All 8 Superman Movies, Ranked

While fans can argue about which superhero is the best, there’s no real argument as to which one is the most iconic. Superman is the ultimate symbol of everything a hero can be, so much so that he inspired countless other characters, ranging from Omni-Man to Goku. Unfortunately, the Man of Steel’s cinematic outings haven’t always managed to live up to this awesome alien’s storytelling potential.

Some Superman films will make you believe a man can fly, but others are so bad that they feel like your personal Kryptonite. How can you tell which ones are worth watching and which ones are worth throwing into the bottle city of Kandor to forget about? Well, like Lois Lane staring down a deadline, I’ve typed up my definitive ranking of every live-action Superman movie ever made!

8

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Zack Snyder has a dedicated fanbase that adores the director’s singular talent of putting pretty people at the center of abrasively big and loud action scenes. But when he’s not adapting someone else’s work (as he did successfully with both Dawn of the Dead and Watchmen), Snyder struggles just as much with engaging storytelling as he does with realistic characterization. And that, more than anything else, is why Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is such a hot mess.

Basically, everyone is out of character in this film. Ben Affleck’s Batman is an unhinged psycho ready to maim and murder his enemies, while Henry Cavill’s Superman seems completely checked out, saving lives with a reluctant grimace on his face. Meanwhile, Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor is just a cackling, maniacal villain that seems more like the Joker than anything else. Also, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman is completely wasted for a cameo where she helps our titular heroes defeat a Doomsday that looks like a Cave Troll from Fellowship of the Ring.

Worst of all, the film’s title fight is a disappointment. Even if you’re onboard with Batman and Superman being so out-of-character, it’s tough to find much joy in their muddy onscreen grudge match. Honestly, the most memorable parts about it were Batman weaponizing a toilet and screaming his mother’s name, which is the final nail in this film’s coffin.

7

Superman IV: The Quest For Peace

Before Batman v. Superman came along, it was widely considered that Superman IV: The Quest For Peace was the worst film featuring the Man of Steel. After all, this was the worst-performing of the Christopher Reeve films, and we didn’t get another Superman movie for 19 years after this stinker. And while there’s a lot that went wrong with this film, I’d like to start with its clunky attempts to offer commentary on the Cold War.

In a real “this is why Batman is the smart one” moment, Superman decides to rid the entire world of nuclear weapons. That means he plays into the hands of Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman), who uses Superman’s anti-nuke efforts to create a solar-powered bad guy called (what else?) Nuclear Man. It’s hokey in the extreme, and it’s all just an excuse to create onscreen battles between our hero and his new villain that make Batman v. Superman look like a work of art.

It doesn’t help that the action scenes are so boring that they’ll likely put you to sleep. Even the actors look bored, as if they realized they are just window dressing for the special effects. Unfortunately, those effects looked cheap at the time and have aged so poorly that the thing barely looks a step above your average fan film. Forget the quest for peace; ever since re-watching, I’ve been frantically spinning around in a quest to get my time back!

6

Superman III

You know how really casual fans refer to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home as “the one with the whales?” Well, Superman III might as well be called “the one with Richard Pryor.” Sure, there’s a loose plot about a nerdy computer whiz whose talents are being used to help an evil industrialist take over the world. But the most memorable thing about this narrative is that the technological wunderkind is played by legendary comedian Richard Pryor.

While it’s not as egregiously bad as Quest For Peace, Superman III is the first of the Christopher Reeve films where the cast seems to be phoning it in. It doesn’t help that the villains feel so abstract; the previous film had Superman facing down Zod and his fellow super-powered criminals, leading to one cool fight after another. Compared to that, Superman III’s scenes of mad hacking skills causing storms and manipulating the energy crisis are just plain boring.

Aside from Pryor’s funny performance (he does the best he can with this dull script), the best things about this film are when it fully leans into comic book craziness. Watching Superman fight his evil self is fun in the shlockiest possible way. Plus, the scene where a minor villainess is transformed into an evil cyborg managed to haunt my childhood dreams while still feeling like a comic brought to life. Otherwise, this cinematic attempt to recapture the magic of the first two Reeves films falls flat.

5

Man of Steel

Man of Steel lands right in the middle of my ranking, and that’s because it’s fine. It doesn’t reach the heights of the original Superman film, nor does it land with a thud like Quest For Peace or Batman v Superman. With Man of Steel, director Zack Snyder kicked off the DCEU, and he did so with a mostly solid film that isn’t held back by his usual creative excesses. And the script deserves credit for eschewing Lex Luthor in favor of launching us right into a battle between Superman and Zod, which will quite literally determine the fate of the world.

Henry Cavill won over legions of fans with this role, and for good reason. He instantly provides both the warmth and the gravitas we expect from Superman, and it’s fun to watch his character develop over the course of the film from a shy alien to the world’s savior. Other performances were also solid: Amy Adams’s no-nonsense Lois Lane is instantly compelling and has great chemistry with Cavill. Meanwhile, Michael Shannon gives Zod a real pathos that helps to anchor the movie’s scenes of mayhem and destruction.

