Oblivion, failure or tragedy: the luck that pursues the actors who played Superman adds a new objective 

For fans of DC movies, 2022 has been a particularly turbulent year, within the instability that has characterized the company's extended universe since its founding with

(2013).

That film featured a new Superman, played by the then almost unknown Henry Cavill, under the direction of Zack Snyder.

The figure of the filmmaker and his attributed dark approach marked the development of the film series, which commercially failed to meet the objective of standing up to its competitor, Marvel, and deeply divided fans, an unprecedented schism that led to the release of two versions of the movie

: the one that was seen in theaters in 2017, intervened by the studio with the collaboration of director Joss Whedon, and the one that, after an intense campaign by Snyder supporters on social networks, was seen in 2021 on HBO Max, as supposedly It had been conceived by its author before leaving the project.

With the waters still troubled, Dwayne Johnson, protagonist and producer of the latest DC release,

(2022), tried to reconcile the different groups of viewers with the return, through a cameo, of Henry Cavill as Superman: the idea was mark a rudder in the movie universe, but with that gesture it was transmitted to Zack Snyder fans that his scaffolding was still there.

It didn't work.

The film's entire gross was surpassed in a single weekend by

, from Marvel, and the Warner executive, responsible for the DC film division, commissioned director James Gunn and producer Peter Safran to launch a new saga.

Thus, the resounding return of Cavill became, in a few weeks, the resounding departure of Cavill.

“I just had a meeting with James Gunn and Peter Safran and there is bad news.

Finally, I will not return as Superman, ”the actor reported from his Instagram account.

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“Cavill is surely the best casting the character of Superman has ever had.

He is the Superman of the comics traced.

I wish I had had better opportunities and better stories to display his talent ”, says the film director and writer David Galán Galindo, consulted by ICON.

Wide connoisseur of the medium and of superheroes, Galán Galindo premiered in 2020

, a film about the search for a serial killer that references comic pages in the staging of his crimes, and has just published

, a comic that imagines the actor Antonio Resines as a vigilante, with drawings by Salva Espín, official

at Marvel.

For the choice of the new actor, the filmmaker from Avila recommends “looking again at the comics and not at Christopher Reeve [the most popular and longest-lived Superman actor in cinema, between 1978 and 1987].

Trying to emulate those past times will lead to dissatisfaction, nothing pleases nostalgia.

In the original paper material is the answer, always”.

With Henry Cavill also out of the Netflix series

(2019) and with

in the pipeline (it will be a series on Prime Video), the actor remains within the television orbit having not had any other success in theaters as the lead.

And if the 39-year-old American thinks back to his predecessors, the record is not rosy.

In Hollywood, the legend of the curse of Superman has figured for decades, which links a whole host of misfortunes and misfortunes to the superhero from the planet Krypton, from members of the film crews to the creators themselves, Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster, who They saw themselves ruined while DC profited from their character.

The destinations that awaited the different interpreters were the following.

Kirk Alyn as Superman in 1948. George Rinhart (Corbis via Getty Images)

Kirk Alyn: the first, even if we forgot

The first to give life to the Man of Steel was this actor of Hungarian descent who was close to 40 years old.

When he was called for the role in the 15-part miniseries

(1948), he thought it was a joke, because he believed that there would never be special effects capable of materializing the story.

Years later, he reprized in

(1952), but he refused to resume the character in the subsequent television series and went in search of new pastures.

What he found, however, was not too new: totally typecast, Alyn was not considered credible in auditions for other films and spent the rest of his career acting in titles within the coordinates of the world of fantasy and comics, such as

's 1952 adaptation

, another DC series.

As a wink, the filmmaker Richard Donner had him briefly play the father of Lois Lane, the superhero's great love, in the

1978 film

George Reeves (1914-1959), and the actress Phyllis Coates in the Superman series of the fifties.

Silver Screen Collection (Getty Images)

George Reeves: from Scarlet to Lois Lane

If there is anyone who represents the so-called Superman curse and the doom that the heroic alien journalist attracts to his actors, it is George Reeves.

Prolific and tireless, he initially had a role in

(1939), as one of Scarlett O'Hara's suitors, and also fought in aviation in World War II.

