Stronger Than Steel: A Brief History of Superman

By Kara Lucker

Since his first debut in Action Comics #1 in April 1938, Superman has been in the hearts of both adults and children alike and is one of the most recognizable figures throughout the world. Examples of this are found in comic books, newspaper comic strips, radio, television, and movies. His complex history has made him a rather interesting character. Though, his origin story has only been slightly altered since his debut, his character development has drastically changed. This paper will attempt to explore Superman’s vast and complex history and discover just exactly who he is as a fictional character, why he was created, and what makes him an American icon.

Superman creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster wanted a character whom everyone could look up to and who stood up for others, even when the world would not. From the beginning Superman has been considered a down-to-earth character with strong morals such as integrity, respect, and a keen sense of right and wrong. Siegel and Shuster wanted a character whom they thought could inspire the world to stand up for what is right and defend the weak against bullies the creators themselves encountered while growing up in Cleveland, Ohio. Though they began their work on Superman as early as 1933, it would be another five years before they officially became published.

Jerry Siegel and his family were Jewish immigrants from Lithuania. Joe Shuster was also from a Jewish immigrant family who had moved to Cleveland from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Larry Tye discusses in Superman: The High-Flying History of America’s Most Enduring Hero how Siegel and Shuster came to know each other through their early struggles, and how they got their beloved Superman off the ground and into the minds of millions of readers. Tye talks of how Siegal and Shuster both wanted something out of life, and how they used their combined creativity to create a superhero who everyone could admire.

Larry Tye’s argument for his writings is how Superman broke the mold for the superhero narrative. Superheroes are often woven into their time, meaning that within the time period they are created, they seldom last beyond it. One example of him breaking the mold is that while Superman was created in the late 1930s, he was not meant to last past those early years. However, he did, having lasted into the late 1940s and then into the 1950s, it was clear that Superman was here to stay. Tye states in his book, “It was on his muscle-bound back that the iconic comic book took flight, and the very idea of the superhero was born.”¹ The inspiration for his book came from simply asking why America embraces the heroes it does. Tye felt strongly that there was no better way to understand the modern-day superheroes than to take an in-depth look at Superman. The superhero had tapped into the American psyche more effectively than anyone else and was able to outlast all other superheroes. However, his history goes far beyond the pages of comic books and graphic novels.

Larry Tye points out that through his vast array of media, there has been a Superman for every generation since his inception in 1938. From his first radio broadcast to his movie serials Superman, starring Kirk Alyn as Superman in the late 1940s, to the Adventures of Superman television series starring George Reeves in the 1950s, with reruns of the show into the 1960s, Superman has been a heavy influence in the media. In the 1970s the world became fascinated with the Superman story once again with Richard Donner’s film Superman: The Movie, which debuted in December 1978. Beginning with Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985 written by Marv Wolfman, followed by Man of Steel in 1986, by John Byrne in the 1980s, the Superman story was revamped and given a completely new makeover and storyline. Though new writers and artists wanted to give the next generation new stories, the storyline of his origins relatively remained the same. Superman had new foes and battles to fight. However, in the movies and television series, Superman was still a character many believed in.

Superman originally did not fly in the comics. He did gain his ability to fly until Superman #30 dated September 1944². Audiences first saw him fly in the Fleischer cartoons in the mid-1940s. He sort of flew in live action in the movie serials starring Kirk Alyn. Due to technological limitations when Alyn would take off, audiences saw an animated version of Superman fly rather than the actor.³ In the television series Adventures of Superman George Reeves did fly. However, it was not until 1978 when Superman really took flight on the big screen.

In 1978, director Richard Donner’s view was of a man who could fly. This was something the world would truly believe in Superman’s character. Superman: The Movie was a groundbreaking innovation in filmmaking. It captured special effects such as flying and turning back time, and brought in an unknown actor from New Jersey, the young Christopher Reeve. What Reeve brought to the character was something the world had not seen before in their beloved Superman. He had viewers believing Superman and Clark Kent were two entirely different people with two separate lives. Reeve went on to star in four Superman films, with the last one released in 1987. It would be six more years before the world would get another Superman, only this time in the form of television.

