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Who played the best Clark Kent, Superman, Lois Lane & Lex Luthor?

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Bishop89

Member
Erica Durance was the best Lois Lane:

tumblr_inline_mll5rxz6Sh1qz4rgp.jpg


Michael Rosenbaum was the best Lex Luthor.

michael_rosenbaum.jpg

this is correct.

I liked tom welling, so im going with him.
 

Xero

Member
I can't stand reeve as kent. Not that its his fault mind you, I just hate bumbling kent. Kidders lois lane was pretty bad, but we haven't had many good versions of the character anyways.

Non animated:

clark- dean caine hate me if you want, but he was confident, and he felt like lois's equal when it came to being a reporter, and he would get lois back for giving him a hard time. Felt the most like the animated series.

Lois-not that I saw much of her, but I would say durance followed by hatcher, if nothing else for that great clark/lois chemistry she had with dean

Lex-rosenbloom he also gets a nod for best flash in justice league the animated series.

Superman-reeves followed by cavill I don't even have the gigantic hard on most people have for the original, and superman 2 is a huge step down even the donnor cut, but dude as superman was spot on. I think cavill could reach it with the right script though.

welling is at the absolute bottom of the list, and might as well not even be on it. Its just how much I hated his portrayal.
 

TheOMan

Tagged as I see fit
Basically this, but since I see Reeve as the unreachable high standard, I'll change that to Tom W. for Clark.

Not sure how I forgot Teri Hatcher for Lois. She's definitely on the list.

Dean Cain as Clark Kent gets an honourable mention, but his Superman was bad.
 

Apt101

Member
Young Clark Kent, I think it goes to Tom Welling considering the time he had to play that role and develop it. Not exactly stellar writing or anything, but he played the role well for a long ass time.

Superman was Reeves, I guess. I mean his portrayal is iconic, and given the time he played Superman, I don't think that it could have been done better.

I honestly don't like any Lex Luthor on film or television. Hackman's was written and directed all goofy like. Rosenbaum's was a simplistic teenaged-TV version of a mad genius. But good. Spacey's was terrible in my opinion, and not because of him, but because he was being directed to be a slightly more menacing version of Hackman's in a film that just didn't work. IMO Luthor should be the most cruel, indifferent, and sublimely insane villain ever. No one has pulled that off in film or in TV despite there being plenty of terrific source material in the comics to play off of.
 
Clark - Christopher Reeves - Played the physicality and unassuming nature of him perfectly.

Superman - Tim Daly/George Newbern - Powerful, authoritative, but still with the world's best interests at heart.

Lois - Dana Delany - No live-action Lois has had the pitch-perfect sass, critical thinking, intelligence, and her humanity all rolled perfectly into one the way Delany did.

Lex - Clancy Brown - Fuck everyone else. Michael Rosenbaum was cute as young Lex but he was never really the megalomaniac that embodies the character. Hackman is fun and cheesy but when it comes down to it, he's just sniveling and weak. Lois & Clark's Lex didn't even shave his fucking head if I remember. Clancy Brown is perfect Lex in every line he reads. He's powerful, manipulative, evil, and most importantly, he knows he is fucking untouchable.

QFT.
 
The only one I have a strong opinion on is Teri Hatcher for Lois.

Everything else kinda is case-by-case. No particularly strong feelings on any of the others.

And the DCAU crushes every live performance.
 

infi

Member
I can't stand reeve as kent. Not that its his fault mind you, I just hate bumbling kent. Kidders lois lane was pretty bad, but we haven't had many good versions of the character anyways.

Non animated:

clark- dean caine hate me if you want, but he was confident, and he felt like lois's equal when it came to being a reporter, and he would get lois back for giving him a hard time. Felt the most like the animated series.

Lois-not that I saw much of her, but I would say durance followed by hatcher, if nothing else for that great clark/lois chemistry she had with dean

Lex-rosenbloom he also gets a nod for best flash in justice league the animated series.

Superman-reeves followed by cavill I don't even have the gigantic hard on most people have for the original, and superman 2 is a huge step down even the donnor cut, but dude as superman was spot on. I think cavill could reach it with the right script though.

welling is at the absolute bottom of the list, and might as well not even be on it. Its just how much I hated his portrayal.

I agree with all this pretty much except for the Welling hate, I thought he was pretty decent.
 

Vinci

Danish
Clark - Christopher Reeves - Played the physicality and unassuming nature of him perfectly.

Superman - Tim Daly/George Newbern - Powerful, authoritative, but still with the world's best interests at heart.

Lois - Dana Delany - No live-action Lois has had the pitch-perfect sass, critical thinking, intelligence, and her humanity all rolled perfectly into one the way Delany did.

