Okay, it’s REALLY been a while since I’ve put fingers to keyboard, so in anticipation of James Gunn’s Superman film coming out, let’s do a quick rankings of the most recent six flicks and I’ll even throw in Lois & Clark, Smallville, and Superman & Lois for fun.

9. Man of Steel (2013)

The single dumbest part of any live action Superman

Yep, this is dead last. I remember loving this opening night when I saw it, boldly stating it was the best live action Superman. I was also sleep deprived because I had just worked an overnight shift at my side job and was running on coffee and fumes when I saw it (with an extra helping of a large soda and popcorn at the theater itself).

Upon rewatch, I’ve grown to hate this flick. Why the change of heart? For one, the death of Jonathan Kent is the most mind boggling stupid scene in the existence of any Superman movie. Yes, dumber than Superman using his “rebuild the Great Wall of China vision”. Clark as a young man doesn’t have all his powers yet, but he’s still faster than a speeding bullet. He could have easily zipped to Pa Kent, and zipped back in the confusion of the tornado and no one would have batted an eye. The point of Pa Kent’s death by heart attack is supposed to signify that despite all of Superman’s powers, he couldn’t save his father from his own mortality. Not being able to easily save him from a tornado is ridiculous.

And let’s get into Costner’s Pa Kent. Telling him that MAYBE he should let a bus full of children die just to protect his secret?

Even worse, the final battle between Superman and Zod is just two superpowered beings punching each other through buildings. It’s like watching fifty 9/11s happen all at once. And then the icing on the cake is Superman breaking Zod’s neck. Superman doesn’t kill.

Everyone in this movie needs to go to jail. It stinks.

8. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)

Yes, I like this better than Man of Steel. Fight me. But this movie also stinks because despite having a great message (nuclear war is bad), it was made on a shoe string budget. Every special effect somehow looks worse than the first movie, which was released a decade prior. Even Hackman is starting to show his age by this point. His Lex Luthor in this movie is less Lex Luthor and more Gene Hackman wondering if his check is going to clear. It’s insane that this movie released two years before Burton’s Batman.

7. Superman 3 (1983)

A Richard Pryor movie that just happened to have Superman in it, with a fight scene between Clark and Superman that goes on longer than the fight between Roddy Piper and Keith David in They Live. Also, Clark gets engaged to Lana Lang at the end of the movie and it’s never referenced in Superman IV.

Also, you’d think this movie would have it’s two stars interact more than two times.

6. Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993 - 1997)

This was my first live action Superman. As a kid, I felt it was boring, but I hadn’t seen it years and rewatched the pilot just to refresh my memory. Turns out, Little Mar was right, this show IS boring. Dean Cain’s Clark and Superman might as well be the same person, which makes everyone not knowing the secret all the more crazy. Clark barely turns into Superman on the show, and as a kid, that drove me nuts because the drama at the newspaper wasn’t enough to carry this show for me. Still rings true as an adult.

It also doesn’t help that Dean Cain turned into a right wing nut job that whines about everything being “woke”.

5. Superman Returns (2006)

A problematic director (Bryan Singer) with a problematic actor (Kevin Spacey), and a problematic plot: Superman impregnated Lois Lane during Superman 2 then wiped her memory of the events, and now poor Richard White is raising Superman’s child without knowing about his own son’s parentage. It also repeats the plot of the first movie, except instead of Lex living in a really cool underground subway station, he marries a rich old lady and inherits everything of hers when she dies.

4. Superman 2 (1980)

First and foremost, Terrence Stamp RULES as General Zod.

But Zod and his henchmen being bumbling characters drags this down for me. Apparently water doesn’t exist on Krypton, so Zod’s very confused when he lands in water when he first arrives on “Planet Houston”. Also, considering Clark as a human couldn’t handle a random trucker in a fight, it seems weird that he’s able to handle three people with the same powers as him. Although to be fair, the trucker did cheap shot him every time.

This movie is overall silly compared to the first flick considering Richard Donner was fired halfway through production and the director that replaced him went for a more campy style. I always wondered what Donner’s original ending to this would have been since the Donner Cut just reuses the ending of the first movie.

