Superman is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by

DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shus
ter, high school students living in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1933. They sold Superman
to Detective Comics, the future DC Comics, in 1938. Superman debuted in Action
Comics #1 (cover-dated June 1938) and subsequently appeared in various radio ser
ials, newspaper strips, television programs, films, and video games. With this s
uccess, Superman helped to create the superhero archetype and establish its prim
acy within the American comic book.[1] The character is also referred to by such
epithets as the Man of Steel, the Man of Tomorrow, and The Last Son of Krypton.
[2]
The origin story of Superman relates that he was born Kal-El on the alien planet
Krypton, before being rocketed to Earth as an infant by his scientist father Jo
r-El, moments before Krypton's destruction. Discovered and adopted by a Kansas f
armer and his wife, the child is raised as Clark Kent and imbued with a strong m
oral compass. Very early on he started to display various superhuman abilities,
which, upon reaching maturity, he resolved to use for the benefit of humanity th
rough a secret "Superman" identity.
Superman resides and operates in the fictional American city of Metropolis. As C
lark Kent, he is a journalist for the Daily Planet, a Metropolis newspaper. Supe
rman's love interest is generally Lois Lane, and his archenemy is supervillain L
ex Luthor. He is typically a member of the Justice League and close ally of Batm
an and Wonder Woman. Like other characters in the DC Universe, several alternate
versions of Superman have been depicted over the years.
Superman's appearance is distinctive and iconic; he usually wears a blue costume
with a red-and-yellow emblem on the chest, consisting of the letter S in a shie
ld shape, and a red cape. This shield is used in many media to symbolize the cha
racter. Superman is widely considered an American cultural icon.[1][3][4][5] He
has fascinated scholars, with cultural theorists, commentators, and critics alik
e exploring the character's impact and role in the United States and worldwide.
The character's ownership has often been the subject of dispute, with Siegel and
Shuster twice suing for the return of rights. The character has been adapted ex
tensively and portrayed in other forms of media as well, including films, televi
sion series, and video games. Several actors have portrayed Superman in motion p
ictures and TV series including Kirk Alyn, George Reeves, Christopher Reeve, Dea
n Cain, Tom Welling, Brandon Routh, Henry Cavill, and Tyler Hoechlin.
Contents
1 Creation and conception
1.1 Influences
2 Publication history
2.1 Comic books and comic strips
2.2 Creative management
2.3 Aesthetic style
3 Copyright battles
3.1 Ownership lawsuits
3.2 Copyright infringement lawsuits
4 Fictional character biography
4.1 Personality
4.2 Age and birthday
4.3 Other versions
5 Powers and abilities
6 Supporting characters
6.1 Allies
6.2 Enemies
7 Cultural impact
7.1 Merchandising
7.2 In other media

7.3 Musical references, parodies, and homages

7.4 Literary analysis
7.5 Critical reception and popularity
8 See also
9 Footnotes
10 Bibliography
11 Further reading
12 External links
Creation and conception
Two-page spread titled "The Reign of the Superman". On the left page is a bald m
en, and along both pages is a futuristic town.
"The Reign of the Superman" from Siegel's Science Fiction #3 (January 1933)
In January 1933, Cleveland high school student[6] Jerry Siegel wrote a short sto
ry, illustrated by his friend and classmate Joe Shuster, titled "The Reign of th
e Superman", which Siegel self-published in his fanzine, Science Fiction. The ti
tular character is a vagrant who gains vast psychic powers from an experimental
drug and uses them maliciously for profit and amusement, only to lose them and b
ecome a vagrant again, ashamed that he will be remembered only as a villain.[7]
Siegel's fanzine did not sell well. Siegel and Shuster shifted to making comic s
trips, which they self-published in a book they called Popular Comics. The pair
dreamed of becoming professional authors and believed that syndicated newspaper
strips offered more lucrative and stable work than pulp magazines. The art quali
ty standards were also lower, making them more accessible to the inexperienced S
huster.[8]
In early 1933 or in 1934,[9] Siegel developed a new character, also named Superm
an, but now a heroic character, which Siegel felt would be more marketable.[10]
This first prototype of Superman had no fantastic abilities and wore casual clot
hing. Siegel and Shuster often compared this version to Slam Bradley, a comics c
haracter they created in 1936.[11][12]
Siegel shared his idea with Shuster and they decided to turn it into a comic str
ip. The first publisher they solicited was Humor Publishing in Chicago, after ha
ving read one of their comic books, Detective Dan.[13][14][15] A representative
of Humor Publishing was due to visit Cleveland on a business trip and so Siegel
and Shuster hastily put together a comic story titled "The Superman" and present
ed it to the publisher.[16] Although Humor showed interest, it pulled out of the
comics business before any book deal could be made.[17]
Inked cover of The Superman, a rejected 1933 comic story proposal by Siegel and
Shuster
Siegel believed publishers
and unknown, so he looked
n Siegel told Shuster what
ed Superman comic, sparing

