SLIDESHOW: LOOK, UP IN THE SKY! A History of Superman Flying Onscreen

SLIDESHOW: Christopher Reeve once said, �The appeal of flight. I mean � Batman�s got a cool car. But flight is what really captures people�s imaginations. To take two or three running steps and soar into the air. That�s everybody�s dream.� On the screen, it took a while for that dream to take hold. In the beginning, which is to say June 1938, with the publication of Action Comics #1, Superman couldn't fly; he could only leap 1/8 of a mile. It took adventures in other media for the dream of flight to take hold.�
1941: In the early Max Fleischer cartoons, Superman is “able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.” But all that bouncing from spot to spot made him look a bit like a Mexican jumping bean, and it just became easier, and cooler, to show him, you know, flying. Fleischer Studios subbed out that “tall buildings” line for “Able to soar higher than any plane!” but the other stuck. As late as 1988, the opening intro still trumpeted Superman as a dude “able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!”
1948: Kirk Alyn was the first live-action, onscreen Superman, and this was the moment he finally took flight. Did kids in theaters in 1948 hold their breath? If so...
1948 (cont.)... they were probably disappointed since as soon as he lifted off he turned into a cartoon. This was true in all 15 chapters of the '48 serial. On the other hand ...
1948 (cont.) ... it doesn't look bad. Dude could move. When they switched to flying of the live-action variety, it had the same effect that sound had on early talkies: a tendency toward stiffness. It would take half a century before Superman, in flight, could move as well as he could above.
1950: Here we go. This is the first time we see Superman, as a man, in the air. It's Kirk Alyn again from the 1950 serial, “Atom Man vs. Superman.” Most of the flying, though, is still done with animation.
1953: In the 1950s TV show “Adventures of Superman,” George Reeves' flight has a kind of lying-on-a-table effect. In episode after episode: 1) Clark Kent went into the Daily Planet storeroom; 2) Superman bounced out a window to whooshing wind effects; and 3) we saw Supes, against a cloud backdrop, flying rather straight. But then it was an era of flying straight.
1975: But it beat this. It's a screenshot from the TV adaptation of the short-lived 1966 Broadway musical, “It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman,” starring David Wilson as Superman and Lesley Ann Warren (rahr) as Lois Lane, which aired late at night on Feb. 1, 1975 Why late? I guess so little kids couldn't see it. I did. I stayed up late but kept nodding off. I kept thinking, “This is painful,” without realizing why.
1978: So when “Superman: The Movie” was released in 1978, and Christopher Reeve takes to the air to save Lois Lane dangling from a helicopter, it looked breathtakingly real. Because it was. It wasn�t a cartoon, it wasn�t green screen + CGI; it was a man, in a bright blue suit, with big red boots, flying. It had � what�s that word? Verisimilitude. Still does.
1987: Nine years later, we took a big step backwards. Blame Sylvester Stallone. His film, “Over the Top,” produced by Golan and Globus, who were leasing the rights to Superman, tanked at the box office, and as a result the “Superman: IV” budget was slashed from $40 million to less than half that. It shows in every sad frame�including this one, where Superman returns the Statue of Liberty to its proper station.�Mostly, though, blame Golan and Globus. They made you believe that a man really couldn't fly after all. �
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1993: Even in the title, “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” the Man of Steel gets third billing. And in terms of screentime, he was probably further down than that. But some flying scenes, like this, from the premiere episode, aren't bad.
2001: The creators of “Smallville” promised “No flights and no tights” and pretty much adhered to that principle through its 10-season run. Unfortunately, the closer it go to the birth of Superman, the worse it became. I mean, the red-and-blue blur? Somebody save me.
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2006: �Superman Returns� is the first big-deal, CGI-infected Superman movie, but it�s still disappointing, probably because it has one foot and three toes in the past. It can�t get over Christopher Reeve. But who can?
2013: Well, David S. Goyer and Zack Snyder are certainly trying. Their new movie, “Man of Steel,” promises mind-bending flying effects and special effects. Let's just hope it's smart. Let's just hope we haven't been sucker-punched. *FIN*