Rank The Live-Action Superman Actors

General Discussion Movies & TV
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Henry Cavill - DCEU

Christopher Reeve - Anthology

Dean Cain - Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

Tyler Hoechlin - CW’s Supergirl

Brandon Routh - Superman Returns

Tom Welling - Smallville

John Haynes Newton - Superboy

Gerard Christopher - Adventures of Superboy

George Reeves -Adventures of Superman

Kirk Alyn - Superman(1948)/ Atom Man vs Superman

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:slight_smile: My top 5 favorite Superman series in both movies and TV are:

  1. Christopher Reeves Superman
  2. Superman The Animated Series
  3. Lois & Clark: The new adventures of Superman
  4. The Adventure of Superman (George Reeve)
  5. Henry Cavill Superman
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Fist pump for Lois & Clark!

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Henry… Only one I really like.

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  1. Christopher Reeve

  2. Henry Cavill

  3. George Reeves

  4. Dean Cain

  5. Gerard Christopher

  6. Tyler Hochelin

  7. Brandon Routh

  8. John Newton

  9. Tom Welling (I’d rank him higher but he never wore the costume. A big part of playing Superman is being able to pull off the costume.)

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My favorites:

  1. Christopher Reeve
  2. Henry Cavill
  3. Tom Welling
    4 George Reeves
  4. Brandon Routh
  5. Dean Cain
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I haven’t watched any of Superboy or the serials yet and I watched one episode of Adventures of Superman a long time ago so I’m not comfortable ranking George so I’m only ranking the ones I know best.

  1. Christopher Reeve (the best and I will never be convinced otherwise)

  2. Tom Welling

  3. Tyler Hoechiln

  4. Dean Cain

  5. Brandon Routh

  6. Henry Cavill (would probably like him more if he had better material to work with)

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  1. Christopher Reeve. No comparison - he’s the GOAT.
  2. Brandon Routh. Though hampered by an average script, he was great in the role.
  3. Henry Cavill. I still have my fingers crossed that we get to see more of him in the DCEU.
  4. Tyler Hoechiln. Great presence even though he’s only had a few episodes.
  5. George Reeves.
  6. Kirk Alyn. ^ These two are this high based on pure nostalgia.
  7. Dean Cain was a fantastic Clark
  8. Tom Welling was a good young Clark
  9. Gerard Christopher was a decent Clark/Superboy
    10 John Haymes Newton was a fine Clark/Superboy

None of them were bad (IMO). All enjoyable - some were just more so than others.

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I like them all except for Kirk

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I haven’t seen all of the Supermen, but from what I’ve seen:

Best Clark Kent: Christopher Reeve and Dean Cain (I can’t decide between them)

Hottest Superman: Henry Cavill

Best Superman: TBD. I wish I could say Henry but the movies really didn’t give him enough material to develop either Clark Kent or Superman as a character. He recited lines and did “super” things, but the lines didn’t reveal his personality. IMO.

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  1. Christopher Reeve
  2. George Reeves
  3. Dean Cain
  4. Brandon Routh
  5. TomWelling
  6. Tyler Hoechlin
  7. Henry Cavill
  8. Kirk Alyn
  9. Gerard Christopher
  10. John Haymes-Newton
    To be fair, Henry Cavill should be higher up on the list, but the poor guy had nothing to work with in three movies.
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  1. Henry Cavill
  2. Ben Affleck in Hollywoodland
  3. All the rest