Although Superman first appeared in pages of 1938’s Action Comics #1, no single medium could contain the Last Son of Krypton. Within ten years, the Man of Steel started showing up on toy store shelves, in a radio show, and, of course, on the screen. Since the 1948 Republic Pictures serial Superman starring Kirk Alyn, we have always had a human face to go with the world’s first superhero, a tradition that continues today with Tyler Hoechlin in the new Arrowverse series Superman & Lois.
But while we could discuss the individual merits of the many men who have donned the Man of Tomorrow’s signature red trunks, I’d argue that any Superman adaptation is only as good as its supporting cast. Superman stories live and die by their portrayals of ace reporter Lois Lane, Superman’s pal Jimmy Olsen, Daily Planet editor Perry White, and, of course, the diabolic genius Lex Luthor. Instead of ranking the different Clark Kents (Clarks Kent?) and their alter egos, I find it far more interesting to rank the various live-action takes on his supporting cast.
Below are what I consider to be the best live-action versions of Lois, Jimmy, Perry, and Lex. I’ve left off other important characters—particularly Ma and Pa Kent, Jor-El and Lara, and Lana Lang—largely because their portrayals are so uneven. How could I properly judge John Schneider and Annette O’Toole’s many hours as Clark’s parents Jonathan and Martha Kent in Smallville against Edward Cassidy and Virginia Caroll’s 30 seconds of screen time as “Eben” and Martha Kent in 1948’s Superman? For the same reason, I’ve left off Elizabeth Tulloch from Superman & Lois. She seems great in the role of Lois, but it isn’t fair to pit her scant appearances so far against those of other actors.
Also, I need to lay my cards on the table: I adore Superman, but there have been so many variations on the character over the past 80+ years that I need to be more specific as to what I look for in the character. My ideal Superman stories are John Byrne’s Man of Steel, All-Star Superman, and the recent Superman Smashes the Klan. Although I love parts of all the live-action Superman adaptations, so far no one version has fully captured everything I love about Superman and his friends.
Still there? Good! Let’s go up, up, and away and count down into the worst to best versions of Superman’s live-action supporting cast.
Lex Luthor
- Jesse Eisenberg (DCEU) — Okay, I’m going to lose some of you right away, so let’s get this over with. I dislike all of Zack Snyder’s movies, especially those with Superman in them. But the worst part of his very bad Superman movies is, without question, Jesse Eisenberg’s take on Lex Luthor. There’s potential here to update Lex from an early 20th-century mad scientist to a 21st-century villain like Mark Zuckerberg. But Eisenberg’s jittery, manic take is all irritating style and no substance, coming off as the perfect embodiment of the phrase “a dumb person’s idea of a smart person.”
- Scott James Wells (Superboy, Season One) — When telling Superboy stories in the 1980s, it follows that Lex Luthor would not be a mad scientist or a businessman, but the preppy bully from a teen comedy of the area. With his surfer-blond hair and haughty handsomeness, former model Scott James Wells had the perfect look for a young Luthor of the “me generation.” Unfortunately, that’s about all Wells had. As the producers tried to retool the show from teen misadventures to superhero action, Wells’s limited acting chops couldn’t keep up and he was replaced for the series revamp in season two.
- Gene Hackman (Reeve Superman films) — Well, if I didn’t lose you with my Zack Snyder comments above, I’m sure to lose you now. Look, I love Gene Hackman. He is, without question, the greatest actor on this entire list, not only among the Luthor actors. But the fact of the matter is that neither Hackman nor director Richard Donner nor anyone else had any idea what to do with the character. Where Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder could find the right balance between ’40s sci-fi spectacle and ’70s New Hollywood grit, Hackman was utterly lost. He made disastrous decisions throughout all three of his film appearances, attempting goofy comedy in a nasty scene in which Luthor murders a detective, for example, and trying to realistic pathos to Luthor’s boasts about his own criminal genius; tonally, it just doesn’t work.
- Sherman Howard (Superboy, Seasons Two-Four) — Yes, I am putting the guy who played Bub the Zombie over the guy who played Popeye Doyle. Hear me out. Howard not only nailed the over-the-top camp Hackman failed to sell, but he launched it into the stratosphere. It’s clear that Superman producers Ilya and Alexander Salkind wanted a more Hackman-esque version of Luthor for their Superboy series, and Howard took that challenge and ran with it, chewing up every inch of network TV scenery he could find. There was no nuance to his performance. It was all cackling, mustache-twirling evil, and it filled the small screen in a way that no big screen Luthor could ever do.
- Jon Cryer (Arrowverse) — It’s hard not to pull for Jon Cryer, making amends for his turn as Lex’s doofus nephew Lenny in the disastrous Superman IV: The Quest for Peace by taking on the role of Luthor in the Arrowverse. And you know what? It’s a solid take! He’s appropriately sinister and charming when he needs to be, but Cryer never lets us forget the bullied nerd underneath, a man who needs to challenge Superman in order to prove his worth to himself. (Plus, I’m a sucker for those ridiculous disguises.)
