How Superman evolved from a short story to a popular film franchise

1. The Origin and Evolution of Superman
(from short story to cinema)

2.  Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster had initially created a bald telepathic villain bent on dominating
the world, in the short story "The Reign of the Super-Man" in Science Fiction #3, a fanzine
Siegel published in 1933.
 Later that year, Siegel re-envisioned the character, who became
more of a hero in the mythic tradition, bearing no resemblance to his
villainous namesake. They created a costume with a big S on his
chest, and a cape, make him as colorful as possible. Shuster visually
modeled his bespectacled alter ego, Clark Kent, on a combination of
Harold Lloyd and Shuster himself, with the name "Clark Kent"
derived from movie stars Clark Gable and Kent Taylor. Lois Lane
was modeled on Siegel’s now wife, Joanne Carter.
 Superman's first appearance was in Action Comics #1, published on
April 18, 1938.
 From January 1939 to May 1966, Superman became a newspaper
comic strip.

3.  The Adventures of Superman, a radio drama that
premiered on February 12, 1940 and ran until
March 1951.
 In 1945, Superboy made his debut in More Fun
Comics #101. The character moved to Adventure
Comics in 1946, and his own title, Superboy, was
launched in 1949.
 Seventeen animated shorts were produced
between 1941 and 1943 by Fleischer Studios and
Famous Studios.
 In 1948, Superman became a filmed serial,
Superman, with Kirk Alyn becoming the first
actor to portray Superman on screen, followed by
second serial, Atom Man vs. Superman, in 1950.
 In 1951 a television series was commissioned,
Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves,
with the 25th and 26th episodes of the series being
adapted from the theatrical release of the movie
Superman and the Mole Men. The series ran for
104 episodes, from 1952–1958.
 The 1950s saw the launching of the comics,
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen (1954) and
Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane (1958). By 1974
these titles, along with Superboy, had merged into
Superman Family, although the series was
canceled in 1982.
 The Bizarro character created in 1958 is a weird,
imperfect duplicate of Superman. Other members
of Superman's family of characters have borne the
Super- prefix, including Supergirl, Superdog, and
Superwoman.

4.  In 1966, Superman was adapted for
the stage in the Broadway musical
It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's
Superman. Despite good reviews,
the play closed after only 129
performances.
 Superman was again animated,
this time for television, in the series
The New Adventures of Superman.
Sixty-eight shorts were made and
broadcast between 1966 and 1969.
Bud Collyer again provided the
voice for Superman.

5.  From 1973 to 1984, ABC
broadcast the Super Friends
series, this time animated
by Hanna-Barbera.
 In 1978, Superman
returned to cinemas with
director Richard Donner's
Superman, starring
Christopher Reeve as the
title character and Margot
Kidder as Louis Lane. The
film spawned three
sequels in the…

6. Donner’s film spawned three sequels, Superman II
(1980), Superman III (1983) and Superman IV: The
Quest for Peace (1987), along with a spin-off in
1984, titled Supergirl.
In 1986, a decision was taken to restructure the
universe the Superman character inhabited with
other DC characters in the mini-series Crisis on
Infinite Earths, resulting in the publication of
"Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow", a
two-part story written by Alan Moore, writer of
Watchmen and V for Vendetta, with art by Curt
Swan, George Pérez and Kurt Schaffenberger.
Superman was relaunched by writer & artist John
Byrne, initially in the limited series The Man of
Steel (1986). The year 1986 also saw the
cancellation of World's Finest Comics, and the
Superman title renamed The Adventures of
Superman.
In 1988 Superman returned to television in the
Ruby Spears animated series Superman, and
Superboy, a live-action series that ran from 1988
until 1992.

7.  In 1993, Lois & Clark: The New
Adventures of Superman
premiered on the ABC
television network, starring
Dean Cain as Superman and
Teri Hatcher as Lois Lane; the
series ran until 1997.
 Superman: The Animated Series
was produced by Warner Bros.
Animation and aired on The
WB television network from
1996 until 2000.

8.  In 2001, the Smallville television series
was launched, focusing on the
adventures of Clark Kent as a teenager
before he dons the mantle of
Superman; Tom Welling stars as
Clark. The series ended after ten
seasons in May 2011.
 In 2006, X-Men director Bryan Singer
directed Superman Returns starring
Brandon Routh as Superman and Kate
Bosworth as Louis Lane. The film was
presented as a loose sequel to the first
two Christopher Reeve films. Richard
Donner served as producer. Donner
also produced the X-Men trilogy.

9.  A new feature film, Man of Steel, will be
released to theatres on June 14, 2013. The
film will be directed by Zack Snyder,
director of Watchmen, 300, and the 2004
remake of Dawn of the Dead, produced by
Christopher Nolen, director of The Dark
Knight Trilogy and Inception, and
scripted by David S. Goyer, co-writer of
The Dark Knight Trilogy, from a story by
both Nolen and Goyer. It will be a reboot
the Warner Bros. film franchise in a
fashion similar to The Dark Knight
Trilogy.
 Henry Cavill will star as Superman with
Amy Adams as Louis Lane. Cavill had
auditioned and was considered for the
lead role in Superman Returns before the
part was offered to Routh.