The 1990s brought a revival for Superman in popular culture. In 1992, the graphic novel The Death of Superman shocked the world and eventually became the greatest selling graphic novel of all time. A new show also came into light during this time period as well. Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, premiered on the ABC Network in September 1993 and ran for four seasons. Through Lois and Clark, the world got to know another version of Clark Kent/Superman along with some familiar characters. However, the question was- What was “new” about Superman’s adventures?

The show is not necessarily about the adventures of Superman, but rather its two title characters, Lois and Clark. It is a show that depicts the more human side to Superman’s alter ego, Clark Kent, and his love interest Lois Lane. Starring Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher as the titular characters, the show follows a romantic comedy format. While Clark deals with the trials and tribulations of wanting to help save the people of Metropolis and the world, he is conflicted by his feelings for Lois who is in love with Superman, but not Clark at first. Showing the human side to Clark Kent is what gave the show’s audience a sense of feeling that Superman was the true disguise.

Under the disguise of Superman, Clark was able to do his job and have a social life. In the beginning of the series, Clark becomes somewhat frustrated because as Superman he realizes he cannot save everyone. This gets to his heart, and he questions whether or not he should continue as Superman or give it up. There is a crucial moment in the third episode of the series’ first season where Lois tells Clark that it is simply the idea of Superman, that he is someone who people can believe in, look up to, and that is enough for the people of not only Metropolis but also the world. It is pivotal moment because it gave Clark the encouragement that he needed to fully embrace his alter ego.

One of the fundamental changes noted in Lois and Clark was that Clark’s secret identity as Superman was erased and ultimately became the driving force behind the show. As Michael Robinson wrote in his article Lois and Clark: What’s New about the ‘New’ Adventures of Superman”, “Clark Kent still remained, but in the new continuity, Superman never publicly let on that he led a double life. Superman thus became the disguise for Clark Kent, a way for Clark to acquire some privacy in his life from a world demanding his services.”⁴ It was essential that Clark did not need to pretend to be the misfit or the nerd because he was no longer the disguise. It also showed how Lois was freed from her endless quest to prove the link between Clark and Superman. She was no longer the damsel in distress and more than an attractive woman. Now she is an independent, award-winning journalist. This gave way for Clark to pursue his love interest and attempt to win her over with his human qualities rather than Superman’s. With the addition of Superman: The Animated Series in 1996, it seemed by the late 1990s and into the early 2000s that there was no slowing down the Man of Steel. In fact, Superman was gaining momentum.

In October 2001, a show called Smallville premiered on the WB Network about a month after the horrific 11 September terrorist attacks on the United States, and “For the nation, Smallville’s launch in the wake of 9/11 gave America a hero it could believe in when it needed one, the same way Jerry and Joe had more than sixty years earlier.”⁵ However, it was not a show about Superman but a young Clark Kent and his growing up in Smallville, Kansas. It dealt with teenage angst, Clark discovering who he is, and how he was to save the world. The show would become the longest running series for any adaptation of Superman and the cast of characters remaining on the air for ten years.

In 2006, the world received another Superman movie. Bryan Singer directed Superman Returns, starring yet another unknown actor, Brandon Routh as the title character. Most would argue the movie itself is a continuation of Richard Donner’s take on Superman. Singer’s approach was to have Superman absent for five years. This was due to Superman going off in hopes of finding remains of his home planet of Krypton. After searching for five years, it seems as though he did not find anything. Upon his return to Metropolis, he finds out Lois Lane (played by Kate Bosworth) has moved on and is now engaged to the Daily Planet’s editor’s son, Richard White (played by James Marsden). Superman has also learned that not only is Lois engaged she has a son, named Jason, and has won a Pulitzer Prize for her article “Why the World Doesn’t Need a Superman”⁶.

The two eventually meet on a rooftop where Superman takes her flying, and questions her article stating, “You say the world doesn’t need a savior, but every day I hear people crying for one.”⁷ With this statement alone it causes Lois to question as to whether she was right to write an article arguing why the world does not need Superman. She eventually retracts her statement with a new article “Why the World Does Need a Superman”⁸. It would be another seven years before Superman graced the silver screen once again.

