My Rating:
4.88792719 out of 5 stars
Again attempting to capitalize on the success of its predecessors, Christopher Reeve dons the red cape to again dominate the skies in Metropolis and battle a trio of villains. What's the difference between this movie and the second one? The trio in this movie are hopelessly ridiculous and incredibly dumb. They then realize they need the services of a computer genius......Richard Pryor.
While Pryor was always a funny man, he (and the other villains) was completely out of place in this movie. Not only did the movie drag, but it just made no sense and had no credible threat to Superman.
My Rating:
2.0004839 out of 5 stars
After four years on the shelf, Hollywood dusts off the Superman series and tries to bring it back to prominence by giving him a super powered enemy. The only problem with this film? Everything.
In this movie Lex Luthor (played by Gene Hackman) creates a super human to battle Superman. That's pretty much it.
The Fabio-like villain with silver fingernails was horrible, him being solar powered was ridiculous, and Superman having telekinetic powers (repairing the Great Wall of China with his crazy eye-beams) was weird.
All in all, the movie was horrible.
My Rating:
1.847580000 out of 5 stars
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| John Haymes Newton |
Superboy (played by John Haymes Newton in the first season, then Gerard Christopher in the rest of the series) follows the life of Clark Kent in his college years. The most notable aspect of this version of Superman is that the Man of Steel is already a superhero in his teen years.
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| Gerard Christopher |
Personally, after already being spoiled by the show Smallville before seeing this, it left much to be desired....but it was still better than the last two Superman movies.
My Rating:
3.600482 out of 5 stars
So why did Warner Brothers cancel Superboy? Because they wanted to air new pet project, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
Dean Cain (Superman) and Teri Hatcher (Lois Lane) became one of the hottest television couples throughout the four years the of the show and their chemistry helped boost the appeal of the show. The acting was enhanced by the great special effects and appearances by many comic book characters throughout the years.
My Rating:
4.61800897 out of 5 stars
There is no doubt that Lois & Clark made its mark on television and Superman history! It was so historic that a novel was written based on the series! Click here to check it out.
Four years after Lois & Clark went off the air, the itch to see Superman on the screen came again and Hollywood scratched. We were given the epic series Smallville in which the story of Kal-El (played by Tom Welling) is told and that story is soon developed into a non-comic based storyline that sees Lex Luthor being best friends with Clark Kent for awhile, Superman being a vigilante named The Blur and much more. What made this series great was the appearance of many comic book characters including Green Arrow, Doomsday, General Zod, the Flash and more.
On top of the incredible acting, the special effects, yet again, trump the effects of previous series.
The popularity of this show was unprecedented and historic as this was the longest running Superman-based television show ever running for close to 10 years!
I thoroughly enjoyed this series although there were a few times I was disappointed with some of the sudden drops of some stories. But overall I thought it was a great show and it remains one of my favorites with my main point of interest being that Clark has no idea what greatness lies ahead for him as a superhero because he's too busy trying to mend his broken heart and keep his loved ones safe.
My Rating:
4.88873479 out of 5 stars
So Brandon Routh was hired to fill the great shoes left by Christopher Reeve. Immediately, similarities in look and stature were made between the legend and Routh, and with good reason. Routh was the first actor to really capture the look of Superman; he did not appear to be too young or too old and had a "good guy" look about him.
This film was made as a 'homage sequel' to the Christopher Reeve movies even though some characters, such as Lex Luthor (played by Kevin Spacey), had darker personalities than the original movies.
In this film, Superman returns to Metropolis after a long hiatus and tries to rekindle his relationship with Lois Lane (played by Kate Bosworth) who has moved on with her life. Lex Luthor attempts to execute a plot to take over the world and Superman must find a way to thwart it.
While many liked this film gave it generally good reviews, I found it to be boring at times and I found that the same problem that plagued most Superman movies affected this one as well: there was no real credible threat to Superman and Lex Luthor's brilliance is not truly shown.
A nice recovery from the last two Superman movies, but still fell short.
My Rating:
3.98598 out of 5 stars
The red and blue suit is now handed to Henry Cavill (and is changed to mostly blue leather) and the legend of Superman is now placed on his shoulders. Can he bear the burden?
YES. Yes he can bear the burden!!
WOW! What a movie!!
This is the best Superman to hit the theaters since Christopher Reeve's second installment. From the effects to the fighting to the story to the acting, it's all a step above what we've been given in the past few decades!
This movie tells the story of the demise of Krypton, the rise of Zod, the difficulty Kal-El has in adapting to living on Earth without 'outing' himself and his transformation from everyday Joe to world hero.
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| Krypton has seen better days |
Please don't make the mistake of taking this movie so seriously that you critique every single moment of it thinking that this wouldn't happen in reality, just enjoy the movie.
The awesomeness of this movie doesn't rest solely on the shoulders of Cavill, the entire cast acted incredibly well from the young Clarks to the always great Laurence Fishburne.
Russell Crowe does an AMAZING job as Jor-El, Kevin Costner kills it as Jonathan Kent, and Michael Shannon does a great job as General Zod, but the real treat was Antje Traue as Faora-Ul, the female who accompanied Zod. I believe what made this movie great was that not only did we have the special effects to make Superman look realistic, but he was given a VERY formidable enemy! Don't look for Lex Luthor in this film (thankfully the creators went another route), but look for a Lex Corp sign somewhere in there.
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| This Jor-El fights like a....Gladiator. (Get it?!) |
My Rating:
4.7689098 out of 5 stars
GO SEE MAN OF STEEL!
Hope you enjoyed this and hope you get to see some of these Superman projects you may not have had a chance to see yet!
Fighting for truth, justice, and the American way
Jay
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