In the early 1950s, following Kirk Alyn's abandonment, he was raised with the possibility of playing Superman in the then fledgling television industry.

Considering the medium a setback in his career, Reeves had doubts, but he eventually led the cast in the 104-episode run of

, from 1952 to 1958.

It is difficult to separate reality from legend, since Reeves' connection to the sentimental memory of an entire generation, together with the curiosity and mythification of his figure, produced all kinds of conjectures about his death in 1959, at the age of 45, Officially considered a suicide.

Some witnesses to the filming of the series claimed that Reeves could not stand playing Superman, a fact denied by other of his collaborators.

The last girlfriend he had declared that the actor suffered from depression because he felt that his career was sunk.

And a rumor of the time said that Reeves had gone mad and, believing himself to be Superman, he died trying to fly out of the window, although the body was actually found in his house and with bullet wounds.

The contradictions in the investigation fed, on the other hand,

theses are still held today about a possible accident at the hands of his partner or a murder by the mafia.

Ben Affleck, who curiously has played Batman in two films in the DC universe, acted as George Reeves in the biopic

(2006).

Christopher Reeve in 'Superman' (1978).Michael Ochs Archives (Getty Images)

Christopher Reeve: Superman, plain

Reeve was by far the Superman actor who thrived the most after playing the character.

With a brief experience in theater and a single participation in cinema – a supporting role in the disaster film

(1978)–, the agent Stark Hesseltine bet heavily on his choice for the superhero movie that Richard Donner was going to direct.

And he won.

At the age of 25, he became a world star and is still the film face most associated with the character, thanks, above all, to the versatility of his composition as Superman and as his human alter ego, Clark Kent.

Christopher Reeve shot four film installments and, to avoid being pigeonholed, followed the strategy of not choosing more roles in action films, but taking advantage of his fame to work with prestigious authors such as James Ivory or Sidney Lumet.

The actor managed to carve out an interesting, politically active star career with occasional forays into popular cinema, such as

(1995), by John Carpenter, the last film he released before his fatal accident.

On May 27, 1995, a bad fall during a horse riding contest severed his spinal cord and left him a quadriplegic.

Until his death at age 52 in 2004, he remained in a wheelchair on life support.

According to his wife, Dana Reeve, the actor wanted to die when he found out about his condition at the hospital.

But, throughout the last decade of his life, the attitude of the Superman star ended up turning him into a symbol of struggle for people in the same situation.

Reeve promoted stem cell research, chaired the American Paralysis Association (later renamed the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation), and continued to be involved in film, including two cameo appearances in the coming-of-age Superman series,

(2001-2011).

Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain in 'Lois & Clark'.

ABC PHOTO ARCHIVES (Disney General Entertainment Con)

Dean Cain: the one on TV

It's normal not to have seen Dean Cain since the last revival of

(1993-1997), but not because the man hasn't tried.

A frustrated aspiring American football player, an injury made him jump into the world of acting and, after several minor roles, he was cast as Superman in a series that, as the title already announced, focused on the romance between the superhero and Lois Lane, Clark Kent's partner at

newspaper .

Lois was given a face by Teri Hatcher, an actress who enjoyed great fortune after her: she was a Bond girl in

(1997), she shot up her fame with the

(2004-2012) and won a Golden Globe. Meanwhile, Dean Cain has been, according to IMDb, in a total of 188 productions throughout his long career and will exceed 200 in 2023. It is true that we are talking about titles of the caliber of

(2009) and its five sequels, all of them with Cain in the cast.

In addition to accepting almost any role he's been offered, the actor campaigned for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020. He's also served on the National Rifle Association's board of directors since 2018. As a tribute to his past, both he and Teri Hatcher they appeared in chapters of

and also of

(2015-2017), the series about Superman's cousin, although in neither case repeating their old roles.

Actor Tom Welling. Frank Trapper (Corbis via Getty Images)

Tom Welling: the other from TV

Actor Tom Welling's fame began in

He also ended there.

He came from the world of modeling and, after rising to fame, he automatically became a regular in teen magazines and folders.

In the most successful period of the series (the first years of the 10 that its broadcast lasted, between 2001 and 2011), it was a claim for films that sought to attract young audiences, such as the comedy

(2003), along with to Hilary Duff, or

(2005).

