In what order should I watch the Superman movies?

[Azndude51]

I haven't seen any Superman movie completely through, only bits and pieces of the originals and none of Superman Returns. What order should I watch them? I read that Superman Returns only follows the first two movies, so do I watch that in between two and three or after all of them? What about the Richard Donner version, should I watch that instead of the original Superman II?

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Superman
Superman II
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
Superman Returns

Ignore Superman III and IV, go right to Superman: The Animated Series. It's not in the same continuity or anything, but you're better off forgetting Superman III and IV exist.

 

[Azndude51]

Originally posted by: ShotgunSteven
Superman
Superman II
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
Superman Returns

Ignore Superman III and IV, go right to Superman: The Animated Series. It's not in the same continuity or anything, but you're better off forgetting Superman III and IV exist.

How similar are the original Superman II and the Donner cut?

 

[Aftermath]

Originally posted by: ShotgunSteven
Superman
Superman II
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
Superman Returns

Ignore Superman III and IV, go right to Superman: The Animated Series. It's not in the same continuity or anything, but you're better off forgetting Superman III and IV exist.

Then you have to check out the Justice League series too. As far as I'm concerned, the 90's Batman and Superman cartoons, followed by the Justice League stuff put all other animated or cinematic versions of these characters to shame.

 

[Slackware]

Superman II
Superman IV
Superman I
Superman III
Superman Returns

 

[Childs]

Superman II, the middle section of Superman Returns, and lots of Justice League/Unlimited.

 

[Noema]

Originally posted by: Azndude51

Originally posted by: ShotgunSteven
Superman
Superman II
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
Superman Returns

Ignore Superman III and IV, go right to Superman: The Animated Series. It's not in the same continuity or anything, but you're better off forgetting Superman III and IV exist.

How similar are the original Superman II and the Donner cut?

I believe the Donner cut (from what my brother tells me...he's the biggest Superman nut there is ) has over 50% of unseen footage.

 

[Tom]

I love Marlon Brando as Jor-El in the first one, I see he has a screen credit in this Richard Donner cut, what's that about ?

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Originally posted by: Tom
I love Marlon Brando as Jor-El in the first one, I see he has a screen credit in this Richard Donner cut, what's that about ?

Probably using more of the unused footage that they dug up for Superman Returns.

 

[axelfox]

But you need to watch III to understand some parts of Office Space

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Originally posted by: axelfox
But you need to watch III to understand some parts of Office Space

I think that's probably the only valid reason to ever watch that movie.

<-----Currently watching Superman: The Animated Series Season One again.

 

[SagaLore]

Superman Returns is its own storyline, kind of like how Batman Begins is a fresh start.

You can watch Returns now, it doesn't matter. Just watch the originals in the linear order - I, II, III, IV. The first two are decent, three is downright silly, and four is kind of out of place.

 

[compuwiz1]

<at bot> Do your own homework</at bot>

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Originally posted by: SagaLore
Superman Returns is its own storyline, kind of like how Batman Begins is a fresh start.

You can watch Returns now, it doesn't matter. Just watch the originals in the linear order - I, II, III, IV. The first two are decent, three is downright silly, and four is kind of out of place.

Superman Returns takes place after Superman II, Superman III and IV no longer count in the movie continuity according to Singer.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: SagaLore
Superman Returns is its own storyline, kind of like how Batman Begins is a fresh start.

You can watch Returns now, it doesn't matter. Just watch the originals in the linear order - I, II, III, IV. The first two are decent, three is downright silly, and four is kind of out of place.

I completely disagree. Superman Returns can be watched on its own, but the fact that they did let the past movies influence its direction completely crippled its potential.

On the other hand Batman Begins takes what was done with the previous Batman movies and completely throws it out the window and presents a fresh perspective - which is why its an incredibly good movie, not just a good comics movie.

Superman Returns really is a sort of sequel (a crappy let down at that), whereas Batman Begins is a whole new animal.

