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Superman (franchise)

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Superman in other media

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Kirk Alyn from the 1940s serials
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George Reeves as Superman (1951)
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Christopher Reeve as Superman
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Dean Cain as Superman from Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

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Tom Welling as a young Clark Kent from Smallville

The comic book character Superman has made the transition to radio, television, movies, and video games each on multiple occasions. Among the actors who have played the role are Kirk Alyn, George Reeves, Christopher Reeve, Dean Cain, Tom Welling, and Brandon Routh.

Live Action Superman Portrayals

Animated Series

The last three are in continuity with Batman: The Animated Series and its spinoffs, as parts of what is called the DC Animated Universe.

Video Games

A new video game, Superman Returns: The Videogame, for all current generation game systems as well as Microsoft's latest system, Xbox 360, will be based on the Superman Returns movie, which will be released in June, 2006.

Superman in popular music

Superman has long been a source for popular music, inspiring songs by artists from several generations to celebrate the "Man of Steel" or to delve into his character. Our Lady Peace and Five for Fighting interpreted the character as lonely, and burdened with the responsibility of protecting others. The Kinks focus on the aspirations of normal humans to emulate the character of Superman. Some examples of Superman-themed music include:

  • Superman is the central image of the 2000 hit "Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down, which mentions him explicitly: "If I go crazy then will you still call me Superman?"
  • The song "What's Next to the Moon" by AC/DC, has several references to Superman.
  • Laurie Anderson wrote "O Superman" 1n 1981.
  • Bad Religion uses Superman's name twice. Once in "Do What You Want", and in the song "The Voice Of God Is Government", which contains the line "In God we trust, SUPERMAN!"
  • "Superman" by Lazlo Bane appears as the theme song to the TV series Scrubs.
  • Miguel Bosé had a song titled "Super, Superman" during the late 1970s.
  • "Superman" is the title of a song first recorded by The Clique in 1969, and later made famous when R.E.M. covered it on their 1986 album Lifes Rich Pageant.
  • The Crash Test Dummies' first hit single was the song, "Superman's Song", which is sung like a funeral dirge. The song compares Superman to Tarzan.
  • The Robies had an MP3 hit with "Superman".
  • Jim Croce's song "You Don't Mess Around with Jim" has a chorus warning the listener to avoid various dangerous activities, one of which is "You don't tug on Superman's cape."
  • Chico DeBarge's song "Sooperman Lover" has a chorus that says "...so go head and tell your friends, that I'm your Superman."
  • DC Talk's song "Like It, Love It, Need It" has a line that says "You'll never find peace of mind in your lucky charm ... You'll never find peace of mind in your superman".
  • Superman appears in more than one song by Die Ärzte, e. g. in "Paul" ("Seht euch den Paul mal beim Springen an! Er scheint zu fliegen, genau so wie Supermann" - "Just look at Paul while he jumps! He seems to fly, exactly like Superman") and "Ich bin reich" ("I am rich") ("Ich bin Dracula und Casanova! Ich bin Supermann und Batman und Spinne und Hulk!" - "I'm Dracula and Casanova! I'm Superman and Batman and Spider and Hulk!")
  • "Sunshine Superman" (1965) by Donovan also mentions Green Lantern
  • "Superman", a 2003 single by Eminem from his album The Eminem Show.
  • Firewater's song "So Long, Superman" contains repeated references to Superman.
  • "Superman (It's Not Easy)" is also a popular 2000 single by the band Five for Fighting and is clearly sung from the point of view of Superman, although his name is never mentioned. The song became a popular anthem after the September 11, 2001 attacks on America. It was also used in an episode of the TV series Smallville
  • The Flaming Lips featured two versions of a song called "Waitin' for a Superman" on their 1999 album The Soft Bulletin.
  • Genesis mentions Superman in their song "Land of Confusion": "Ooh Superman, where are you now / when everything's going wrong somehow? / The men of steel, the men of power / are losing control by the hour."
  • Heaven 17 call upon Superman in their song "Contenders": "Superman, if you are listening / Help us out / You're on the team."
  • "Superman" is the first song on the album Hang Ups by the band Goldfinger. The song was featured in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, on the Sony PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Sega Dreamcast and PC.
  • Luna Halo also wrote a song named "Superman".
  • "Hang In There Superman", written and performed by country singer Hal Ketchum in reaction to the accident which paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve.
  • The Kinks had a hit song called "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman".
  • LL Cool J mentioned Clark Kent and Superman in his song "Clap Your Hand."
  • Matchbox Twenty alludes to Superman in one of their early hits, "Real World", which has the lines "I wonder what it's like to be a superhero / I wonder where I'd go if I could fly around downtown / From some other planet, I get this funky high on a yellow sun."
  • Don McLean sings of Superman and actor George Reeves in "Superman's Ghost".
  • Our Lady Peace has had two songs which refer to Superman, "Superman's Dead" and "Made of Steel", which mention the listener wanting a "hero" and that the speaker isn't "made of steel", alluding to Superman's nickname, the "Man of Steel".
  • "Original Superman" by Christian band Pillar makes reference to how Jesus is superior to Superman ("Kryptonite can't slow him down. Nothing can at all.")
  • "Jimmy Olsen's Blues" is a single from the Spin Doctors 1991 CD, Pocket Full of Kryptonite. The song is written from the perspective of Jimmy Olsen, who is in love with Lois Lane and is jealous of Superman's attention. The album has a phone booth on the cover.
  • "Superman" is a 2005 song by the band Stereophonics
  • Barbra Streisand's 1976 album Streisand Superman, which features Streisand coyly posing on the cover in a t-shirt with the Superman logo on it.
  • Superman is mentioned in "No More Lonely Nights" by The Heads with Malin Anneteg.
  • Travis Tritt performed a song called "Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof", which compared being drunk to feeling like the Man of Steel. The song also mentioned that when he picks a fight, he tends to "find that my opponent's / holding kryptonite."
  • American pop-punk band Trusty sings from the point of view of a washed-up, powerless Superman in "Kal-El".
  • The Farin Urlaub song "Wo ist das Problem?" ("Where is the problem?") appeared on his 2001 single "Glücklich" ("Lucky"). Farin sings: "Du wärst gern Supermann, weil den jeder leiden kann" ("You'd like to be Superman because everyone likes him").
  • "Ako si Superman" (English translation: "I am Superman"), written by Rey Valera
  • Velvet Revolver's 2004 album Contraband features a track titled "Superhuman" which opens with the lyrics: "I'm a superman / I wanna be your superman". Additionally, Stone Temple Pilots' 1994 album Purple features a track named "Silvergun Superman". Both songs were penned by Scott Weiland.
  • Superman by the band Bush mentions Superman in the title and in the lyrics.
  • The ditty "That's Really Super, Supergirl," from the XTC album Skylarking, includes references to flying, X-ray eyes, Kryptonite, and the Fortress of Solitude (rhymed with "Don't mean to be rude")--a unique appearance in song as far as I know.
  • Chabelo, a mexican popular children showman, has a song called "Adiós Superman" (Goodbye Superman). From the 1980s.