In 2013, the world met another new Superman when Henry Cavill was cast in director Zach Snyder’s Man of Steel. The movie followed a vastly different format than its predecessors. While it showed the origin of Superman and how he came to Earth, it also shows some of the struggles Clark faced while he grew up in Smallville, in flashback format, often having scenes of Clark as an adult then back to when he was a child and teenager. This format is a different approach to what Richard Donner and Bryan Singer took to their respective movies. Some movie goers and fans of Superman have argued that Snyder’s Superman was too dark, dull, with terrible writing, while others have found it to be exactly what they look for in a Superman film.

In response Snyder states that while Superman might be from another planet, he grew up in Kansas with loving parents. These parents instilled in their adoptive son the value of hard work, being a good and kind person, and trying to do the right thing. At one point in the film, it is questioned by General Swanwick if Superman “won’t one day act against America’s interest”, to which Superman replies “I grew up in Kansas, General. I’m about as American as it gets”.⁹ This can essentially be attributed to Superman’s motto from 1942 and quoted in Superman: The Movie by Christopher Reeve “I’m here to fight for truth, justice, and the American way.”¹⁰

However, the film is not without controversy. Some have often argued Snyder’s film should not have had Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner), essentially tell his son he needed to keep what he can do an absolute secret, especially after saving his classmates from a bus crash. Clark asks his father out of frustration “What was I supposed to do? Just let them die?”¹¹ Cavill would go on to play Superman in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016 and The Justice League in 2018.

In 2016 another live-action Superman came, this time on television. Played by Tyler Hoechlin, he first donned the cape for a few episodes of Supergirl in season two. It was not until February 2021 when the television show Superman and Lois debuted, focusing on family. This time Clark and Lois (Bitsie Tulloch) now have twin sons, Jonathan (Jordan Elsass/Michael Bishop) and Jordan (Alexander Garfin). After Clark’s mother dies, the family moves back to Smallville, but things there have definitely changed.

For the first season, the main focus is on the Shuster Mines in Smallville. Superman along with General Sam Lane (Dylan Walsh) find what seems to be orange kryptonite, known as “X K”¹² in the series. It was found out that Superman’s half-brother, Morgan Edge/Tal-Roh (Adam Rayner), was using X K to give humans Kryptonian powers, implanting the Kryptonian consciousness as a way to resurrect the dead from Krypton through a device called the Eradicator.¹³ At first, his sons did not know their dad was Superman. After a time, Clark reveals his identity to his sons. The show also reveals Jordan inherited powers from his father and Clark does everything he can to help Jordan adjust to his life-altering changes.

Superman and Lois did not have a very long run on television. Mainly due to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and writers’ strikes, the show lasted for four seasons with only fifty-three episodes to its name. However, it did have some controversy. By the end of series Superman essentially reveals himself to the world that he is also Clark Kent. This is something that had not yet been done in neither the movies nor television shows. It was something that came out of the comic books.

Comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis wrote in 2018, to the world that Clark Kent was Superman. In one storyline Superman reveals his identity to the world on live television. In the series he does it at the diner in Smallville. The finale showed that now both of his sons had inherited powers from their father and took up the mantel to be the Super-Sons. This was something new to the Superman lore because in other iterations, comic books and animated movies, Superman had only one son, who inherited his father’s abilities. Whereas Superman and Lois showed he had two sons. During the show’s final season it was revealed the world would soon get a new Superman.

Director James Gunn, known for his Guardians of the Galaxy movies, wrote and directed the newest film in the Superman mythos. Initially called Superman: Legacy, production began in the spring of 2024. The word “Legacy” was dropped in the early stages of production since Gunn felt the word “legacy” was putting too much emphasis on the past rather than a forward approach and the film became simply “Superman”.¹⁴ Gunn took a completely different approach than Snyder but had the same mindset in casting his Superman, choosing a relatively unknown actor, David Corenswet, who, like Christopher Reeve is a Julliard trained actor. Along with Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan was cast as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult was cast as the villainous Lex Luthor.

James Gunn’s take on the Man of Steel was mainly inspired by the comics. Some argue his Superman is straight out of the comic books and one they have looked for since Christopher Reeve took flight in Superman: The Movie in 1978. Others say Gunn’s Superman is weak and has a more childlike approach. However, this Superman takes life as it comes at him. He believes that all life is worth saving and fighting for, even Lex Luthor, as it is well known throughout the comics that Lex Luthor is Superman’s arch nemesis.

