In 2025, the man also known as Clark Kent, Kal-El or the Man of Steel made his cinematic comeback on Earth: Superman! The spandex-clad superhero returned in all his glory, seemingly unaged, despite getting on for the best part of a century.

Just shy of 90 years ago, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s comic-book character made his debut on the cover of Action Comics, where he appeared holding a car aloft as if it were made of balsa wood. It was June 1938.

One of the very first superheroes, Superman inspired the creation of universes populated with superheroes, super heroines, meta humans and super villains of every description.

Today, we’re charting Superman’s evolution on the screen through some of the most intriguing posters for this saga. We’ll take in everything from the first Superman cartoon to noughties reincarnations and the classic Christopher Reeve films of the seventies and eighties. But, for once, we’re starting at the end with posters for the 2025 version of Superman.

The poster for Superman, 2025

Following a ten-year absence from the big screen, the Superman franchise returned in the summer of 2025 to popular success and critical acclaim. Directed by James Gunn, creative director at DC Studios, the latest instalment brings us a Superman who’s a little less invincible than we’re used to: our hero must win back the public’s support after becoming entangled in an international conflict orchestrated by – you’ve guessed it – arch-enemy Lex Luthor.

Here’s one of the official posters for the film.

In the role of Superman is David Corenswet, shown on the poster posing in the classic superhero costume. And as the tag line “It begins” alludes to, this film is meant to be the first chapter in a new cinematic saga from DC Studios.

But we prefer this alternative official poster for the 2025 film. Not only is it more dynamic, but it also carries a different tag line that’s a nod to the Man of Steel’s first outing on the big screen.

The tag line “Look up” reprises the famous words that opened the first Superman animated series in the forties: “Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!“

But before we dive back into the past of the Superman franchise and its posters, here’s something that shows how Superman’s return in 2025 has caught the imagination of fans. The internet is awash with fan-made posters of impressive quality. Our favourite is this one showing Superman staring at the Earth from the Moon, his dog Krypto beside him (some claim the canine is the real star of the film).

Posters for the Superman animated series from the forties

Now let’s leap back in time to over 80 years ago. After making his comic book debut in 1938, Superman flew onto the silver screen for the first time in 1941 in an animated series.

The men who brought Superman to cinema screens were Max and Dave Fleischer. The brothers were animation pioneers, responsible for turning comic-book creations like Betty Boop and Popeye into cartoons.

On 26 September 1941, the first of 17 Superman animated short films was screened in Technicolor in US cinemas. To this day, the series remains a masterclass in animated storytelling, quoted almost as often as the immortal opening line: “Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!”

Over the decades, the series has occasionally been re-released to coincide with new Superman films hitting cinemas. And some re-releases have been accompanied by fabulous retro poster art.

Superman in flesh and blood: posters for the first live-action film

In 1948, our superhero reached another milestone: the Man of Steel appeared onscreen in flesh and blood for the first time. That year, Columbia Pictures launched the first live-action Superman movie: it was a 15-part film serial starring Kirk Alyn (credited on the poster, yet curiously not in the film itself).

The promotional poster for the Superman film serial released by Columbia Pictures in 1948. Image: facebook.com. The image is provided for informational purposes only. All rights belong to their legitimate owners and are reserved.

The official poster for the film serial is a majestic montage of the Man of Steel’s superpowers. At the time, Superman symbolised America as much as Elvis Presley or Coca-Cola. But this didn’t stop the film from becoming a global hit, as these original posters from Sweden and Germany attest.

The classics: Superman posters with Christopher Reeve

Every generation has its favourite, but perhaps the quintessential Superman is Christopher Reeve’s incarnation from the seventies and eighties.

At the time of its release, Richard Donner’s Superman (1978) was one of the most expensive films ever made, in no small part due to its innovative special effects and stunning sets created by John Barry (the production designer on Star Wars and A Clockwork Orange).

But it was money well spent, because the film smashed box-office records. And to this day, correcting for inflation, it remains one of Warner Bros’ most successful movies ever. The production also benefited from a screen play by  Mario Puzo (author of The Godfather),  who dropped the carefree and childish tone of the comics to create a story with universal appeal.

The poster shows our hero soaring upwards past New York’s skyscrapers. The film’s flying scenes wowed audiences of the era (though they look dated to today), so it’s no surprise to see them on these posters for Japanese version of the film.

The Superman saga continued with three more films in the eighties. But for director Richard Donner – who would go on to helm classics including The Goonies [another fascinating poster story] and Lethal Weapon – there was an abrupt and unhappy ending when he was fired during production of Superman II.

Christopher Reeve continued as Superman, however: in the eyes of many fans, the actor would for years – and perhaps for ever – remain the one and only Clark Kent. He featured on all the American and international posters for the franchise throughout the eighties.

In a cruel irony, after playing an invincible superhero on screen, in the real world Reeve would be brutally confronted with human frailty when left paralysed from the neck down in a horse riding accident in 1995. He passed away in 2004. Well worth a watch is this powerful documentary that recounts Reeve’s struggle to come to terms with paralysis and his refusal to give up hope for a cure.

But back to our superhero from the planet Krypton. While the first sequel to Donner’s Superman found further box office success, over the course of the eighties enthusiasm for the franchise waned. The saga limped to a sorry conclusion in 1987 with Superman IV, a cinematic disaster that was panned by critics and shunned by audiences.

Superman in the new millennium: Superman Returns and Man of Steel

In 2006, we saw Superman’s long-awaited cinematic comeback, the character having already made a hugely successful return to TV in the Smallville series.

In Superman Returns, directed by Bryan Singer, Brandon Routh eventually pulled on the costume after Hollywood A-listers passed on the part (including Will Smith). As the official poster suggests, the mould for this outing is Donner’s seventies classic. Singer’s version is an SFX-heavy affair that hammers home the hero’s  indestructibility in a string of lengthy action scenes. It was a flop, and made the case for “Why the World Doesn’t Need Superman!”.

The poster for Man of Steel, the instalment released in 2013, also owes a debt to the seventies Superman: despite its modern aesthetic, it shows Henry Cavill in classic Superman pose flying above a city. This film disappointed at the box office, too.

In a world increasingly populated by very flawed and very human superheroes, the straight-laced, upstanding Superman looks like a fish out of water. Happily, the new Superman film that hit cinemas in 2025 seems to be finally doing the justice to the Man of Steel!

And what do you think? Which is your favourite poster? Did this dive into Superman posters give you super ideas for your next project?