Lex - Clancy Brown - Fuck everyone else. Michael Rosenbaum was cute as young Lex but he was never really the megalomaniac that embodies the character. Hackman is fun and cheesy but when it comes down to it, he's just sniveling and weak. Lois & Clark's Lex didn't even shave his fucking head if I remember. Clancy Brown is perfect Lex in every line he reads. He's powerful, manipulative, evil, and most importantly, he knows he is fucking untouchable.

Cannot be quoted enough.
 

jelly

Member
Erica Durance was the best Lois Lane:

tumblr_inline_mll5rxz6Sh1qz4rgp.jpg


Michael Rosenbaum was the best Lex Luthor.

michael_rosenbaum.jpg

Yes. My favourites as well.

Clarke, I'm not sure of. Never really liked any of them. Cavill either can't act, has no charisma or just bad writing. I hate clumsy Reeve Clark. imitation Routh Reeve Clark.

Superman.

gif-Superman-DC-Comics-fandoms-1828467.gif
 

Sephzilla

Member
Cavill is in the contention for best Superman because he has the look, but he needs more time as the character. His Man of Steel performance didn't touch Reeve at all

Clark Kent - Reeve
Superman - Reeve
Lois Lane - Durance
Lex Luthor - Spacey
Jor-El - Crowe
Zod - Stamp
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
Superman TAS is my favorite depiction of the mythos, in every way including the cast, so I'll exclude that completely (because it is tops in every category for me) and just do a live action list:


Clark Kent - Reeve
Superman - Reeve
Lois Lane - Durance
Pa Kent - John Schneider
Ma Kent - Annette O'Toole
Lex Luthor - Michael Rosenbaum


This single clip alone completely embodies why I feel that Rosenbaum, when let loose with the character, was the best live action depiction of Lex every put to a non-cartoon screen. He was spot on perfect when allowed to be:


I am the villain of the story
 

Shahadan

Member
I liked that Dean Cain was able to sound or look smart and smug. Welling sure as hell couldn't.

Dean Cain & Terri Hatcher all the way as far as I'm concerned. Loïs was great.
 

The Cowboy

Member
Christopher Reeve for Clark Kent and Superman - no one has done as good as a transition between the 2 as him. I mean watch the scenes in Superman 2 in when Lois catches him out, in the space of a few seconds he goes from clearly looking like Clark Kent to really looking like Superman (heck in the movies you could pass him off as 2 entirely different people and i recon a lot of people wouldn't notice).

Kevin Spacey for Lex Luthor - i know I'll be in the minority on this one but i really do like his version better than all other live action version.

Erica Durance for Lois Lane - i wasn't a huge fan of Smallville's later seasons and was on the verge of giving up, until Erica Durance showed up as Lois Lane. I really like how they went with her character, and think she was the best part of the show for the remaining seasons.
 

kunonabi

Member
I liked that Dean Cain was able to sound or look smart and smug. Welling sure as hell couldn't.

Dean Cain & Terri Hatcher all the way as far as I'm concerned. Loïs was great.

No, Welling pulled that off a bit in the later seasons and certainly during some of the many, many, many, many times he went evil or got possessed.
 

stuminus3

Member
+1 Reeve for both Clark and Superman because they were clearly two different characters. Probably the most perfect casting ever.

Can't decide on Louis or Lex.
 

DaveH

Member
No other live action take really sold me on the idea that people could believe Clark and Supes were different people. Hoping they emphasize the posture stuff in BvS at some point.
In a decidedly campy take, sure, but I can't cross that bridge into reality. Short of prosopagnosia ("face blindness disorder"), they're the same guy and look like the same guy to me. It's nice acting for a melodramatic cartoon, but it's not believable in the real world.
 

EGM1966

Member
Only Reeve played both Kent and Superman as actually being the same person, and he did it better than anybody else in both cases. Sure they buffed up Cavil but if Reeves was making it today they's buff him up too. That's just hitting the gym. Cavil was okay but he never shone remotely to the level Reeves did. He just nailed the character and remains definitive on screen.

Lex though I'm torn between Rosenbaum and Spacey. I think rosenbaum did more with it (but he had a lot more time to) but Spacey while not perfect nailed being cold and cruel perfectly at the right moments.

Ma Kent I'd have to go with Diane Lane

Pa Kent torn between Costner (even though they wasted the character) and Glen Ford (who had little screen time but used it wonderfully).

Lois Lane - Kidder in first film.

TBH in film I still think Superman nailed the character better than anything since including Man of Steel (it had the effects and thunder but little else and contained some very muddled character moments).
 

kunonabi

Member
Welling was good being evil except his smirk.

