When you think of superheroes, chances are Superman is at the top of your list. In many ways the quintessential archetype of a superhero, Superman was arguably the first to bear that title when he flew onto the scene in the 1930s. Even though he’s been through many variations over the years, the caped crusader has fundamentally stayed the same at his core. A big part of the famous Kryptonian’s charm is his small town roots and natural tendency toward doing good, something we’ve seen represented on both the big and small screen through the many adaptations of the hero over the past decades.
With a character as well-known as Superman, living up to an audience’s established belief of what makes Superman, well, super can be a challenge, but all of these leading men have done their best to surpass expectations. From the first actor to play the Man of Steel on television to the most recent, here are all the actors to play Superman in a live-action production. A note before we begin: David Corenswet has been announced as the star of 2025’s Superman: Legacy but won’t be on this list as he hasn’t yet appeared as the hero onscreen.
Without further ado, up, up, and away!
Kirk Alyn
A decade after Superman was introduced in the first issue of Action Comics in 1938, Kirk Alyn became the first actor to play Superman in a non-animated production, a 1948-released 15-part film serial. Aimed toward a younger audience, the serial was a huge financial success, inspiring a 1950 sequel where Alyn would reprise his lead role. Alyn, a trained dancer, brings a sense of grace and athleticism to the superhero; as Superman, he was physically able to leap over cameras in a single bound.
The serials hold up today — the animated flying scenes are especially charming — but sadly, Alyn is often overlooked when discussing Superman actors. While the serial’s success jump-started his career in a sense, Alyn found it difficult to be seen as anything other than Superman when trying to book work, and, to add insult to injury, he played Superman in a largely uncredited capacity; in an effort to maintain the illusion, Superman was credited as himself on-screen.
George Reeves
As one of the most well-known actors to portray Superman, George Reeves played the caped hero in the B-movie Superman and the Mole Men as well as the resulting (and much better-known) TV show The Adventures of Superman. The show began airing in 1952 and saw Reeves play both the hero and his mild-mannered alter ego, Clark Kent — though his version was anything but tame. Reeve’s Kent wasn’t afraid to throw down with a bad guy, suit or not, despite the show’s insistence that Kent was “timid.”
While playing a superhero can be the highlight of an acting career in the modern age, Reeves signed on to play the Man of Steel after his time in the U.S. Army derailed his acting career. Reeves’ initial hesitation to bring the hero to life on the silver screen as well as his tragic death in 1959 inspired some to say the role was cursed.
Christopher Reeve
Christopher Reeve (no relation to Reeves) was Superman in the 1978 film of the same name as well as its multiple sequels. For most Superman fans, Reeve’s original outing as the caped hero is still the best version of the superhero to date, which is impressive given how many variations of Kal-El there have been in recent years. It seems almost hard to believe given how common superhero films are now, but this particular category of characters was not considered good movie material when Superman came out in 1978. Reeve’s film changed all that, showing audiences that not only could a man fly, he could do it convincingly (and to a wonderful John Williams’ score to boot).
Initially seen as too tall and skinny for the role, Reeve packed on nearly 50 pounds for the role rather than wear a muscle suit. Unlike actors who played the hero before him, Reeves viewed the role positively, telling AOL in a 2001 interview, “Superman brought me many opportunities, rather than closing a door in my face.” Reeves used his newfound public profile to support environmental and social issues, and after a 1995 accident would leave him quadriplegic, he became a disability activist until his death in 2004.
John Haymes Newton and Gerard Christopher
Superboy was Smallville before Smallville was Smallville, a series following the youthful escapades of Superman before he became the hero we know today. Superboy ran for four seasons and focused on Clark Kent during his college years. Despite its popularity at the time, it has been mostly forgotten when it comes to live-action Superman adaptations. Part of that might be due to the show’s tendency to lean toward being cheesy but a lot of that is likely due to the show having two different Supermen/Superboys; John Haymes Newton was recast after one season when the show’s producers weren’t happy with his performance (though that’s likely due to bad writing more than anything).
Newton was replaced with Gerard Christopher, who would then play the emerging superhero for Superboy’s remaining three seasons. By the end of the show in 1992, Superboy had graduated to be a full-fledged Superman show, complete with Christopher’s Clark Kent working in news and the show taking on a darker tone.
