WEIRDO Ranks: Every Live-Action Superman Movie 🦸🏻‍♂️ (Part 5 of 8)
40+ years of truth and justice!
After many years of superhero cinema, numerous properties have received a plethora of adaptations, more so with Superman. With an abundance of sequels, remakes, and reboots nowadays, it’s difficult to decide which ones deserve a spot among the upper echelons of the comic book world.
Though every movie provides its own significance toward the Kryptonian’s mythos, this series of articles will stamp my official ranking of each Superman film I’ve seen, from 1978's Superman: The Movie to 2021's Zack Snyder’s Justice League. I hope you all enjoy and remember to hit that clap button as well as comment where you would rank each flick on your personal list.
Disclaimer: You might not agree with most of my picks, but that is why I love writing these articles — for amicable debate. Without further ado, let’s get to it! Oh, and spoilers ahead…just in case.
4. Superman Returns
Superman Returns, Bryan Singer’s 2006 homage to the Christopher Reeve films, divided moviegoers upon its initial release. While some, like myself, appreciated the callbacks and continuity in vain of the OG movies, others greatly disliked the somber tone and lack of action throughout its two and a half hour run time. Here’s the thing: both sides of the argument are valid.
Set in a pseudo-modern 70’s style Metropolis, Superman Returns seeks to explore what the world would be like without Superman. After a five-year hiatus, the Man of Steel finally “returns” to assume his role as the planet’s savior once more. His old flame, Lois Lane, has seemingly moved on, now with a son — who eventually turns out to be Clark Kent’s — and his arch nemesis, Lex Luthor, has been released from prison, wasting no time to enact his latest scheme for power — however convoluted it may seem.
The film boasts some amazing performances, especially from the titular star of this endeavor in newcomer Brandon Routh, who was enviously capable of paralleling the altruistic qualities that made Christopher Reeve’s version of the character as endearing as he was. Seemingly able to embody a sense of loneliness that a godlike alien might actually feel on a planet as ridiculing as ours, Routh zips around Metropolis effortlessly saving civilians, remaining humble yet powerful in the process.
After catching the Daily Planet globe in mid-air, getting beaten in a weakened state by Lex Luthor and his goons, and hauling an island of Kryptonite rock into space, Superman ultimately descends unto Earth while everyone watches in awe as their protector drops from the sky. Finally, the film closes out with that legendary and inspiring score by John Williams as Superman flies through the clouds with a smile on his face. Though nostalgia could be blinding me on this one, Returns remains to this day one of my favorite Superman movies of all time.
