All 4 Supermen, Ranked

Do you believe a man can fly?

Superman is out in theaters and the DCU is underway! Despite the character's popularity, Superman is nowhere near as prolific as either Batman or Spider-Man, which I really discovered in comparing this ranking to the ones I've done when The Batman and No Way Home came out. I've ranked the Batmen and the Spider-Men, and this has significantly less actors to rank. Each portrayal is good - some are definitely much better than others, but I like all of these different Supermen. So here is how I rank them.

4. Brandon Routh

Superman Returns's Man of Steel feels like an inferior version of Reeves

I don't mind Brandon Routh's Superman, but every other adaptation has its own distinct thing about it that makes it stick out. There's nothing particularly memorable about Routh's, partly because he is paying such homage to Christopher Reeve. Like, he's charming. His Clark Kent is funny. But the other Supermen all have something extra special or memorable about them, and he doesn't. Superman Returns is all about being a love letter to the Donner era, so it's natural that Routh's performance would mirror Reeve's, but it just makes him the weakest of the Superman portrayals.

3. Henry Cavill

The darker take on Superman often works, but it's not my favorite

I have never been the biggest fan of the DCEU, and, until I rewatched Man of Steel recently, I was not a fan of Cavill's Superman. Upon rewatch, however, I gained a new appreciation for the character. He's still not great in my opinion, but he's definitely got a unique, interesting take. I think when he brings the emotion, he's really good. Sometimes, however, he gets either too brooding or too wooden for me. I still have some mixed feelings about the fact that he is this more alien, more Batman-esc version of Superman, but it sticks out as such a unique and interesting portrayal that I have to give him credit for that.

2. David Corenswet

The newest Man of Steel is the modern version I've been wanting

The best thing about James Gunn's Superman was David Corenswet's take on Clark Kent. This is exactly the Superman I was hoping we'd get: hopeful, caring, with almost this naive look at people where he sees only the best in them. The movie explores and challenges his belief system through the misinterpretation of Jor-El's message and Lex Luthor's schemes, and it's interesting to see him be vulnerable both mentally and physically through that. The most important aspect of Superman was the Man of Steel himself, and David Corenswet and James Gunn knocked it out of the park.

Honorable Mention: Tom Welling

The Superman of Smallville holds a special place in my heart

I just had to put this on here, because I owe a lot to Tom Welling's Superman. Smallville is one of the main reasons that I love Superman. Before watching the show, I had seen the first two Reeve movies, but I didn't know much about the character. After Smallville, I began reading some of the comics and watching all of the movies, which quickly made Superman one of my favorite superheroes. So much of that is due to Tom Welling's fantastic performance as this younger version of Clark Kent. Now, it's a bit difficult to rank him on this list (thus him being an honorable mention) because he's a TV character, so we spend ten seasons with him instead of a few movies. That said, Welling embodies everything I love about the character: the inherent goodness, the belief in the best of people, but also this true, human vulnerability that the best portrayals of Superman do a fantastic job of exploring. If I were to rank him, he'd probably be right here, which is why I placed his blurb here, but I cannot place him in the official ranking because he got so much more time than the other versions.

1. Christopher Reeve

The most iconic superhero portrayal of all time (alongside RDJ and Hugh Jackman)

Comic book movies owe everything to this performance, because it is the first and arguably most important superhero movie performance of all time. Christopher Reeve is Superman, and that will never, not in a hundred years, change. David Corenswet is great. I'm sure future portrayals of the character will be great. But none will ever top the simple humanity and energy that Reeve brings to the Man of Steel. His ability to go from the meek, nerdy Clark Kent to the confident, powerful Superman is one of many things that make this performance fantastic. His pure screen presence when he dons the red cape is just so magnetic. It's telling that Superman III and Superman IV, two terrible, terrible movies, still have incredible performances out of Christopher Reeve. There are very few characters who are so embodied by their actors, but Christopher Reeve's Superman is one of them.