Although

received good reviews thanks to the depth with which it addressed the mythology of Superman and the DC universe, the audience did not remain stable and the more than eight and a half million viewers that the second season gathered in the United States went to be less than three in the last.

Its influence on modern

fiction , however, is unavoidable and introduced the general public to narrative aspects previously only known to very fans.

And of all this, in hindsight, Welling did not scratch much.

His feature films can be counted on the fingers of one hand, while on the small screen his most relevant work was in the third season of the

series , in 2017. Like Brandon Routh, the actor from

(2006), had the opportunity to recover the role of Superman for a few minutes in the television special

(2019), by embodying, within the multiverse, the version of the superhero from Earth-167.

Brandon Routh, short-lived Superman in 2006.Getty

Brandon Routh: The Eternal Promise

Routh's casting as Superman was significantly shaped by the Christopher Reeve precedent.

He kept a very appropriate physical resemblance, since the movie

was intended to establish continuity with the previous saga.

In addition, director Bryan Singer wanted the new actor, like Reeve, to be almost oblivious to the spotlight as well.

With an appearance as an extra in a Christina Aguilera video clip and episodic roles as a meager resume, the young performer got the role and signed for three installments.

Two never came to fruition.

Brandon Routh's performance was not the most criticized of a film that left income below expectations in that summer of 2006. His tone was not in line with the sign of a time when

Christopher Nolan 's

trilogy was already was taking shape, so his footprint was small and Routh was recycled in low-budget films and comedies, among which his parody intervention in

(2010) stood out, as someone who obtained superpowers as a result of his diet vegan.

In 2014, he returned to the world of DC comics as the superhero Atom, within the interrelated television series

and

, and reprized the character of Superman in the

crossover , where he embodied his alternate version of Earth-96.

He's not a star, but, against all the odds a few years ago, he's doing better than

antagonist , accused multiple sexual abuser Kevin Spacey.

Tyler Hoechlin and Bitsie Tullock, stars of 'Superman & Lois'.Kevin Mazur (Getty Images for The CW)

Tyler Hoechlin: Superman as you read these lines

It is still early to assess the positive or negative weight that the role of Superman has left in his career, since he still plays it: after signing for

in 2016, Hoechlin has participated in several series from the same universe and obtained his own

,

, which has been airing since 2021 to mostly good reviews.

His circumstances are different from those of his predecessors (beyond the fact that, like Dean Cain, he had a sports career marred by injury), since he does have a relatively solid filmography.

At 13 years old, he was the boy who accompanied Tom Hanks in the critically acclaimed

(2002).

He also acted in four seasons of

(1996-2007), played one of the main characters in

(2011-2017) and has been part of the casts of two renowned independent comedies

(2016), by Richard Linklater, and

(2020).

If no curse gets in the way, his future doesn't look so black.

Nicolas Cage, here collecting the Oscar for 'Leaving Las Vegas', was about to be Superman under the direction of Tim Burton.KIM KULISH (AFP via Getty Images)

Nicolas Cage: an epilogue to all this

His take on the character was limited to a fitting, but somehow the failed project

has become a kind of lost Arcadia for fans of the superhero, Nicolas Cage and, especially, memes.

In 1996, after winning the Oscar for Best Actor for

(1995), Warner signed Cage as Superman, in a film that would have a script by Kevin Smith and direction by Tim Burton.

It is impossible to come close to guessing what would have been the result of such a conjunction of factors, which also included a giant spider from space that Superman/Cage was going to face in the final climax, at the request of the film's producer.

The high budget and poor reception of

(1997) led the studio to think twice about the idea of ​​moving forward with production, which was halted in 1998. It was a dream project for Cage: the actor is passionate about Superman, who paid a million dollars for an original edition of the first comic and who also has a 17-year-old son named Kal-El, the superhero's alien name.

Recently, as a result of the interest in that film that could not be, a documentary has been produced,

(2015), and there has been speculation about the incorporation of Cage as Superman in one of the current DC film or television universes.

Taking into account the sense of humor of James Gunn, manager of the current extended universe and director of

(2021), and that Nicolas Cage declared to be receptive, it is possible that, after all, we do live on Earth where the interpreter from

(1996) ends up being Superman.

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