 

[Slackware]

None of the Superman or Batman movies are really good movies PERIOD.

You want good movies, Fight Club, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and so on, THESE are good movies that will be remembered, Superman and Batman movies are great if you are a preteen or drunk but for real viewing pleasure, they suck as bad as all the X-Men and Spiderman movies.

The acting is mediocre, the storyline is thin and most of it is embarrassingly horrible to batch if not very young or drunk.

 

[0roo0roo]

eh, batman 1-2/beings were good.

 

[Icepick]

Originally posted by: Slackware
None of the Superman or Batman movies are really good movies PERIOD.

You want good movies, Fight Club, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and so on, THESE are good movies that will be remembered, Superman and Batman movies are great if you are a preteen or drunk but for real viewing pleasure, they suck as bad as all the X-Men and Spiderman movies.

The acting is mediocre, the storyline is thin and most of it is embarrassingly horrible to batch if not very young or drunk.

WRONG. Superman 1&2, the Spiderman movies, Batman 1 and Batman begins were good. These are all fantasy films. If you don't like fantasy, then, yeah I could see where you would have animosity toward them. I can see that you prefer movies set in the real world and you listed some good ones. On the other hand there are millions upon millions of audience members and critics would disagree with you on the superhero movies.

The other superman and Batman movies sucked major ones and were just made to keep the $$ coming in from the fanboys while the franchise was still hot.

For some reason I can't really get into the X-Men movies. Maybe it's because I was not into their comic books as a kid. Don't know.

Back on topic -
Op, as others have said watch Superman 1, 2 (director's cut-I haven't seen this one but it sounds intriguing. - Skip superman 3 and 4 - pure garbage. I haven't seen the latest superman but the buzz is that it's not very good - that one's up to you.

 

[tk149]

Superman: The Movie
Superman II
Superman Returns - As usual, director Bryan Singer pays great homage to his original source material, while adding his own spin on things

Superman III - Richard Pryor and Superman - WTF were they thinking?!?!
Superman IV - IIRC directed by Christopher Reeve - skip this one entirely

Don't know much about the Richard Donner cut - IIRC, Donner was originally the director of Superman: The Movie, and already had filmed half of Superman II, when he was replaced by another director. The new director basically re-wrote and re-shot almost the entire movie, and (I distinctly remember reading this) had the female Kryptonian's outfit redone to show more cleavage.

 

[Icepick]

Originally posted by: tk149
Superman: The Movie
Superman II
Superman Returns - As usual, director Bryan Singer pays great homage to his original source material, while adding his own spin on things

Superman III - Richard Pryor and Superman - WTF were they thinking?!?!
Superman IV - IIRC directed by Christopher Reeve - skip this one entirely

Don't know much about the Richard Donner cut - IIRC, Donner was originally the director of Superman: The Movie, and already had filmed half of Superman II, when he was replaced by another director. The new director basically re-wrote and re-shot almost the entire movie, and (I distinctly remember reading this) had the female Kryptonian's outfit redone to show more cleavage.

:thumbsup: Nothing wrong with that!

 

[Azndude51]

Originally posted by: Slackware
None of the Superman or Batman movies are really good movies PERIOD.

You want good movies, Fight Club, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and so on, THESE are good movies that will be remembered, Superman and Batman movies are great if you are a preteen or drunk but for real viewing pleasure, they suck as bad as all the X-Men and Spiderman movies.

The acting is mediocre, the storyline is thin and most of it is embarrassingly horrible to batch if not very young or drunk.

I have seen and enjoyed Fight Club, Reservoir Dogs, and Pulp Fiction already. I liked watching all the Spider-man, X-men, and Batman movies. For some reason I just haven't seen any of the Superman movies all the way through.

It seems like the majority doesn't like III or IV, so I guess I'll watch I, II, Returns, and II Donner's cut in that order and skip III and IV.