For other songs named "Superman," see List of sets of unrelated songs with identical titles.

Other songs, which seem to have a subtle Superman connection, may or may not be directly about the comic hero:

  • Radiohead's 1995 album The Bends includes the song "Bullet Proof...I Wish I Was." In another song on the album, singer Thom Yorke proclaims, "I used to fly," but unfortunately, for the purpose at hand, it is "like Peter Pan," not the hero under discussion.
  • "I Remember California" by R.E.M. was inspired in part by a scene from "Superman: The Movie" in which Lex Luthor fires a missile at the San Andreas Fault killing Lois Lane and causing the California coast to sink into the ocean.
  • "Hero" is the name of a song by Chad Kroeger. The opening line, "I'm so high, I can hear heaven" may refer to Superman's ability to fly. The remainder of the song, however, seems to speaks more generally about heroes. Since the song is played in the film, Spider-Man, many assume the lyrics pertain to that specific character. This song was written as the theme for Smallville, but was rejected by the producers in favor of "Save Me" by Remy Zero.
  • "Ordinary", by Greg Jones, includes a chorus in which the speaker sings "I'm much too strange for this ordinary world" after a verse saying "just focus on clouds, and blue sky", possibly a reference to Superman's ability to fly.
  • "Walk the Sky," by Fuel, refers in very general terms to Superman with lyrics including "My skin is my shield", "wings that are kryptonite", and "I'm thinking of trying to fly...I'll walk the sky."
  • Another Fuel song, "Falls on Me", seems to be spoken from the perspective of a hero who finds himself isolated, declaring "I might change your life / I might save my world / would you save me?"
  • "Walk Into The Sun" by Dirty Vegas also may have a tenuous Superman connection. The singer seems to sympathize with someone like the Man of Steel, saying "lately I've been feeling different / like I've come from outer space," and that they "walk into the sun" (possibly a connection to the source of Superman's power) as well as making a passing reference to "breaking chains," of which Superman being in the process of is one of the most iconic images of the hero.

Certain artists seem to have a great degree of adulation for Superman. 3 Doors Down is one of the most prominent (they have confessed their regard for the character on multiple occasions); besides the aforementioned "Kryptonite", their song "When I'm Gone" may refer to him as well.

Superman parodies & homages

As an iconic character, Superman has often been parodied. He has also has characters modeled after him, in a form of homage.