kept rejecting them because he and Shuster were young

for an established artist to replace Shuster.[18] Whe
he was doing, Shuster reacted by burning their reject
only the cover.[19][20]

Siegel solicited multiple artists[18][21] and in 1934 Russell Keaton,[21] who wo

rked on the Buck Rogers comic strip, responded. In nine sample strips Keaton pro
duced based on Siegel's treatment, the Superman character further evolves: In th
e distant future, when Earth is on the verge of exploding due to "giant cataclys
ms", the last surviving man sends his child back in time to the year 1935, where
he is adopted by Sam and Molly Kent. The boy exhibits superhuman strength and b
ulletproof skin, and the Kents teach the child, whom they name Clark, to use his
powers for good.[22][23] However, the newspaper syndicates rejected their work
and Keaton abandoned the project.[24]
Siegel and Shuster reconciled and resumed developing Superman. The character bec
ame an alien from the planet Krypton with the now-familiar costume: tights with

an "S" on the chest, over-shorts, and a cape.[25][26][27] They made Clark Kent a
journalist who pretends to be timid, and introduced his colleague Lois Lane, wh
o is attracted to the bold and mighty Superman but does not realize he and Kent
are the same person.[28]
Siegel and Shuster entered the comics field professionally in 1935, producing de
tective and adventure stories for the New York-based comic-book publisher Nation
al Allied Publications. Although National expressed interest in Superman,[29] Si
egel and Shuster wanted to sell Superman as a syndicated comic strip, but the ne
wspaper syndicates all turned them down.[30] Max Gaines, who worked at McClure N
ewspaper Syndicate, suggested they show their work to Detective Comics (which ha
d recently bought out National Allied).[31] Siegel recalled, In March 1938, Sieg
el and Shuster sold all rights to the character to Detective Comics, Inc.[32] fo
r $130 (the equivalent of $2,200 when adjusted for inflation).[33][34] It was th
e company's policy to buy the full rights to the characters it published.[35] By
this time, they had resigned themselves that Superman would never be a success,
and with this deal they would at least see their character finally published.[3
6]
Influences
Siegel and Shuster read pulp science-fiction and adventure magazines, and many s
tories featured characters with extraordinary powers such as telepathy, clairvoy
ance, and superhuman strength. An influence was Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carte
r of Mars, a human who was displaced to Mars, where the low gravity makes him st
ronger than the natives and allows him to leap great distances.[37] While it is
widely assumed that the 1930 Philip Wylie novel Gladiator, featuring a protagoni
st, Hugo Danner, with similar powers, was an inspiration for Superman,[38][39] S
iegel denied this.[40]
Douglas Fairbanks (left) and Harold Lloyd (right) influenced the look of Superma
n and Clark Kent, respectively.
Siegel and Shuster were also avid moviegoers.[41] Shuster based Superman's stanc
e and devil-may-care attitude on that of Douglas Fairbanks, who starred in adven
ture films such as The Mark of Zorro and Robin Hood.[42] The name of Superman's
home city, Metropolis, was taken from the 1927 film of the same name.[41] Popeye
cartoons were also an influence.[43]
The persona of Clark Kent was inspired by slapstick comedian Harold Lloyd. Lloyd
wore glasses and often played gentle characters who were abused by bullies, but
later in the story would snap and fight back furiously. Shuster, who also wore
glasses and described himself as "mild-mannered", found Lloyd's characters relat
able.[44] Kent is a journalist because Siegel often imagined himself becoming on
e after leaving school. The inclusion of a romantic subplot with Lois Lane was i
nspired by Siegel's own awkwardness with girls.[45]
The pair collected comic strips in their youth, with a favorite being Winsor McC
ay's fantastical Little Nemo.[41] Shuster remarked on the artists which played a
n important part in the development of his own style: "Alex Raymond and Burne Ho
garth were my idols
also Milt Caniff, Hal Foster, and Roy Crane."[41] Shuster ta
ught himself to draw by tracing over the art in the strips and magazines they co
llected.[17]
As a boy, Shuster was obsessed with fitness culture[43] and a fan of strongmen s
uch as Siegmund Breitbart and Joseph Greenstein. He collected fitness magazines
and manuals and used their photographs as visual references for his art.[17]
The visual design of Superman came from multiple influences. The tight-fitting s
uit and shorts were inspired by the costumes of wrestlers, boxers, and strongmen
. Shuster first gave Superman laced sandals like those of strongmen and classica
l heroes.[46] The emblem on his chest may have been inspired by the uniforms of

athletic teams. Many pulp action heroes such as swashbucklers wore capes. Superm
an's face was based on Johnny Weissmuller's.[17]
The word "superman" was commonly used in the 1920s and 1930s to describe men of
great ability, most often athletes and politicians.[47] It occasionally appeared
in pulp fiction stories as well, such as "The Superman of Dr. Jukes"[48] and Do
c Savage.[49] It is unclear whether Siegel and Shuster were influenced by Friedr
ich Nietzsche's concept of the bermensch;[50] they never acknowledged as much.[51
]
Publication history
See also: Publication history of Superman, Superman (comic strip), List of Super
man comics, and Superman (franchise)
Comic books and comic strips
Superman debuted as the cover feature of the anthology Action Comics #1 (cover-d
ated June 1938 and published on April 18, 1938).[52] The series was an immediate
success,[53] and reader feedback showed that Superman was responsible.[54] In J
une 1939, Detective Comics began a sister series, Superman, dedicated exclusivel
y to the character.[55] Action Comics eventually became dedicated to Superman st
ories too, and both it and Superman have been published without interruption sin
ce 1938 (ignoring changes to the titles and numbering).[56][57] A large number o
f other series and miniseries have been published as well.[58] Superman has also
appeared as a regular or semi-regular character in a number of superhero team s
eries, such as Justice League of America and World's Finest Comics, and in spinoff series such as Supergirl. Sales of Action Comics and Superman declined stead
ily from the 1950s,[59][60] but rose again starting in 1987. Superman #75 (Nov 1
992) sold over 6 million copies, making it the best-selling issue of a comic boo
k of all time,[61] thanks to a media sensation over the possibly permanent death
of the character in that issue.[62] Sales declined from that point on. In Febru
ary 2016, Action Comics sold just over 31,000 copies.[63] The comic books are to
day considered a niche aspect of the Superman franchise due to low readership.[6
4]
Beginning in January 1939, a Superman daily comic strip appeared in newspapers,
syndicated through the McClure Syndicate. A color Sunday version was added that
November. The Sunday strips had a narrative continuity separate from the daily s
trips, possibly because Siegel had to delegate the Sunday strips to ghostwriters
.[65] By 1941, the newspaper strips had an estimated readership of 20 million.[6
6] Shuster drew the early strips, then passed the job to Wayne Boring.[67] From
1949 to 1956, the newspaper strips were drawn by Win Mortimer.[68] The strip end
ed in May 1966, but was revived from 1977 to 1983 to coincide with a series of m
ovies released by Warner Bros.[69]
After Shuster left National, Boring also succeeded him as the principal artist o
n Superman comic books.[70] He redrew Superman taller and more detailed.[71] Aro
und 1955, Curt Swan in turn succeeded Boring.[72]
Creative management
Initially, Siegel was allowed to write Superman more or less as he saw fit,[73]
because nobody had anticipated the success and rapid expansion of the franchise.
[74] But soon Siegel and Shuster's work was put under careful oversight for fear
of trouble with censors.[75] Siegel was forced to tone down the violence and so
cial crusading that characterized his early stories.[76] Editor Whitney Ellswort
h, hired in 1940, dictated that Superman not kill.[77] Sexuality was banned, and
colorfully outlandish villains such as Ultra-Humanite and Toyman were thought t
o be less nightmarish for young readers.[78]
Mort Weisinger was the editor on Superman comics from 1941 to 1970, his tenure b
riefly interrupted by military service. Siegel and his fellow writers had develo
ped the character with little thought of building a coherent mythology, but as t

