Publication history of Superman written by Alan Moore with art by Curt Swan. Although the new Modern Age version of Superman is said to have already been active for many years, most previous Superman appearances and elements were rendered out of continuity by John Byrne's "The Man of Steel". Later stories such as "" bring many of the Silver Age elements back into continuity. In Byrne's version, Superman came from the planet Krypton which was re-imagined as a cold, sterile world in deep contrast to the wonderworld of the past 48 years. Once Kal-El's rocketship (containing genetic materials and a birthing-matrix which resulted in
Superman in film Superman in film The fictional character Superman, an American comic book superhero in DC Comics publications, has appeared in movies almost since his inception. He debuted in cinemas in a series of animated shorts beginning in 1941, and then starred in two movie serials in 1948 and 1950. An independent studio, Lippert Pictures, released the first Superman feature film, "Superman and the Mole Men", starring George Reeves, in 1951. Ilya and Alexander Salkind and Pierre Spengler purchased the "Superman" film rights in 1974. After numerous scripts, Richard Donner was hired to direct the film, filming "Superman" (1978) and "Superman II"