Your favorite live action Superman portrayal

[Captaindemotion]

I saw Superman The Movie as a 7 year old on the big screen and saw all of the sequels in the cinema. So it has to be Reeve for me. Earnest without being corny, charming without being smarmy, strong without being macho. He really is Superman for my generation.

Standing back objectively though, I think Henry Cavill gave as good a performance and will doubtless be the Superman for the current generation. I have some issues with MOS but none with him. Nonetheless, I have to vote for Christopher.

I really enjoyed Brandon Routh but his remit was basically to channel Reeve and he didn't bring an awful lot of originality or novelty to the part. In an ideal world, he'd have got to reprise the part and do his own thing with it too.

 

[Random_Spock]

Dean Cain.

Welling don't count cause He never put on the suit.

Wrong. He did in the finale of Smallville.

Thank you, Youtube!

Christopher and him tie in my mind as the best. Followed by Dean Cain.

 

[Amaris]

For me, Superman is Christopher Reeve.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Dean Cain.

Welling don't count cause He never put on the suit.

Wrong. He did in the finale of Smallville[/URL.]

technically, he didn't:

[URL="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/smallville-why-we-didn-t-192811"]http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/smallville-why-we-didn-t-192811

 

[theenglish]

CR for me, but I am not sure how much of that is due to nostalgia.

I would rank Dean Cain as my favorite Clark though.

 

[Christopher]

There are only two actors that I've been able to look at onscreen and just totally believe as Superman: Christopher Reeve and Henry Cavill. Both of them were hurt by script and characterization problems in their respective movies, Cavill most of all, but I could totally buy in both cases that I was watching Superman. Reeve gets the edge, because he's had more moments to date where he really gets to operate as Superman and show his stuff, and because he was brilliant at differentiating Clark from Superman.

The others, not so much. I don't remember Kirk Alyn well, but he didn't quite have the look for it. George Reeves was okay as a kindly-uncle Superman for kids, but he never really seemed to be taking the role quite seriously. I don't remember Newton and Christopher that well either (and technically they were playing Superboy), though I seem to recall preferring the latter. Dean Cain was a fairly good Clark, but I never bought him as Superman, and along with Reeves, he probably did the worst job differentiating Clark and Superman. As for Tom Welling, I never really liked him in the role that much. He had his moments where he came close, but I never really bought him.

As for Routh, I used to think he was a poor choice for Superman. Now that I've seen him as the Atom (well, as the A.T.O.M.), I think he would've made a fantastic Superman if he'd been allowed to play it his way rather than imitating Reeve, and if his Superman hadn't been so mopey and subdued. (Everyone in Superman Returns is too subdued to be interesting.)

But I think my favorite Superman actor of all time is probably Bud Collyer, the Superman of the radio series, the first few Fleischer cartoons, and the '60s Filmation cartoon. He did a fantastic job creating distinct voices and personas for both Clark and Superman, and did a good job of acting as well as voice-changing.

 

[RAMA]

Cavill. I know he became a real iron warrior after he trained for the role. would love to lift with him.

RAMA

 

[Random_Spock]

Dean Cain.

Welling don't count cause He never put on the suit.

Wrong. He did in the finale of Smallville[/URL.]

technically, he didn't:

[URL="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/smallville-why-we-didn-t-192811"]http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/smallville-why-we-didn-t-192811

In the distant shots, he didn't. The closeups he did. So it's close enough imo. And besides, since when does a suit make Superman? *shrug* What should count as well is the overall portrayal itself.

The finale included a few scenes in which Welling is seen sporting the upper-half of the Superman suit, however, the only full-suit scene is done from a distance and via CGI with Superman finally taking flight in space and saving the planet.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

Chris Reeve. First two movies. First one than the second.

 

[Melakon]

George Reeves was the Superman of my childhood, so he wins hands down. Christopher Reeve did well as a motion picture Superman, but he was near my age and I thought him too young still being in his twenties. Kirk Alyn is interesting to watch as the first live-action Superman, but he based the performance on Bud Collyer's interpretation from radio and in cartoons. Plus Alyn's serials were aimed mainly at kids as theater short subjects, so it's a different scale in terms of acting.

 

[fonzob1]

I think Christopher Reeve was the perfect "cookie cutter" Superman in the 70's and 80's. He was perfect for the time. However, I think Henry Cavill makes the best modern day Superman. I liked how his upbringing was complicated, and he had to "find himself." I think that was more realistic than a perfect "cookie cutter" upbringing. I voted for Cavill.

That being said, I think Tom Welling is also an honorable mention. I think he played such a good young Clark Kent (even when the writing sucked) that Smallville deserved its own movie.

 

[urbandefault]

This is the pic that ran in the paper here before the movie came out. Until that time, the only live action Superman I'd seen was George Reeves. Seeing this was a real OMG moment.

By the time S3 came around he'd added a lot of bulk and looked the part even more.

Welling was ok, but I don't know how he could have had his own movie if he wouldn't even put on the whole suit.

Cavill did a standup job but I've only seen MOS once. I'm really looking forward to the next movie. This looks like Superman to me.

 

[Christopher]

^Well, except that Superman shouldn't need body armor...

And is that actually Henry Cavill or his CGI double? The cape, at least, appears to be CGI.

 

[urbandefault]

^Well, except that Superman shouldn't need body armor...

And is that actually Henry Cavill or his CGI double? The cape, at least, appears to be CGI.

I don't know, it's a screencap from the trailer.

Don't be Debbie Downer.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I think that Cavill's cape is more or less always CGI.

 

[Captaindemotion]

As was Routh's, in flight, anyway.

 

[fonzob1]

^Well, except that Superman shouldn't need body armor...

I thought it was pretty clear that the reason he was wearing clothing that looked like armor was because it was Krypton attire. Zod had a similar suit.

 

[The Old Mixer]

"Is that 'Cripton' with a C-R-I...?"
"No, that's 'Krypton' with a K-R-Y...p-t-o-n...."

 

[M.A.C.O.]

During any flight scene in MOS and BvS, Supes cape is always CGI. So Snyder can get it to flutter the way he wants.

In Superman Retuns, Routh had cape puppeters to manipulate his cape.

 

[The Old Mixer]

That's just freaky looking!