Every Superman Movie Ever, Ranked

A bunch of actors have played Superman on the bountiful sieve , from Christopher Reeve to Henry Cavill , and iconic directors ranging from Richard Donner to Zack Snyder have interpreted his tale . He ’s the original superhero , with perchance the most famed backstory and roster of superpower in comic playscript traditional knowledge .

So , anyone who dares to take on the task of make a movie about him has a pretty tall ordering to fulfil – and a lot of rabid fans to please . From the coloured , cheesy movies of the ‘ seventy to the grit and sombreness of the DCEU , here are all of the resilient - action Superman movies ranked from speculative to good .

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

No capital superhero blockbuster was ever made on a shoe string budget by a lazy managing director . The downfall of this movie , Christopher Reeve ’s concluding as Superman , is a combination of penny - pinching by the studio and a managing director with zero innovative ideas .

The whole matter was photograph in rainy England – whether the scene is set at the headquarters of the United Nations or in Clark ’s rural puerility domicile in Smallville , it was dash in England – and the particular effects look atrocious . Superman IV : The Quest for Peaceis full of secret plan holes , shockingly cheap limited effects , and wretched writing . The whole thing is one heavyweight , heaping bomb .

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

This movie is a crowing , juicy , overstuff mess from scratch line to finish . It serves as the DCEU’sIron Man 2 , swapping storytelling for universe setup . Superman ’s arc in the movie is actually an interesting one , as he is put on tryout for his action inMan of Steel . fan found his actions in that movie to be controversial , so it was a nice next step to have him face the consequences for it .

In the end , as he sacrifice himself to take down Doomsday , he redeems himself . In theory , it ’s a corking second chapter in Superman ’s DCEU journey . But it gets bogged down in carrying on the DCEU and set up all the other Justice League members ’ future appearance to be a good movie .

Superman III

During the product ofSuperman II , visionary director Richard Donner collide with the studio apartment and was replaced by Richard Lester , who reshot most of the motion-picture show . The studio apartment then ditched Donner completely and brought on Lester full - time to directSuperman IIIfrom scrape . Christopher Reeve is still as great as ever in the purpose of Superman , but the movie itself is so bad .

Almost every determination that contribute to whatSuperman IIIeventually became was wrong . Richard Pryor was a whizz and might just be the greatest standup comic who ever lived , but he does not belong in aSupermanmovie . This threequel throw out the core and somebody of the first two in interchange for stunned puns and cheap jest .

Man of Steel

valet de chambre of Steelis far from the sorry Superman movie ever made . However , like most origin story movies , it does n’t stand many rewatchings as there are long stretches – particularly the lengthy Krypton chronological succession with Russell Crowe – that really drag on . Plus , director Zack Snyder dumbfound the tone all wrong with a grim and gloomy ( and wan ) imitation ofThe Dark Knight .

You ca n’t make a grounded Superman picture show , because he ’s not just a guy who beat up malefactor – he ’s an alien who can fly – so you need to mull that in how the picture show look . It ca n’t be gritty . Also , Superman would never take a life , so the ending ruin the whole thing .

Justice League

This film has a patchy plot and tonal inconsistencies , but these can be passably forgiven when you know what was going on behind the scene . The plot being patchy is a result of Warner Bros. hack the movie up and exact it be a sure distance in reply to the criticisms impose againstBatman v Superman . But they made these demands too late in the secret plan – the fib threads had already been written and shot , so remove them led to a bunch of glaring plot kettle of fish .

The spotty tone is a result ofZack Snyder leaving the projectdue to a personal tragedy and beingreplaced by Joss Whedon . Snyder had been making the picture as one of his gloomy , highly color - grade epics , and then Whedon attempt to shoehorn in his common humour and light tone . It did n’t work – Snyder and Whedon ’s directorial styles are like trash and cheese , which makes the latter the worst choice to complete a movie half directed by the former .

Superman Returns

While Brandon Routh was n’t the perfect casting choice to play Clark Kent , his one and only movieSuperman Returnswas masterfully made . It struck the whole tone just mighty as a big - budget CGI movie adaptation of the domain ’s first superhero . It was n’t as benighted as DC Films ’ similar rebootBatman Menachem Begin , but it was n’t too low-cal to be enjoy by a modern superhero hearing .

The flick was fulfil with iconic moments , like the bullet being fired from a ordnance and then crushing against the Man of Steel ’s skin , which work because it ’s not just a corking moment like Zack Snyder fills his movies with – it ’s there for a reason . It ’s there to establish just how powerful he is ( and it ’s incredibly good ) .

Superman: The Movie

“ You ’ll believe a man can fly , ” ran the iconic poster tagline for Superman ’s with child - screen debut . While those effects look dated and almost laughable today , they were genuinely groundbreaking back in 1978 . This is one of the few lineage chronicle movies that stand rewatches , because it order Superman ’s straggle origins in the first act and then focuses on the villain ’s plan and the dearest tale for the rest .

It ’s likeBatman BeginsandThe Dark Knightrolled into the same picture show . The movie has all kind of iconic second , from Superman catch Lois Lane ( “ You ’ve get me ? Who ’s experience you ? ” ) to reversing the gyration of the Earth to move back in time . No superhero fan has ever been disappointed by it .

Superman II

Despite some behind - the - scene drama with tenseness between theater director Richard Donner and the studio , Superman IIis a resounding success . It set the leg for all great superhero sequels to amount – fromSpider - military man 2toThe Dark Knight – as it delves deeply into the title character in an all - natural process plot that ’s as much about the villainous General Zod as it is about the Man of Steel himself .

Christopher Reeve develops the title persona into two dissimilar character – Clark Kent and Superman – just likeChristian Bale , Tom Holland , Mark Ruffalo , and Tobey Maguire would all go on to do in their own superhero roles .