he number of Superman titles and the pool of writers grew, Weisinger demanded a
more disciplined approach.[79] Weisinger assigned story ideas, and the logic of
Superman's powers, his origin, the locales, and his relationships with his growi
ng cast of supporting characters were carefully planned. Elements such as Bizarr
o, Supergirl, the Phantom Zone, alternate varieties of kryptonite, robot doppelg
angers, and Krypto were introduced. The complicated universe built under Weising
er was beguiling to devoted readers but alienating to casuals.[80] Weisinger fav
ored lighthearted stories over serious drama, and avoided sensitive subjects suc
h as the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement because he feared his right-w
ing views would alienate his writing staff and readers.[81] Weisinger also intro
duced letters columns in 1958 to encourage feedback and build intimacy with read
ers.[82] Superman was the best-selling comic book character of the 1960s.[83][84
]
Weisinger retired in 1970 and Julius Schwartz took over. By his own admission, W
eisinger had grown out of touch with newer readers.[85] Schwartz updated Superma
n by removing overused plot elements such as kryptonite and robot doppelgangers
and making Clark Kent a television anchor.[86] Schwartz also scaled Superman's p
owers down to a level closer to Siegel's original. These changes would eventuall
y be reversed by later writers. Schwartz allowed stories with serious drama, as
in "For the Man Who Has Everything" (Superman Annual #11), in which the villain
Mongul torments Superman with an illusion of happy family life on a living Krypt
on.
Schwartz retired from DC Comics in 1986, and was succeeded by Mike Carlin as edi
tor on Superman comics His retirement coincided with DC Comics' decision to stre
amline the shared continuity called the DC Universe with the companywide-crossov
er storyline "Crisis on Infinite Earths". Writer John Byrne rewrote the Superman
mythos, again reducing Superman's powers, which writers had slowly re-strengthe
ned, and revised many supporting characters, such as making Lex Luthor a billion
aire industrialist rather than a mad scientist, and making Supergirl an artifici
al shapeshifting organism because DC wanted Superman to be the sole surviving Kr
yptonian.
Carlin was promoted to Executive Editor for the DC Universe books in 1996, a pos
ition he held until 2002. K.C. Carlson took his place as editor of the Superman
comics.
The 1940s radio serial was produced by Robert Maxwell and Allen Ducovny, who wer
e employees of Superman, Inc. and Detective Comics, respectively.[87][88] Robert
Maxwell was later hired to produce the TV show starring George Reeves. DC Comic
s (then known as National Comics Publications) felt that the first season was to
o violent for what they expected to be a children's show, so they removed Maxwel
l and replaced him with Whitney Ellsworth, a veteran writer and editor at Nation
al Comics.[89] DC Comics had approval rights over all creative aspects of the Su
perboy TV series (1988-1992), from scripts to casting to shooting revisions.[90]
The first three movies starring Christopher Reeve were produced by Alexander and
Ilya Salkind. When Warner Bros sold the movie rights to Superman to the Salkind
s in 1974, it demanded control over the budget and the casting but left everythi
ng else to the producers' discretion.[91] These movies influenced future stories
, with the Salkinds insisting Clark Kent be a newspaper journalist, in order to
appeal to older fans.[92] Kent left his TV anchor job and returned to the Daily
Planet. Innovations such as John Barry's crystalline set designs for Krypton and
the Fortress of Solitude, Superman's chest emblem being his family crest, and s
creenwriter Mario Puzo's messianic themes were also adopted by the comics' write
rs.[citation needed]