In the pantheon of American culture, thereâs no character more globally recognizable than Superman. After making his comic debut in 1938, Clark Kent quickly jumped to radio, television, the movies, and beyond, practically in a single bound. For almost 90 years, heâs been a symbol of goodness, and the prototype for the modern superhero. Heâs also changed and evolved through decades of storytelling while a host of actors have portrayed the Man of Steel on screen, begging the question, who has played Superman best?
Superman first made it to the real world at the Worldâs Fair in 1940, when actor Ray Middleton became the first person to play him for a Superman Day celebration. For as long as thereâs been a Superman, heâs had a simple formula: A cape, tights, boots, the iconic âSâ and those strongman trunksâwhich would eventually become optional. But more importantly, the character arrived fully formed and bloomed during World War II, as a paragon of truth and justice with a colorful supporting cast. As an alien raised by a kindly midwestern couple, Superman is all about going above and beyond to do the right thing, and the actors whoâve played him have captured that ethos to different degrees.
With apologies to Ray Middleton and in-person Supermen everywhere, for this ranking, weâre focusing on the lead actors of major live action movies and TV shows. Weâre also limiting it to the character of SuperMAN, so that means no younger versions of the character, and no shows titled Superboyâsorry Joaquin Phoenixâand it also means no video games or cartoons either, otherwise weâd be here all day. Weâre also limiting this list to official adaptations, so no unlicensed Turkish Superman Returns, or the many versions out of India, which could fill up their own piece. However, we will have a couple of honorable mentions along the way, who donât quite fit the criteria, but we couldnât have this conversation without âem.
The question of âWhat makes a great Man of Steel?â is a tough one, but the answer usually comes down to two broad categories: the actors themselves, and the story or adaptation theyâre a part of. So, with that in mind, take our hand, and join us as we countdown from the actors we think missed the mark all the way to the definitive Superman.
9. Dean Cain
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993-1997)
Superman has been played by a number of great performers, but weâd be lying if we said he was a hit every single time. Lois & Clark ran for four seasons in the early â90s, and while it combined romance and journalism with villains of the week, it was also entirely of its era: which is to say, the era of Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place. On the surface, it has all the elements of a Superman story, but it seemed far more interested in creating a new â90s heart throb than a Man of Steel, down to the characterâs hairstyle.
As Superman, Dean Cain has an unfortunately limited range, with occasionally stilted delivery. He says all the right things â âI like your costumeâ/âThank you, my mother made it for meâ/âWho are you?â/âA friendâ â but whether or not heâs convincing is another matter. A defining trait of a good Superman performance is the distinction between Superman and Clark Kent, and while Cain technically has that, itâs not exactly a performance concerned with fidelity. His Clark Kent is⌠suave, and fast-talking, and occasionally charming, while his Superman is⌠straightforward, and stern, but without much depth or authority, and thereâs something awkward about his stature, like heâs never quite comfortable in the suit, almost like the two personas are flipped.
Cainâs version of Clark says he wants to fit in, but thereâs really nothing stopping him from being a normal guyâat least by the standards of â90s TV dramas. In these moments of attempted emotion, the music tends to do the heavy lifting. Lois & Clark isnât a terrible show by any stretchâin fact, Terri Hatcher makes for an ambitious and accomplished Lois Laneâbut when it comes to portraying the Man of Steel, it doesnât really live up to what came before it, despite Cain claiming to have based his version of Clark on our next entryâŚ
8. George Reeves
Superman and the Mole Men (1951), Adventures of Superman (1952-1958)
The most famous of the early Supermen, George Reeves (no relation to Christopher Reeve) played the character for nearly a decadeâacross the B-movie Superman and the Mole Men, and the long-running TV series Adventures of Supermanâbut maybe Dean Cain should have sought inspiration for his Clark Kent elsewhere. Reeves was an accomplished actor, having appeared in Best Picture winner Gone With the Wind, but his version of Clark wasnât particularly different from his Superman, despite the showâs opening narration. âSuperman, who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper.â
But when it comes to Superman, Reevesâwho was 38 when he first played the partâwas exactly what the series called for. He was an older, barrel-chested actor in the vein of Western superstar and American myth-maker John Wayne, and his iconic stature still remains a part of the characterâs appearance today, like when heâs drawn by comic artist Alex Ross.
