A Definitive Rating of Reside Motion Supermen

I will likely be grading Supermen on a five-part metric:

1. Supermanliness: Does the costume look good? Do the powers look good? Do I consider this man can fly?
2. Clark Kentiness: A great Superman and not using a good Clark is nothing. Bonus factors for transition between the 2 (I see you, Christopher Reeve!).
3. Performing: Spoiler — these grades are going to be fairly excessive.
4. Writing: Spoiler — these grades are going to be fairly low.
5. Accuracy to the Comics: Do I acknowledge the Superman on the display? Or is Zach Snyder directing?

John Haymes Newton and Gerard Christopher

I’ll be trustworthy: I hadn’t watched the 1988 Superboy sequence till I began researching for this text, and I might solely get via two episodes, one with every lead actor (Newton performed Superboy in Season 1, then was changed by Christopher for the remainder of the present). It inexplicably relocated Clark, Lana Lang, and Lex Luthor to a college in Florida for the primary two seasons, then equally inexplicably re-relocated Clark and Lana to an internship at “the Bureau for Additional-Regular Issues.” Not solely does neither setting replicate something within the comics, however the entire idea of Superboy was not in continuity at that time. The faculty setting appears like a mixture between Saved by the Bell: The Faculty Years and a very tacky PSA, whereas the BEM setting (oh, I see what they did there) is a very unusual try at “the Day by day Planet however not.” Each actors are…effective, I assume, however neither one rises above their totally mediocre milieu.

Supermanliness: 2
Clark Kentiness: 2
Performing: 2
Writing: 1
Accuracy: 1
TOTAL: 8

Henry Cavill

Poor Henry Cavill. By no means has a person appeared a lot like a drawing of Superman; by no means has a person been so betrayed by not one, however three screenplays in a row (Man of Metal, Batman v. Superman: Daybreak of Justice, and Justice League). Cavill does his finest, however his Superman is a assassin, his Clark Kent is barely current, and his higher lip is CGI. I’m so sorry, buddy.

Supermanliness: 2
Clark Kentiness: 1
Performing: 4
Writing: 1
Accuracy: 1
TOTAL: 9

David Wilson

Wilson performed Superman within the 1975 tv particular of the 1966 Broadway musical It’s a Fowl…It’s a Aircraft…It’s Superman. (The function was originated on Broadway by Bob Vacation.) The musical is a satire, so it’s an extremely goofy efficiency in an extremely goofy manufacturing, nevertheless it’s additionally, like…not humorous. Wilson has little or no to do moreover stand nonetheless whereas the feminine leads and villains dance round him, however he’s obtained a pleasant voice, a minimum of.

Supermanliness: 2
Clark Kentiness: 3
Performing: 2
Writing: 1
Accuracy: 2
TOTAL: 10

Tom Welling

Tom Welling performed Clark Kent for 10 seasons of Smallville from 2001-2011, and Superman for the final scene of the final episode. It’s very exhausting to rise above “sufficient” on a CW present, and Welling, although giant and delightful and affable — all very Superman issues to be — didn’t handle it. (His costar Michael Rosenbaum takes house the trophy for Finest Lex Luthor of All Time, although.) I’m grading Welling’s performing on a curve as a result of it’s not his fault that the writing left his Clark so whiny and creepy, and he actually does get to have enjoyable in the course of the many, many occasions his character is possessed/bodyswapped/purple Kryptonited/and so on.

Supermanliness: 1
Clark Kentiness: 3
Performing: 3
Writing: 2
Accuracy: 2
TOTAL: 11

Brandon Routh

Protip: When you make your Superman seem to be a GIANT CREEP, you have got failed at Superman. None of that is Routh’s fault, even when he was about 10 years too younger to precisely match the timeline of Superman Returns’s world-weary Clark. He’s shiny and good-looking and earnest, whilst he *checks notes* stalks Lois and, um, doesn’t clarify how he managed to impregnate her. Hm. Effectively, a minimum of Routh obtained to take a mulligan and play Superman once more within the CW’s “Disaster on Infinite Earths” occasion.

