Of the eight theatrically released live-action Superman movies, only three have scored a “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes. So, of the four Christopher Reeve installments, Superman Returns, Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and the theatrical cut of Justice League, which are the three? The answer may prove to be somewhat surprising.
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On one hand, the fact that the first pair of Reeve installments, Richard Donner’s 1978 classic Superman: The Movie and Donner/Richard Lester’s Superman II (1980), are two of the three is not surprising. What is surprising is that fan-favorite Henry Cavill didn’t lead a single Fresh-rated Superman movie. That’s right, the other Fresh Superman movie is Bryan Singer’s fairly bland Superman Returns.
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The irony is that, while marginally appreciated by critics at the time (it only got a 74% compared to Superman: The Movie‘s 93% and Superman II‘s 83%), Superman Returns has mostly been forgotten. For the most part, it’s a meandering film, and while Brandon Routh gives his all to the part and certainly looks a bit like Christopher Reeve, he doesn’t possess the late actor’s charisma.
It’s also a movie with a massive budget and very few action sequences. In other words, it had a massive price tag, yet couldn’t even really function as a suitable crowd-pleaser. And, when all was said and done, it didn’t make nearly enough to be profitable. Specifically, Superman Returns had an unadjusted budget of $204 million, and it didn’t even double that figure, resulting in it being more of a one-and-done than the shot in the arm the IP needed.
Even still, Superman Returns‘ rep is better than Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. To its credit, Superman III did comparable business to Superman Returns at the box office, but its critical reception was worse at 29%. Not Superman IV worse (10%), but worse.
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Which Came Close?
With 340 reviews under its belt, the DC Extended Universe’s kickstarter, Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, has a very-nearly-fresh score of 57%. It certainly wasn’t the reception Snyder or Warner Bros. were hoping for, but the shared universe’s subsequent pair of installments showed that it could do worse than Man of Steel. To the DCEU’s credit, it could also do better (see: Blue Beetle‘s 77%, The Suicide Squad‘s 90%, Birds of Prey‘s 79%, Shazam!‘s 90%, and Wonder Woman‘s 93%).
But, for the most part, the franchise’s Rotten Tomatoes scores were on par with Man of Steel (The Flash at 63%, Wonder Woman 1984 at 58%, and Aquaman at 66%). Others fared worse, such as with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘s 33%, Black Adam‘s 39%, Shazam! Fury of the Gods‘ 49%. The DCEU’s critical nadirs were Suicide Squad with a paltry 26% and the aforementioned Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which earned a better but still catastrophic 29%.
As for Justice League, it depends to which version one is referring. The theatrical version of Justice League scored a 39%, which seems a bit high. Fortunately, Zack Snyder’s Justice League effectively saved that project’s reputation from sinking into total oblivion. And not just with fans, as critics gave it a much higher score of 71%.
Similar to Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (2006) was released years after the theatrical cut and received a much better reception. The difference is it doesn’t have a rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But, let’s face it, that cut is many Superman fans’ favorites for good reason, and it stands to reason critics would feel the same way.
So, all in all, there really should be six Fresh Superman films: Donner’s Superman, Donner/Lester’s Superman II, Singer’s Superman Returns, the Superman II (original) director’s cut, Zack Snyder’s Justice League and, given its improved reputation as the years have gone by, Man of Steel.
So, the question is, how will James Gunn’s 2025 reboot, which is the first movie in the DC Universe franchise perform with critics? Given his track record with the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy and the already-discussed The Suicide Squad, it might just be No. 1 for the Man of Steel.
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