Buy the Book
Victories Greater Than Death
- John Shea (Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman) — Right from our first glimpse of the cast, Shea revealed that Lois & Clark was going in a new direction for their Lex Luthor. This guy had hair! More importantly, Shea (even more so than Sherman Howard) followed John Byrne’s revision of the Superman comics, which changed Luthor from a mad scientist to a respected and amoral businessman. Shea played the character with more charisma than genius, making him (for the first time) a potential love interest for Lois and a proper challenge for the show’s hip ’90s Superman.
- Lyle Talbot (Atom Man vs. Superman) — A legendary screen actor with a long career on film and television, Talbot has the honor of being the first person to portray Lex Luthor on screen. He made his debut in 1950’s Atom Man vs. Superman, a fun story about Luthor using an atomic beam (which kind of sounds like the opening of the Looney Tunes theme) to transport and commit crimes throughout Metropolis. Donning an impressive bald cap, Talbot cuts an imposing figure as Luthor, bellowing in his distinctive baritone about his plans to destroy the Man of Steel. Even for audiences who have never seen the character in the comics, Talbot makes us understand immediately why Luthor is Superman’s perpetual archenemy.
- Kevin Spacey (Superman Returns) — Feel free to skip this one, for obvious reasons: The revelations about Kevin Spacey’s behavior and allegations of sexual misconduct are horrifying and should be recognized as such in any discussion of his work, but I can’t deny that, purely as an actor, his performance as Luthor worked well for me in this film. Spacey’s arrogant disinterest nails the tone that Hackman struggled with. He’s properly menacing when he and his thugs terrorize a Kryptonite-weakened Superman, and he’s wonderfully hammy when shouting “WRONG!” at Lois. I wish so sincerely that it wasn’t true, in retrospect, and that Spacey wasn’t involved in a Superman movie (ditto for Bryan Singer), but here we are.
- Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville) — With the possible exception of voice actor Clancy Brown, no actor has so thoroughly captured Lex Luthor like Michael Rosenbaum. Charismatic and broken, sinister and seductive, Rosenbaum made you believe that someone so thoroughly evil could be seen as a hero by most people and could pose a formidable challenge for Superman. No matter how many crazy stories writers would throw at Rosenbaum to satiate the Smallville audience’s appetite for teen drama, he always brought the scene-devouring ham when needed (especially when sharing scenes with John Glover, who played Lex’s father Lionel), as well as genuine tenderness for romantic scenes and a chummy camaraderie with the series’ main cast.
Perry White
- Pierre Watkin (Superman serials) — It’s a little unfair to treat Pierre Watkin harshly for playing what was little more than set dressing in the first two live-action Superman properties. Perry White exists here simply to issue assignments to Lois and Clark, but even by that low standard, Watkin is a non-entity, bringing zero nuance to the role of Superman’s boss.
- Allen Ludden (It’s a Bird…) — Okay, Snyder fans, here’s where I make amends. Sort of. Snyder’s movies are not the worst Superman property ever made. No, that dishonor goes to the 1966 Broadway musical It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman. Granted, I only watched the 1975 TV special, which is by all accounts worse than the stage production, but I can’t imagine any of the show’s mix of ’60s cheese and irreverence for the comics would truly work, regardless of the medium. I mean, they cast game show host Allen Ludden as Perry White, for goodness’ sake. His performance is winky and pleased with itself in all the worst ways.
- Jackie Cooper (Reeve Superman films) — With Cooper, we enter a solid run of “*Shrug*…he’s fine” on the Perry White list. In his four film appearances as Perry, Cooper is befuddled by Clark, exasperated with Lois, and belligerent towards Jimmy. He’s exactly what a gruff newspaper editor in the late ’70s should be, no more and no less. I have to think that Keenan Wynn, Donner’s first choice for the role, would have put some more flavor into the performance, but Cooper isn’t bad. He’s fine!
- Frank Langella (Superman Returns) — Langella is a fantastic screen presence, someone so good that he somehow made Skeletor into a three-dimensional Shakespearean villain. But as Perry White? He’s fine! He fits into Superman Return’s early-2000s milieu without seeming like an anachronism.
- Laurence Fishburne (DCEU) — Laurence Fishburne is the only person in this article who can challenge Gene Hackman’s “all-time greatest actor” in a Superman movie position. He’s especially great at bringing to life seemingly one-note minor characters, whether that be a doomed soldier never getting off of the boat, an orderly in an institution terrorized by Freddy Krueger, or Cowboy Curtis. Fishburne brings those impressive chops to what is essentially a thankless role, as crusading newspaper editors don’t really fit in Snyder’s dyspeptic world of destructive heroes. And you know what? He’s fine!
- Michael McKean (Smallville) — Leave it to a comedy legend to revitalize a classic character. Logic would dictate that big-city editor Perry White shouldn’t show up in Smallville, a series about Clark Kent’s teen years in a tiny Kansas town. But when McKean’s Perry starts drunkenly mocking patrons of a local bar, it all makes sense. This Perry is down-on-his-luck, worn down to nothing by his years as a crusading reporter and so shunned by the journalistic community that an Editor-in-Chief job seems far out of reach. Even as his Perry is bitter and cynical, McKean never lets us forget the energetic reporter he once was and the principled newspaperman he will become. McKean’s never better than his first appearance on the show, season three’s “Perry,” but he’s a delight every time he drops into Smallville.
