Who is the ultimate Man of Steel and who is a failed clone of Superman the likes of NuclearMan and Ultra Man who just need defeating and ridding from planet Earth.
My rankings of the actors who have played Superman on screen.
To start with, the actors who have played Superman on screen are: Kirk Alyn, George Reeves, Christopher Reeve, John Haymes Newton, Gerard Christopher, Dean Cain, Tom Welling, Brandon Routh, Henry Cavill, Tyler Hoechlin, Nicholas Cage and David Corenswet.
Who is your favourite?
Well, first thing I have to do is narrow the list down, as truth be told, I’ve either not seen enough of some of them, or not seen them in the role at all.
So, remember, this is my list, and not yet a definitive list.
It’s just based on my experience.
So, I have definitely seen clips of Kirk Alyn, but can’t remember watching a whole story of him as Superman. I have definitely seen George Reeves as Superman, but not since I was a child, and whilst I remember liking seeing him in the role, my memories are not reliable enough for me to fairly rank him, except anecdotally.
Next up there was Christopher Reeve, who of course is where most people’s experience of Superman probably starts with the Man of Steel and who many consider as the first Superman…even though he wasn’t. He will be in my list.
John Haymes Newton and Gerard Christopher both acted as Superboy in the TV show Superboy and are often not considered in the rankings of playing Superman, because they technically played Superboy. I think that’s dumb as Superboy is Superman and they should be included. Unfortunately, I have only the vaguest memories of the Sueprboy TV series and can’t remember it well enough, so I will cut both of them here until I can watch more of their versions for a future revision of this list.
Dean Cain was the next Superman in the New Adventures of Superman or as it was also known Lois and Clarke. I saw every episode of this, so along with Chris Reeve, will be the second of the Supermen to count in my rankings, which I have not actually started yet.
We’re just looking at the contenders remember.
Tom Welling is next, and perhaps even more controversial to include than either Superboy as Welling technically only played Superman in the finale episode of Smallville and was otherwise just playing Clark Kent, but as you know…that is Superman.
I watched all of Smallville so he will be included.Brandon Routh played Superman in Superman Returns and in The Flash. And will be counted in my rankings.Henry Cavil played Superman in the Snyderverse and will be included in my rankings, because as we get to the more modern iterations of the character, of course I’ve seen them all.
Except Tyler Hoechlin. I feel bad for this, but whilst I did see an episode of Supergirl that he appeared in and thought I liked him and Superman, I didn’t ever actually see Superman and Lois, which I know is a crime as people all said it was really good.
There will be a revised version of this that goes out in the future and we’ll see where he and the other earlier Supermen and Superboy’s rank, but I cannot fairly rank himin this list.
Nicholas Cage almost played Superman in the 1990s but then it didn’t happen, and then he voiced the character which I can mention anecdotally, but actually don’t need to as he finally played Superman in a live action film in the Flash.
Lastly and most recently at the time of writing there is David Corenswet who played Superman in Superman…formally known as Superman Legacy and was directed by James Gunn.
Those are the Supermen, and I want to know how you’d rank them, so let me know in the comments.
For now though, here is my list:
