While Batman and Spider-Man could make a strong case, Superman is arguably the most iconic superhero ever created. He was the first modern superhero and still embodies all the tenets and characteristics that make a great superhero. He’s got a laundry list of superpowers and stands as the ultimate symbol of good and optimism in the public consciousness.
Over the years, many different filmmakers have brought Superman to the big screen, with varying degrees of success. Richard Donner’s 1978 original was a trailblazer for the genre, while Zack Snyder’s reboot was controversial for its bleak tone and murder-y climax.
Which live-action Superman movie has the best score on Rotten Tomatoes?
8 Superman IV: The Quest For Peace (11%)
The budget of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace got slashed right before filming began, so the cast and crew had to shoot a script that was calculated to cost X amount of money to shoot, but had a fraction of X to shoot it with.
The budgetary limitations are apparent in almost every scene. Some of the effects look like a bunch of kids got together to make a Superman movie in their backyard, not a multimillion-dollar Hollywood blockbuster.
7 Superman III (29%)
While the first two films in the initial Superman movie franchise stand as two of the greatest comic book movies ever made, Superman III stands as one of the worst. When Richard Pryor, then one of the biggest movie stars in the world, said on The Tonight Show that he enjoyed Superman II, the studio jumped at the chance to make his dreams come true (with dollar signs in their eyes).
So, Superman III was retooled into a buddy comedy in which Supes has a comical sidekick played by Pryor. Pryor is maybe the funniest person who ever lived, but even he couldn’t save this dreadful movie.
6 Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice (29%)
After the modest success of Man of Steel gave DC enough faith to pull the trigger on their own Marvel-style cinematic universe, Zack Snyder was all too happy to ditch Superman and make the DC movie he wanted to make all along: a Batman film (that happens to feature Superman because it’s technically Man of Steel 2).
Ben Affleck’s Batman ended up being one of the best ever put on film, perfectly capturing Bruce Wayne’s unbridled rage and brooding intensity. However, on the whole, BvS is a failed endeavor that’s too interested in setting up a universe to tell a coherent story of its own.
5 Justice League (40%)
After the DCEU’s Superman got his origin story in Man of Steel and faced the music in Batman v Superman, Justice League was planned to complete the trilogy with Clark finally becoming the Superman that fans know and love (not the Superman who mopes around and snaps necks).
Unfortunately, director Zack Snyder faced a personal tragedy and had to step down from the project. This gave Warner Bros. the opportunity to turn a dark, edgy, long movie it had cold feet about into a lighthearted two-hour romp that imitates Marvel’s blockbusters. The studio even hired Avengers director Joss Whedon to make these intentions as transparent as possible.
4 Man Of Steel (56%)
Inspired by Batman Begins, when he was tapped to reboot the Superman franchise, Zack Snyder gave it a dark, gritty makeover. Where a grounded, realistic tone suited the story of a regular guy who puts on a mask and fights crime, it didn’t work so well for the tale of an alien who’s raised as a human and then uses the supernatural abilities given to him by the Earth’s yellow sun to become an omnipotent hero.
Still, Henry Cavill was a great casting choice for the role of Superman, and at least Man of Steel was a lot more focused and coherent than the DCEU entries that followed.
3 Superman Returns (75%)
Bryan Singer’s approach to rebooting the Superman franchise was to acknowledge the previous movies without necessarily making them canon. Brandon Routh’s Supes has been gone from Earth for a long time and returns (like the title says) to prevent his arch-nemesis Lex Luthor from taking over the world.
With Singer in the director’s chair and Kevin Spacey playing Lex, the legacy of Superman Returns has been tarnished, but back in 2006, it was praised as a return to form for the franchise.
2 Superman II (87%)
Richard Donner was fired after shooting 75% of Superman II. His replacement, Richard Lester, reshot a lot of the movie to ensure he’d get a DGA credit, but the sequel isn’t the Alan Smithee-helmed travesty it sounds like. The behind-the-scenes troubles are barely noticeable in this near-perfect sequel to Donner’s original 1978 masterpiece.
With even bigger action than the first one, plenty of humor, and Terence Stamp’s iconic portrayal of General Zod, Superman II remains one of the greatest comic book movie sequels ever made.
1 Superman: The Movie (94%)
After all these years, 1978’s Superman remains a high benchmark for comic book movies. Richard Donner set the template for cinematic superhero origin stories with this movie, covering Kal-El’s life from the destruction of Krypton to his childhood in Smallville and his double life as Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent and all-powerful protector Superman.
Christopher Reeve proved to be the perfect casting choice to play Clark Kent, and he remains the definitive on-screen incarnation of the character for many fans.