Poll Your favorite live-action Supermen

It's not really a fair choice, since Reeve is just so excellent. The rest weren't remotely bad, it's just that Reeve is so great.

 

Even then, he barely played him, as all we saw was him in the shirt of the uniform. All the shots of Superman flying or full body shots were from Superman Returns.

 

I think it is very telling how spread out this vote is--Reeve is way ahead of course, but younger people don't seem to identify with him as much. Most of the rest of the group is probably statistically equal given the small sample size.

 

I saw an interview with Simon Pegg and Henry Cavill for M:I Fallout.

He was freaking Superman! (More than he was in Justice League to be honest.) And that's awesome.

I remember an story on Superman Returns where they were interviewing Jack Larson. He looked over and saw Brandon Routh in costume and said "There HE is." It's Superman.

They're ALL Superman. And I love it.

 

That's the one thing I like about Welling. He admits he was in it for the money and the career boost. He doesn't care about Superman or the suit.

He stayed true to his convictions till the end. He never wore the suit. They used CGI on his body to make it look like the suit.

Amusingly, Welling seems to be the most well-received 'Superman' of this generation among general audiences.

 

Welling was pretty terrific even if Smallville got tiresome.

 

In the last couple of seasons Welling was basically playing Superman even if he wasn't wearing the costume.

 

The costume they used is from Returns, but there are no shots of Superman from that film in the Smallville finale.

 

I think Welling could be a good Superman if he played in a Superman movie right after the finale

 

Yes there are. As I recall there is a shot of Superman flying down a street that comes from Returns. Also most of the flying CGI was lifted from Returns. As I recall they used it to save money.

 

Respectfully, you recall incorrectly. Clark suits up (in a very average CG shot) and flies out of the Fortress with seven minutes left in the episode. From that point on, these are the shots of Superman:

1. A tiny CG Supes approaching Air Force One.
2. A tiny CG Supes lifting the wing of AFO and then flying to the window that Lois is at.
3. Back of his head. (Quite possibly not Welling.)
4. His face with CG cape blowing behind him.
5. Back of his head.
6. Tiny CG Supes alongside AFO.
7. Small CG Supes from Lois’ POV.
8. Tiny Supes flies away.
9. Small CG Supes with “Smallville speed trail” flies over the heads of people (including Green Arrow) and speeds up to Apokolips.
10. CG shot of Supes having just shoved Apokolips.
11. CG shot of Supes watching Apokolips still leaving.
12. Very tight close-up of face (so as to not show that Welling is not wearing the suit) with CG cape.
13. Wide shot of small CG Supes turning back to Earth, zoom quickly in to suddenly cut to comic book drawing of same pose.
14. Clark doing the shirt rip on the roof of the Daily Planet.

That is literally it. All the CG shots are unique to Smallville. (Also worth noting, Smallville Superman has the yellow S on the cape, whereas the Returns Superman does not.)

 

As far as I'm concerned, if the actor didn't actually wear the suit, he don't belong on this list. I don't care how many CG versions there were, Welling was never Superman.

And - full disclosure - I hated "Smallville."

My votes went to:

George Reeves, because he makes the fifties series fun and joyful to watch.

Christopher Reeve, because it was a masterful performance.

And Dean Cain, because to me he looks the most like Supes from the comics, and I mean Joe Shuster-drawn Supes. I think of that Superman, I think Cain nails that look, especially in the later seasons of Lois & Clark.

 

Christopher Reeves was Superman. Its a good thing there were multiple choices otherwise it wouldnt have been close. I also voted for Cavill - although he hasn't had a lot to work with so far there have been glimpses of greatness there, especially in Justice League. If he ever gets a decent screenplay I think he'll be fantastic. I also liked Dean Cain, personally. I also think Routh was pretty good in the role but he was screwed by a fairly ordinary script and the fact that they made Returns a sequel to Superman II, which meant he had to play Christopher Reeve's playing Superman. Which he did pretty well, but I think if he'd been able to do a standalone movie and do his own thing he'd have been excellent.

 

Even though I thought Justice League was meh and I didn't like Batman v. Superman, I adore Man of Steel.

 

I picked Cavill because I like how the ACTO plays him -- we can see classic Superman in that -- I sure did not choose the SNYDER version of Superman.

Looking at George in stuff like I Love Lucy... he was Superman out side of the show....a great fit...so sorry he got stuck in it and couldn't fnd more in his life...

Christopher Reeve is of course the movie standard.. though looking back it's kinda sad that Kent was played as a joke/not the "real" Clark

Dean Cain- I really liked on the show...though it has been what 30 years?

Brandon Routh is a great one for this type of role.(as we see on Legends)..I am still mystified how Bryan Singer did NOT pull off this movie...

Oh..and I like Tyler Hoechlon in his role...definitely carries the Superman vibe and a good fit for Supergirl / DC TV