Which actor looks the most like Superman to you?

While trying to find rumors on the next movie, I found another Superman you can add to your list.

 

^Is there some joke here I'm not getting?

 

The adult group Vivid recently announced that they're making a XXX version of Superman. Presumably because the XXX parody verison of the 60s Batman show did well.

 

Yeah I don't find it funny.

 

I suppose this poll confirmed, if confirmation were needed, that Reeve is the Sean Connery of the Superman series. He's the one that most viewers, regardless of age, seem to view as the definitive onscreen version. Ian Fleming once said that Connery wasn't how he envisaged Bond, but that if he were re-writing the character afresh, he'd probably make him more like Connery. Much like how artists re-drew Supes to resemble Christopher (Reeve, not Bennett!).

Having said that, much as I like Brandon Routh, who was an obvious attempt to replicate the Reeve Man of Steel, perhaps it's now time for the movie makers to find the Daniel Craig of the series. Craig has been the most acclaimed 007 since Connery, despite not fitting the conventional look of Bond. I'm not saying that the next Superman should be blond, blue-eyed and craggy but just as Craig is as legitimate a take on 007 as Brosnan, Dalton etc, maybe the makers of the next Superman movie ought to cast someone who's far from a clone of Reeve.

(ps - to stretch this comparison beyond ridiculousness, Dean Cain is the Roger Moore of Superman - light-hearted, not too serious, few people's favourite but with his share of admirers. Routh is the Lazenby of the series. One appearance to his name, the first to essay the role on the big screen after the definitive article, appeared in a movie that divides the fans and which emphasises the emotional side over action. There is no Dalton or Brosnan!).

 

That's a pretty clever analogy. I like it. I'm guessing though that whoever the next guy is...that will be the Brosnan of the Superman movies. With me seeing Brosnan as being what many might call the perfect Bond in many ways. Though I never liked him as he may have looked and acted like the quintessential Bond, but he felt too unreal to me.
So maybe they'll get someone who many people may say immediately that yes, that is Superman.
Who that could be I dunno.

 

Nice analogy, but I guess I'm an exception to the pattern; I like Lazenby's Bond a lot more than I like Routh's Superman, and I like Cain's Superman a lot more than I like Moore's Bond. (I know I said I didn't think Cain looked or sounded much like the quintessential Superman, but that doesn't mean I didn't like his work for what it was.)

 

Its a bit like asking which of these looks the most like Superman:



They're all "Superman" but not all of them look like the same guy except for having dark hair and a blue and red suit.

If I were to mix and match I'd say Cain looks like the Shuster Studio versions from the early forties. (top and center left.) The Byrne version ( third up from the bottom right) was influenced by Reeve. Alyn the early Shuster version. ( second down from the top left) Reeves, I dunno. He never looked like any of the comics versions to me. The other guys? Never paid enough attention.

 

Hmm, the Superman in profile on the middle left there looks kinda like Cary Grant.

 

Thanks. I suggested a Craig-Superman as a way of shaking things up but I'd take a Brosnan one too. He was my second fave Bond until Craig came along. I've often said that the next Superman movie ought to follow the Goldeneye route rather than the Casino Royale one - just assume that the audience knows who the hero is, no origin, no reboot, assume that he has a past without spelling it out from there and off you go. Rumour has it that that's what the Nolans intend to do.

Potentially Jon Hamm could be the Superman Brosnan. Tv star who is a fan fave and looks very much the part, but is unproven as a leading movie man, despite supporting roles in hit movies. Brosnan was in his early 40s when cast as 007, Hamm is about 39. Hamm would be the oldest onscreen Superman since George Reeves while Brosnan was older than Connery or Craig (though younger than either Moore or Dalton were when they landed the part).

Don't worry, the analogy was never intended to stand up to serious scrutiny!