Superman in film as Superman, but it was shelved in 2008 and the film series was rebooted in 2013 with "Man of Steel", directed by Zack Snyder with Henry Cavill starring as Superman. Snyder and Cavill worked together again in "" and "Justice League". Superman first appeared in cinemas in a series of 17 theatrical animated shorts from between 1941 and 1943. They were released by Paramount Pictures. Of those seventeen, nine were produced by Fleischer Studios and further eight by its successor, Famous Studios. The first appearances of Superman in live-action film were in two serials for Columbia Pictures: "Superman" in 1948
Superhero film of episodes of that same series released theatrically, and "Batman" (1966) a big-screen extension of the "Batman" television series starring Adam West. In 1957 Japan, Shintoho produced the first film serial featuring the "tokusatsu" superhero character Super Giant, signaling a shift in Japanese popular culture towards "tokusatsu" masked superheroes over "kaiju" giant monsters. Along with "Astro Boy", the "Super Giant" film serials had a profound effect on the Japanese "tokusatsu" superhero genre. Another early superhero film was "Ōgon Bat" (1966), a Japanese film starring Sonny Chiba based on the 1930 Kamishibai superhero Ōgon Bat. Original superhero characters emerged in other,