Back in the Golden Age, Superman was an aggressive vigilante who brutailized domestic abusers, war profiteers and corporate criminals. I'm sure there was a story in which Superman destroyed an admittedly damaged neighborhood just to force the government to reconstruct it.

Then you get into stories like Earth One and the New 52, in which Superman is always in "punch first, ask questions later" mode.

^^ exactly lol. It isn’t. Nobody knows what they’re talking about 🙈

Man you never read a single Golden Age Superman comic... 🤦🏻‍♂️

Do you really think they made superheroes brutalize criminals back in the day? You clearly have no knowledge about comic book history and especially the Golden Age period.

Comics back then were mostly aimed at kids: everything that happens is most of the times pretty tame and always ends up with a fully heroic portrayal of the main character: there's no brutalization, no bloodshed, nothing of what you say.

Comics began to be bloody during the 1970s and reached the peak in the 1990s, especially in the anti-hero genre. Punisher brutalizes people, Ghost Rider burns their soul... but NOT Golden Age Superman, nor Silver Age Superman, NOR current Superman!

Superman has always been consistently depicted in the comics as a kind hearted hero that does the best he can in order to defeat evil and inspire people. That's the truest nature of Golden Age superheroes that he embraces perfectly because he's the first true Golden Age superhero.

What you people always do is distort and reinterpret the meaning of what happened in Golden Age comics you never even touched. You read a summary of the plot on CBR (worst comic book site ever) and you pretend like you perfectly understood what happens in the story.

There's this weird violence fetish where people like to portray superheroes as violent and ruthless vigilantes in the Golden Age: THAT NEVER HAPPENED! IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD!

I have read probably hundreds of Golden Age comics and there's NEVER excessive violence and brutalization. If you're into that stuff, you're into anti-heroes from the 1990s, but NOT Golden Age heroes. You people need to start reading comics instead of watching YouTube videos where YouTubers with barely any knowledge tell you lies about comics so that you can go around like a fool and spread misinformation.

Christopher Reeve is unmatched. I can’t believe there’s even a debate about this. His presence and the feeling you get when he’s talking, the feeling like you matter and someone sees you and believes in you, all while feeling safe and protected, that feeling has never been replicated on screen. Not to mention he’s got the perfect Superman look. Tyler Hoechlin has done a fantastic job portraying him, and definitely captures the essence of Superman for TV, but hasn’t even come close to nailing it the way Christopher Reeve did. I’d also like to say that a huge part of Christopher Reeve being the best is Richard Donner’s writing and direction, which I feel like Tyler Hoechlin doesn’t have. I hope Tyler keeps playing him though, he’s definitely worthy. And also I think that was the problem for Henry’s Cavil, I love Henry as Superman too, and I think he could’ve been an easy second to Christopher, had he just been given far better material. Quite honestly, I blame Zach Snyder for not allowing Henry Cavil to soar to the heights that he could’ve.

I don't know, @FraBig . I've met some people on Reddit who go out of their way to make fun of the silly stories from the Golden Age because the heroes of that time weren't afraid to partake in world wars just to give people some form of escape during the Great Depression.

Also, I have no problem with Superman using violence because Superman is a man of action. He debuted in a book called Action Comics. Some stories, like the Christopher Reeve movies, might like portraying Superman as the comic book equivalent to Jesus, but, in the words of Grant Morrison, Supeman is a fighter.

In fact, some guy on Reddit make a very compelling argument that Superman's flaw isn't the fake flaw of "caring too much" or "working too hard", but rather the sin of wrath. Even TV Tropes has a section for the times Superman behaved unheroically during the Golden Age. The users from that website even had a discussion about this.

A truth about Superman that a lot of people either forget or refuse to acknowledge is that, according to Bruce Timm, Superman is an inherently dull character. Please don't misinterpret my statement. I genuinely believe that a character that cares about doing the right thing just for the sake of doing the right thing can be used to tell some fascinating stories, but the truth is that it's difficult to make stories about a character who doesn't want to fight anyone and would rather talk things out. Thor Skywalker talked about this particular problem in a video he made about the Jedi, but I believe some of those arguments can easily apply to Superman, as well.

We all have our favorite and unfavorite Supermen throughout the vast, infinite multiverse and that's perfectly fine. If you don't like a Superman, I'm sure the multiverse has other Supermen you can gravitate towards. Just, whatever you do, don't try to invalidate other people's enjoyment of their favorite Supermen just to prop up or propel your favorite Superman forward.

Personally, I will always have a soft spot the traditional portrayal of Superman as a goody-two-shoes Boy Scout, but what really interests me about Superman is his evolution because, at least in some cases, he has to evolve. He can't keep playing the nostalgia card forever or that, too, will become stale and predictable.

If you say that you want Superman to be portrayed in a very specific way and you will never allow him to grow beyond that very specific portrayal, then you might as well gatekeep the character and his community into obsolescence. But don't just take my word for it, Grant Morrison has a statement for this.

Ok wow i had to stop reading at "some guy on Reddit"

It's Vladover bro. Your arguments were flawed but still useable until now.

Yeah man Reddit just completely invalidates all your argument.

Ranking time

1. Henry cavill

2. Christopher reeve

3. Tyler hoechlin

4. Brandon routh

I love all supermen of course