All 9 Superman Movies Ranked

The film that made you believe a man could fly. Christopher Reeve delivers the definitive Superman: sincere, powerful and full of integrity. The transition from Smallville to Metropolis is beautifully filmed. With John Williams' unforgettable score, it remains the masterpiece every other superhero film is measured against.

General Zod is one of the most iconic villains in film history. The hero is forced to choose between his powers and his love for Lois Lane. The battle in the streets of Metropolis is a highlight of action and drama. A sequel that raises the stakes and truly tests its hero.

A large-scale, serious reboot focusing on the hero's alien origins. The action scenes are enormous in scale and Hans Zimmer's score is epic. The film explores how the world would react to the arrival of a godlike being. Henry Cavill brings a powerful, physical presence to the role of Kal-El.

The newest vision brings back the optimistic core of the character. David Corenswet plays a hero who chooses hope in a world full of cynicism. The film introduces several other heroes and adds a human layer that was sometimes missing in recent versions. Critics welcomed the return to a colorful, optimistic tone as a refreshing step.

Here the franchise took a comic route with the addition of Richard Pryor. The result is a strange mix of slapstick and action. The junkyard fight between evil Superman and good Clark Kent is visually interesting, but the film more often feels like a silly comedy than a true hero's epic.

This production is a tribute to the original films. Brandon Routh looks strikingly like Christopher Reeve, but the film lacks its own power. There's remarkably little action and the pace is slow. The Krypton storyline and Lex Luthor's kryptonite continent never fully grip the viewer.

This dark confrontation centers on the ideological clash between two icons. Superman is portrayed as a god distrusted by humanity, while Batman hates him for the destruction of Metropolis. The film tries to tackle too many themes at once, so the focus on Superman himself sometimes fades into the background, and it sparked a lot of debate among fans.

Although this is an ensemble film, Superman's presence in it is infamous. The digital removal of Henry Cavill's mustache resulted in an unnatural-looking face. The clashing visions of two directors produced a messy whole in which the character lost his depth, and his behavior after his resurrection feels inconsistent with earlier films. Smart viewers watch Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) instead, a four-hour cut in which the story is far more consistent.

With a minimal budget and laughable special effects, the film tries to deliver a political message about nuclear weapons. Nuclear Man is a weak villain, and the technical execution is so poor you can practically see the wires in the flying scenes.