- Lane Smith (Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman) — Of all the characters reimagined for this romance-heavy version of Superman, Lane Smith’s Perry White feels the truest to the comics. Yes, he loves Elvis and bumbles along with the Superman/Lois/Clark love triangle, but he’s still what you would expect from Perry White: a lovable grouch who has no tolerance for absent reporters…unless they bring him the story of the year. Equal parts tyrant and teddy bear, Smith effectively brought Perry White into the 1990s without losing any of his late-’30s charm.
- John Hamilton (The Adventures of Superman) — There’s no question here. In Superman’s first appearances, the editor of the Daily Star (not the Daily Planet) was even less of a character than the guy Pierre Watkin played. Julian Noa, the first actor to play the role on the radio, gave some basic contours to the man, but it’s John Hamilton who made Perry White into Perry White. Not only did Hamilton perfect the balance of the tough-but-lovable boss, but he also established Perry’s signature catch-phrases, barking “Don’t call me chief!” at Jimmy and exclaiming with surprise, “Great Caesar’s ghost!” Since John Hamilton’s turn as Perry White, every actor who followed is just trying to emulate John Hamilton.
Jimmy Olsen
- Mehcad Brooks (Supergirl) — Brooks plays one of the most supportive and compelling characters in Supergirl. An infinitely patient friend to Kara, Brooks’s character remains empathetic and caring even when he’s recounting his troubled youth or putting on a mask as the superhero Guardian. So why is he in the bottom slot here? Because he’s a handsome and confident journalist who hangs out with Supergirl, not an awkward nerdy photographer palling around with Superman! As is often the case with Supergirl characters (especially members of my beloved Legion of Super-Heroes), James Olsen is Jimmy in name only. (Also, Brooks is at the bottom because I’m going to pretend that murdered CIA agent Jimmy Olsen from Batman v. Superman never existed).
- Aaron Ashmore (Smallville) — As a fan of the X-Men movies, I was pretty excited when Ashmore showed up on Smallville (it took a while for me to figure out that his twin brother Shawn played Ice Man, not Aaron). Unfortunately, where McKean figured out how to bring the comic book character into the show’s teen drama milieu, Ashmore got lost in the show’s pre-CW style. His Jimmy served the show’s various romantic plotlines well, but gone was the pluck and charm of Superman’s pal. And thanks to Smallville’s timeline shenanigans, turns out he isn’t even the real Jimmy!
- Justin Whalen (Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, seasons 2-4) — There’s nothing inherently wrong with Whalen’s performance as the second actor to be cast as Jimmy in season two of Lois & Clark. His Jimmy is a nice kid, an affable tag-along for the central couple’s adventures. But even when Jimmy got a more central storyline, those adventures lacked the campiness of the superhero action or the fun of the romance.
- Sam Huntington (Superman Returns) — Jimmy Olsen isn’t a character that makes much sense in the 2000s. Cub reporters don’t exist anymore. Heck, newspapers hardly exist, at least not in the way they once did. So while Huntington doesn’t get much to do in Superman Returns, it’s pretty impressive that he feels like classic Jimmy Olsen without seeming like a total anachronism in a movie set in 2004.
- Tommy Bond (Superman Serials) — Bond certainly brought the right energy to his portrayal of Jimmy in the 1940s serials. Earnest and eager, Bond’s Jimmy always showed up to lend support to Lois and witness Superman’s amazing feats. However, at the age of 22 in Superman, the former Little Rascals star feels a little too old and way too physically big to play a teen sidekick. Not only does Bond have a physicality that feels wrong for Jimmy, but he towers over Lois and almost looks Kirk Alyn’s Superman in the eye. As a result, Jimmy feels a bit like the “large adult son” meme, a grown-up acting like a kid.
- Michael Landes (Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, season one) — Of all the characters needing an update for Lois & Clark, Jimmy Olsen posed the greatest challenge. A bowtie-wearing reporter-in-training with a Superman watch didn’t fit in the glamorous world of ’90s adult soap operas. Putting his Generation X spin on Superman’s pal, Landes fit the bill. His Jimmy provided some much-needed snark to the glitzy proceedings, but he never lost Olsen’s fundamentally good nature. Sadly, producers deemed Landes too old to play the teen sidekick to Lois & Clark, and he was replaced after one season.
- Jack Larson (Adventures of Superman) — Although Jimmy was far more fleshed out in comics and radio than his boss, Jack Larson defined the role as much as John Hamilton defined Perry White. Although he was already 23 when the show premiered and 30 when new episodes halted production, Larson had a childish spirit that endeared the character to the Daily Planet staff. When I think of Jimmy Olsen, it’s Jack Larson who first comes to mind.