While Luthor simply sees Superman as an alien, Superman still shows him compassion and tells him “I’m as human as anyone. I love, I get scared, I wake up every morning, and despite not knowing what to do, I put one foot in front of the other, and I try to make the best choices that I can. I screw up all the time, but that is being human, and that’s my greatest strength.”¹⁵ Superman reminds us to be kind to others even when it might be hard or feels impossible. At the time of this writing Superman was a hit at the box office, both domestically and internationally, earning over 615 million dollars for DC Studios. James Gunn is currently working on more Superman projects. The next being a solo film for Superman’s cousin Supergirl, Kara Zor-El played by Milly Alcock. Supergirl is set for release on 26 June 2026. There will also be a sequel to Superman, titled Man of Tomorrow, set for release 9 July 2027, giving fans plenty to look forward to.

While movies, television shows, comic books, and graphic novels were a hit, there was a lot behind the scenes in the form of legal trouble. Larry Tye’s work discusses not only the vast history of Superman, but also of the legal battles that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster faced when it came to dealing with their hero. Little did Siegel and Shuster know that when they sold Superman to Action Comics #1 for 130 dollars in 1938 (which equaled ten dollars a page) they essentially sold the rights to Superman. This meant that while the boys were the creators, the owners of Action Comics, and eventually Detective Comics, could do with their hero what they pleased without giving any thought to the original creators. At the time of Tye’s writing about the authors and creators of Superman, there was still dispute over who had the proper rights to the Man of Steel. Though there was debate as to who had the rights to any and all things Superman, the history of the story depends on which way it is looked at.

To look back at the history of Superman one must look at the different ways his story has been told. Both Larry Tye and Michael G. Robinson highlight Superman in respective ways. One discusses the history of the character, while the other asks the question of what is “new” about the new adventures of Superman regarding the television show Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Though it was Robinson who spoke about how Lois and Clark portrayed Clark Kent and Superman as two separate characters, in Superman: The Persistence of an American Icon, Ian Gordon gives a different take on the story. Gordon discusses how Superman has been perceived and how he came to be the American icon he is today in the terms of popular culture. Superman did not become the icon he is today overnight. It was through a strong presence, especially throughout the early 1940s as America was thrust into World War II that he became one of America’s heroes. Using Umberto Eco’s, The Myth of Superman as a guide, Gordon’s book is a work that embraces why the world should care about Superman, his history, and the stories that have followed him throughout the past eighty-seven years.

Umberto Eco could be considered the author who started the deeper look into Superman’s history and how he has become the icon he is today. In his work The Myth of Superman he discusses how the character was essentially brought up from the likes of Greek mythology. “The hero equipped with powers superior to those of the common man has been a constant of the popular imagination- from Hercules to Siegfried, from Roland to Pantagruel, all the way to Peter Pan.”¹⁶ The heroes’ virtues are often humanized, but his powers are the extreme realization of natural abilities, such as being able to fight with ease, strength beyond those of mere mortal men, rather than thought of supernatural. Eco argues that since Superman is not from Earth, he discovers he is gifted with superhuman powers.¹⁷ For example, while his strength is almost unlimited, it is his ability to fly that sets him apart from those of the Greeks gods. However, the image of Superman is not entirely beyond the reach of the audience.

The audience can often connect with Superman in a rather straightforward way as he is also the reporter Clark Kent. Through the disguise of the mild-mannered reporter, Clark appears to be more timid, not overly intelligent, a little awkward, and wears glasses because he is (supposedly) near-sighted, much like one of his original creators, Joe Shuster. Through the eyes of Clark, one can see he is also often submissive to his colleague, Lois Lane, who often throughout the comic books, despises Clark but is in love with Superman. Through the double identity of Clark Kent and Superman, one can easily see how the two are connected, and how they are two separate lives. “In terms of narrative, Superman’s double identity has a function since it permits the suspense characteristic of a detective story and great variation in the mode of narrating our hero’s adventures, his ambiguities, his histrionics.”¹⁸ This conflict is part of what gave various media outlets lots of room to explore the stories and how Ian Gordon used them for the basis of his writings.

