If there is one thing we can be sure of, it is an impending extinction event in our lifetime due to human waste and pollution that someone, somewhere, will always make a Superman movie. And a Batman movie. But today, we’re focusing on Superman.
After his success with Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and its sequels, James Gunn was hired by DC to create “The Suicide Squad” (2021) and the “Peacemaker” series (2022-present). His levity, humor, and heartfelt stories came through, and Warner Bros. Discovery made the move to hire Gunn and his longtime producer Peter Safran to become co-chairmen and co-CEOs of DC Studios.
While Gunn’s initial announcements for the future of the DC extended universe came with some resistance (namely that the Zack Snyder-launched storylines and actors would not be continued), early reviews (and the trailers) are pointing to a hit.
But before you go see “Superman” in probably IMAX this July 11, 2025, let’s review the history of Kal-El on the big screen (and the big screen only…sorry “Smallville”).
SUPERMAN AND THE MOLE MEN (1951)
Superman: George Reeves
Lois Lane: Phyllis Coates
Written By: Robert Maxwell, Whitney Ellsworth
Directed By: Lee Sholem
In the very first feature film based on any DC Comics character, Clark Kent and Lois Lane arrive in a small town where the world’s deepest oil well is being drilled, upsetting a race of small humanoids who glow in the dark and frighten the townspeople. When the locals form a mob to kill the Mole Men, Superman must intervene to prevent genocide and violence.
Themes: Sympathetic treatment of strangers and, I’d argue, a danger about drilling where we shouldn’t.
SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE (1978)
Superman: Christopher Reeve
Lois Lane: Margot Kidder
Written By: Mario Puzo, David Newman, Leslie Newman, Robert Benton
Directed By: Richard Donner
In perhaps the most iconic Superman film, due in no small part to the artistry of John Williams’ composition and performance of Reeves, audiences are given some Kal-El backstory: his parents, Jor-El and Lara, sent the infant Kal to Earth to save him from the destruction of Krypton. There, he is found by Jonathan and Martha Kent in Smallville, Kansas, who raise him as Clark and help him navigate his growing powers with an ethical moral compass. Clark discovers the Fortress of Solitude and a hologram of his father Jor-El, telling Clark about his Kryptonic heritage.
As a journalist for the Daily Planet, Clark meets and falls in love with Lois Lane, who is infatuated with the man she has nicknamed “Superman.” Meanwhile, evil mastermind and billionaire Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) devises a plot to target the San Andreas Fault with stolen military missiles. He traps Superman in his lair with a meteorite made of kryptonite and continues with his plan to sink the western United States in order to make the desert land he owns the new and profitable west coast.
Superman is freed and manages to stop one of Luthor’s missiles, but the other one hits the west coast, triggers earthquakes, and kills Lois Lane. Superman chooses to fly around the Earth backwards, reversing time, saving Lois and the west coast, and imprisons Luthor and his minions before soaring off into the sky.
Themes: Fulfilling one’s destiny and helping the innocent
SUPERMAN II (1980)
Superman: Christopher Reeve
Lois Lane: Margot Kidder
Written By: Mario Puzo, David Newman, Leslie Newman
Directed By: Richard Lester
Note, this film also has a director’s cut from Donner: Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
Lois Lane, savvy journalist that she is, deduces that Clark Kent is, in fact, Superman. He comes clean, brings her to his Fortress of Solitude, and decides to become mortal and live his life with Lois as Clark Kent. He exposes himself to red Kryptonian sunlight in a chamber in the Fortress and removes his Earthly yellow-sun superpowers.
Meanwhile, General Zod (Terence Stamp) arrives on Earth seeking revenge on the last son of El after his imprisonment in the Phantom Zone. Lex Luthor escapes from prison, infiltrates the Fortress of Solitude, and discovers Zod’s connection to Superman. Luthor then teams up with Zod, who has taken control of the White House (and, essentially, Earth).