- Marc McClure (Reeve Superman films) — If Larson’s so iconic, why does Marc McClure get the top spot? Because McClure had the harder task. TV audiences in the ’50s could believe a teenage kid might be palling around with Superman and shooting pictures for the Daily Planet. That’s a much harder sell in 1979, and yet McClure made it work. He’s particularly great at the end of Superman: The Movie, as his “aw shucks” energy brings back anyone turned off by the “flying around the world” climax and sells them on the movie’s triumphant final moments. His version may not be iconic, but Marc McClure was the first Jimmy for many moviegoers.
Lois Lane
- Lesley Ann Warren (It’s a Bird…) — Remember how great Lesley Ann Warren is in Clue? Yeah, just try to focus on that if you’re ever faced with this musical, watching her reduce one of the greatest characters in pop culture to a flirty ditz, running through the Daily Planet newsroom trilling, “Scoop! Scoop!”
- Kate Bosworth (Superman Returns) — Outside of those who are reprehensible human beings in real life, Bosworth’s Lois is one of the worst parts of Superman Returns. As much as Bryan Singer tried to ape the tone of Richard Donner’s Superman movies, he totally missed the mark with Bosworth, who comes across with zero screen presence, here. Sure, maybe a Lois Lane abandoned by her ex, absentee-father Superman, would be a little less peppy than Margot Kidder, but she should at least have some sort of presence. Bosworth’s Lois is a black hole in the middle of the film.
- Phyllis Coates (Adventures of Superman) — While later portrayals of Lois Lane would emphasize her aggressive and cutting nature, Coates found a world-weariness in Superman’s best gal. Already a seasoned reporter, nothing shocks Coates’s Lane, and she has little time to suffer fools. This approach sometimes came off as lackadaisical, as if Lois couldn’t even bother to be worried about the plot of the story she was currently in. But when the time came for reacting to danger, Coates had a scream to rival the final girl of any ’80s slasher flick, and her chemistry with George Reeves’ guileless Clark Kent made for compelling human drama.
- Amy Adams (DCEU) — On paper, Amy Adams is an ideal Lois Lane. Not only is she one of the best actresses in the business, but she also already effectively played a version of Lois with her Hepburn-esque take on Amelia Earhart in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. Unfortunately, Snyder has almost nothing interesting for Adams to do, limiting her role to that of a talisman to bring Superman back from Lazarus Pit insanity. She does nail the few good lines she gets (“Well, here it’s an ‘S’…” for example, but one can’t help but wish that she had a meatier role.
- Erica Durance (Smallville) — Durance is exactly how I picture a young Lois Lane to be. She’s still principled and driven, a little world-weary already, and she knows what she likes when she gets a glimpse of Superman’s bare butt. She also falls for the better TV version of Oliver Queen! But at the end of the day, Durance is playing teen/young adult Lois instead of Lois fully formed, which is an inherently less interesting character, thus the lower ranking.
- Teri Hatcher (Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman) — On paper, making a romantic comedy centering on the Superman/Lois/Clark love triangle sounds like a potentially terrible idea. Where Lois came right out of the gate in Action Comics #1 as a tough, independent woman, she too often became a lovestruck girlfriend in her own comics. Certainly, some aspects of the heart-eyed Lois do return in Hatcher’s performance. But she never loses the dignity of the character, always making Lois the type of woman to fluster a Man of Steel.
- Noelle Neil (Adventures of Superman) — Commentators (rightly) praise Margot Kidder for her ’70s feminist version of Lois, but it’s important to remember that the character started out that way. Sure, she was quickly softened and needed to be reclaimed by actresses like Hatcher and Kidder, but we cannot forget that Noelle Neil gave us a great Lois from the start. With an icy stare stronger than Superman’s laser vision and a voice that cut with conviction, Neil’s Lois established the key ingredient of the central Superman love triangle. When she played the character, audiences immediately understood why Superman loved her.
- Margot Kidder (Reeve Superman films) — Of course it’s Margot Kidder! People often cite Christopher Reeve’s performance as the definitive Superman, but Kidder is just as iconic. Lois Lane must be the person who inspires Superman, someone who is just as brave and principled as the Man of Steel, just without his awesome superpowers. Kidder’s performance is bold, authentic, and funny. She’s the perfect Lois Lane, the kind of person that Superman aspires to be.
***
I’m sure many of you have already made it to the comments to tell me I’m wrong about Zack Snyder or that I’m disrespecting Hackman. But where else was I wrong? Am I being too mean to Bosworth? Too nice to McClure? Should I have given my Superman rankings too? (What’s the point? Christopher Reeve is the best. No one else is close).
Joe George’s writing regularly appears at Bloody Disgusting and Think Christian. He collects his work at joewriteswords.com and tweets nonsense from @jageorgeii.
reCaptcha Error: grecaptcha is not defined
I was a teenager when Lois & Clark was airing. So teenager + hormones + Teri Hatcher…well, nobody else really has a shot. Teri Hatcher is my favorite Lois Lane.
I would definitely go with Clancy Brown as the best Lex simply because he stood out in an animated series for his voice work. Arguble outside of Mark Hamill and Arlene Sorkin, and considering just the series Batman: The Animated Adventures, Superman: the Animated Series, and the two Justice League series, how many villains conveyed so much and so consistently?