Dean Cain
Dean Cain played Superman in the TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman from 1993 to 1997 (and was also the host of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! a few years later which elicited a little gasp of recognition from this author). Fresh off the end of Superboy, this show took a decidedly more adult approach, so Cain’s Superman was in his late 20s in the pilot. Unlike previous depictions, which focused more on Superman’s heroics, Lois & Clark was about the title characters’ romance as much as it was about Superman.
While Lois is infatuated with Superman, Cain’s Clark Kent wants her to care about him as himself, not just his superhero persona. The conflict between Kent and his heroic identity getting in the way of him actually winning the girl lends itself to an enjoyable series premise and both Cain and Teri Hatcher as Lois shined admirably in their roles.
Tom Welling
Like Superboy, Smallville follows Superman before he becomes the hero we know and love. Tom Welling may not have technically been playing a Superman, but he certainly looked the part of a dashing young Man of Steel, with facial features reminiscent of a young Christopher Reeve. Like many high schoolers, Welling’s version of Clark Kent feels like an outsider but in Kent’s case, it couldn’t be truer; the show follows him as he comes to terms with both his alien origin and his superpowers while navigating relationships with friends and future foes.
The show begins while Kent is in high school and continues until his early days at the Daily Planet working with Lois. Welling’s Superman is short-lived — we do get to see a glimpse at the end of the series — but a recent turn in the CW’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” gave Welling a chance to show fans his Superman’s happy ending some years after Smallville’s finale.
Brandon Routh
Although he wasn’t Superman for long, Brandon Routh gave a strong performance as the hero in 2006’s Superman Returns, a film largely seen as responsible for the trend of legacy sequels in recent years. Routh’s Superman seems to live in the same world as Reeve’s after the events of Superman II and the film begs the question of whether our world actually benefits from Superman’s premise. Superman Returns remains a refreshing entry in the larger Superman live-action catalogue for its analysis of the military-industrial complex in a post 9/11 America.
Routh’s portrayal is just as fresh; rarely do we see the Man of Steel doubt himself or examine his failures, but Routh’s Superman does just that throughout the film. Despite his outer-worldly origins, this Kal-El is human through and through, including his flaws. Like Wellings, Routh played his Superman again in the Arrowverse “Crisis on Infinite Earths” special.
Henry Cavill
The most recent actor to star as Superman on the big screen, Henry Cavill made his DC debut in 2013’s Man of Steel . The film is another shot at showing audience’s Kal-El’s origin story as well as his eventual decision to don his supersuit and become Earth’s protector. Although he played the character throughout several films, Cavill rarely got to show us his down-to-earth Clark Kent side, which is a shame because based on what we saw of it, he was a personable guy when he wasn’t causing mass destruction in the hopes of saving people.
Sadly, Cavill didn’t get to explore much of the character aside from Superman’s strength and ability to punch through buildings (sometimes several, simultaneously). While we know we can never say never when it comes to superheroes, Cavill is out of the DCU and has retired his cape for the time being.
Tyler Hoechlin
While he may be recognizable from Teen Wolf, this former werewolf makes for a good Superman in the Arrowverse shows Supergirl and Superman & Lois. Tyler Hoechlin plays the hero as mild-mannered and easygoing in a manner similar to Christopher Reeves and has been particularly adept at playing all the sides that make Superman a complex character.
In his show alongside costar Elizabeth Tulloch (as an excellent Lois Lane), Hoechlin is able to play Kal-El in a way we’ve rarely seen him before: as a father. The couple and their sons make the move to Smallville to raise their family but of course, villainous shenanigans make the small town setting far from idyllic. The series was renewed for a fourth and final season recently, so Hoechlin will be hanging up his cape just before Corenswet makes his debut. However, Hoechlin is not the last Superman on this list; that honor goes to…
Nicolas Cage
In what’s little more than a “blink and you’ll miss it” cameo, viewers spotted Nicolas Cage as a long-haired Superman battling a giant spider in The Flash. While Superman Lives sadly never came to fruition, Cage was tapped to play an, in his own words, “emo Superman” in the film.
It was set to be a delightfully weird take on Superman but the studio got cold feet after Mars Attacks, according to Cage. A Superman film culminating with a battle against a giant spider would have been a sight to see, but sadly, we can’t have everything.