Unfortunately, the film relies too much on nonstop chaos and carnage. It’s tough to root for Superman when you can’t help but think about how many people his fight with Zod is killing. And it’s tricky to even root for Superman after this film puts the Man of Steel through an unnecessarily brutal baptism of blood, one you’ll be dwelling on long after the credits roll.

4

Superman Returns

How much you enjoy Superman Returns may depend on how much you love Richard Donner’s first two films featuring the Man of Steel. That’s because it is designed as a direct continuation of Superman II, effectively ignoring the continuity of the latter two Reeves films. Because of that, everyone in Superman Returns is doing an impression: Brandon Routh tries to channel Christopher Reeve, Kate Bosworth tries to channel Margot Kidder, and Kevin Spacey tries to channel Gene Hackman.

These acting homages are simultaneously the best and worst thing about Superman Returns. As a Richard Donner superfan, I loved returning to his specific continuity, and it was downright cool to see a new generation of actors bringing performances from nearly two decades ago back to life. But other fans were understandably annoyed at how much the performances and even the plot (involving Luthor once again employing an evil real estate scheme) were rooted in the past rather than giving us something new.

However, this film’s real secret weapon is how much heart it has. The light of our yellow sun has given Brandon Routh absolutely superhuman charisma, and he provides all of the warmth and humanity we expect from the world’s greatest hero. It’s no wonder he went on to become a big part of Legends of Tomorrow, one of my favorite DC Comics shows!

3

Superman II

Kneel before Zod! Superman II is a sequel that knows how to get to the point. The movie quickly advances the Superman/Lois Lane romance by having her discover the Man of Steel’s secret identity. The chemistry between Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder is powerful, making Superman’s decision to rid himself of his powers so he and Lois can live a normal life feel grounded and real. However, the arrival of three evil Kryptonians led by General Zod serves as a bleak reminder that the world would always need Superman.

As I like to say, this is a film that fires on all cylinders. It has great action scenes, and the fights between Superman and Zod remain the stuff of cinematic legend. But this is also an unabashed love story between Superman and Lois Lane, grounding the action in some very human (er, no offense, Kal-El) stakes. Plus, our hero saves the day by outwitting the villains rather than just slamming them into a pulp, which is a storytelling lesson I wish the DCEU had taken to heart.

It’s not a perfect sequel; there’s a certain mindwipe at the end that feels like a real cop-out, and the studio’s decision to replace director Richard Donner with Richard Lester is genuinely crazy. Fortunately, The Richard Donner Cut is still around on physical media to give fans the most definitive version of this powerful sequel.

2

Superman (2025)

Director James Gunn’s bold new take on the Man of Steel is more than a great superhero movie; Superman is also a kind of thesis statement for his brand-new DCU. Quite frankly, the greatest strength of this latest cinematic universe is that it’s the opposite of the failed DCEU in every way. Henry Cavill’s Superman was a tortured, Christ-like figure burdened by his heroic duties. However, Gunn’s newcomer David Corenswet plays a more lighthearted Superman, one who isn’t afraid to crack jokes on the battlefield and deliver the occasional corny speech about truth and justice.

“More lighthearted” is really the order of the day in Superman. Sure, there are dark moments, most of them courtesy of Nicholas Hoult’s conniving Lex Luthor. In general, though, the film leans on the joyously silly world of comic book tropes, including a Godzilla-like monster attacking Metropolis and Lois Lane (played to spunky perfection by Rachel Brosnahan) breaking news from a flying car. All of this added up to a genuinely crowd-pleasing film that I can’t wait to watch again, and I can only hope its success convinces Warner Bros. that the era of grim and gritty superhero fare like Batman v Superman is finally over.

1

Superman

The poster for Superman boldly proclaimed that “you’ll believe a man can fly.” And the remarkable thing is that we did! Groundbreaking special effects made Christopher Reeve look as if he really was flying up, up, and away on the big screen. Superman had always been a larger-than-life superhero, and thanks to this film’s big budget, director Richard Donner was able to bring this character to life in a way that lived up to even the biggest fans’ most outsized expectations.

Fortunately, you don’t have to have a longbox or two of comics to understand this film. And you don’t even need your own stash of memory crystals from Krypton. That’s because Superman walks us through the title character’s early history, making him feel like a fully fleshed-out character well before he puts on the long pajamas and starts saving lives. And Reeve effortlessly makes his hero’s dual identities very compelling, making it almost impossible not to get invested in the growing romance between Superman and Margot Kidder’s Lois Lane.

Topping it all off is Gene Hackman, whose skills as the ultimate actor’s actor help him do complicated character Lex Luthor serious justice. This is a movie where the script is tight, the effects are beautiful, and the casting is perfect. And for better or for worse, we’d never have the MCU, DCEU, or the DCU if not for the success of Superman.