With James Gunn’s Superman finally landing in theatres, most DC fans are once again feeling optimistic that the franchise is in the right hands. Whatever way you slice it, Clark Kent has had his ups and downs: featuring in some of the very best superhero movies, some of the least well remembered, and some we’d probably prefer to forget.
As the DCU boldly enters this brand new phase, we’ve rounded up every one of them, from early classics to late era team-ups (cameos not included), and ranked them from worst to best. Use our guide below to find out where to watch them all.
10. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)
It’s fair to say, few people remember Superman IV: The Quest for Peace with much fondness, even if the movie features an appearance by a shockingly young Jim Broadbent. Christopher Reeve had planned to stick around for one more outing in the blue and red but had to call it a day after The Quest for Peace—which featured a cheesy story about nuclear disarmament—bombed with critics and at the box office. It would be almost two decades before the character was seen on movie screens again.
9. Superman and the Mole Men (1951)
The very first movie to feature the last son of Krypton was little more than a drop in the pond for legendary hack director, Lee “Roll-em” Sholem, who is said to have made over 1000 projects in Hollywood without once going over schedule. Naturally, Superman and the Mole Men is about as non-essential to the canon as that suggests. Released just 13 years after Action Comics #1, the story follows Lois and Clark on a work trip to report on the world’s deepest oil well, which turns out to have some Mole Men in it. Still, worth a look for its early Hollywood charms.
8. Superman III (1983)
Like its predecessor (more later), Superman III helped to establish a staple of the superhero threequel with the introduction of a dark version of Clark: a doppelganger trope that has since popped up in everything from Spider-Man 3 to Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Unfortunately, without Richard Donner fully out of the picture, Richard Lester was free to indulge in full slapstick humour. This included casting Richard Pryor as a bumbling and not very funny computer whiz who inadvertently becomes involved in a plan to kill the Man of Steel by creating a Kryptonite ray.
7. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
2016 was a tough time for DC. Having laid down the groundwork for almost a decade, the MCU was entering a peak era with Phase 3. The response at WB, however unwise, was to speed things up. They released Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice when it really needed and deserved much more of a buildup. The movie—which introduced Ben Affleck’s older, gruffer, Caped Crusader—had the additional bad luck of being released just two months before the Russo brothers’ airtight Captain America: Civil War. Oh well, we’ll always have Martha.
6. Superman Returns (2006)
Before Bryan Singer went to director jail, he was—alongside Sam Raimi—widely considered to be the most reliable helmer in the budding superhero genre. He had done a fine job with X-Men and was widely lauded for X2, but Superman, as many have discovered, is always a different challenge. With the unknown Brandon Routh in the lead role, the movie begins with Superman already established but missing for five years. He returns as Clark Kent to work at The Daily Planet but ends up having to fight Luthor again after his arch nemesis discovers Krypton crystals in the Fortress of Solitude. Superman Returns received positive reviews but underwhelmed at the box office, leading to Warner Bros cancelling a sequel planned for 2009.
5. Man of Steel (2013)
By the time DC decided to relaunch the character for the second time in quick succession, the movie landscape had changed entirely. Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, released the summer before, had just proved to audiences, critics, and studios that a superhero team-up movie could really work. Naturally, Warner Bros wanted a piece of the action. Enter Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, which WB sold as the grittier, more mature antidote to Marvel’s quips and colours. In spite of Snyder’s apparent disregard for the civilian population of Metropolis, the results are largely positive: Henry Cavill does a fine job in his first outing as Supes and Kevin Costner, Amy Adams and Michael Shannon bring serious gravitas to the cast. It set the aesthetic tone for DC’s uneven Extended Universe for years to come—for better and worse.
4. Justice League (2017) & Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)
The dust had barely settled on BvS by the time Superman was being reincarnated in Justice League, fighting alongside Batman, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman and Ezra Miller’s The Flash to take down Steppenwolf in a movie that Joss Whedon was brought in to re-edit after the critical mauling Snyder had just received—not that it did the movie any favours. The four-hour Snyder cut, released four years later with new music and Snyder’s characteristically serious tone, was one of the most interesting industry stories of the COVID lockdown. It was also the finest movie in Snyder’s unlucky run at DC.
3. Superman (2025)
Somewhere around the release of Black Adam (in which Henry Cavill cameod) and the non-release of Batgirl, a post-merger Warner Bros Discovery decided it was time to go back to the drawing board. James Gunn, one of the only directors to helm successful films for Marvel and DC, was hired as overseer (a role similar to Marvel’s Kevin Feige) of the DCU and as director of a new Superman starring David Corenswet. Forgoing the textbook origin story, Gunn’s fun and fizzy movie begins three years after Superman has introduced himself to the world. It’s early days, but having swapped the solemn tones of the Snyderverse for gibes and colour, Gunn’s DCU already looks to have achieved liftoff.
2. Superman: The Movie (1978)
Is this the moment when comic book movies were born? You would have to say yes. Working from a script penned by the writers of The Godfather and Bonnie and Clyde, with a cast featuring Orson Welles, Gene Hackman, Trevor Howard, Terence Stamp, and, of course, Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel himself, Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie—an origin story that begins on Krypton—is a classy and wonderfully earnest piece of work that’s aged remarkably well. Even the dated special effects (which won the movie an Oscar) still carry an endearing charm.
1. Superman II (1980) & Superman II: The Donner Cut (2006)
Superman II‘s central idea of a hero being stripped of their abilities, and having to find a way to get them back, has provided a blueprint for superhero sequels ever since. Elevated by Reeve and Kidder’s chemistry, it ended up not just a worthy successor to part 1 but also the pick of the lot—and very much in spite of its messy production. Orson Welles’ scenes also had to be cut for financial reasons and despite having shot both simultaneously, Richard Donner was dropped by the studio and replaced by his colleague, Richard Lester—though both were essentially reinstated with the release of The Donner Cut in 2006. (With respect to the directors, we’re including both movies as one here.) In the story, Superman puts aside his powers to embrace a normal life with Lois before the arrival of Terence Stamp’s General Zod.
Where To Watch All Live-Action Superman Movies Online
To discover more about TV shows and movies currently streaming in the UK, check out the JustWatch streaming guide! You can filter your search by streaming service, genre, price, age rating, and score. Be sure to build your watchlist and receive helpful notifications on what to watch next based on your preferences!