3. Superman & Lois (2021 - 2024)

This show asks the question: “what if Superman & Lois were older and had teenage sons?” Sounds weird right? It actually works! One of my favorite bits in the first episode is Jordan (named after Jor-El) playing one of those fighting games that has Superman in it, and when Clark asks his son why he isn’t playing as Superman (shockingly, the parents haven’t told the kids about Clark’s secret yet). His son’s reply? “Superman’s a dork”. I was that teenager once. But the show eventually has Clark and Lois tell Jordan and Jonathan the truth, and eventually the kids develop their powers too.

There’s a lot to cover on this show, but long story short; Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch are a great Clark and Lois. Hoechlin does the dual identity really well, his Clark is less bumbling and more “giant geek” (when he trains his sons, he makes a bunch of Star Wars references). Tulloch’s Lois definitely has the mother vibe down, but also plays the role of veteran reporter who is always looking for the next story.

Unfortunately, like Lois & Clark, this show’s run got cut short so we fans were only given four seasons, but the ending of this show was one of the most ambitious endings I have ever seen for a superhero show.

2. Smallville (2001 - 2011)

Ranking this at number two is a BOLD choice. But when this show has the BEST live action Lois Lane and Lex Luthor, it’s hard to not rank it so high. As a teenager, I was all for another live action Superman after Lois & Clark got cut short, but something about this show didn’t sit right with me. When it was revealed that Clark would be hanging with a young Lex Luthor, I was skeptical. But then I was introduced to Michael Rosenbaum’s Lex Luthor, who plays the character in the early seasons as a friend to Clark who has a dark side from dealing with being under the thumb of his domineering father, Lionel. As the seasons progress, Lex’s deception and Clark’s secrets over his powers and origins drive the two apart, and Lex towards the dark side.

Now onto Erica Durance’s Lois Lane… I also hated the idea of a young Lois Lane showing up in Smallville and meeting Clark during his senior year. But then I met Erica’s Lois, and I immediately fell in love. She became my dream woman; brash, opinionated, bossy, and an overall ass kicker who didn’t need Superman to save her unless absolutely necessary. In this show, both Clark and Lois absolutely annoyed each other in the beginning, but grew into good friends and almost like a big sister to Clark. Their eventual romance in the later seasons while they’re both working at the Daily Planet unfortunately feels rushed, but there are a lot of parallels to Superman 2 in the later seasons. For one, Clark introduces her to the Jor-El AI in the Fortress after they get engaged does the same “Clark is stripped of his powers” but with a twist. Lois is given Clark’s powers and she learns EXACTLY what she’s signing up for as the wife of the eventual Superman.

This show is basically a love letter to the Reeve flicks, bringing in Reeve himself to guest star on two separate occasions, as well as Margot Kidder, Dean Cain, Teri Hatcher, and even Terence Stamp as the voice of Jor-El, and even using John Williams’ Superman score on several occasions. I’d keep going about why I love this show, but it would take an entire separate post.

1. Superman: The Movie (1978)

I mean, let’s be honest, of course this is number one.

Christopher Reeve is still THE most iconic Clark Kent/Superman on film, even all these years later. I used to be much harsher on this movie in my younger days, but as an adult I appreciate what this movie was able to achieve, even if Marlon Brando didn’t bother learning his lines and wanted to play Jor-El as an actual ham sandwich with eyes. Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor is a delight, being able to achieve both the comical and maniacal, even though I always preferred the businessman version of Lex Luthor. Margot Kidder’s Lois Lane, while not my preferred Lois, sets the template as a hard hitting, chain smoking journalist.

The first half of the movie is a genuine masterpiece, but towards the end it turns into your stereotypical 1970s disaster flick. But considering the time frame, this movie really does capture the essence of Superman that really hasn’t been captured on the big screen in years.

So there you have it, the official Mario rankings.

Hopefully James Gunn’s Superman lives up to the hype, but based on everything I’ve seen of James Gunn in the past, he’s more than capable of bringing a modern Superman to audiences today.

Live Action Superman Rankings