The series began when the U.S. had rising tensions with the USSR, so part of its mission was to instill a sense of patriotism in its viewers. It was the first version of the character to include the now iconic âthe american wayâ part of Supermanâs pledge to fight for âtruth and justice,â and there was also a move by the U.S. Treasury Department to get Superman to convince people to invest in stamps and savings bonds. For better or worse, these government efforts werenât usually reflected in the overall plot, except for one episode. The series mostly saw Superman tackling regular, everyday criminalsâa far cry from the wacky, silver age antics in the comics at the timeâwhile the movie, which was folded into the show, revolved around Superman trying to stop people from discriminating against subterranean beings with a calm sense of authority.
The showâs decade-long run happened at a significant time. It saw the character transition to color, and it helped cause an explosion in mainstream popularity, with the Man of Steel even crossing over with I Love Lucy. For several generations, Reeves was the definitive Superman, a role he played well into his forties, until his tragic demise⌠which brings us to our first honorable mention.
Honorable Mention: Ben Affleck
As George Reeves in Hollywoodland (2006)
To date, no actor has played both Batman and Superman, but Ben Affleck comes close, since he actually played George Reeves in the 2006 mystery movie Hollywoodland, which treats the actorâs possible suicide as a murder. Despite his unhappiness with the role at times, Reeves often stayed in character as the Man of Steel, especially around children, which is something Affleckâs version of the beloved actor gets absolutely right.
Something must have been in the water in 2006, because Hollywoodland wasnât the only movie that year filled with nostalgia for an older SupermanâŚ
7. Brandon Routh
Superman Returns (2006), The CWâs Arrowverse (2019-2020)
Made as an homage to the Richard Donner original, Bryan Singerâs Superman Returns sees the Man of Steel returning to the big screen after a 22 year absence, in a story where he comes back to Earth after 5 years away. Now, whether Brandon Routh is playing the same version as Christopher Reeve is up to your interpretation, but thereâs no avoiding the comparisons, given Reeveâs influence on the characterâmore on that in a bit.
Routh has an incredible gentleness about him, and he embodies both the wistful farmboy and the âmild mannered reporterâ part of Clark Kent to a tee, bumbling his way through scenes in a way that both feels like an act, and like heâs channeling who Clark truly is. As Superman, he has this otherworldly quality to him that makes him truly feel like an alien removed from humanityâbut maybe that doesnât quite suit this interpretation.
Itâs wonderful to see him perform feats of strength, but his lumbering appearance might be a little too polished, between the sleek suit, his perfectly curled lock of hair, and the blue contacts that give Routh an uncanny appearance, like heâs a Superman action figure. Itâs a movie that has nothing but nostalgia for Reeve, and just two years after the legendary actor died, you can feel the sense of yearning for a big-screen Superman, though Singerâs romantic version is usually a little too outstretched, with long periods of nothing really happening, and neither Lois Lane nor Lex Luthor actually coming face to face with the Man of Steel until past the hour mark and nearly two hours in, respectively. Routh would briefly reprise the role in The CWâs Infinite Crisis, a crossover between five of its ongoing shows, which made for a nice reminder of how well suited he could have been, in a better movie.
But, while Warner Brothers may not have had a hit with its new big screen Superman, there was actually another Superman flying aroundâwell, running aroundâon TV at the same time.
6. Tom Welling
Smallville (2001-2011)
Weâre sort of bending the rules a bit to include him, but Tom Welling played a younger version of the Man of Steel for ten years on Smallville, in the longest build up to a costume change in recorded historyâand since he technically became Superman, it has to count. Like Lois & Clark, the show fit right into the TV landscape of its time, coming off teen dramas like Dawsonâs Creek, but also genre shows like Buffy and Angel, which allowed it to embrace the more sci-fi and fantasy parts of the Superman mythos.
Despite being 24, Welling fit right in as a moody, sensitive highschooler trying to find his place in the world, while fearing how he might bring harm to those around him. He was slightly awkward, and kind of angry, but mostly well-meaning, as he became the secret vigilante The Blur, before his eventual transformation in the final episode. Also, it must be said that Smallville has what might be the best on-screen version of Lex Luthor, in the form of Michael Rosebaum. The show featured a number of recognizable Superman charactersâJimmy, Lana, Lois, and of course, a cloud version of Darkseid, as was the style at the timeâbut itâs actually Clarkâs dynamic with Lex that forms the showâs emotional backbone, as a kind of yin and yang, who both save each other in the pilot episodeâfrom certain death, and obvious Christ imagery, respectively.