References/Homage

  • Apollo of the superhero teams Stormwatch and the Authority is often seen as a Superman-pastiche. He also gets his powers from the sun, wears a spandex outfit with a triangular logo on the front, and possesses the powers of flight, heat vision and super-strength. As a differentiating twist, Apollo is the gay lover of Midnighter, the corresponding Batman-pastiche.
  • Gladiator of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard is an analogue of Superboy and Superman, and possesses a number of relevant powers, such as strength, endurance, flight, enhanced senses, and the ability to travel through space unaided. Like Superman, He has a cousin (Xenith), who is a Supergirl analogue. He has one special weakness (an unknown form of radiation), which mirrors Superman's weakness to kryptonite. His costume also shares a similar theme with Superman.
  • Hyperion, originally of Marvel Comics' Squadron Supreme, was originally a tribute to Superman; like Superman, he was a solar-powered alien who fell to Earth in a spaceship and tried to live as a human.
    • The Squadron Supreme as a whole was created as an homage/parody of DC Comics's superhero team Justice League Of America.
    • In the darker Supreme Power reboot, Hyperion is taken by the government from the Midwestern couple who find his crashed ship and raised as a super-soldier to be acutely aware of his biological superiority, and believes himself to be better than all humans.
  • The satirical novel Super-Folks features a costumed protagonist who hails from the planet Cronk, and as a result, is vulnerable to the substance Cronkite.
  • Supreme was created by Rob Liefeld and was a violent, egotistical Superman knockoff. Later Alan Moore rebooted Supreme to pay tribute to the classic Silver Age Superman mythos.
  • Invincible, Omni-Man and The Immortal from the Invincible comic book.
  • Ubermensch! is a short story by British science fiction author Kim Newman. It features a version of Superman who crashed in Germany and was brought up with the Third Reich. He ends up incarcerated in Spandau prison. He can easily escape but his conscience regarding past deeds for the Third Reich keeps him there ultimately leading to his suicide.
  • Prometheus is a character that appeared in the November 2005 issue of Digital Webbing Presents #26 by Ryan Scott Ottney and artist Joe Dodd. Named after the greek who was punished by Zeus for helping man by giving them fire; in the comic book, however, the city, his love interest, ethics, and amazing powers were modeled almost exactly after that of Superman. Even the cover image features a small image of Prometheus recreating the classic Superman pose from the cover of Superman #1 (1939).
  • Several references to Superman can be found in Planetary written by Warren Ellis. In the first issue, "All Over The World", a bald, silver-skinned Superman analogue is among the analogues of Justice League members who attack Doc Brass and his allies to save their universe from destruction by Brass' quantum computer. In the tenth issue, "Magic and Loss", another analogue, this time of the infant Superman, is seen departing his planet of origin (the launch itself causing the destruction of his homeworld), but is destroyed by a member of the Four (along with analogues of Wonder Woman and the Green Lantern). The character of Clark Kent, who does not go by the name Superman but does possess his powers, also appears in the alternate-universe story Planetary/JLA: Terra Occulta where Kent, Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince must confront a villainous Planetary, which is presented as an analogue of their enemies the Four.
  • In Japanese manga Pa-man by Fujiko F. Fujio, the universal tutelary character named directly "Superman" appears. Although his appearance completely differs from the original Superman, he was renamed to Birdman in the later series by copyright of DC.
  • In The Iron Giant (1999), young Hogarth shows the giant space creature a Supereman comic and tells him he must always use his powers for good, never for evil. The giant, which is actually a weapon, goes berserk upon being attacked, but remembering the example of his hero, Superman, decides to sacrifice his life for his friends.