Supermanliness: 3
Clark Kentiness: 2
Performing: 4
Writing: 1
Accuracy: 2
TOTAL: 12

George Reeves

Earlier than Christopher Reeve, George Reeves was Superman to a technology of followers, thanks to 6 seasons of 1952’s Adventures of Superman. Reeves is admittedly considerably staid and paternalistic within the function, and the pacing is very sluggish to fashionable sensibilities, however it’s the ’50s, in any case. The results are fairly good, given the price range, and the Day by day Planet banter fairly snappy. There are worse methods to spend a sick day than just a few hours of George Reeves in syndication — and the well-known “Panic within the Sky” episode, later tailored again in to the comics, Superboy, and Lois & Clark, actually is that good.

Supermanliness: 3
Clark Kentiness: 4
Performing: 3
Writing: 3
Accuracy: 4
TOTAL: 17

Kirk Alyn

Alyn was the primary actor to painting Superman in stay motion, in a 15-part movie serial from 1948 — probably the most worthwhile serial in film historical past. As with most low price range Superman tasks, we get quite a lot of Clark and minimal Superman, however that’s not a nasty factor. Alyn’s Clark has an exquisite steadiness of fumbling dorkiness and sly humor, particularly when bantering with the great Noel Neill as Lois. However he offers his Superman a bizarre, awkward physique language midway between “half-hearted ballet dancer” and “10-year-old boy enjoying Peter Pan in his college play,” and the truth that many of the results are simply actually a cartoon drawing of Superman doesn’t assist — although it’s fairly humorous each time it occurs.

Supermanliness: 2
Clark Kentiness: 4
Performing: 3
Writing: 4
Accuracy: 5
TOTAL: 18

Tyler Hoechlin

I used to be satisfied this small, scruffy werewolf was wildly miscast as Superman till he first visitor starred on Supergirl and sunshined his means into my coronary heart. Hoechlin — who performs Superman on Superman & Lois and in varied CW crossovers — has to cope with the same old nonsense writing and price range CGI of that the majority Perpetually 21 of networks, however he radiates such a joyful, heat vitality that I can generally form of overlook regardless of the hell they’re doing with the twins. It’s additionally the primary time we’ve seen Clark in ages; the flashback montage of him and Lois first falling in love is well worth the worth of admission alone.

Supermanliness: 4
Clark Kentiness: 4
Performing: 4
Writing: 3
Accuracy: 3
TOTAL: 18

Christopher Reeve

I feel it may be unlawful to say something unhealthy about Christopher Reeve, however don’t fear, as a result of I might by no means. Reeve, who starred in 4 theatrical movies from 1978 to 1987 — Superman, Superman II, Superman III, and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace — continues to be the long-lasting Superman to generations of followers, and it’s not exhausting to see why. He exudes decency, he seems to be unimaginable in that leotard, and the consequences, a minimum of within the first film, completely maintain up. (The much less mentioned about a number of the silliness in Superman II, the higher.) His Clark is a bit more pathetic than I’d like, however total it’s very correct to the Bronze Age comics these motion pictures are drawing on, and Reeve will get bonus factors for that phenomenal second within the first film once we see him “rework” from Clark’s physique language to Superman’s. My solely criticism is that the writing begins out unhealthy (YES, I SAID IT) and will get worse because the sequence goes on, however I need to admit a passion for the horrible Superman IV it doesn’t matter what my fellow Rioters suppose.

Supermanliness: 5
Clark Kentiness: 4
Performing: 5
Writing: 2
Accuracy: 4
TOTAL: 20

Dean Cain

I need to be very clear right here that I’m solely grading Cain on his efficiency as Superman in 4 seasons of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, as a result of I discover his politics abhorrent. However Lois & Clark stays my favourite Superman adaptation by a rustic mile, and Cain is an enormous a part of that. His Clark is the wittiest and most charming model we’ve ever gotten, he seems to be nice within the go well with, and although the particular results are a bit hampered by, you already know, the ’90s of all of it, the present could be very intelligent in its use of sensible results. And naturally, the chemistry between the 2 leads is scorching, as a result of Lois & Clark is aware of that Superman is a will-they-or-won’t-they office romcom above all different genres. Most significantly, the present will get Superman on a basic degree. The road “Superman is what I can do. Clark Kent is who I’m” continues to be my excessive water mark for Understanding Superman.

Supermanliness: 4
Clark Kentiness: 5
Performing: 5
Writing: 5
Accuracy: 5
TOTAL: 24