Wellingâs withheld version of Clark worked, up to a point, in a story about a young man hiding from the world, and he also got to flex his dramatic chops on occasion. But apart from a few hints of developing the âmild manneredâ reporter persona, Wellingâs Clark doesnât change all that much over the showâs 10 year period, which might usually work for a fully-formed Man of Steel, but makes him a little less interesting in an extended origin.
On the other hand, a more modern interpretation dived right in to Supermanâs story just a few years later, and came achingly close to getting it right:
5. Henry Cavill
Man of Steel (2013), Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Justice League (2017)
You can debate endlessly about whether a dour adaptation of Superman is the way to go, but there was a lot riding on Henry Cavill as The Man of Steel in a post-Avengers world, with DC looking to set up its own Marvel-style universe. It didnât exactly pan out, but Cavill himself flirted with being a great choice for the iconic character. Thereâs a lot of noise in Man of Steelâa lot of chaos and a lot of scowls, but in the midst of it all, Cavillâs Superman has hints of a calming presence, making him the kind of superhero that fits Zack Snyderâs âbenevolent godâ interpretation.
That interpretation gets a bit literal at times, and can lean a bit too heavily on the angry Greek deity side of things, as well as some overt Christ imagery, but thereâs probably some version of Cavillâs Superman that works perfectly in a different take on the DC mythology that isnât bogged down by nihilism.
The sequel, Batman v Superman, would double down on the misery, presenting a drone-strike version Superman who doesnât seem particularly happy about helping peopleâthat is, when he would help people at allâbut the bigger problem is that his Superman ends up so full of rage that even the movieâs nightmare scenes, and the characterâs eventual, mindless resurrection in Justice League, donât end up all that different from his usually scowling default setting.
While we donât ever really see a Clark Kent thatâs any different from his Man of Steel, we do eventually get hints of what a bright, sunny Superman played by Cavill might have looked like. But by the time he shows up, three movies deep, itâs a little too late for this version, despite the last-minute attempt to go back to the characterâs rootsâŚ
4. Kirk Alyn
Superman (1948), Atom Man vs. Superman (1950)
Most people might not have heard of Kirk Alyn, but his 1948 theatrical serial (and its 1950 sequel) were pivotal to getting Superman to the silver screen in live action form. The first flesh-and-blood actor to play him at the movies, Alyn nails the mild-mannered reporter aspect of Clark Kent right from his first scene with the characterâs parents, and he even embodies Supermanâs powersâlike X-ray vision and super hearingâin delightfully silly ways.
Much like George Reeves, Alynâs Superman usually goes up against more grounded villains, who he defeats by bonking their heads together. Thereâs also a clear difference between his Clark and his Supermanâwhoâs often animated by hand when he fliesâand while his pantomime physical performance may not be what weâd expect in the modern era, Alynâs impishness, enthusiasm and graceful exaggerations create a Superman who delights in leaping out of windows, and in maintaining the ruse of a man with a double lifeâa man who changes in the Dailyâs Planetâs filing room multiple times per episode.
But whatâs especially fascinating about Alynâs works is how perfectly he nails the characterâs vocal transformation, even during a single line: âThis looks like a job FOR SUPERMAN.â
Itâs an underrated aspect of the character, and very few live-action actors actually nailed it to the degree that Alyn did. In fact, the only early Superman to outdo him is our next honorable mention:
Honorable Mention: Bud Collyer
The Adventures of Superman radio show (1940-1951), Fleischer Studiosâ Superman (1941-1942), The New Adventures of Superman (1966-1970)
Weâre sticking with live-action performers for the official list, but thereâs no way to talk about early Superman without discussing voice actor Bud Collyer. He was the first actor to give Superman a voice, in his very first non-comic adaptation, the decade-long radio serial The Adventures of Superman (which began in 1941), and he also voiced the Man of Steel in not only the nine iconic cartoon episodes of Fleischer Studiosâ Superman, produced between 1941 and â42, but the New Adventures of Superman, which ran for 4 seasons until 1970.
