Over the years, there have been several supporting Superman characters who have been let down by the character’s movies.
Throughout his long-standing tenure as one of the most iconic heroes in pop culture, Superman has appeared many times in DC movies. The Man of Steel’s varied abilities make him a veritable powerhouse, but he rarely works without a cast of supporting characters around him. The many different adaptations of the character have seen many actors play Superman in live-action movies, but also many iterations of his closest friends, family, and co-workers. While some of these supporting Superman characters have received much attention in movie adaptations, the handing of some of their stories have led to the depictions being inherently disappointing.
In many of these cases, the supporting cast of Superman movies completely mishandle the characters who make up the backbone of the hero’s mythos. Whether due to key character traits being changed or overlooked, or simply poor use of the character’s potential, many of Superman’s closest allies and enemies have been utterly ruined by their movie appearances. Though this may change with the DCU’s new versions of important characters, Superman movies have historically handled them incredibly poorly.
1) Perry White
A key part of any Superman movie is the worldbuilding, and that doesn’t occur without the development of characters such as Perry White. As Clark and Lois’ boss and the editor of the Daily Planet, White’s role in Superman movies is deceptively important, as it is directly linked to Clark’s ability to maintain his double life. However, the movies have repeatedly failed to make White an interesting or even memorable character, even though he has been consistently present as part of the supporting cast of Superman movies.
2) Lex Luthor
Of the many Superman characters that Zack Snyder got wrong, none stand out as egregiously as Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor. The DCEU’s iteration of Superman’s long-standing nemesis completely bungled the character, misrepresenting him in arguably the biggest Superman adaptation in decades. Doing so ruined Luthor, if only temporarily, as it cemented him in the minds of DCEU fans as an ineffective and strangely written villain, totally mishandling the source material and leaving a stain on Luthor’s cinematic legacy that the DCU will be forced to overcome.
3) Lois Lane
Lois Lane is undoubtedly the most important supporting character in the Superman mythos. Her romantic connection to both Superman and Clark Kent is an iconic part of the hero’s stories, but many other aspects of the character are left out of the movies. Though she has been more robustly adapted and explored in Superman TV shows, the movies have consistently adapted Lois to be little more than a romantic interest for Superman, leaving out many of the more interesting characteristics of the character.
4) Darkseid
Though Darkseid might not be the best-known antagonist, he’s undeniably one of the strongest Superman villains in the DC Universe. However, his only movie appearance to date came in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and it failed to appropriately convey the character’s villainous potential. Though this was arguably only down to Snyder’s plans for the DCEU not being brought to fruition, the simple fact is that Darkseid’s only live-action movie appearance wasted the character, ruining any potential he had to become the major threat he deserved to become.
5) Jimmy Olsen
Jimmy Olsen may not be Superman’s most popular supporting character, but he has been a consistent part of the hero’s stories in the comics. The movies have repeatedly failed to make Olsen anything more than a bumbling coworker of Clark and Lois, rather than an important ally of Superman and a key non-powered sidekick to the hero. With a wealth of comics storylines involving Olsen in a key role, it seems a tragedy that he has never been more than simple comic relief in his movie appearances.
6) Doomsday
There were many Superman characters mishandled by the DCEU, but perhaps the most egregious was Doomsday. The nigh-unstoppable villain was introduced as part of the franchise’s rushed adaptation of the Death of Superman arc, but his backstory was rewritten to involve Lex Luthor’s DNA, effectively ruining the character. Doomsday’s live-action movie debut was incredibly disappointing, and it failed to establish any of the most menacing and interesting aspects of the villain.
7) Supergirl
Over the years, many versions of Supergirl have made it onto the screen, but she’s a character that the movies have struggled to get right. 1984’s Supergirl was a disaster of a DC adaptation across the board, while 2023’s The Flash only seemed to use the character as a stand-in for Superman rather than explore her as a hero in her own right. Relegating her to a supporting character in her most high-profile appearance in decades also did Supergirl no favors, ruining the potential of one of DC’s most powerful and underrated heroes.
