Your favorite live action Superman portrayal

[Lucky]

For me it is between Christopher Reeve and Dean Cain. In the end, as far as Superman goes, I think I have to give it to Reeve. He just embodied that character perfectly.

Cain was the best Clark Kent though. I liked the confidence he brought to the part and that he was as good a journalist as Lois. One thing that Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman really got right was the Daily Planet cast and the camaraderie between them. Lane Smith was the perfect Perry White.

 

[theenglish]

No need for body armor here. It was explained quite well in the MOS movie that Superman's suit was the base layer for the actual Kryptonian armor.

RAMA

That's right, it was basically long johns/underwear.

 

[Christopher]

^But that's not what it looks like. The best designs don't need someone to come along after the fact and explain what they were supposed to represent. If you can't tell what it represents just by looking at it, then it's not a successful design.

The original Superman costume represented "strongman." It was modeled on what circus strongmen and athletes at the time wore. So it conveyed that meaning without the need for any explanation. Today, circus strongmen aren't as big a deal in the entertainment world, but that design has come to be shorthand for something else: Superman. It's literally the archetypal superhero costume. So it still works as something that conveys its meaning instantly by appearance alone, which is what you want in a design.

There have been a lot of attempts over the decades to redesign superhero costumes. Some go through regular changes, like Iron Man, but others have a way of reverting to the classic look when the experimental variations just don't prove as memorable, like Spider-Man's costume. I wouldn't be surprised if Superman's look in the comics reverts to the classic look, red trunks and all. It worked fine for seven decades, after all. I think it will outlive our current opinions about trunks.

 

[davejames]

The MOS suit always looked to me like what it was described as-- a standard Kryptonian undersuit that the heavier armor would usually fit over. It may have been sculpted, but it never really looked like actual armor itself to me.

Certainly not like the New 52 suit does, with all it's paneled shapes and with how smooth and shiny it looks. If there's anything that looks like armor, it's that.

 

[Admiral2]

In the distant shots, he didn't. The closeups he did.

ONE closeup, in the last two seconds of the show, and you only see the "S". That doesn't count, and neither does a headshot of Welling staring at Lois with a flicker of red behind his head. The other guys on the list had the balls to put on the tights and get photographed in them.

And besides, since when does a suit make Superman? *shrug*

Since the damn character was created.

What should count as well is the overall portrayal itself.

This argument attempts to confuse the issue by making it about the actor's talent, which has absolutely jack shit to do with why the suit exists.

The Superman costume exists as an effort to create an entirely different persona from Clark Kent, so that people will look to that persona when they need a savior, and Clark can lead a semi-normal life where he doesn't have to run into a burning building in street clothes - like a red-leather windbreaker or black leather duster - to save screaming orphans.

So the suit does make the Superman, because there is no "Superman" without it!

This secret identity stuff isn't new folks. It's been around since the guy we're talking about, and it's real easy to work out.


BTW, honorable mention to Epic Lloyd for this portrayal:
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MW9Nrg_kZU[/yt]