The Superman Curse

Superman was created in 1938 by teenagers Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Their first use of the name was in a short story titled “The Reign of the Superman” written by Siegel, and illustrated by Shuster, about a man who gained and then mis-used fantastic mental powers. Eventually, the familiar red and blue suited Man of Steel was created in the initial form of a newspaper comic strip, and then first published in Action Comics #1. Superman was the very first costumed superhero, and brought a lot of success to DCComics, who had acquired all rights from Siegel and Shuster.

Superman has been a staple in almost all media ever since. Primarily in comic books, the character has also had long-running newspaper strips, radio dramas, cartoons, television programs, movies, novels, and so on. What is interesting, and also somewhat eerie, is that many of the people associated with Superman have had extreme instances of very bad luck in their lives. I’m not going to go into a lot of detail on any of these; I’ll just hit the highlights. The very beginning of the bad luck starts right with Siegel and Shuster. They sold all of the rights to the character to National Periodic Publications, later known as DC Comics for the sum of $130, and a contract to produce regular stories. DC paid the men paltry sums while making a fortune on the character, and after Siegel and Shuster left the company, DC continued making huge piles of money while not paying Siegel or Shuster any royalties whatsoever. After several lawsuits against the company that lasted several decades, they were eventually awarded an annual pension and their names were reinstated as creators on all Superman stories and productions.

Brothers Max and Dave Fleischer were animators, and the founders of Fleischer Studios, who did a lot of famous cartoons back in the 1940s. They brought Superman into cartoons, and began quarreling with each other shortly thereafter. Their studio went into a financial slump, and they ended up selling to Paramount Studios. Paramount fired the brothers, and renamed their studio. Dave found a successful career as an animator at another famous studio, but Max died in poverty. Nowadays, most, if not all of the Fleischer Studios Superman cartoons are considered public domain, and can be found available on DVDs or on various websites around the Internet. I’ve watched a lot of them throughout the years and I personally think that the animation in these cartoons far surpasses a lot of the animation done today.

Two low-budget 1940s movie serials brought actor Kirk Alyn fame for portraying Superman, but he was unable to find other acting work because studios couldn’t see him as anything but Superman, so he eventually retired from acting and moved to Arizona. He died in obscurity in 1999 in Texas.

The 2006 movie “Hollywoodland” told the story of George Reeves, best known for his portrayal of Clark Kent/Superman in the 1952-1958 television series “The Adventures Of Superman”. Like Alyn, Reeves was best known for this role despite appearing in numerous movies and other projects. Reeves was found dead of a gunshot wound at his home. The death was ruled a suicide, but too many things about the death were suspicious, so murder was also considered as a factor. 

In 1963, the staff of then-president John F. Kennedy gave DC Comics approval to do a comic book story in which the Man of Steel endorsed JFK’s physical fitness programs, and the story was scheduled for publication in April of 1964. The story was initially going to be scrapped after the assassination of JFK, but Vice President and successor Lyndon Johnson encouraged DC to rework it a bit, and publish it.

Comedian Richard Pryor played a villain in “Superman III” in 1983. Three years later, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Marlon Brando, who, amongst his many, many movie roles played Jor-El, Superman’s Kryptonian father in “Superman: The Movie,” 1978, (the footage of Brando was reworked into 2006’s “Superman Returns”) had several personal tragedies befall him in later years. In 1990,his son Christian shot and killed his sister Cheyenne’s lover, and was sentenced to prison. In 1995, Cheyenne, Brando’s daughter committed suicide over this murder. Brando himself died at age 80 of complications due to lung, heart and liver failure, and diabetes.

John Haymes Newton and Gerard Christopher, who both starred as the title character in the live-action “Superboy” television series which ran from 1988-1992, fell into obscurity after their respective tenures as the character. The same case can be made for Stacy Haiduk, who played Lana Lang on the show. Granted, not having a grand showbiz career really isn’t all that tragic, but it still fits into the irony factor.

Lee Quigley, who played the baby Kal-El in the 1978 movie “Superman: The Movie” tragically died in March 1991, at the age of fourteen, after inhaling chemical solvents.

Christopher Reeve played the title role in “Superman: The Movie” and three sequels throughout the 1980s. In May of 1995, Reeve was paralyzed from the neck down after being thrown from his horse, and died in 2004 due to heart failure caused by his paralysis. His widow, Dana Reeve, died of lung cancer in 2006 at the age of 45, despite the fact that she was not a smoker.

Margot Kidder, who played Lois Lane opposite Christopher Reeve in the movies, suffered from intense bipolar disorder. In 1996, she went missing for several days and was found by police in a paranoid, delusional state.

Lane Smith, who played Clark Kent and Lois Lane's boss Perry White on the television series “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman” was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease in April 2005 and died of the disease in June of 2005.

While all of certainly makes for an interesting “curse” theory, it should also be pointed out that there have been many people connected to Superman who have not had any tragedies befall them. Actors Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher, who played the title roles in “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman” both continue to have successful careers. Actress Annette O’Toole, who portrayed Lana Lang in “Superman III” also played Martha Kent on the WB networks Superman-themed television series “Smallville” from 2001-2007 and continues to be successful. Nobody connected with the “Smallville” television show has yet experienced any tragedies due to a possible Superman curse. Of course, series star Tom Welling hasn’t actually put on the famous Superman costume yet, either.

None of these incidents prove the existence of a curse. Of course, none of the incidents rule out the possibility of a curse, either. I don’t particularly believe in the notion of a curse, but it does make for a series of interesting coincidences, which can make interesting reading.