On the Alex front I’ve got to go Rosenbaum #1 and Cryer (to my surprise) #2. I usually love Eisenberg’s work, but in any list of Lexes he is solid last. I actually thought he’d been told he was playing the Joker.
I agree with almost everything you say, with my only violent disagreement being Mehcad Brooks’s low rating, because what Brooks absolutely sells is a Jimmy Olsen who has spent many years being known primarily as “Superman’s Pal,” and he’s trying (and often failing) to come out of that shadow and be his own person. It’s a perfect new take on the character, particularly for a show that takes place in Superman’s milieu but doesn’t feature the Man of Steel himself.
I also don’t entirely agree with ranking Kidder so high, but I get why people like her portrayal so much. I just found her maddeningly ineffective and given too many doofy characteristics done to soften her and make her less “women’s lib-ish” in 1978……
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
I agree with you about the two worst Luthors, but I’d rank Sherman Howard and Jon Cryer right up at the top with Michael Rosenbaum. Howard was okay in Superboy season 2, but in the far superior seasons 3-4, which went beyond the campy adventure of the first two seasons and delved more deeply into Superboy’s and Lex’s psyches than any previous screen production, Howard did some truly magnificent work. Check out his stump speech to his alternate-timeline followers in “Roads Not Taken, Part 1” — it’s staggeringly good.
As for Spacey, I never found him impressive, as Luthor or in any other role. I know how that sounds in retrospect, to say “I never liked him” about a disgraced actor, but fortunately I have proof that I felt that way before he was disgraced: https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/full-story-for-bryan-singers-planned-superman-returns-sequel-revealed.133489/page-6#post-4589775
Perry White: I think you’re giving far too little credit to Julian Noa; John Hamilton was following the template Noa so vividly established on radio.
I think both Langella and Fishburne were poorly served by their material. Langella, like all the actors in Returns, was apparently directed to play everything as sedately and understatedly as possible. It’s like the whole cast is on tranquilizers, and it makes for kind of a dull movie. As for Fishburne, his performance is fine, but I hate the way Batman v Superman y tu Wonder Woman Tambien completely misrepresents Perry, twisting what should be the iconic paragon of journalistic integrity into a mercenary tabloid hack who only cares about sensationalism and ratings. It’s far more offensive than having Superman snap Zod’s neck, since at least Superman felt bad about it.
Jimmy Olsen: In defense of Mehcad Brooks, the perception of Jimmy Olsen as “nerdy” is mainly a creation of Jack Larson. Jimmy as created on radio was meant to be cool, not nerdy. He was an identification figure for the radio show’s young audience, someone they were supposed to fantasize about being, in the same way Robin was in Batman comics. And he went on all sorts of wild adventures and was sometimes more the star of the show than Superman was. And in the ’50s comics, Jimmy came into his own as an adventurer and sometime superhero himself. By the ’70s, he’d evolved into an acclaimed investigative journalist and TV personality, one of the most admired newsmen in the world. Supergirl‘s portrayal of the mature James Olsen is derived from that evolved version of the character in the comics, not the “nerdy kid” version that the movies and later TV shows (and comics Crises rebooting reality) kept reverting him to.
By the way, Marc McClure was the first version of Jimmy that defined him as a photographer rather than a cub reporter (or originally a copyboy on radio and early comics, a runner who took copy from reporters’ desks to the printers). Maybe that’s part of the updating of the role you were talking about.
Tommy Bond deserves credit for one thing: He’s the only live-action Jimmy Olsen with the character’s trademark red hair. Except he was in black and white.
As for Lois, I’d rate Phyllis Coates higher than Amy Adams. With Adams, like Spacey, I just don’t get why people are so impressed with her as an actor. She’s blandly pleasant, that’s all. But I could say the same about Kate Bosworth (who at least had the advantage of being sublimely gorgeous).
I’m so pleased that you went with Margot Kidder as the #1 Lois. I mean, it’s not even close.
“Snyder has almost nothing interesting for Adams to do, limiting her role to that of a talisman to bring Superman back from Lazarus Pit insanity.”
Whedon was responsible for the reshoots that reduced Lois Lane’s role in Justice League.
Whenever I watch the scene between Lois and Martha in Justice League, I find myself thinking, “Man, Diane Lane would’ve been an awesome Lois.”
Has there ever been a version of Superman where Jimmy is the cool guy with a girlfriend and Clark is shy and nerdy and envious of Jimmy? I think that would be funny.
@8 – My first thought when Man of Steel came out was, “When the heck did Diane Lane become old enough to play Martha Kent?”
@9/Benny: I don’t think so, because Jimmy’s traditionally been portrayed as a teenager or at most a college-age youth, a decade or more Clark’s junior. So Clark wouldn’t see him as a contemporary or a rival.
Sounds like a rewrite is in order then.
@11 There was some muddleness in one of the recent DC reboots where Jimmy and Clark were roommates, I think, and they bonded over geekiness (video games and genre stuff). Don’t think it was well established, though there was some interesting material there.
I think what HAS struck is that he’s now from wealth (and his family has bought the Daily Planet).
