‘Superman’ Movies: Watch Order & Ranked Best to Worst

Few superheroes hold the stature and notoriety afforded to Superman, DC Comics’ iconic caped champion. When Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster created the red-yellow-and-blue clad character with his unmistakable logo — the letter “S” overlaid on a diamond shape — they also gave rise to the most common superhero archetype ever devised: the every-day civilian who hides their superpowers until they’re needed, donning a cape and adopting a pseudonym to conceal their identity as they take the fight to evil everywhere.

Superman has become a household name and is now near synonymous with the concepts of heroism, altruism and righteousness. His popularity really took off when the long-running Superman film franchise began hitting theaters in the late 1970s.

To date, there have been 11 Superman movies released that are considered mainline cannon films, and the next entry James Gunn’s Superman, is set to hit U.S. theaters on July 11, 2025.

If you’re ready to explore the entire Superman cinematic universe before the new movie drops, we’ve got your back: Here’s the ultimate guide to watching Superman movies, from 1978’s Superman: The Movie to 2021’s Zach Snyder’s Justice League.

And, you can watch the Man of Steel in action right on DIRECTV! Don’t have DIRECTV yet? Signing up today is easy!

Superman Movies in Chronological Order (Release Date)

The Superman movies can generally be broken up into three distinct eras: the Christopher Reeve era (1978-1987), the Brandon Routh era (2006), and the Henry Cavill/Zach Synder era (2013-2021).

The upcoming film marks the beginning of the James Gunn era. Gunn has plenty of experience working on superhero movies, both with the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe. He directed all of the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy films plus the Guardians holiday special and DC’s The Suicide Squad (2021). He was an executive producer on Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and he’ll also be directing the upcoming film Supergirl in 2026.

Here’s all of the Superman movies in order.

WARNING: SUPERMAN MOVIE SPOILERS AHEAD

‘Superman: The Movie’ (1978)

Christopher Reeve is undoubtedly the most recognizable face of Superman in film, and 1978’s Superman: The Movie is where he made his debut as the Man of Steel. It’s also considered one of the earliest examples of the modern superhero genre.

Superman: The Movie features Superman’s origin story: He survives the destruction of his home planet, Krypton, and arrives on Earth in the suburb of Smallville. He is adopted by human parents is raised as Clark Kent, developing the powerful abilities that become his calling card as he grows up. As an adult, Superman battles the evil Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) to stop his plan to destroy California, then flies around the planet at extreme speeds to reverse time and save his love, Lois Lane (Margaret Kidder.)

Marlon Brando also appears in the film, playing Superman’s biological father, Jor-El.

‘Superman II’ (1981)

Superman II introduces one of the franchise’s other most well-known villains: Zod, a rogue Kryptonian general who possesses powers similar to Superman’s own, making him one of the Man of Steel’s archenemies.

In the film, Superman decides to give up his powers to be with Lois. Unbeknownst to him, a hydrogen bomb that he lobbed off of Earth had detonated close to the Phantom Zone, a Kryptonian prison, and released Zod and his lackies. When the villains take over the White House and force the United States to surrender, Superman restores his powers and works to defeat them.

Superman: The Movies’ director, Richard Donner, was replaced halfway through the filming of Superman II, and a “Donner cut” version of the film was released in 2006. Many consider both versions to be one of the greatest superhero movies ever made.

‘Superman III’ (1983)

This film introduced the now-familiar concept of corrupted, evil versions of Superman. The plot revolves around a talented computer scientist who is roped into a sinister billionaire’s self-enrichment plots. After Superman foils the billionaire’s plans, he has the scientist create a synthetic version of Kryptonite, which corrupts Superman and splits him into a good version and an evil version of himself.

Though Superman III is typically considered one of the franchise’s weaker entries, it’s also one of the more innovative films: It includes some impressive special effects and wire work, and the idea of Superman fighting himself was novel at the time, and the film was originally titled Superman vs. Superman.

‘Superman IV: The Quest for Peace’ (1987)

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is widely considered the worst Superman film made to date and marked the end of the Christopher Reeve era.

Superman commits himself to ridding the world of all nuclear weapons, while archnemesis Lex Luthor uses Superman’s own DNA to create a solar-powered warrior named Nuclear Man. Superman battles Nuclear Man to save New York City by creating a solar eclipse and trapping him in a nuclear power plant to convert him to electric energy.

Superman IV was Reeve’s last appearance as Superman: In 1995, he was paralyzed from the neck after being thrown from a horse in a riding accident.

‘Superman Returns’ (2006)

It took nearly two decades after the release of Superman IV for the world to see the Man of Steel on the big screen again.

Superman Returns is best viewed as an attempt to erase the memory of the third and fourth films of the Reeve era. It follows the Man of Steel as he returns to Earth after a five-year trip to survey the ruins of Krypton, only to find that Lois has moved on from him and started a family. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor (with Kevin Spacey replacing Gene Hackman in the role) escapes from jail (again) and hatches a plot to create a new continent made entirely of Kyptonite.

