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 | COMIC/CARTOON | MOVIE VERSION |
| Title | Superman | Superman: The Movie |
| Date of Release | First appeared in June 1938 | December 15, 1978 |
| Creators | Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster | Richard Donner |
| Genre | Superhero | Superhero/Action-Fantasy |
| Story | Rocketed from the doomed planet Krypton by a wise scientist, infant Kal-El is discovered by a kindly farming couple in the midwest. Raised as their own son, Clark Kent, he soon developed powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Kent moves to Metropolis, becoming a mild-manner newspaper reporter, and dedicates himself to helping others as the Man of Steel: Superman. | ... Ditto. |
| Characters | Clark Kent, Ma and Pa Kent, Jor-El, Lara, Lana Lang, Pete Ross, Perry White, Superman, Doomsday, Lex Luthor, Brainiac, General Zod, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen. | Clark Kent/Superman, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, Lex Luthor, Eve Teschmacher, Otis, Jor-El, Lara, Jonathan Kent, Martha Kent |
| Stars | | Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty, Valerie Perrine, Jackie Cooper, Glen Ford, Phyllis Thaxter, Jeff East, Marlon Brando |
| Dialogue | Consistently expository. | Snappy and witty, with the occasional bit of groan-inducing cheese. |
| Aesthetic | Straight superheroic action. Some unstoppable force is destroying Metropolis? This sounds like a job for Superman! | Hollywood escapism at its best. |
| Ambiance | | Epic, with three separate tones (the space opera, the American gothic, and predominantly the romantic comedy), the latter being bright and upbeat. |
| Audience | All ages (primarily male). | All ages |
| Cool Factor | When he was first introduced, Superman was cool enough to single-handedly start the superhero genre in comic books. Nowadays, although darker characters like Batman have outflanked him in the 'coolness' department, he is still one of the most universally popular and adored icons of American pop culture. | At that time, this was pretty cool stuff. The tone and style of the film harkens to Star Wars, and you have to wonder how it would have done if it was released first. |
| Cheese Factor | Early Superman comics depicted the Man of Steel with all kinds of bizarre superpowers (the super-kiss, super-deductive-reasoning, super-ventriloquism), and the sheer number of varieties of Kryptonite is laughable, but the current regime of writers at DC seem to have the cheese under control. | Offbeat humor was thrown in (Lex Luthor is played as a preening buffoon, especially in the sequel), and the special f.x. are circa 1978, so go figure;) - however this is the first time a man flies 'properly' on the screen. |
| Adaptation Accuracy | | Pretty close to the original storyline - except Luthor looks like more like a crook rather than super-villain. |
| Better or Bastardization? | | For the longest time, Superman: the Movie defined the character in pop culture, and the comics have recently started taking their stylistic cues from it. In this respect, it easily qualifies as "better". |
| Bastard Stepchildren | Captain Marvel, a red-and-yellow champion who was in reality a ten-year-old boy, was actually more popular than Superman himself for a while ('til DC sued the pants off the publisher), and it's common knowledge that Batman wouldn't exist if Superman hadn't been a hit. Then again, neither would Spider-Man, or the Fantastic Four, or Wonder Woman, the X-Men, Captain America, Thor, Spawn, Iron Man... | Supergirl, a spin-off about Superman's cousin Kara released a few years before Superman IV, tanked at the box office (for good reason), and Steel, a movie based on a supporting character in the comics and starring Shaquille O'Neil, is so bad it isn't even available on DVD. ANYWHERE. Nobody even bootlegs this P.O.S. |
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| Other | | |
| Images from the Original | Movie Images |
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| Video of the Original | Movie Video |
 Description | Description |
