Superman

Clark Kent / Kal-El Superman
Kirk Alyn as Superman (1948).
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Action Comics #1 (cover-dated June 1938; published April 18, 1938)
Created by	Jerry Siegel (writer) Joe Shuster (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Kal-El (birth name) Clark J. Kent (adopted name)
Species	Kryptonian
Place of origin	Krypton
Team affiliations	Justice League Legion of Super-Heroes Superman Family
Partnerships	Supergirl (various) Superboy (various) Batman Wonder Woman Maggie Sawyer Steel (various)
Notable aliases	Superboy The Man of Steel The Last Son of Krypton The Man of Tomorrow The Big Blue Boy Scout
Abilities	Superhuman strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes, senses, durability, endurance, and longevity Heat vision Wind and freeze breath Solar energy absorption X-ray vision Flight Invulnerability Skilled hand-to-hand combatant Genius-level intellect

Superman is a famous comic book character, often known as the first modern superhero. He was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1932, while they were still in high school. He first appeared in Action Comics issue #1 in 1938. Later, he appeared in movies, television series, cartoons, commercials, video games, and radio shows.

Superman is one of the most popular superheroes of all time, and he often appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. His real name is Kal-El, a name given to him when he was born on the alien planet Krypton. His human name is Clark Kent. As a superhero, he tries not want to kill anyone, because he believes that anyone can be good, no matter how evil they may be.

Many actors have played Superman in movies and TV shows. They are Bud Collyer, Kirk Alyn, George Reeves, Johnny Rockwell, Bob Holiday, Christopher Reeve, John Haymes Newton, Gerard Christopher, Ron Ely, Dean Cain, Tim Daly, Tom Welling, Brandon Routh, Henry Cavill, Tyler Hoechlin, Nicolas Cage, and David Corenswet.

Superman's real life origins

Jerry Siegel once imagined an evil villain who can read minds and dreamed of conquering the world. This villain went by the name of the Super-Man, in a story called Reign of the Super-Man. In the 1930s, Adolf Hitler, the real-world infamous nazi leader, focused on getting rid of Jews and communists from Germany. This was because he believed that Germans were the greatest humans in the world. He called them "Aryans", or supermen. Jerry Siegel, who was Jewish, found this idea disgusting. One night, he tossed and turned in his bed, and had difficulty getting to sleep. When he woke up, he decided that instead of his character using his powers for evil, he would use them for the protection of people all across the world. The idea to make him an evil person dissapeared forever, and Superman was born.

Story

Superman was born on an alien planet called Krypton. He was named Kal-El. When his father, Jor-El, found out that their planet was going to be destroyed, he sent the baby Kal-El to Earth in a rocket ship to save him. After landing on Earth, Kal-El was found and adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent. They named him Clark Kent. The Kents raised him as their own son in a town called Smallville, Kansas in the United States. (The television series Smallville is about Clark's time growing up there.)

As he grows up, Clark finds out that he has special powers. He is almost invulnerable (most things cannot hurt him). He is strong enough to lift almost anything and he can fly. Clark can also move faster than a speeding bullet. He has X-ray vision(the ability to see through walls, though he is not able to see through lead), and heat vision (shooting hot laser beams from his eyes). He can also freeze things with his frost breath, and has super-breath (which makes his puffs of air extremely powerful). After being taught by his parents, Clark decides to use his powers to fight crime and save people from danger. He made a bright blue and red costume, and a cape out of the kryptonian blanket he came to Earth with. He then began to protect the world as Superman.

Superman moves to a city called Metropolis, and becomes a reporter for the Daily Planet, a newspaper. He falls in love with another reporter, Lois Lane.

Superman keeps a secret identity, and protects it by changing how he acts. As Superman, he is bold, daring, and charismatic, while as Clark Kent, he is nervous, cowardly, and awkward. In some stories, his glasses hypnotise others into seeing his face differently.

Superman's main weaknesses are radioactive rocks from his home planet called "Kryptonite", and magic. Different Kryptonites have different effects on him. Blue Kryptonite allows people to control him using hypnosis, green can weaken his powers and slowly kills him, black makes him evil, pink can make him be attracted to men(or in some stories, turn him into a woman), and red has many different effects on him, such as changing his personality, transforming him into a dragon, or make his powers difficult to control. There is also gold Kryptonite, which can take away Superman's powers, white Kryptonite, which does not affect Superman and instead is deadly to all plant life, and jewel Kryptonite, which gives Superman hypnotic powers. Some of Superman's enemies also use magic to hurt him, but he does not have a particular weakness against magic, only that he is as vulnerable to it as any other person.

