When I was a kid, I grew up with Max Fleischer's Superman cartoons. They left a big impression on me and whenever I think of Superman, Bud Collyer comes to mind first. The old radio shows I recently found on iTunes starring Collyer have solidified the notion. Who is Superman to you? One person? More?
It's 12:30 am here and I'm up with insomnia crusing a web page, you expect me to be able to correctly remember things.
Tim Daly for me. I grew up listening to that guy voice Superman/Clark Kent. Christopher Reeve comes in at second, Brandon Routh third.
No offense to anyone picking voice actors, but isn't that rather one dimensional choice? Might as well have John Bryne's Superman as choice, since he represents the visual aspect of medium. I dunno, when I think of a real representation of Superman in mass media, I gotta consider all aspects.
As much as love Tom Welling as Clark, Christopher Reeve will always be Superman to me. He made us believe a man could fly.... Rest In Peace Man of Steel. Out
Tom Welling is only Clark Kent. Don't forget that Smallville's storyline occurs before the name "Superman" means anything. Christopher Reeve for me.
whatever superman was in the superman series of the 90's (you know the one that was along side Batman:TAS)
Tim Daly. He was perfect for the character and really made Superman come to life in STAS. Newburn is a close second, but it took him awhile to find the right voice for the character. As far as live-action, I'd have to say "none of the above". I wasn't impressed with Christopher Reeve's performance in the godawful Superman 1 - 2 (haven't seen 3 and 4), Routh wasn't very good, Cain was tolerable and I haven't seen the rest of the iterations (Smallville, etc). IMO, there has yet to be a good live-action protrayal of Superman.
I'd have to say in live-action, Christopher Reeve, because to me Reeve was the first person in live action to bring credibility to the concept that nobody could actually tell that Clark Kent was Superman in glasses and a business suit. Neither George Reeves nor Dean Cain ever effectively sold that idea to me, and I haven't seen enough of Kirk Alyn's Superman to make a call there. And I have never been able to sit through a single complete episode of "Smallville" (believe me, I've tried, many times; even Reeve's guest appearance wasn't enough) to make any sort of assessment on how they're handling that, if at all. In terms of animation, I'd have to go with George Newbern, between his performance on JL/JLU and his first appearance in the role on "The Batman", because when he played Clark he went into the Collyer mode of at least trying to differentiate the character's mannerisms a bit from Superman's. His Superman wasn't too shabby either. And again, I haven't seen enough of Collyer's Superman to be able to make a judgement there. As far as comics...again, this is a thing where the dual-identity bit comes into play, and even though I was raised on Curt Swan's Superman, and even though the first Superman comics I bought for myself came in on Byrne, I have to kind of go with Morrison and Quitely's All-Star Superman. Plus, nerdy as I am, I just relate to that whole take on Clark Kent better.
Christopher Reeve was the only convincing Superman for me. Such a shame that 80% of his film series was so terrible.
I grew up with Christopher Reeve's Superman, so he will always be the live Man of Steel. Brandon Routh did a really good job bringing this incarnation back to the screen. Animated would be Tim Daly.