Definitely there ianc@3 and ChristopherLBennett@5 that this list underrates Jon Cryer. Despite the doofy beard, Cryer has charisma. He’s fun to watch chew the scenery, which is honestly more than I can say for Hackman.
Hackman’s Luthor is funny but not very menacing. In fact, I’d say he starts to hurt Superman: The Movie when he’s introduced. If he’s so smart, how come he can’t find helpers smarter than Otis and Ms. Tessmacher?
Eisenberg’s Luthor, while younger and more manic, is actually quite faithful.
Hides his evil behind a respectable facade? Yes.
Has his fingers in science, politics and the media? Yes.
Can’t stand the idea of anyone or anything more powerful than he is? Yes.
Manipulates other people to get what he wants? Yes.
Likes to don a white lab coat and do some mad science? Yes.
Used to have long red hair when he was younger? Yes.
Lost his hair because of Superman? Indirectly.
To me, the biggest difference is menace. Apart from his threat to kill innocent people to draw Superman out, I don’t get that from Hackman. Eisenberg shows how ruthless he is in the Capitol bombing. In the span of a few minutes he kills Kahina, Senator Finch and Wallace, as well as his own bodyguard Mercy, just to make Superman look bad before the eyes of the world. He is truly merciless.
@14/David_Goldfarb: Oh, I thought Hackman was terrific. It’s not his fault that the Salkinds’ version of Luthor is such a mediocre villain. (I feel that Robert Vaughn’s Ross Webster in Superman III made a far better Lex Luthor.) But Cryer, like Howard in seasons 3-4 of Superboy and Rosenbaum in the early seasons of Smallville, has the best of both worlds — a terrific performance and excellent character writing. The Lex Luthor that Cryer gets to play is the most authentic screen depiction I’ve seen of the mature, villainous Lex, capturing all the facets of what drives him.
@5: Amy Adams did an outstanding job in Arrival. Of course, that movie had a better script and a much better director but I don’t think she’s overrated as an actor.
Amy Adams is also outstanding in Catch Me If You Can and Enchanted.
@17/Nik: There’s no accounting for taste, and different people find different things appealing. I won’t try to tell anyone else they’re wrong to be impressed by Amy Adams; she just doesn’t impress me. I find her completely inoffensive, but not at all compelling.
Most of the rankings are ok but I have to put Sherman Howard up higher. He is the only actor I remember from the Superboy show. The one episode that really showed off his greatness for me is Mine Games where Superboy and Luther are trapped in a mine cave in and Luther has a piece of kyrptonite.
@20/ra_bailey: “Mine Games” is fantastic, probably the best episode of Superboy‘s best season — and Sherman Howard didn’t just act in it, he wrote it.
It was a marvelous illustration of how season 3-4 made the most of their really tight budget by using bottle-episode formats to tell stories that really delved into character and ideas. Trap Superboy and Lex in a cave for 20 minutes, force them to really talk for the first time ever — it was so much more intense than their usual conflicts. The only thing that would’ve improved it was if the show’s versions of Superboy and Lex had had a history of friendship like other versions, which would’ve added a layer of poignancy. (They were perfectly happy to ignore the whole “Scott Wells Luthor got plastic surgery to look like Sherman Howard” business with season 3’s alternate-universe stories where every version of Lex looked like Howard, but apparently retconning in a Lex-Superboy friendship was too much for them.)
I would’ve given a lot to see Clancy Brown as a live action Lex Luthor.
About the John Shea version of Lex, the writers did one thing spectacularly well in the pilot: it was the first time I understood why Lex was so obsessed with Superman. Lex needed to be higher than everyone else, literally and figuratively. It wasn’t that Superman defeated his plan. It was that afterward, Superman TAUNTS Lex by telling the man living in Metropolis’ tallest building to look UP.
The worst Lex Luthor is either Jeff Bezos or Sen. Rick Scott.
What about the new Lex Luthor in the new Superman series? I just can’t get him as a black man trying to kill Superman. Do we have to make every hero/villain diversified these days? Sorry if this upsets some people but I grew up with Superman in the 50s and 60s and I wish we could go back to the golden age of comics again.
@24/Hal Jenner: “These days?” Eartha Kitt played Catwoman in 1967-8. Billy Dee Williams played Harvey Dent in 1989. Dean Cain (1/4 Japanese) played Superman in 1993-7.
If you want “the golden age of comics,” take a look at this Superman poster from 1949:
You didn’t lose me on Eisenberg — Snyder doesn’t understand the character of Lex any more than any of the other figures in those movies — but you lost me on Cryer. While I agree that it was good of him to try and make up for Lenny, he was (just like Eisenberg) trapped in a terrible story that demonstrates contempt for its characters and source material.
The stinger of the previous season promised us a Supergirl version of Red Son. What we got instead was a ham-fisted racism metaphor done so incredibly poorly that it spent most of the season unwittingly making the evil racists look like good guys who had a very legitimate point and solidly underscoring just how harmful the “heroes” had been to countless ordinary people they were supposed to be protecting. And then all of a sudden they throw Lex in there out of nowhere, pulling everyone’s strings from behind the scenes, just to prove that they were evil all along, and the Red Daughter stuff was an anticlimax tossed in more as an afterthought than anything. Between all that garbage and the completely unjustifiable degradation of Lena’s character, I’d prefer to just believe that entire season never happened.