Affiliations

Enemies

His most well known arch enemy is a bald, evil genius named Lex Luthor. Lex is jealous of Superman, and believes that he does more harm than good, limiting humanity's potential. Lex does anything he can to try and kill Superman, using his company LexCorp to build huge robots, and find Kryptonite with.

Bizarro is a failed clone of Superman. He was created by Lex Luthor in an attempt to make a soldier that can beat Superman. However, Bizarro is the opposite of Superman, and wears the "S" on his costume backwards. He also uses the opposite word of what he says, like saying "good" when he means "bad".

Darkseid is a very powerful enemy, and the ruler of the planet Apokolips. He is one of the most powerful beings in the universe. Darkseid's plans are often foiled by Superman, who sometimes has the help of the Justice League.

Doomsday is known as the first villain to kill Superman, doing so in the 1992 comic book The Death of Superman. One year later, he was revived in his home, the Fortress of Solitude.

General Zod comes from the same planet as Superman, and wants to use Superman to turn Earth into New Krypton, even if it means turning all of humanity into slaves.

Teams

Superman is a member of the Justice League of America alongside Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Hawkgirl, Hawkman, and Martian Manhunter. Together, the Justice League protects the universe from threats that no single hero could defeat on their own.

TV series

Live-action

Several live-action television shows have focused on Superman:

• George Reeves played Superman in Adventures of Superman, which ran from 1952 to 1958. Reeves also played the character in several movies made around that time.
• Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, which ran from 1993 to 1997, with Dean Cain playing Clark Kent/Superman.
• Smallville, which ran from 2001 to 2011, starred Tom Welling as a young Clark Kent as he grows up in his hometown, leading up to him becoming Superman as an adult.
• Tyler Hoechlin has played Superman in The CW's Arrowverse superhero show Supergirl, and later in Superman & Lois, a separate series which focuses on Clark/Superman's home life with his wife Lois and two sons Jonathan and Jordan.

Cartoons

Superman has also been featured in many cartoon shows, such as:

• The Superman cartoon shorts, airing from 1941-1943, with Bud Collyer voicing Superman
• Super Friends, airing from 1973-1985 with Danny Dark voicing Superman
• The DC Animated Universe, which included shows such as:
  • Superman: The Animated Series (1996-2000), with Tim Daly voicing Superman
  • Justice League (2001-2004) and its sequel Justice League Unlimited (2004-2006), with George Newbern voicing Superman
• Justice League Action (2016-2018), with Jason J. Lewis voicing Superman
• My Adventures with Superman (2023-present), an anime-inspired show with Jack Quaid voicing Clark Kent / Superman

Movies

Live-action

• Kirk Alyn played Superman in two movie serial series, notably the 1948 series Superman and Atom Man vs. Superman.
• George Reeves played Superman in the movie Superman and the Mole Men, which was made before his TV show, also appearing in an educational video titled Stamp Day for Superman made for the U.S. Government.
• Christopher Reeve played Clark Kent / Superman in Superman: The Movie which was released in 1978. This movie is considered one of the best superhero movies of all time, and spawned three direct sequels also starring Reeve, including Superman II and its director's cut Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, Superman III, and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.
  • Kirk Alyn made a cameo appearance as Lois Lane's father in Superman: The Movie.
  • Brandon Routh replaced Reeve as Superman in an "indirect" sequel, Superman Returns, which was released in 2006. Routh reprised the role of Superman as the Kingdom Come version of the character for The CW Arrowverse event "Crisis On Infinite Earths" in 2019.
• Henry Cavill played Clark Kent / Superman in the DC Extended Universe, which ran from 2013 to 2023. He played the character in Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League and its director's cut Zack Snyder's Justice League, and Black Adam, in a cameo appearance.
• Nicolas Cage makes a cameo appearance as an alternate version of Superman in the movie The Flash (2023). Cage shot his scenes through volumetric capture, a type of animation that takes real movements and turns them into computer renders, before being deaged with computer-generated imagery (CGI). Cavill, George Reeves, and Christopher Reeve also cameo as their respective versions of Superman through the use of CGI representing their likenesses, Cavill having filmed additional scenes as the character for the film which were removed during post-production.
• David Corenswet plays Superman in the DC Universe movie series, starting with Superman. He will return in further DCU movies, such as Man of Tomorrow, and Supergirl.

Animation

• Superman appeared in the DC Animated Movie Universe, a series of interconnected, traditionally animated movies that ran from 2013 to 2020. Sam Daly voiced Superman in the movie Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox and Alan Tudyk voiced the character in Justice League: Throne of Atlantis before Jerry O'Connell took over voicing Superman in all remaining movies in the series.
• Channing Tatum voiced Superman in The Lego Movie, The Lego Batman Movie, and The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.