All 12 Superman actors ranked from worst to best

12. John Haymes Newton

Appeared in: Superboy (season 1)

Superboy might refer to Conner Kent (the clone of Superman and Lex Luthor who becomes one of DC’s young superheroes) today, but back in 1988, it was simply young Superman. That’s where Superboy came in, as the syndicated TV series was essentially what Smallville would do better over a decade later; a show that spotlighted Clark Kent’s early days as a hero with superpowers.

Newcomer John Haymes Newton played the role in the first season, and he had a pretty hard time making the show look good. And you can’t really blame him, because the first season was not good. The special effects were poor, the dialogue bad, and it was corny without much of the heart that made Superman, well, Superman.

Newton certainly looked the part as the young Man of Steel, with his good looks and he did offer up some of that Clark Kent charm. Unfortunately, it just didn’t all come together in that first season as the whole thing was very rough. A new direction would be taken for the second that would see some improvement. Newton would not be around to benefit from that improvement as he was recast in the role after the season 1 finale.