As for Amy Adams, I totally agree. She was easily the best part of Man of Steel (I know, I know, low bar to clear and all that,) but afterwards her character completely fell apart. I don’t think this was Adams’s fault; she just had utter crap writing to work from. (Look at how BvS turns her from an awesome, competent reporter into a serial damsel in distress who bumbles her way into having to be saved by Superman again and again because she’s Just That Dumb. That was even more painful to watch than “Martha!”)
Hi Joe,
I just wanted to say that the use of the word “dumb” seems rude to the folks who are unable to talk, when speaking of intelligence.
Would it not be better to simply use the word ‘stupid’.
I see this too often. Even John Scalzi does it – one of my favourite authors!
@26/Mason Wheeler: I see Cryer’s Supergirl turn totally differently — the story may have had its flaws, but I’ve never seen Lex Luthor’s character captured onscreen so perfectly in all its dimensions. There have been other superb Luthors — Sherman Howard’s version, Clancy Brown’s, Michael Rosenbaum’s — but they tended to emphasize some aspects of the character more than others.
One other aspect of Cryer’s Luthor, and it relates to Reeve’s Superman portrayal. There’s a sense of joy or enjoyment at least. Cryer is loving playing Luthor and I really think it comes through in his portrayal. I know actors should be invisible, but when an actor clearly enjoys the role they are in to a high degree, it pulls me into the performance much more.
Lane Smith’s Perry White is the winner for me. He not only was convincing, but he sort of modernized Perry’s usual “Great Caesar’s Ghost!” into “Great Shades of Elvis!” and it really worked on 10 year old me. He was THE Perry White for me.
I don’t think there’s been a good Jimmy Olson on screen, ever. No one gets he’s supposed to be the audience stand-in after the radio years. He became his own character, sure, but I think a Superman film with him as more the focus and keeping him kind of a normal teen/college kid working in journalism would work well.
No argument on Lois at all, though I do think our newest Lois will be making a run for the top after she’s had some time to shine.
I agree with those who name Clancy Brown as the Best Luthor. And let us never forget the monumental meeting of two Luthors when Clancy Brown’s Luthor exchanged bodies with Michael Rosenbaum’s flash.
This scene produced the two greatest lines on all of DC’s video history. Brown pulling off the Flash’s mask to discover the hero’s secret identity only to discover “I have no idea who this is.”
Then Rosenbaum, coming to terms with being in Luthor’s body in a rest room, is finally ready to leave, exits the stall and heads to the door. Dr. Polaris asks if he’s going to wash his hands, and he responds; “No, because I’m evil.”
It just doesn’t get any better than that.
Re: Jon Cryer, yeah, Clancy Brown will always be the definitive Luthor for me thanks to the DCAU.
But Cryer’s definitely become my favorite live-action Lex in a long, long time. And the irony is that the casting on paper shouldn’t work. But Cryer’s performance and the writing was a perfect storm. I’m really hoping he pops up on Superman and Lois either later in Season One or come Season Two.
@@.-@ – I found myself nodding along to everything you were saying. Brooks’ Jimmy was an excellent character that the writers didn’t know how to utilize.
In addition, my top 3 Luthors are Brown, Cryer, Rosenbaum. And for characterization, I’d rank Kidder lower than Adams; I just wish she’d had more to do. Thankfully they seem to be doing better with Tulloch- we’ll see how that pans out.
I’m definitely in the group that puts Eisenberg dead last in the Luthor rankings; he came across to me as a whiny teenager, emphasis on “whiny” – and that’s the absolute last quality you want in a plausible Lex. I haven’t yet had a good enough look at Cryer to form a reasoned opinion, but what I’ve seen is at least interesting. I do think his performance has some resonances with John Shea’s, which is interesting – and as I’ve said before, Shea is one of my two favorite live-action Luthors alongside Rosenbaum.
Aside to #27: I’m disinclined to fault people for using “dumb” in its commonly understood meaning – but that may be because I had understood the more appropriate term for those with a vocal issue of that kind to be “mute”, and so would never use “dumb” in the context of a speech disability, precisely because of the potential negative connotation.
@29/MatthewAbel: “I don’t think there’s been a good Jimmy Olson on screen, ever. No one gets he’s supposed to be the audience stand-in after the radio years.”
I think Lois & Clark‘s Michael Landes was excellent as Jimmy. He was true to the idea that Jimmy was supposed to be a cool, enthusiastic, likeable kid, not a feckless nerd. I hated it when they replaced him with the profoundly dull Justin Whalin.
“No argument on Lois at all, though I do think our newest Lois will be making a run for the top after she’s had some time to shine.”
I do like Tulloch in the role, though you’re right, it’s too early to tell where she ranks compared to excellent Loises (Loes?) like Hatcher, Durance, and of course Dana Delany, who for me is at the top of the list.
