The actors who have portrayed Superman

For early Superman fans, Collyer was the voice of the Man of Steel. He was the star of the first adaptation of the comic, voicing Superman on a live radio show that aired from 1940 through 1951, totaling over 2,000 episodes. There were also animated shorts made for movie theaters during that time, and Collyer was the voice for those as well.

Superman on screen is one thing, but Superman on stage? It happened! In 1966, a Broadway musical was produced called “It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman.” The play was even nominated for a Tony. Patricia Marand got one of those nominations for playing Lois Lane, but Holiday was the one who played Clark Kent, aka Superman. (We couldn't find a picture of Holiday, so here's Marand with Ed Sullivan.)

The first time we got to see Superman in action, it was in 1948. That 15-part movie serial starred Alyn in the superhero role. It was successful enough that Alyn starred in a second serial, “Atom Man vs. Superman,” in 1950. The actor was typecast after this and didn’t find much success outside of playing the alien from Krypton. He received a cameo in “Superman: The Movie” as Lois Lane’s father.

Reeves was arguably the first person to become a star playing the Man of Steel. He starred in the first feature film about Superman, and that was used to promote the TV show “Adventures of Superman.” That show was a hit, running from 1952 through 1958. Unfortunately, playing Superman was also the end of his career. We know that Reeves died in 1959 at the age of 45 from a gunshot to the head. It was ruled to be self-inflicted, but others say the shooting was accidental. Others say he was murdered, perhaps in a hit. This was the basis for the movie “Hollywoodland,” which starred Ben Affleck as Reeves.

From Reeves to Reeve, “Superman: The Movie” arguably changed the film world. It was the first real blockbuster about a superhero. These days, superhero films are ubiquitous, but not back in 1978. Many loved Reeve in the role, and he would reprise it for three sequels, though they all had diminishing returns.

Years after Reeve’s series of films ended, the time had come for the character to return to the big screen. In 2006, Superman returned to movies with…”Superman Returns.” Routh, a total unknown at the time, was given the role. It could have been a big breakout, but “Superman Returns” flopped based on expectations, and they did not make a sequel. Funnily enough, Routh’s biggest role since “Superman Returns” was as The Atom in the DC Comics Universe on The CW. You’ll hear more about that soon.

The most-recent notable Man of Steel is Cavill, who took on the role for Zack Snyder in DC’s new movie universe. On the one hand, Cavill is a good actor. On the other hand, he will forever be best remembered for the fact he couldn’t shave his mustache for a “Mission: Impossible” movie while shooting “Justice League” reshoots, so they had to CGI his upper lip. With James Gunn now helming a revamping DC movie landscape, the talk is that Cavill is done in the role.

A lot of Superman projects are of the action and adventure variety. “Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” differed slightly. It focused as much on the love life of Lois Lane and Clark Kent. A pre-“Desperate Housewives” Teri Hatcher played Lois, while Cain stepped into the role of Clark, and also Superman. These days, Cain is best known for his controversial political views.

“Smallville” lasted so long that it began life on The WB and ended life on The CW. It ran from 2001 through 2011, racking up a whopping 217 episodes. While “Smallville” began with a young Clark Kent living his life in Smallville, obviously, by the end of the show’s run, everybody was noticeably older. Through it all, Welling played Superman. It’s about the only thing he’s known for, but starring in a TV show for over 200 episodes is nothing to sneeze at.

Let’s get into some vocal performances. There have been a few animated shows starring or featuring Kal-El. “Superman: The Animated Series” ran from 1996 through 2000 and starred Daly (or rather his voice) in the title role. Daly was already a known name by this point. He was one of the stars of the sitcom “Wings,” which briefly overlapped with his turn as Superman.

Superman was not the star of “Batman Beyond,” that would be Batman, but he was a recurring character. While technically, this Superman was the same character as the one from the animated series, Daly did not return to provide the voice. Instead, that went to character actor McDonald. You know his face, especially if you’ve seen “Happy Gilmore.”

Superman got his own show, then Batman got his own show. After all that, they thought to themselves, “Why not make a Justice League show?” They did that, two of them in fact, which ran from 2001 through 2006. As one of the key members of the Justice League, there was plenty of Superman on the show. In this iteration, he was voiced by George Newbern. A former child actor, Newbern still acts some in human form when he isn’t doing voiceover work

No, Adam is not a member of the famed Baldwin acting family, though he’s no slouch on the acting front either. The guy has popped up in some notable productions, such as “Full Metal Jacket” and “Ordinary People.” DC makes a lot of direct-to-DVD movies or did in the past at least, and Baldwin stepped in to voice Baldwin for those.

Now we move into the realm of video games. Freeman’s time playing Superman was brief. He voiced the character in the game “Justice League Heroes.” Freeman is a veteran voiceover actor, often working to dub over Japanese anime in English.

Smith voiced Superman in “Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.” Yes, it’s a fighting game featuring Mortal Kombat fighters and DC characters. Smith has done a lot of voiceover work as well. If you have seen the “Alpha and Omega” films you’ve definitely heard his voice.

Willingham has voiced Superman a few times. Specifically, every time the Man of Steel has popped up in a “Lego DC” game, Willingham has done the vocal performance. Willingham is not loyal to DC, for the record, as he has also voiced Thor on several occasions. Now who would win in a fight between those two?

We end with the man currently shouldering the small-screen role for Superman. Hoechlin has showed up as Kal-El a few times in The CW’s “Arrowverse.” Now, though, he’s getting his own show in that universe. Hoechlin is one of the stars of The CW’s new show “Superman & Lois.” Will he last as long in the role as Welling? We’re about to find out.

A theater guy who rose to fame on "Glee," it feels like Criss would be an unusual choice for Superman. However, he has now voiced the Man of Steel in three direct-to-video animated films. That includes "Superman: Man of Tomorrow," so he's gotten a starring role along the way.

"DC League of Super-Pets" exists mostly as an excuse for Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart to hang out and goof around, and to keep Johnson appeased while the whole "Black Adam" thing played out. Johnson stars as Krypto, Superman's dog, but that does mean that Superman is in the movie as well. In this case, Superman is voiced by John Krasinski, still probably best known as Jim from "The Office."