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Superman Returns:
Supermen Past and Present
By Scott Weinberg
Born in 1938 on the pages of Action Comics #1, Krypton's favorite son was an immediate sensation with readers. Created by Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, Kal-El (a.k.a. Superman) quickly became the crown prince of comic book superheroes, and it didn't take long for the Man of Steel to make his way into the realm of newspaper comic strips, radio shows, TV programs, movies, toys, games, costumes... you name it, Superman was somewhere on it. Supes eventually became the flagship superhero for DC Comics, and to this day he still remains one of the most popular and beloved super-icons on the planet.
Attempting to catalog Superman's every appearance would be an impossible task, but surely we can whip together a brief character history and a handy list of Superman's seminal screen appearances. It's not too often we get a brand-new "Superman" movie, and with the arrival of Warner Bros. and Bryan Singer's "Superman Returns," it just seems natural to look back and pick through the guy's small screen and silver screen adventures.
Radio, Serial & TV: The Early Years
As far as mass media goes, Superman made his first leap onto the airwaves in 1940, which is where some of the most beloved Super-stuff made its debut. Perry White and Jimmy Olsen? Created for the radio serial, as was the idea of deadly kryptonite. The whole "Look, up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane!" idea came from the radio show as well.
In 1941, Max Fleischer produced an animated adaptation which lasted through 1943. The cartoon was, of course, a smashing success, and was even nominated for an Academy Award. Many of 17 Superman shorts produced during this period still stand up today as examples of entertaining old school animation.
On January 5th, 1948, the first episode of the live-action 15-part serial "Superman" (a.k.a. "The Adventures of Superman") made its debut, courtesy of Columbia Pictures. With Kirk Alyn as the Man of Steel, Noel Neill as Lois Lane, and a rather strange number of deviations from established character history, the inaugural live-action serial proved to be a smash hit.
Two years later, Alyn and Neill reunited in another 15-chapter serial called "Atom Man vs. Superman," which also introduced Superman's arch-nemesis Lex Luthor. With improved special effects, an extra villain, and less backstory to deal with, the sequel likewise proved to be a huge success.
Technically, the very first Superman feature was 1951's "Superman and the Mole-Men," clocking in at 58 minutes. Gone was Kirk Alyn, who allegedly wanted some serious green along with his red, white, and blue; now suiting up the tights would be George Reeves, already well-established as an action-friendly character actor. "Mole-Men" was originally created to be the two-part pilot episode for a Superman TV series, but was released to theaters instead. However, this acted as a crafty little lead-in for "Adventures of Superman," a network series that debuted in late 1952 and ran a full six years, spanning 104 episodes in the process. ("Mole-Men" was actually included as a two-parter during the first season, and is part of the entire series collection that's also available on DVD.) "Adventures of Superman" is where the Kryptonian icon became a lifelong hero to an entire generation of kids, and the show turned George Reeves into a superstar.
With the death of George Reeves (under mysterious circumstances fictionalized in this fall's feature film "Hollywoodland," with Ben Affleck as Reeves), the live-action Superman was given a lengthy vacation. Other than the TV series, we wouldn't see another flesh and blood Clark Kent until 1978, which is when Warner Bros. unleashed a film considered by many to be the definitive movie version of the Man of Steel.
Story Overview
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