Brandon Routh, who played Superman in this film, was chosen because of his resemblance to Reeve, an homage to the late actor’s legendary time in the role. The film was generally well-received, though it grossed far less than it cost to make.

‘Man of Steel’ (2013)

Man of Steel ushered in the Henry Cavill era, putting the “King of the Nerds” into the fabled Kryptonian’s spandex and cape.

Man of Steel was Zack Snyder’s first foray into — and the first official film of — the DC Cinematic Universe, DC’s response to the wildly popular Marvel Cinematic Universe of superhero movies. It’s a straight reboot of the original Superman films, featuring Superman’s origin story from the first movie and the villain General Zod from the second, who tries to geo-engineer Earth into a replacement for Krypton.

Man of Steel is the top-grossing Superman film of all time, pulling in $670 million at the box office, and featured an A-list cast including Amy Adams (as Lois Lane) and including Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Lawrence Fishburne and Michael Shannon. Still, the film was criticized for its excessive violence and somewhat emotionally muted tone.

‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ (2016)

This movie promised the showdown every superhero movie fan had been craving: Superman takes on the Caped Crusader of Gotham City, Batman. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice set the stage for the DCU’s planned supergroup movie, Justice League, and introduced Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor.

The story focuses on Batman’s unease with Superman’s growing unrivaled power and his attempts to neutralize the Man of Steel. The clash is a juxtaposition of Batman’s mortality and reliance on advanced technology and Superman’s unearthly powers. Luthor, who stokes the schism between the two heroes, eventually unleashes Doomsday, a grossly mutated version of General Zod from Man of Steel, forcing the Justice League’s three founding members to team up and address the greater threat.

Though highly anticipated prior to its release, this entry mostly fell flat with fans, who again took issue with the new Superman films’ overly dark tone, half-baked plot lines and the dour, jaded attitude that the typically optimistic Superman adopts for much of the movie.

‘Justice League’ (2017)

Justice League was supposed to be the DCU’s response to Marvel’s Avengers movies but, like Superman II, a mid-production director switch caused major problems during filming. Zack Snyder quit the film halfway through and was replaced with Joss Whedon (Avengers, Firefly, Serenity). This resulted in a significant tone shift in the Cavill era compared to its previous two films and caused the story to feel rushed and disjointed at times.

The story centers on the formation of the Justice League — a supergroup composed of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman (Jason Momoa), The Flash (Ezra Miller) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) — and their battle with Steppenwolf, a demonic alien warlord who attempts to conquer Earth.

‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’ (2021)

Despite Snyder’s premature departure from the production of Justice League, many suspected he had put enough time into filming to produce a director’s cut, similar to how Superman II’s “Donner Cut” was released in 2005. Turns out, they were right, and in 2021 Warner Bros. released Zack Snyder’s Justice League on HBO Max.

Though this version is not considered canonical to the DCU’s main movies, the four-hour-long film was much better received by fans. The Snyder cut included significantly more detail on the main character’s backstories and subplots.

‘Black Adam’ (2022)

Black Adam features the origin story of the eponymous antihero, Black Adam. This film marks both Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s entry into the DCU and Henry Cavill’s reprisal of his role as Superman for the first time since 2017’s Justice League (He appears in a mid-credits scene to fight Black Adam).

In this film, Black Adam, an ancient superhero, emerges after 5,000 years of imprisonment and begins to exact a unique form of justice. This at first brings him into conflict with the Justice Society of America, then sees him team up with them to stop a demonic invasion.

Reception was mixed: Fans loved this one, calling it one of the best DCU films to date, but critics panned it — hard.

‘Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story’ (2024)

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is technically considered a DCU movie, despite it being a documentary about the life of the actor who gave us Superman’s most famous and beloved cinematic portrayal.

The film follows Reeve’s life after his 1995 horseback-riding accident and his transformation from an actor into a disabled rights activist. Many still considered Reeve synonymous with Superman during this time, and his efforts to both overcome the adversity brought on by his injuries and advocate for disabled people everywhere gave him a superhero aura of his own.

‘Superman’ (2025)

The latest entry in the Superman franchise, Superman, is set to hit theaters on July 11, 2025. Gunn’s reboot will feature David Corenswet (House of Cards, The Politician, Hollywood) as Superman.

Bucking the trend of the Cavill era reboot, Superman is not expected to focus on Superman’s origins. Rather, the story will jump right into a world where he’s an established super-presence and explore his interactions with other superheros from the DC universe. And yes: Lex Luthor is in this one, too.

The film’s original title was Superman: Legacy, and Gunn has said it marks the start of an attempt to reset the public narrative around the DCU.

Here’s the trailer for the new film:

‘Superman’ Movies Ranked Best to Worst

So, which of the Superman movies are the biggest fan-favorites? Here are all of the Superman movie, ranked from best to worst (not including the Christopher Reeve documentary or the Snyder cut):

1. Superman: The Movie

2. Superman II

3. Superman Returns

4. Man of Steel

5. Superman III

6. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

7. Justice League

8. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

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