It seems eons ago that we read about the story of the little Kal-El landing on our planet after his home Krypton, was destroyed. He made our planet his home and saved us time and again from the evil intentions and the villains of the likes of Lex Luthor. No, you haven’t been living under a rock to have missed all this. We are talking about the man who may seem like a bird or a plane as he zooms across the sky on his next rescue mission. We are talking about the man who has the body of steel and the heart of an angel. We are talking about Superman.
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Superman made his debut in the first edition of Action Comics, now known as DC Comics in the year 1938. Many of the powers that we see today, weren’t introduced till much later. Superman was also one of the pioneers when it came to taking the comic book character to screen. He was first introduced as an animated character in a series of 17 short films starting with the Mad Scientist, in the year 1942. It wasn’t until the year 1978, that the first Superman motion picture was made starring Christopher Reeve. It was the most expensive film made until that point and it was appreciated for the perfect balance of humor, story and adaptation of one of the most popular icons of American Pop Culture. Christopher Reeve as Superman was so well-loved that they decided to go ahead with a series of four movies before going on a short hiatus. In the year 2006, the franchise was revived with the original storyline but with a new cast. The film didn’t do so well, but it did manage to reawaken the memories related to Superman. After getting inspired from Marvel, DC once again started with a little darker tone of narration- the story of Man of Steel in the year 2013. Today is ‘Man of Steel’ day and here are some facts about him, which we bet you didn’t know..png)
1. Superman was created for a newspaper comic strip, and was originally a bald madman who had superior telepathic skills he used for evil.2.Darth Vader trained Superman. Christopher Reeve was required to bulk up for his role as Superman and the movie makers turned to David Prowse, to help him get ready for the role. David Prowse also played Superman for a TV commercial.
3. Superman time-traveled to the 30th century to assist the Legion of Super-Heroes. By the time they dropped him back, his memories were so clouded he could not alter his own timeline.
4. Clark Kent and Superman have been seen together, multiple times. Superman’s shapeshifting friends have masqueraded as Clark Kent and they have also been photographed together.
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5. Superman once wielded Thor’s Hammer in the epic crossover of JLA/Avengers. He accomplished this not because he was a Superman, but because he was “Worthy”.6. Superman can go supernova with his heat vision which can incinerate everyone within a quarter mile. The catch – he loses his powers for 24 hours after that.
7. His obsession with L.L. He hasn’t always been in love with Lois Lane – all his girlfriends before her had the same initials, for example, Lana Lang and Lori Lemaris. Even his arch nemesis Lex Luthor has the same initials.
8. In 1997, Nicholas Cage charged $20 million to play Superman in Superman Lives, even though he never actually played Superman because the movie got cancelled.
9.The potency of Kryptonite wasn’t introduced in the comics, it was introduced on the radio show to give some time off to the man who was voicing Clark Kent.
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10.In 1978, DC Comics released a Superman comic in which he teamed up with Muhammad Ali to defeat an alien invasion.It’s always fun to learn new things. We bet you learnt something today. Let us know in the comments below and don’t forget to share!