Other forms of media outlets helped create Superman as an essential part of popular culture with two fifteen-part movie serials released between 1948-1950, to Saturday morning cartoons, to television series such as The Adventures of Superman in 1952 to Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in 1993, to Smallville in 2001. Movies also paved the way from Superman: The Movie in 1978 to its sequels, to the more recent movies such as Superman Returns in 2006, Man of Steel in 2013, and Superman in 2025. Movies and television tell how: “All of these incarnations contributed to shaping Superman’s place in American culture.”¹⁹ They tell of how America has embraced its hero in blue tights and a red cape. However, in order to understand how Superman became the icon he is today, one should understand what an icon is.

Ian Gordon quotes Martin Kemp who defines an icon “as something that has achieved wholly exceptional levels of widespread recognizability and had come to carry a rich series of varied associations for very large numbers of people across time and cultures, such that it has to a greater or lesser degree transgressed the parameters of its initial making, function, context, and meaning.”²⁰ Using this approach one can easily see how Superman has become the icon within American popular culture he is today. However, Superman is not just an American icon, he is one of the most recognizable figures throughout the world and has been ingrained into the world’s culture. Everywhere from the United States to the United Kingdom, from Canada to Australia, and everywhere in between, people see the signature logo of the Superman “S” and they know exactly what it stands for and the hero behind it.

Ian Gordon mainly argues how it was not the media alone which gave Superman the status of American icon, but it was a collaborative effort between Superman’s creators, various forms of media, publishers, and popular culture. In the early 1940s, as America once again found itself at war in the wake of the Pearl Harbor attacks, Superman became its hero. The Superman comic strip in the newspaper was now aimed at improving the morale of both service personnel and of those on the home front. It was also the same time when the Superman radio serials came into play. It was during this time period that the phrase “truth, justice and the American way” came to be part of Superman’s legacy²¹.

Throughout his eighty-five plus years of existence, Superman has become a household name and icon. Since 1938, Superman and his cast of characters have been in the hearts of not only Americans but also throughout the world. First launched in Action Comics 1, he has been saving the world one disaster at a time ever since. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, two young gentlemen from Cleveland, Ohio, were the ones who started it all. It was their collaboration and storytelling, which told the tale of an alien coming from another planet, landing in the middle of Kansas, and raised on American values which included standing up for what is right and always seeking truth and justice. As author Ian Gordon writes, “Although over seventy-five years old, Superman remains at the forefront of shifts in the place of superhero characters in American culture and studying the longevity of his popularity helps explain these developments over the long term.”²² By studying Superman and his vast and complex history, one can see how he became an American icon in 1938 and will be for many more years to come.

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¹ Larry Tye- Superman: The High-Flying History of America’s Most Enduring Hero, Random House Inc., New York, 2013

² Steve Younis, When Did Superman First Fly, Superman Homepage, September 2022

³ Tye- Superman: The High-Flying History, Random House Inc., New York 2013

⁴ Robinson- Lois and Clark: What’s New, Studies in Popular Culture, 1998

⁵ Tye- Superman 2013

⁶ Bryan Singer- Superman Returns, Warner Brothers Inc., 2006

⁷ Bryan Singer, Superman Returns 2006

⁸ Bryan Singer, Superman Returns 2006

⁹ Zach Snyder, Man of Steel, Warner Brothers Inc, 2013

¹⁰ Richard Donner, Superman: The Movie, Warner Brothers Inc, 1978

¹¹ Zach Snyder, Man of Steel, 2013

¹² Lee Toland Krieger, Superman and Lois, The CW, 2021

¹³ Lee Krieger, Superman and Lois, 2021

¹⁴ Apoorv Rastogi, Superman: James Gunn Reveals Why the Legacy Title was Dropped, Superhero Hype, 18 December 2024

¹⁵ James Gunn, Superman, DC Studios, 2025

¹⁶ Umberto Eco, The Myth of Superman: The Amazing Adventures of Superman, Diacritics, Vol 2, No. 1, pgs. 14-22, 1972

¹⁷ Eco, The Myth of Superman, 1972

¹⁸ Eco, The Myth of Superman, 1972

¹⁹ Ian Gordon- Superman: The Persistence of an American Icon, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 2017

²⁰ Ian Gordon- Superman, Rutgers University Press, 2017

²¹ Matthew Freeman, Up, Up, and Across: Superman, the Second World War and the Historical Development of Transmedia Storytelling, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television Vol. 35, No. 2, pgs. 215-239, 2015

²² Ian Gordon- Superman, Rutgers University Press, 2017