Ranking the Superman Live-Action Movies

After ranking the live-action Batman movies, I thought I would do the same for the Superman ones. The originals are so long ago I sometimes forget they are part of DC, as funny as that sounds.

Again these rankings are solely down to personal preference.

By a country mile Superman: the original motion picture is no.1 and is still one of my all time favourite movies. I was 2 when I was brought to see it in the cinema, it was my 1st cinema experience and one I do not remember. I was on a Christmas holiday in Canada and there was some debate with my mum and aunt if I would manage the experience at such a young age.

I’ve been told I yelled out “the car is broken!” When Lois Lane’s car falls foul of the earthquake. I’ve no doubt it was the first pavement block on the road to 2 loves in my life; superheroes and movies.

When I watched again recently on the 40th anniversary release I was struck by how cinematic the original is, there’s no “superhero film formula” it’s simply a movie shot for the cinema. I also think my love of the original colours my thorough enjoyment of Superman Returns and Henry Cavill’s more “heroic” interpretation in Justice League, though I still haven’t been able to look at Cavill’s lip the same way!!

  1. Superman
  2. Superman II
  3. Superman Returns
  4. Justice League
  5. Man of Steel
  6. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
  7. Superman III
  8. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
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  1. Superman The Movie
  2. Man Of Steel
  3. Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
  4. Superman II
  5. Superman Returns
  6. BVS
  7. Justice League
  8. Superman III
  9. Superman IV
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  1. Superman 2 (Donner Cut)
  2. Man of Steel
  3. Superman 2
  4. Superman The Movie
  5. Batman v. Superman Dawn of Justice
  6. Superman Returns
  7. Justice League
  8. Superman III
  9. Superman IV
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I agree, wasn’t crazy about the spinning to world backwards again.

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I think Donner did the best he could with what he had in terms of his cut. I enjoy it more because even though I like Superman II, some of the stuff in there is a little too silly for me.

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I’d probably need to watch it again, it’s been about 10 years since I watched the Donner cut

It was some of the humor that didn’t work for me, also Superman taking off the shield and throwing it was a little weird. I still like the movie very much, but it was those little things that brought it down a little bit.

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Also it just didnt make sense in terms of that being a thing he could do, and it just didnt look good.

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I love Man of Steel cause I thought it was a great jumping off point for Cavill to grow into more of Chris Reeve. So I agree I hope the next Superman movie is closer to the tone of Donner and Reeve.

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  1. Man of Steel
  2. Batman V Superman
  3. Superman III
  4. Justice League
  5. Superman IV
  6. Superman Returns
  7. Superman: The Movie
  8. Superman II
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  1. Superman: The Movie
  2. Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
  3. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
  4. Superman Returns
  5. Justice League
  6. Man of Steel
  7. Superman III
  8. Superman II: The Richard Lester Cut
  9. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

Magic memory-wiping kisses are an instant ticket to the bottom.

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Superman: The Movie
Superman II (the Donner cut)
Man of Steel
BvS: Ultimate Edition
Justice League
Superman IV
Superman III
Superman & The Mole Men

Superman Returns

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  1. Superman: The Movie (all 3 cuts, but if I had to pick one, it’s the original theatrical version)
  2. Man of Steel
  3. Superman II (I like both versions equally)
  4. Superman Returns
  5. Superman III
  6. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
  7. Superman and the Mole Men

I’m not counting BvS or Justice League, as those aren’t movies that squarely focus on and star Superman as the lead character in the way the above do. They’re movies that he’s a leading character in, yes, just not, again, the leading character.

As for movies based on Superman-related characters that starred someone other than Superman, my rank is:

  1. Supergirl (international cut)
  2. Steel
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Superman
Man of steel
Superman 2
Bvs
Superman 3
Superman returns
Justice league
Superman 4

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1a. Superman The Movie
1b. Man of Steel
2. Superman II (both versions)
3. Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice
4. Superman Returns
5. Superman III
6. Superman IV: The Quest For Peace

The theatrical cut of Justice League doesn’t have enough Superman for me to consider it on this list. The Snyder Cut might be different. If I were including the theatrical cut on this list, I’d put it on par with Superman Returns or Superman III – not as good as BvS but better than Quest For Peace.

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I still think BvS is a Superman movie because the villains (Luthor, Doomsday) and outside of Alfred all of the supporting cast (even the weird CIA take on Jimmy Olsen) come from Superman’s world. Other than that, our rankings are pretty much the same.

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  1. Superman 4-This film is garbage, pure and simple. There is too much to unpack. You can literally see the curtains of the sound stage when they are in outerspace. Superman gets dropped by a scratch ffs! The creation of Nuclearman. The god awful dubbing. REBUILDING A BRICK WALL WITH LASER EYES!? F this movie. Hard.

  2. Superman 3- AKA Plot Device: the movie. That super-computer can do anything the plot needs amirite. Richard Lester triples down on the slapstick comedy that is synonymous with Superman zainy film. Most critics agreed “way worse than Superman 2”. The Saving grace is evil Superman, that guy knows how to party.

  3. Justice League-Sure, not necessarily a Superman film. But he’s in it and he’s written terribly. Zero depth or dimension. On top of that, he looks fake most of the time. Many fans felt he had been “fixed”. I myself felt he had been “re-broken”, returned to a film version that never really worked for me as a fan of the comics.

