We already looked at the worst Superhero ever earlier this week. Now let’s go over the best. That’s right, Superman.
Portrayals of Superman
#1 – Tom Welling – “Smallville” TV
Sadly this is my favorite non-cartoon portrayal of Superman. I tried to resist the show and always mocked it as “Dawson’s Clark”. But I watched once and Superman lore always pulls me in. Tom Welling does a good job and this show has my favorite Superman and Lois Lane. Maybe it’s the lack of tights, but something let’s me look past the soap opera style of the show. I am hoping that he will be pushed out of the number one slot by Henry Cavill in the upcoming movie {fingers crossed}.
#2 – Brandon Routh – Film
Routh did a fine job and does a pretty good Christopher Reeve impression (which is actually just how Routh is). The writing was horrible and Routh’s movie chance ended up being crappy.
#3 – Christopher Reeve – Film
Reeve is usually everyone’s favorite. Like Routh, I do think he did a decent job though he was just not my favorite.
#4 – George Reeves – “The Adventures of Superman” TV
George looked like a giant as Superman in his show and is definitely classic.
#5 – Kirk Alyn – “Superman” TV
Meh.
#6 – Dean Cain – “Lois and Clark” TV
Dean Cain was awesome when he appeared on American Gladiators and that was his best performance ever. His portrayal of Superman had a really stupid looking suit and his voice is far too weak to represent Superman well.
#7 – John Haymes Newton – “Superboy/The Adventures of Superboy” – TV
Superboy in this series was actually Superman as a boy. It was kind of like Smallville except Superboy wears the suit. There are connections between this TV show and the Supergirl movie and that should tell you how awful it is.
#8 – Gerard Christopher – “Superboy/The Adventures of Superboy” – TV
See above.
Those are all the people that I can think of who have played Superman in live action. Another favorite would have to be Adam Baldwin as the voice of Superman in Superman Doomsday. The drawing of Superman is kinda crappy in the cartoon but Baldwin is always great no matter what he is in. What else would you expect from someone cool enough to play a man named Jayne?
Nerdy Confession
I have a few hundred Superman comics stashed away in my house. I had a good run for a couple of years where I didn’t miss an issue. I would head over to the comic store every week and spend my $1.50 on one of the four running series of Superman comic books. The oldest Superman comic I have is The Adventures of Superman Annual #1 from 1987 which features the great Ronald Reagan within it’s pages.
Superman/Jesus Comparison
As a bored young fellow, I used to find similarities between different characters in literature and Yeshua the Annointed, also known as Jesus. The biggest list I ever came up with was comparing Him to Superman (although I never did Aslan but come on, fish in a barrel right?). I lost my original list but here is what I have reconstructed from memory so far:
| Superman | Jesus |
|---|---|
| Superman was modeled after Moses | Moses was a type for Jesus |
| Wife Lois Lane | Possible wife Mary Magdalene (both alliterative names) |
| Time is not a problem | Time is not a problem |
| Back from the dead | Back from the dead |
| Took Doomsday to space | Will bring doomsday to Earth |
| Able to leap tall buildings | Able to ascend tall buildings |
| Has a weekly comic book | Has a weekly church service |
| Has horrible movies made about him | Has horrible movies made about Him. |
| Had a different name before coming to earth | Had a different name before coming to earth |
| Son of Jor-El | Son of El |
| Asks his father for help | Asks His Father for help |
| Has a strong cousin on earth | Had a strong cousin on earth |
| Nemesis Luthor | Nemesis Lucifer |
| Fights for Truth, Justice and the American way | Fights for Truth, Justice and inspired the American way |
| Raised in a small town | Raised in a small town |
| Earth father’s name Jonathan | Earth father’s name Joseph |
| Earth father died while he was fairly young | Earth father died while he was fairly young |
| Performs miraculous feats | Performs miraculous feats |
| Life in danger as an infant | Life in danger as an infant |
Well there you have it, the best superhero ever is Superman. I mean come on who are you going to put up against him, Storm? As I mentioned before he is a bit too powerful to leave room for good and consistent writing but that just makes it more fun. Like this: