TheSuperman curse refers to a series of supposedly related misfortunes that have plagued creative people involved inadaptations of theDC Comics characterSuperman invarious media, particularly actors who have played the role of Superman on film and television.[1] The "curse" is frequently associated withGeorge Reeves, who starred inAdventures of Superman on television from 1952 to 1958, and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at age 45;[2] andChristopher Reeve, the portrayer of the superhero in four theatrical films from 1978 to 1987, who was paralyzed in a 1995 horseback riding accident, and died nine years later at age 52 from heart failure.[3][4]
Thecurse is often invoked whenever misfortune is experienced by actors and other personnel who work onSuperman adaptations, so much so that some talent agents cite the curse as the reason for the difficulty in casting actors in the role in live-action feature films.[5][6]
A more prosaic explanation for the alleged 'curse' is that given the high number of people involved in the many adaptations and treatments of the Superman story over the years, a number of significant misfortunes would inevitably occur, as they would do in any substantial sampling of random individuals.[7]
The following actors who played Superman have sometimes been cited as victims of the "Superman curse".
Kirk Alyn played Superman in two low-budget 1940s serials, but failed to find work afterward due totypecasting. As a result, he was relegated to voice roles, commercials, and uncredited screen roles. He later appeared asLois Lane's father in the 1978Superman film.[8] Alyn hadAlzheimer's disease later in his life and died in 1999 at the age of 88.[5][9]
Lee Quigley, who played the infant Superman in the 1978 film, came from an unstable home and suffered schoolyard bullying. He died in 1991 at age 14 from inhalant abuse.[10][11][12][13]
George Reeves played Superman in the 1951 filmSuperman and the Mole Men and the ensuing television seriesAdventures of Superman (1952–1958). Like Alyn, he was too closely associated with the role to find further work. On June 16, 1959, days before he was to be married, Reeves was found dead of a gunshot wound at his home with hisLuger pistol near him. The death was ruled a suicide, but controversy surrounds the death, as Reeves's fingerprints were never found on the gun, and he had been having an affair with the wife of MGM execEddie Mannix.[8][14] It was Reeves's death that inspired the conspiracy theories and the urban legend of a curse associated with the character.[15]
Christopher Reeve playedClark Kent / Superman in the 1978–1987Superman film series:Superman: The Movie (1978),Superman II (1980),Superman III (1983), andSuperman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). Subsequently, he was subject to typecasting and found difficulty acquiring roles, being relegated toSuperman sequels and supporting roles.[8] Reeve was paralyzed from the neck down after being thrown from his horse in across-country equestrian riding event on May 27, 1995.[14] He died on October 10, 2004, fifteen days after his 52nd birthday. No official autopsy was performed, but both Reeve's wife Dana and his doctor John McDonald believed that an adverse reaction to a drug caused Reeve's death.[16] In one of his last roles, Reeve portrayed supporting character Dr. Virgil Swann on theWB/CW television seriesSmallville.[17]
Marlon Brando, who playedJor-El in the 1978 film, is cited for the misfortune he suffered in his private life, such as his sonChristian's shooting of his half-sisterCheyenne's boyfriend in 1990 and subsequent five-year imprisonment, Brando's own admission in court that he had failed his son and daughter, his daughter's 1995 suicide and his later reclusiveness. He died in July 2004, aged 80, three months before hisSuperman co-star Christopher Reeve.[10][18] Footage of him would later be posthumously used in 2006'sSuperman Returns.
Margot Kidder, who played Superman's love interestLois Lane oppositeChristopher Reeve, hadbipolar disorder. In April 1996, she went missing for several days and was found by police in a paranoid, delusional state.[14][19][20]
Kidder dismissed the notion of a curse, remarking in a 2002 interview: "That is all newspaper-created rubbish. The idea cracks me up. What about the luck of Superman? When my car crashed this August, if I hadn't hit atelegraph pole after rolling three times, I would have dropped down a 50ft to 60ft ravine. Why don't people focus on that?"[21]
Kidder aged 69 died on May 13, 2018, inLivingston, Montana. A coroner ruled her death a suicide, stating that she died as a result of a self-inflicted drug and alcohol overdose.[22]
ComedianRichard Pryor, who starred as Gus Gorman inSuperman III, previously had a drug addiction that led to a near-fatal suicide attempt. Three years later, he was diagnosed withmultiple sclerosis.[14][21] He died of aheart attack on December 10, 2005 at the age of 65.[23]
The curse has been mentioned regarding the death of actressDana Reeve (the widow of actor Christopher Reeve), who, despite being a non-smoker, died oflung cancer in 2006 at the age of 44.[1][24]
Jerry Siegel andJoe Shuster, the creators of Superman, sold the rights to their creation toDC Comics for a relatively small amount of money, in contrast to the amount of money the character has generated over the decades. Despite the repeated efforts over the course of the rest of their lives to recover legal ownership of Superman, and a share in the immense profits that the character brought for DC Comics, DC's copyright on the character was renewed.[10] By the 1950s, Shuster's worsening eyesight prevented him from drawing, and he worked as adeliveryman in order to earn a living.[25][26]
Comic book artistJerry Robinson claimed that Shuster had delivered a package to the DC building, embarrassing the employees. He was summoned to the CEO, given $100, and told to buy a new coat and find another job.[27] By 1976, Shuster was almost blind and living in a California nursing home.[28] In 1975, Siegel launched a publicity campaign, in which Shuster participated, protesting DC Comics' treatment of him and Shuster. In the face of a great deal of negative publicity over their handling of the affair (and with theSuperman feature film coming soon), DC's parent companyWarner Communications reinstated the byline dropped more than 30 years earlier and granted the pair a lifetime pension of $20,000 a year, plus health benefits.[29][30][31] The first issue with the restored credit wasSuperman (vol. 1) #302 (August 1976).[32] Siegel died in 1996 and Shuster in 1992.[10]
BrothersMax Fleischer andDave Fleischer ofFleischer Studios, who produced theParamount Superman cartoons began to quarrel with one another and their studio suffered a financial disaster. After selling toParamount Studios in 1942 by its son-in-law,Seymour Kneitel, and becomingFamous Studios, the new owners fired the two brothers. Max died in poverty in a film industry charity hospital in 1972,[33] while Dave died of a stroke in 1979.
The curse was invoked after three people involved in the creation of theSuperman Returns DVD were injured. One of them fell down a flight of stairs, another wasmugged and physically assaulted, and a third smashed into a glass window. DirectorBryan Singer remarked: "My DVD crew absorbed the curse for us".[15][24]
Allison Mack, who playedChloe Sullivan on the TV seriesSmallville, was accused of sex trafficking and forced human labor and was arrested in April 2018 on those charges. An article onFox News speculated whether this was related to the curse.[34] On April 8, 2019, Mack pleaded guilty toracketeering and racketeering conspiracy and admitted to state lawextortion and forced labor.[35][36] In June 2021 she was sentenced to three years in prison.[37]
Gene Hackman, who playedLex Luthor in the 1978 film and two of its sequels, died under mysterious circumstances with his wife and dog in February 2025. It was later discovered that he had died a week after his wife,Betsy Arakawa, died ofhantavirus pulmonary syndrome. His cause of death wasstarvation andcardiac arrest exacerbated by advancedAlzheimer's disease.
The following actors have either portrayed Superman or voiced him in animated cartoons, but are not typically associated with the curse.
Dean Cain became a household name in the early to mid-1990s for his portrayal of Superman/Clark Kent inLois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Cain's other television roles includeFrasier andLaw & Order, as well asmade-for-TV movies. He made guest appearances in two otherSuperman-related series: in an episode ofSmallville as the villainous Dr. Curtis Knox, and a recurring role inSupergirl as the title character'sfoster father, Jeremiah Danvers.ABC News correspondentBuck Wolf once commented, "(Cain) has yet to find the right role".[8]
Bud Collyer voiced theSuperman radio drama and the first series ofSuperman cartoons from 1941 to 1942. He went on to enjoy a career in TV, hosting the game showTo Tell the Truth. He returned to Superman by voicingThe New Adventures of Superman for CBS in 1966. He died in 1969 of circulatory ailment at the age of 61.[5][14] Voice actors have generally been considered not to be affected by the curse.
ActorBrandon Routh, who played Superman in the 2006 filmSuperman Returns, dismisses the notion of the curse. He stated that what occurs to one person or set of people will not necessarily occur to everyone, and that he does not live his life in fear.[15][38] Routh eventually playedRay Palmer (the Atom) on otherDC Comics-related projects, is a recurring character inArrow andThe Flash, and is a regular in the spin-off seriesLegends of Tomorrow (occasionally, his role as Superman is referenced in theArrowverse[39]). He revisited the role in the crossover storyline "Crisis on Infinite Earths".[40]
Tom Welling playedClark Kent in the seriesSmallville, which aired from 2001 to 2011. He told attendees atFan Expo Canada that while he did have doubts about taking on the part of the character, they stemmed from the secrecy with which the producers initially withheld details about the production, and not the purported curse, to which he had not paid any mind. Welling explained that once he was given a script to read, his doubts were put to rest.[41] He later reappears as Clark Kent in the 2019–2020Arrowverse crossover storyline "Crisis on Infinite Earths", as a husband and father who has given up his powers, and is therefore immune to the kryptonite with which Lex Luthor attempts to kill him.[42]
Bob Holiday played Superman on Broadway in the 1960s musicalIt's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman. He called the idea of a Superman curse as "silly" and stated that "nothing but good" came from his playing Superman.[43]
Henry Cavill playedClark Kent / Superman in the films of theDC Extended Universe, spanningMan of Steel (2013) toThe Flash (2023). He has said that he does not believe that there is a Superman curse, and that incidents thought to be evidence of the "curse" are simply bad luck.[44]
Tyler Hoechlin first portrayedSuperman as a recurring supporting character inThe CW'sSupergirl (2016–2019) before starring in the spinoffSuperman & Lois (2021–2024). In an April 2025 article for FandomWire, Sonika Kamble, reflecting on the Hoechlin's successful four-year run on the latter series, wrote, "Hoechlin managed to stay clear of any scandals, career revamps, and thankfully, no personal tragedies happened either. In a role famously marred by unfinished stories, he achieved something historic and proved that the curse isn’t a guarantee after all."[45]
For the first time since 1947, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's names were back inSuperman comics, and listed as the Man of Steel's co-creators.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)