Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, first appearing in issue #1 of Action Comics, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of Action Comics #1 was registered as April 18, 1938. See Superman has been regularly published in American comic books published by DC Comics since then, and has been adapted to other media including radio serials, novels, films, television shows, theater, and video games. Superman is the archetypal superhero: he wears an outlandish costume, uses a codename, and fights evil and averts disasters with the aid of extraordinary abilities. Although there are earlier characters who arguably fit this definition, it was Superman who popularized the superhero genre and established its conventions. He was the best-selling superhero in American comic books up until the 1980sDallas et al. (2013), American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1980s, p. 208 and remains the highest grossing superhero if one considers the entire history of the genre (starting in 1938).
Superman was born Kal-El, on the fictional planet Krypton. As a baby, his parents Jor-El and Lara sent him to Earth in a small spaceship shortly before Krypton was destroyed in an apocalyptic cataclysm. His ship landed in the American countryside near the fictional town of Smallville, Kansas, where he was found and adopted by farmers Jonathan and Martha Kent, who named him Clark Kent. The Kents quickly realized he was superhuman; all of his physical and sensory abilities are far beyond those of a human, and he is nearly impervious to harm and capable of unassisted flight, bestowed by the energy of Earth's yellow sun. His adoptive parents having instilled him with strong morals, he chooses to use his powers to benefit humanity, and to fight crime as a vigilante. To protect his personal life, he changes into a primary-colored costume bearing an S-shape and uses the alias "Superman" when fighting crime; he also has a base of operations, the Fortress of Solitude. Clark resides in the fictional American city of Metropolis, where he works as a journalist for the Daily Planet alongside supporting characters including his love interest and fellow journalist Lois Lane, photographer Jimmy Olsen, and editor-in-chief Perry White. His enemies include Brainiac, General Zod, and archenemy Lex Luthor.
Since 1939, Superman has been featured in both Action Comics and his own Superman comic. He exists within the DC Universe, where he interacts with other heroes including fellow Justice League members like Wonder Woman and Batman, and appears in various titles based on the team. Different versions of the character exist in alternative universes; the Superman from the Golden Age of comic books was later labeled as the Earth-Two version while the version appearing in Silver Age and Bronze Age comics has been labeled the Earth-One Superman. His persona has also inspired the creation of characters such as Supergirl, Superboy and Krypto the Superdog.
Superman has been adapted outside of comics. The radio series The Adventures of Superman ran from 1940 to 1951 and would feature Bud Collyer as the voice of Superman. Collyer would also voice the character in a series of animated shorts produced by Fleischer/Famous Studios and released between 1941 and 1943. Superman also appeared in film serials in 1948 and 1950, played by Kirk Alyn. Christopher Reeve would portray Superman in the 1978 film and its sequels, and define the character in cinema for generations. Superman would continue to appear in feature films, including a series (2013–2022), starring Henry Cavill and a series (2025–present) starring David Corenswet. The character has also appeared in numerous television series, including Adventures of Superman (1952–1958), played by George Reeves, Superman: The Animated Series (1996–2000), voiced by Tim Daly and My Adventures with Superman (2023–present), voiced by Jack Quaid.
Development
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster met in 1932 while attending Glenville High School in Cleveland and bonded over their admiration of fiction. Siegel aspired to become a writer and Shuster aspired to become an illustrator. Siegel wrote amateur science fiction stories, which he self-published as a magazine called Science Fiction: The Advance Guard of Future Civilization. His friend Shuster often provided illustrations for his work. In January 1933, Siegel published a short story in his magazine titled "The Reign of the Super-Man". The titular character is a homeless man named Bill Dunn who is tricked by an evil scientist into consuming an experimental drug. The drug gives Dunn the powers of mind-reading, mind-control, and clairvoyance. He uses these powers maliciously for profit and amusement, but then the drug wears off, leaving him a powerless vagrant again. Shuster provided illustrations, depicting Dunn as a bald man.Jerry Siegel (under the pseudonym Herbert S. Fine). "The Reign of the Superman". Science Fiction: The Advance Guard of Future Civilization #3. January 1933 Summarized in Super Boys
Siegel and Shuster shifted to making comic strips, with a focus on adventure and comedy. They wanted to become syndicated newspaper strip authors, so they showed their ideas to various newspaper editors. However, the newspaper editors were not impressed, and told them that if they wanted to make a successful comic strip, it had to be something more sensational than anything else on the market. This prompted Siegel to revisit Superman as a comic strip character.Jerry Siegel, quoted in . Superman: The Complete History, p. 15: "When we presented different strips to the syndicate editors, they would say, 'Well, this isn't sensational enough.' So I thought, I'm going to come up with something so wild they won't be able to say that."Jerry Siegel. Creation of a Superhero (unpublished memoir, written c.1978; Scans available from Dropbox and Scribd).: "...one of the things which spurred me into creating a "Superman" strip was something a syndicate editor said to me after I had been submitting various proposed comic strips to him. He said, "The trouble with your stuff is that it isn't spectacular enough. You've got to come up with something sensational! Something more terrific than the other adventure strips on the market!"" Siegel modified Superman's powers to make him even more sensational. Like Bill Dunn, the second prototype of Superman is given powers against his will by an unscrupulous scientist, but instead of psychic abilities, he acquires superhuman strength and bullet-proof skin.Tye (2012), Superman, p. 17: "The version he was drafting would again begin with a wild scientist empowering a normal human against his will, but this time the powers would be even more fantastic, and rather than becoming a criminal, the super-being would fight crime 'with the fury of an outraged avenger'."Jerry Siegel. Creation of a Superhero (unpublished memoir, c. 1978; Scans available from Dropbox and Scribd).: p. 30: "The hero of 'THE SUPERMAN' comic book strip was also given super-powers against his will by a scientist. He gained fantastic strength, bullets bounced off him, etc. He fought crime with the fury of an outraged avenger." 50: "What, I thought, could be more sensational than a Superman who could fly through the air, who was impervious to flames, bullets, and a mob of enraged amok adversaries?" Additionally, this new Superman was a crime-fighting hero instead of a villain, because Siegel noted that comic strips with heroic protagonists tended to be more successful.Siegel in , p. 10: "Obviously, having him a hero would be infinitely more commercial than having him a villain. I understand that the comic strip Dr. Fu Manchu ran into all sorts of difficulties because the main character was a villain. And with the example before us of Tarzan and other action heroes of fiction who were very successful, mainly because people admired them and looked up to them, it seemed the sensible thing to do to make The Superman a hero. The first piece was a short story, and that's one thing, but creating a successful comic strip with a character you'll hope will continue for many years, it would definitely be going in the wrong direction to make him a villain." In later years, Siegel once recalled that this Superman wore a "bat-like" cape in some panels, but typically he and Shuster agreed there was no costume yet, and there is none apparent in the surviving artwork.. Superman: The Complete History, p. 17: "... usually [Shuster] and Siegel agreed that no special costume was in evidence, and the surviving artwork bears them out."Siegel and Shuster in , p.9-10: "Shuster: [...] It wasn't really Superman: that was before he evolved into a costumed figure. He was simply wearing a T-shirt and pants; he was more like Slam Bradley than anything else — just a man of action. [...] Siegel: In later years – maybe 10 or 15 years ago – I asked Joe what he remembered of this story, and he remembered a scene of a character crouched on the edge of a building, with a cape almost a la Batman. We don't specifically recall if the character had a costume or not. [...] Joe and I – especially Joe – seem to recall that there were some scenes in there in which that character had a bat-like cape."
Siegel and Shuster showed this second concept of Superman to Consolidated Book Publishers, based in Chicago.. Superman: The Complete History, p. 17 In May 1933, Consolidated had published a comic book titled Detective Dan: Secret Operative 48.The copyright date of Detective Dan Secret Operative 48 was registered as May 12, 1933. See It contained all-original stories as opposed to reprints of newspaper strips, which was a novelty at the time.. Superman on Film, Television, Radio and Broadway, p. 6: "Detective Dan—Secret Operative 48 was published by the Humor Publishing Company of Chicago. Detective Dan was little more than a Dick Tracy clone, but here, for the first time, in a series of black-and-white illustrations, was a comic magazine with an original character appearing in all-new stories. This was a dramatic departure from other comic magazines, which simply reprinted panels from the Sunday newspaper comic strips." Siegel and Shuster put together a comic book in a similar format called The Superman. A delegation from Consolidated visited Cleveland that summer on a business trip and Siegel and Shuster took the opportunity to present their work in person.Jerry Siegel. Creation of a Superhero (unpublished memoir, written c.1978; Scans available from Dropbox and Scribd): "I do recall, though, that when Mr. Livingston visited Cleveland, Joe and I showed THE SUPERMAN comic book pages to Mr. Livingston in his hotel room, and he was favorably impressed.": "So this early Superman cover was done, replete with a "10¢" plug... and was placed on an entire comic book, written, drawn, inked, and shown to the Humor people by Jerry and Joe when they happened to come through Cleveland (trying to shop Detective Dan to the NEA newspaper syndicate)." Although Consolidated expressed interest, they later pulled out of the comics business without ever offering a book deal because the sales of Detective Dan were disappointing. Super BoysTye (2012), Superman, p. 17: "Although the first response was encouraging, the second made it clear that the comic book was so unprofitable that its publishers put on hold any future stories."