Superman fans frustrated an iconic comic book friendship has been ignored for 40 years

Superman is about to enter a new era on the big screen. James Gunn is now steering the DCU, and his first priority is to get a new Superman movie off the ground. This meant a controversial U-turn on bringing back Henry Cavill, as Gunn’s vision for the character seems to be a younger version of the hero beginning his adventures.

Fans are equally excited and skeptical about what Gunn is cooking up, though many are hoping that at least we’ll get some fun new versions of the Daily Planet supporting cast. Within that, there’s one character in particular that’s historically gotten a rough ride in live-action: Superman’s pal Jimmy Olsen.

For years, Olsen was a mainstay in Superman comics, with the silver age version of the character repeatedly finding himself having to do stuff like marry a gorilla, become a giant turtle man, and find suspiciously frequent excuses to cross-dress. But lately, all he’s done in live-action is get unceremoniously executed at the start of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It’s time for a comeback:

Fans have pointed out he briefly appeared in Superman Returns, but we want more:

Olsen also appeared in Smallville, though there was a strange wrinkle:

We’d turn up for a Jimmy Olsen movie:

Superman: The Animated Series also had a great Jimmy:

We can’t help but agree this core character in the Superman mythos deserves a return to the spotlight. Perhaps Gunn could draw on the character’s long history in DC Comics by putting him through some strange transformations and head-scratching plot developments, but either way, we’d just like to see him back on the big screen (without getting a bullet to the head).