  4. Superman Returns. It’s just a very boring film, for me. Superman has a fascinating mythos, an interesting rogues gallery that is almost completely untapped on film, he’s literally the most powerful character in fiction and you want to give me a story about the consequences of abandonment? On top of that, it’s now tainted for me by some of the talent involved. Bryan Singer and Kevin Spacey. Creeps.

  5. Superman 2-more silly nonsense for me as a reader of the comics. As a fan of film, there are some choices the writers made that I hate. How are the Kryptonians released? Superman carelessly throws some nukes into space, they explode and the Phantom zone (located conveniently just outside of Earth) opens up and releases Zod and co. Zod’s whole reason for fighting Kal-El is because he personally didnt like Jor-El. Wow…what interesting motivation. Oh yeah, he also “wants to rule the world”. Theres also the whole “this machine will PERMANENTLY remove your powers” oh man, that’s pretty high stakes…until later in the movie where the same machine can totally restore your powers, PERMANENTLY. Alot of the humor does not work when you’re older than 8, at the same time alot of it does. This film is almost saved by Terrence Stamp’s comedic performance as Zod. He’s great. But it still has that super-lame Superkiss that wipes memories. It still has Ursula instead of Faora, and she is still for some reason dismissive of human because they “need machines to fly” despite the fact she never had the ability to fly until very recently. Also, we learned in Superman: the movie that he can reverse time and save whoever he wants, whenever he wants. Maybe just fly back in time and dispose of those nukes in a better way.

  6. BvS-Superman is great in this film. So much more in line with how I percieve the comic version, the version I’m most familiar with. The version I like. The film itself is kind of messy but no super-computer that can do anything the plot demands, no “superkiss tm”, no slapstick comedy, a Lex Luthor that is no better nor any worse than Gene Hackman’s take, this goes towards the top for me.

  7. Superman the Movie. One of the best rom-coms of all time. Christopher Reeve is great in dual roles here. Traditionally, Clark didnt go out of his way to seem like a clumsy dork when he was out of his Kryptonian suit in the comics. It shows what a truly gifted actor CR was, many actors wouldnt put that effort into a comic book character, the stigma of comics at that time was that they were completely void of anything valid to express. While Reeve is great in the role, almost everything around him is not. I’ve never particularly cared for Margot Kidders Lois. She seems more like a cartoon caricature of a romantic advice columnist. The film is pretty bland until the dramatic third act, that’s where the serious acting from Reeve is on full display. It makes that scene amazing, but that scene also renders the lesson he learned from Pa Kent’s death, that even with his amazing powers he cant save everyone, completely void. He absolutely CAN save everyone. Go take Pa Kent to a Doctor, get a heart transplant or start a healthy diet. The revelation of that power renders ever conflict moving forward unnecessary. With the ability to time travel and erase memories via kiss, Superman should never have conflict again.

  8. Man of Steel-This film is great! It encompasses everything I love about Superman. All that great Superman Mythos without any of the cheese. It gives a reason for an all powerful being to be so humble, a great dad. While that has always been the relationship between Pa and Clark, the way it plays out in this speaks so true to me. I frankly havent really seem that kind of dramatic depth from anything else in this genre, with the exception of maybe Logan. Lois behaves like an investigative journalist instead of a gushy schoolgirl. We never have to sit through any weird, rhyming inner dialogue. She seems confident, she can spell. She’s great. Cavill’s portrayal of Clark is the definition of mild mannered, he isnt overly jokey or bombastically nerdy, he’s just polite, reserved, kind and nice.
    Unlike most Superman movies, this one actually brings some of that action from Action Comics. The action is unbelievable and unmatched, for me, to this day. Faora Ul is a â– â– â– â– â– â– â–  goddess who could curb stomp the entire MCU, including Captain Marvel and Thanos. Zod has believable motives and is played to a beastly perfection by Micheal Shannon.
    The only problem I had with the neck snap was that it takes Zod away from future installments. I was happy they didnt try to rob him of his powers or send him to the phantom zone, or any other story convenience that tries to skirt the consequences of conflict all in the name of maintaining the heroes percieved purity.
    In Disney cartoons, this would be where a villian falls to there death because they slipped while trying to do something wicked. Its typically considered really poor writing, but as a audience we kind of gave those cartoons a pass because they were aimed children. Personally I feel the DC characters and their world are not exclusively for children and can be used to tell stories of any tone for any audience

Edit: idk what’s going on with the numbering. I wrote starting at 8 counting down to 1.

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I know I’m late to this. I never saw original post. I apologize for that.

I did think Superman 2 was sillier. Since I was in maybe 4th grade I remember thinking with every repeat viewing…

“How is Zod speaking to Ursa on the moon?”

Then again we are talking about a sequel to a film where a man flies circles around the Earth to create a localized time reversal. Guess it comes down to an individuals suspension of disbelief.

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Sure. Still, no matter how loud; they’re in a vacuum. No sound no matter how super. Just a thing that I always had a hard time with. Not the end of the world.

At the same time I’d gladly accept that Clark could hear a flea bite a dogs butt in Vietnam while he’s having Thanksgiving dinner in central Kansas. :man_shrugging:

Suspension, man! Can’t explain it.

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Guess so. I’ve never seen it in a comic, but it’s a movie. It falls into that sci-fi problem area of explosions in space for me.

Unless Superman has a power to produce a local atmosphere in space I can’t buy it. Not how sound works.

It’s fan bias. I grew up on a Post-Crisis Superman by Byrne, Jurgens, and Ordway. That version of Superman that existed for 25 years couldn’t even breathe in space.

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