Clark realizes he needs his powers to defeat these evil masterminds. He returns to the fortress, restores himself, then lures the baddies to the Fortress, outsmarts them, overpowers them, and sends Zod and his minions into crevices and leaves Luthor stranded in the Fortress.
Clark then wipes Lois’ mind of the memories from the past few days and returns to his duties as the lone hero, Superman.
Themes: The sacrifice it takes to be a hero
SUPERMAN III (1983)
Superman: Christopher Reeve
Lois Lane: Margot Kidder
Written By: David Newman, Leslie Newman
Directed By: Richard Lester
Webscoe Industries CEO Ross Webster, a billionaire intent on using technology to take over the world, blackmails an embezzling computer programmer, Gus Gorman (Richard Pryor), to hack into a weather satellite in order to create a storm that will destroy the coffee crops in Colombia and give Webster a monopoly on coffee. Superman neutralizes the storm, so Webster turns his attention to Superman by ordering Gus to synthesize Kryptonite.
The plan has unintended side effects; instead of creating a green Kryptonite, they create more of a red one, corrupting Superman until he begins delving into petty crime, like blowing out the Olympic Flame and straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Even as a baddie, Superman is still America’s hero.
Nonetheless, he suffers a breakdown and splits into two personalities: bad-Superman and Clark Kent. The two fight, Clark wins, and Superman recovers in time to stop Webster from creating an energy crisis by causing an oil spill and redirecting oil tankers. Webster creates a supercomputer that becomes self-aware, Superman destroys it, restores the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and flies off into space.
Oh, this one has Lana Lane, too.
Themes: The corruption of billionaires (and heroes)
SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE (1987)
Superman: Christopher Reeve
Lois Lane: Margot Kidder
Written By: Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal; story by Christopher Reeve
Directed By: Sidney J. Furie
Lex Luthor (again played by Gene Hackman) escapes from prison, steals a strand of Superman’s hair to create a genetic matrix, then attaches the matrix to a nuclear missile. Superman intercepts the missile and launches it into the sun, unwittingly creating Nuclear Man, a superhuman entity who returns to Earth and aligns with Luthor.
Superman battles Nuclear Man and narrowly saves New York and Metropolis, but develops radiation sickness. He heals himself and confronts Nuclear Man once more — this time in a battle on the moon. Superman creates a solar eclipse by moving the moon, thus denying Nuclear Man the power of sunlight. Finally, Superman traps Nuclear Man in the core of a nuclear power plant, converting him into electrical energy.
Themes: Nuclear disarmament
SUPERMAN RETURNS (2006)
Superman: Brandon Routh
Lois Lane: Louis Lane
Written By: Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris; story by Dougherty, Harris, Singer
Directed By: Bryan Singer
Superman returns to Earth after five years to learn that Lex Luthor (now played by Kevin Spacey) has been released from prison, and Lois Lane has a son and is engaged to be married. Luthor steals Kryptonite from the Metropolis Museum of Natural History and plans to use it to grow a new landmass in the Atlantic Ocean that will overtake the United States. Luthor captures Lois and her son, Jason, who uses super strength to save her, revealing that he is actually Superman’s son.
Superman confronts Luthor but is weakened by the growing Kryptonite landmass and nearly drowns before Lois and her fiancé rescue him. Superman regains his strength, lifts the landmass into space, and, weakened, crashes back to Earth, where Lois and Jason are there to revive him.
Themes: Corruption and greed of billionaires; can a hero have it all?
Welcome, DC Extended Universe Films
MAN OF STEEL (2013)
Superman: Henry Cavill
Lois Lane: Amy Adams
Written By: David S. Goyer, with story by Goyer and Christopher Nolan
Directed By: Zach Snyder
A reboot of the franchise, this Superman movie begins with Superman’s origin story, including the destruction of Krypton and Jor-El’s (Russell Crowe) decision to send Kal-El to Earth. Jonathan and Martha Kent (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane) adopt Kal-El, and he lives with them in Kansas, hiding his powers until Jonathan is killed in a tornado after refusing Clark’s help.