@33/John: You’re right; etymologically speaking, it appears that the root words of “dumb” have always intertwined the concepts of speechlessness and mindlessness, treating them as inseparable:
https://www.etymonline.com/word/dumb#etymonline_v_15983
So using it to mean “mute” is intrinsically insulting. Better, then, to save it for accusations of stupidity, where at least it’s insulting on purpose. ;)
“Gene Hackman (Reeves Superman films)”
Reeve.
“Jackie Cooper (Reeves Superman films)”
Reeve.
“Marc McClure (Reeves Superman films)”
Reeve.
It pains me deeply when people do this.
As for rankings: Lex = Rosenbaum (with Cryer a VERY close second); Perry = Smith; Jimmy = Larson; Lois = Adams (though Tulloch is coming up fast).
@35–corrected to “Reeve”, thanks.
@24: I’m all for stuff bringing in material and concepts from Superman: TAS and JLA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTfiXcN7-NY
And it’s twenty-five years old at this point, which I think probably puts it beyond ‘these days’ sorts of complaints.
@37/foamy: If your intent is to imply that Superman: TAS‘s Lex Luthor was meant to be black, that’s a common misconception. He was modeled on Telly Savalas as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
On the other hand, the Lex Luthor in the Harley Quinn animated series (played by Giancarlo Esposito) is definitely black.
[DCAU Luthor] was modeled on Telly Savalas as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
Yeah, and Timm’s explanation for that Bond influence was always an interesting bit of trivia:
“[Clancy Brown] was like the perfect Luthor to me. Clancy just had this thing—in my mind, I always saw […] Luthor as being like Telly Savalas [as villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld] in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, one of my favorite James Bond movies, […where he, in essence, portrayed Blofeld as] a cultured thug. He was basically like this bruiser who wanted to be taken seriously and wanted to be […] treated like a baron and I thought that was like a good way to treat Luthor. [Luthor] is rich and powerful and kind of elegant, but at the same time—just barely beneath the surface—he’s a brute. There was something in Clancy’s delivery during his audition that reminded me of Telly, so it was just serendipity; Clancy just nailed it—the voice that I had in my head. It was no contest at that point.”
Disliking “all of Zack Snyder’s movies, especially those with Superman in them,” actually hooked me in to the article, because I’m with you 100%.
@29, regarding Jimmy as stand-in for the audience, it might be interesting to approach the story from his point of view, and really embrace it. I for one would really enjoy seeing an extremely relatable character befriend both the awkward nerdy Clark as well as the heroic man of steel, allowing him to tie the two characters together for us.
@40/Ron: Whereas I’ve always thought it would be cool to see a Superman movie told entirely from Lois Lane’s point of view as she investigates the mystery of this new alien superhero while competing for the story with her new rival Clark Kent.
@42,
Ooh, that sounds like a neat spin on a Superman film. I’d love to see it tried.
@34
I’ll have to watch some Lois and Clark again. I dont remember much outside of Luthor and the main duo (and Lane Smith). Happy to be wrong!
@joe and Tor: Good article, but in future would really appreciate such lists to be accompanied by photos or better still embedded YouTube clips for each individual. Would require a little more work of course, but the article would be so much better, especially since few readers are likely to be properly acquainted with every iteration of these characters.
Christopher Reeve is undoubtedly the best Superman, period (especially in the first two Donner films, third was fine and less said about the fourth the better). Unfortunately he set such a high bar that it makes it next to impossible for anyone taking up the cape to live up to, leave alone surpass.
I completely agree with @@.-@; never warmed to Margot Kidder’s Lois and wouldn’t rank her so high. Also, this sounds shallow but I always thought a better and more beautiful actress should have gotten such an iconic role. Probably budget constraints prevented it (although in Reeve’s case they really lucked out).
@23: LOL!
@44/Dave: While there have been some truly lovely Loises over the decades (Hatcher, Durance, Bosworth, Tulloch), I think the most important defining trait for the character is her attitude and toughness, and Margot Kidder had that down pat. (“You’ve got me? Who’s got you?!”) Bosworth was the most sublimely beautiful Lois of all, but certainly the blandest and most miscast of them all.
Snyder’s Superman always struck me as such a downer until the Snyder cut of JLA. It finally looked like the antidepressants were kicking in. I am betting we won’t see the sequels that should have come from that though. Weddon pretty much tanked that series.
Tyler Houghlin is doing all right with it on the CW, but it is definitely a much more human take on the character at the moment. Not quite the apple pie version of Reeve, Routh and even mournfully introspective Cavill.
@45/CLB: I agree completely with what @4/krad said. I get why Kidder is ranked so high by many, but I would have loved to see a better looking, equally feisty yet overall better actress having portraying Lois opposite the perfectly cast Reeve. Honestly, nothing is as unconvincing as Reeve’s Superman supposedly being so head over heels in love with Kidder’s Lois that he literally turned back time for her.
Unfortunately I don’t have much of an idea about Kidder’s contemporaries to muse about a better alternative. Anyone has any suggestions?
@47/Dave: I know that Stockard Channing was a runner-up for the role, or at least tested for it; her screen test with Reeve is available as a DVD bonus feature somewhere. I don’t know how you’d rate her looks, but personality-wise I think she could’ve pulled it off.