As the voice behind Superman and Clark Kent for 30 years, heâs a vital part of the characterâs history, even though we canât technically give him a slot here. But his influence can be felt all across our top 3 entriesâŚ
3. David Corenswet
Superman (2025)
As the newest Superman on our list, thereâs still plenty of time for David Corenswet to rise or fall in our rankings, but we feel pretty confident with what weâve seen. James Gunnâs Superman flies by a little too quickly to really dive into the character, but in every single scene, Corenswet gives us hints of a fully-formed Clark-slash-Superman three years into his public career.
Heâs a fast-talking, âaw, shucksâ kind of guy who exudes a lovable energy, and while we havenât spent enough time with his awkward, good-natured Clark Kent just yet, the actor slips effortlessly into both modes: mild-mannered, and Man of Steel.
Heâs vulnerable, and he has a sense of humor and one of his defining traits is that heâs a dog person. Very few adaptations outside of the cartoons have really touched on this part of him, but it makes perfect sense, since Superman is kind of what youâd get if you turned a golden retriever into a person, at least earlier in his career.
But thereâs really only one live-action version thatâs explored what Supermanâs life would be if heâd stuck around for a long timeâŚ
2. Tyler Hoechlin
The CWâs Arrowverse (2016-2020), Superman & Lois (2021-2024)
Right from his first scenes in The CWâs Supergirl, Tyler Hoechlin nails the mood and mannerisms of both sides of the Man of Steel, but itâs really his own series, Superman & Loisâa show full of gumshoe journalismâthat allows him to truly shine.
The series doesnât cross over with the others in the Arrow-verse, but it uses the classic iconography of Superman to present a new take on Smallville, as a contemporary American town suffering a post-recession economic downturn, making it the perfect modern update. Superman and Lois Lane have teenage sons, and when they move from Metropolis back to Kansas, Clark starts bearing the brunt of living a double life, and gradually reveals himself to his neighbors over the course of four seasons.
All the while, the show tells the story of Superman learning and at times struggling to be a good father, something the comics have focused on a lot in recent years. Along the way, the character is shown to be worldly, a protector of the vulnerable and innocent, and someone trustworthy on the surface, but he struggles with living up to this ideal, since his secret identity involves lying to those around him.
Despite its villain-of-the-week structure, what makes Superman & Lois work is its focus on friends and family, which it frames as Supermanâs biggest strength. Well, that and punching of course. Hoechlin has a righteous anger, and as a father, heâs stern, but never cruel. Ultimately, heâs a jovial, loving and forgiving person who struggles with what it means to love, and to be mortalâbut without losing sight of his humanity in the process.
This humanity is what makes Superman who he is, and the various actors whoâve played him across the decades have all understood that to varying degrees. But thereâs one person who stands head and shoulders above them all, as historyâs definitive Superman, and the gold standard for the big-screen superheroâŚ
1. Christopher Reeve
Superman: The Movie (1978), Superman II (1980), Superman III (1983), Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1984)
Richard Donnerâs Superman: The Movie added a lot to what we think of as Supermanâs story, from his iconicthe âSâ logo being the crest ofof the House of El, to the ice crystal versiony of fortress of solitude seen in nearly every adaptation since. But more than any of that, it was the perfect balance that Reeve struck between a bumbling, warmhearted, vulnerable Clark Kent, and a firm but welcomingâand slightly flirtatiousâMan of Steel. Even the way he differentiates Clark and Supermanâs postures ended up becoming part of some of the characterâs most iconic comic moments.
Reeve was an incredible actor, but a huge part of the filmâs success also rests on Margot Kidder as the ideal Lois Lane. Sheâs the perfect, strong-headed foil to Reeveâs timid Clark. People may be nostalgic about the film today, but Superman: The Movie was already filled with nostalgia by the time it came out in 1978. The Lois-Clark dynamic is a perfect throwback to screwball comedies from Hollywoodâs golden age, and its folksy, Norman Rockwell Smallville was a fantasy of some lost American virtue thatâwhether or not it truly existedâwas fully captured by Superman himself, even in the series later, goofy entries.
Reeve embodied the character both on and off-screen, with his disability activism in later years, but his performance is arguably the reason there are still superhero movies today, with each one of them trying to live up to the unquantifiable magic he brought to the screenâthe kind that could make you believe a man can fly. Which is why he takes the top spot in our search for the definitive Superman. He was one of a kind.
But what do you think? Vote in our poll and let's discuss in the comments! And be sure to check out our ranking of the Superman movies too.
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