100 Greatest Superhero Stories Ever
By Steve Lam
Image Courtesy of Warner Bros.
#10. Superman: The Movie
Medium
Live-Action Feature Film
Release Dates
December 10, 1978 (Kennedy Center)
December 14, 1978 (United Kingdom)
December 15, 1978 (United States)
Credits
Director: Richard Donner
Writers: Mario Puzo, David Newman, Leslie Newman, Robert Benton
Cast: Marlon Brando as Jor-El, Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor, Christopher Reeve as Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superman, Ned Beatty as Otis, Jackie Cooper as Perry White, Glenn Ford as Jonathan Kent, Trevor Howard as The First Elder, Margot Kidder as Lois Lane, Jack O’Halloran as Non, Valerie Perrine as Eve Teschmacher, Maria Schell as Vond-Ah, Terence Stamp as General Zod, Phillis Thaxter as Martha Kent, Susannah York as Lara, Jeff East as Teenage Clark Kent, Marc McClure as Jimmy Olsen, Sarah Douglas as Ursa, Harry Andrews as The Second Elder
The Reason It’s Great
“You will believe a man can fly” was the tagline that was used for 1978’s Superman: The Movie. When we finally witnessed actor Christopher Reeve take to the air, we truly believed he was the Man of Steel with every fiber of our body. Dubbed as the first modern superhero film, Superman: The Movie would become a gold standard for all future superhero films.
On the planet Krypton, scientist Jor-El and his wife Lara rocket their infant son, Kal-El, to Earth to save him from their doomed homeworld. On Earth, Kal-El is adopted by an elderly couple, the Kents. Given the name Clark Kent, the alien would grow up to become the greatest superhero the world has ever known—Superman.
As Superman becomes famous for his heroic exploits, criminal mastermind Lex Luthor forms a plan to use a nuclear missile to cause an earthquake on the San Andreas Fault. Thereby, sinking California into the Pacific and making his cheap inland territories into valuable oceanfront property.
Richard Donner stressed the term “verisimilitude” to the crew when making the film. Along with this mantra and Christopher Reeve’s iconic portrayal of the Last Son of Krypton, Superman: The Movie goes down in history as one of the greatest superhero films.