Parodies

  • From its earliest days, MAD Magazine has frequently spoofed the Man of Steel; some consider the parody "Superduperman!" (from issue #4), in which a Superman doppelganger battles a Captain Marvel doppelganger named "Captain Marbles", to be the magazine's first true example of what would come to be the MAD vein. Since then, numerous MAD articles about or including Superman have appeared, including parodies of the various TV and movie projects. Other related pieces include:
    • "What If Superman Were Raised by Jewish Parents?" (in which the rabbi is unable to circumcise his super-foreskin, but he makes his mother proud by using his vision to become a radiologist);
    • "What If Truth in Advertising Laws Applied to Comic Book Previews," which made sport of DC Comics' killing and reviving the character;
    • "The Incredi-Man Archives," an alleged reprint collection of a 1940s infringement of Superman (like Captain Marvel). The character boasted such powers as incredi-hearing and incredi-viola playing, and like Superman, avoided World War II service. However, Incredi-Man did so by faking homosexuality;
    • Various gag strips, including one by Sergio Aragones in which a hobo finds Clark Kent's abandoned suit inside a phone booth and steals it, and another by Don Martin in which a series of massive lifts induce a "super-hernia."
  • The Saint from the independent comic The Pro was an obvious parody of Superman; he wore a blue spandex uniform with a red cape, had a day job as a reporter, and had an unrequited crush on his pushy co-worker.
  • Author John Varley wrote the short story "Truth, Justice and the Politically Correct Socialist Path", a parody where Superman does not land in the United States but in Soviet Russia. In this story, "Kyril Kentarovsky" took on the identity of "Bolshoiman", who attempted to represent Russia but only managed to get thrown into a gulag (with Leon Trotsky as his cellmate). The story can be found in the collection "Superheroes", edited by John Varley and Ricia Mainhardt.
  • Author Larry Niven wrote the short essay/study "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex", about the psycological and biological problems with Superman's romace with Lois Lane, or any human female. Niven has written (in N-Space and elsewhere) that DC has forbidden the publication of any illustrated version of this essay.
  • Japanese manga artist Akira Toriyama parodied Superman in his first series Dr. Slump, in the form of "Suppaman" (slightly different from Supaman, the way that Superman is written in Japanese katakana), a short, fat, pompous buffoon who transforms into a Superman-like costume by eating a sour (or "suppai" in Japanese) pickled ume fruit (umeboshi). Unlike Superman, Suppaman can't fly, and instead pretends to fly by lying belly down on a skateboard and scooting through the streets.The Dr. Slump characters appeared in an episode of Dragon Ball where in the english dubbed version, Suppaman was renamed "Sourman".
  • In the Philippines-produced movie Fly Me To The Moon (produced around 1988), starring Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto and Joey De Leon (the hosts of Eat Bulaga!), Superman's costume got sucked into their spaceship's rocket booster while the three were on their way to the moon. Superman, who appears in the film wearing only polka-dot boxer shorts, is shown begging the astronauts for the return of his costume.
  • In an episode of the television series The Monkees, the Monkees audition over the telephone in a phone booth, delaying Clark Kent from using the booth to change into Superman.
  • Spanish cartoonist Jan created his parody of Superman in 1973, called Superlópez.
  • Superdupont is a parodized French Superman.
  • The Rock played a Superman unable to conceal his secret identity effectively from Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White (while being completely oblivious of that fact) in a Saturday Night Live sketch. Other Saturday Night Lives Sketches spoofing the hero included Christopher Reeve, playing himself, auditioning for the role of Superman against another young hopeful and it is soon revealed that Christopher has the edge since he has Superman's powers. There is also a sketch spoofing the "Funeral for a Friend" story in which Superman's funeral is attended by Lex Luthor (who admits he won't really miss him), Marvel Comics' Super-Heroes (including a eulogy by the Incredible Hulk, and Black Lightning (played by Sinbad) claiming that he taught Superman how to fly. Finally, a sketch from the 1970s asked the question: "What if Superman were German?". The sketch played out as a re-enactment of "Lois Lanekov" (played by Laraine Newman), "Jimmy Olstein" (played by Al Franken) and "Klaus Kent" (played by Michael Palin) in a press meeting with Adolf Hitler, with Klaus saving Hitler from a bomb and using his X-ray powers to determine that Jimmy Olstein is Jewish. The sketch goes on as a war veteran and a comic book expert discuss the aforementioned question.
  • Echoing the disillusionment of many fans, Weekend Update anchor Norm MacDonald said of electric Superman's blue bodysuit, "The writers were afraid he didn't look gay enough."
  • Drawn Together's character "Captain Hero" is an obvious parody of Superman, down to his specific superpowers, association with the JLA and origin in "Action Comics". However, it is revealed that his home planet was not actually destroyed, but his parents sent him to Earth as a form of abortion.
  • The satiric anime film Project A-ko has a short scene at the end which implies that the parents of the heroine are Superman and Wonder Woman. A-ko's abilities have some similarity to Superman's, although she lacks flight, and her nemesis B-ko has abilities and attitude similar to those of Lex Luthor.
  • The short lived Comedy Central show TV Funhouse featured an animated short of a character called Wonderman whose mission, the opening narration told us, was "To fight crime and to get his alter-ego laid!" The animation was done in the style reminiscent of the old Fleischer Studios Superman cartoons.
  • NBA All-Star center Shaquille O'Neal has bestowed his nickname Superman on himself. As a child, O'Neal read Superman comics and now currently has a tattoo of Superman's symbol with the words "Man of Steel". O'Neal said he likes Superman "Because his only weakness is kryptonite, and everyone knows that's not even real."
  • Monty Python's Bicycle Repair Man sketch.
  • Max Cannon's comic strip Red Meat briefly featured a character named "Spuderman," who resembled Superman, but with a dollar sign on his chest. The official Red Meat website described him as "Astounding visitor from another solar system with powers far beyond those of a regular mortal in long underwear and external panties."

See also

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