I can agree with that. He was pretty good at differentiating his evil forms(Red K, Bizarro, Lionel-possessed, and Ultraman,etc) which I thought he never gets enough credit for.
 

bwahhhhh

Member
B9d3ZOC.jpg


relevant to the discussion: The Daly Supermen (with Daly, Routh, Cain)

sticking to live action, I'm going to go with...

Superman: Christopher Reeve - he just had a presence as Superman, and this... almost tangible goodness when he talked. Plus, he just looked the most like Superman.

Clark: Reeve or Cain, for different reasons. Reeve's Clark, the bumbling and complete posture change and demeanor when he was Clark, is the only way I think Clark and Superman could actually co-exist without someone figuring it out. He just looked so different as Clark. Cain was the cooler, more "normal" Clark, and much more like the comics.

Lex: Spacey or Rosenbaum. Spacey's Lex was based on Hackman's, but he wasn't particularly goofy, and was much darker. He went straight cold-blooded murderer in the kryptonite shiv moment. Honorable mention to Smallville's Lionel Luthor, who in the first few seasons was basically "evil adult Lex Luthor with hair". (and looked like Lex Luthor II from the early 90s comics)

Lois: Kidder or Durance. I think I'll go with Durance, because she had so much time to develop. She had the personality down. Smallville really had good casting.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Clark - Christopher Reeves - Played the physicality and unassuming nature of him perfectly.

Superman - Tim Daly/George Newbern - Powerful, authoritative, but still with the world's best interests at heart.

Lois - Dana Delany - No live-action Lois has had the pitch-perfect sass, critical thinking, intelligence, and her humanity all rolled perfectly into one the way Delany did.

Lex - Clancy Brown - Fuck everyone else. Michael Rosenbaum was cute as young Lex but he was never really the megalomaniac that embodies the character. Hackman is fun and cheesy but when it comes down to it, he's just sniveling and weak. Lois & Clark's Lex didn't even shave his fucking head if I remember. Clancy Brown is perfect Lex in every line he reads. He's powerful, manipulative, evil, and most importantly, he knows he is fucking untouchable.

Agreed on all points.
 

Kadin

Member
Superman TAS is my favorite depiction of the mythos, in every way including the cast, so I'll exclude that completely (because it is tops in every category for me) and just do a live action list:


Clark Kent - Reeve
Superman - Reeve
Lois Lane - Durance
Pa Kent - John Schneider
Ma Kent - Annette O'Toole
Lex Luthor - Michael Rosenbaum


This single clip alone completely embodies why I feel that Rosenbaum, when let loose with the character, was the best live action depiction of Lex every put to a non-cartoon screen. He was spot on perfect when allowed to be:


I am the villain of the story
That was a great clip. Another one here is one that I think really shows what was always fighting Lex from within. Always thought Rosebaum's dedication to his role was easily better than anyone else in the cast.
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Christopher Reeves was the best Superman.

But my favorite will always be Dean Cain.

And pretty much everyone from Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

But yeah, Reeves was really good at convincing people he was two different people. Though glasses are still a silly disguise. Surely someone would tell from his hair.
 

MattKeil

BIGTIME TV MOGUL #2
Clark Kent - Christopher Reeve

Superman - Christopher Reeve

Lois Lane - Noel Neill

Lex Luthor - Clancy Brown

If they give her some real material to work with, Amy Adams has a shot at the Lois crown. Honestly I don't think Lois has been very well depicted in live action media overall.
 

IconGrist

Member
Clark - Dean Cain

Superman - Christopher Reeve

Lois - Erica Durance

Lex - Michael Rosenbaum

I'm holding out hope for Eisenberg. He may end up our definitive Lex.
 

Not Spaceghost

Spaceghost
I CAN DEFINITELY TELL YOU WHO PLAYED THE MOST ENRAGING CLARK KENT

FUCKING TOM GODDAMN WELLING.

More like Tom Waahhwahhhelling.

Honestly I haven't really been the biggest fan of any Clarks or Supes on screen, I never really even liked Reeve all that much as an actor but he at least 100% looked the part, it's such a shame that the 80s outfit is really garbage looking. Henry Cavil was okay. But yeah I don't really know who I'd say did the best job of Clark / Superman

Erica Durance is the best Lois Lane i've ever seen and the only thing that kept me going through the rest of Smallville. But I chalk this up to the fact that no other Lois Lanes actually get any real expositions in their films / shows like Erica's Lois did.

Michael Rosenbaum was an awesome Lex, he had that really good "crooked guy trying to act like he means well" vibe about him. His voice was so good at reassuring you that everything was great, he could lie to your face and you'd buy it even when you knew otherwise.
 
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