Superman Adaptations on the Big and Small Screen - Best Portrayals

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Lois Lane: Amy Adams (I like that she figured it out)

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You saw Smallville and thought Amy Adams was better?

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Lana Lang: Kristin Kreuk (not really fair since the character did not get much/any screen time in many other adaptations than Smallville)

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The most prominent big screen Lana is in Superman III played by future Martha, Annette O'Toole.

Bitsie Tulloch was better in Superman and Lois, but she had more time to develop.

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Bonus: Favorite scene from all movies and TV shows: Helicopter rescue with Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, and the pimp.

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I think the plane crash rescue in Superman Returns embodies Superman better than any other live action showing.

The animated series from the 90’s trumps any film adaptation, but…

Superman: Reeve
Clark: Reeves
Lois: Brosnahan
Luthor: Rosenbaum
Jimmy: Gironde
Jor-el: Brando
Pa Kent: Ford
Ma Kent: Lane
Lana: O’Toole
Perry: Cooper

I just know the movies.

Cavill looked the best. Reeve had the most iconic portrayal. Corenswet is great and kind of in between those two. More of a human portrayal. Less brooding than Cavill, also less Boy Scout than Reeve. I don’t have a favorite and like all of them for different reasons in their own movies. They all fit perfect in their universe.

Clark is Reeve irl lol. He’s the only Clark that really had his own personality completely different from Superman.

Margot Kidder is the best Louis imo. Rachel Brosnahan did a great job though.

Kevin Costner is the best Jonathan. Minus the death scene, and his advice. But he looked the best in the role lol. No other Jonathan really had much involvement in the other movies.

Russell Crowe is the best Jorel.

Gene Hackman is the best Lex. But Hoult did a great job.

Michael Keaton is my Batman. I know, not Superman related lol.

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Kevin Costner is the best Jonathan. Minus the death scene, and his advice. But he looked the best in the role lol. No other Jonathan really had much involvement in the other movies.

Russell Crowe is the best Jorel.

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+1 the Snyder films had some great casting

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Lois Lane: Amy Adams (I like that she figured it out)

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She was absolutely awful as Lois Lane. Just as bad as Eisenberg as Luthor. Honestly one of the worst castings in cinematic history.

Also I did write a Superman trilogy about a decade ago in the vein of the Dark Knight Trilogy but much more optimistic and life, and this is what I had in mind

I: Superman: Sunrise
Lex Luthor: Billy Zane
Metallo: Jason Issacs
Toyman: Peter Dinklage
Bruno Mannheim: Tim Roth

Toyman would take the fall for Luthor on his schemes in the film, letting him fight another day.

II: Superman: Starfall
Solaris: Robert Pattinson
Atomic Skull: Wes Bentley
Parasite: Bill Skarsgard
Bizarro: Superman’s actor
Silver Banshee: Jodie Comer
Livewire: Miley Cyrus
Volcana: Sydney Sweeney

Solaris is the main antagonist, and the others are very much supporting where Superman only fights Atomic Skull and Parasite on screen. The others superhumans Superman defeated long before, but Solaris has now broken out to be a part of his league to destroy Superman and enslave the world. Luthor is the Secretary of Defense 1/3rd through the film, Toyman is pardoned to run LexCorp, and Metallo makes a cameo appearance. Luthor is the real winner at the end and big frontrunner to be the next President taking care of the superhumans.

III: Superman: Starman
Brainiac: David Dastmalchian
Supergirl: Talia Ryder
Ursa: Gina Carano

Luthor is President, but merges with Brainiac for the final third of the film to be the main antagonist along with Solaris

Solaris returns as Sun God Solaris in the last 1/3rd of the film who will destroy the world by possessing the Sun which Luthor accidentally allows him to do by disintegrating him at the end of Starfall, which allows him to turn into pure energy. Basically the opposite of the end of All Star Superman where Solaris infects the Sun by turning it red and this time turning it white in an effort to destroy Earth from its heat and force.

Metallo, Toyman, Bizarro, and Livewire all make small appearances.


As for the second movie making Solaris the main antagonist, I completely revamped him as a character. I think a major problem with Superman’s rogue gallery is outside of Luthor, there isn’t a global threat character that is from Earth, and that’s why I made him the main antagonist and be the villain that Luthor thinks Superman is.

Solaris here was born in Ukraine and was the product of his mother being thrown into nuclear waste by his industrialist father when she confronts him for raping him, and while she briefly survives it, the chemicals are absorbed by the baby in her womb, which shortly kills her when she absorbs her energy with the powers he’s been given. Basically Solaris’ abilities are Captain Marvel and Sebastian Shaw’s combined where he can perfectly manipulate, project, and absorb all energy. Solaris would be raised in an orphanage and at the age of six cause the DC Universe’s equivalent of the Chernobyl Disaster, albeit accidentally. He’d be captured by the Soviet government and when they realized his power, they immediately surrender to the West thinking they’d use his power two decades from now to conquer the world and put it under his control.

He eventually escapes his mind control and hunts down everyone developing a hell of a god complex worshipping the stars seeing them as gods and that he must ascend to being one. By the time he finds the final person who knows about him and can question his godhood, Superman has revealed himself. Solaris is then determined to destroy Superman’s legacy over anything else more than killing him, but Luthor would not be an ally given he’s everything that Luthor fears Superman is. While Superman physically beats him at the end of the film, it’s Luthor who kills him by reversing his matter polarity (turning his structure from matter to antimatter), and he hopes that Superman drags him off to space killing himself before Solaris explodes… but all that does is make Solaris into pure energy that has to be dealt with in the third film when he makes his way to the Sun and possesses it.

I’d also make Solaris’ origins in Starfall be a mystery, but be revealed at the beginning of Starman by Clark Kent’s journalism, who has gone into exile over the years to find out the truth about Solaris.

And then this would be the rough end of the trilogy, which seems like it’s the only way to do it, where Luthor would download Kryptonian abilities from Brainiac’s files and then see not only how Superman sees things but how to truly save the world:

For a WB/CW "teen" show, Smallville produced:

The best Lex
The best Lois (but Bitsie Tulloch is a damned strong 2nd)
The best Ma and Pa Kent
The best Clark
The most developed Lana

And also created two characters that were so good they became canon:
Chloe Sullivan
Lionel Luther

Smallville was just fricking awesome.

Superman: Christopher Reeve (especially if you consider his Clark Kent)

Lois Lane: Hatcher

Jor-El: Brando

Pa Kent: Glenn Ford

Lex: Hackman

Lana: Emmanuelle Chriqui

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Bonus: Favorite scene from all movies and TV shows: Helicopter rescue with Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, and the pimp.

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This is the charged image of all of the film adaptations of the character. It's almost as iconic as the Superman character itself and that's saying a lot.