Lois Lane is sent to the Arctic to write a Daily Planet piece about a Kryptonian scout ship discovered there. Clark shows up and learns about his origins and begins exploring his abilities. He sets off the ship’s defenses and must rescue Lois, who then tracks him down back in Smallville, intent on exposing him.
Meanwhile, General Zod (now Michael Shannon) escapes from the Phantom Zone and arrives on Earth intent on turning it into a new Krypton with catastrophic terraforming devices. Clark destroys the terraforming platform (after an insane amount of collateral damage, like, insane, like, can we really believe this film comes to a happy ending after millions of Metropolitans are killed?) and launches Zod’s troops back to the Phantom Zone. After a lengthy battle (with yet more casualties), Clark is forced to kill Zod and becomes the man known as Superman.
Themes: Many people consider Superman a religious allegory, likening him to Jesus, especially because Superman is willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good; in “Man of Steel” specifically, Zod is also likened to Adolf Hitler, citing his vision for a pure Krypton with an enhanced eugenics program
BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE (2016)
Superman: Henry Cavill
Lois Lane: Amy Adams
Batman: Ben Affleck
Written By: David S. Goyer, Chris Terrio
Directed By: Zach Snyder
After witnessing Superman’s battle with Zod, Bruce Wayne — now Batman for the past twenty years — considers Superman a threat to humanity. Clark Kent, writing for The Daily Planet, condemns Batman’s vigilantism.
Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) smuggles a bomb into a congressional hearing, killing everyone except Superman, who blames himself and self-imposes an exile. Batman breaks into LexCorp and steals Kryptonite to build an exoskeleton and Kryptonian weapons. Meanwhile, Luthor lures Superman out of hiding by capturing Martha Kent and Lois Lane. He is able to save Lois, but Luthor tells Superman he will kill Martha unless Superman kills Batman.
Superman attempts to tell Batman about Luthor, but the two battle, with Batman subduing Superman and preparing to deliver the final blow. Lois intervenes and diffuses the situation; Batman locates and rescues Martha.
Luthor unleashes a genetically engineered monster created from his DNA and Zod’s. Batman and Superman unite to fight the creature and defeat it, but not before it fatally wounds Superman.
Memorials are held for Superman and Clark Kent as Bruce teams up with Diana Prince, also known as Wonder Woman (and played by Gal Gadot). As they leave, the dirt above Clark Kent’s coffin begins to levitate.
Themes: How people respond to tragedies; “the feeling of powerlessness that turns good men cruel” — Alfred Pennyworth’s words, not mine
JUSTICE LEAGUE (2017)
Superman: Henry Cavill
Lois Lane: Amy Adams
Batman: Ben Affleck
Written By: Chris Terrio, Joss Whedon; story by Terrio, Zach Snyder
Directed By: Joss Whedon
Note: “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” was released in 2021 after Snyder stepped down from the original film following the death of his daughter; he restored much of his original vision following Whedon’s rewrites
Batman teams up with Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg to defeat a legion of Parademons that attempt to take over the Earth under the rule of Steppenwolf. Clark Kent’s body is exhumed and reanimated/resurrected, but his memories do not return until he reunites with Lois Lane and goes home to his family in Smallville.
The Justice League, without Superman, is able to defeat Steppenwolf and set up a base of operations for their new super-team. In a post-credits scene, Lex Luthor escapes from Arkham Asylum and recruits Slade Wilson — also known as Deathstroke — to form a league of their own.
SUPERMAN (2025)
Superman: David Corenswet
Lois Lane: Rachel Brosnahan
Written By: James Gunn
Directed By: James Gunn
And that brings us to our newest iteration of the Man of Steel. Here’s the official synopsis:
When Superman gets drawn into conflicts at home and abroad, his actions are questioned, giving tech billionaire Lex Luthor the opportunity to get the Man of Steel out of the way for good. Will intrepid reporter Lois Lane and Superman’s four-legged companion, Krypto, be able to help him before it’s too late?
“Superman” hits theaters nationwide on July 11, 2025.
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