Posted By Dan Greenfield on Jul 9, 2025 | 11 comments

SUPERMAN WEEK!

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It’s SUPERMAN WEEK! Because there’s a fancy new movie coming out! Click here for the COMPLETE INDEX of columns and features! Look, up in the sky! — Dan

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A selection of Superman items from throughout the decades, including a few bonus ones!

By CHRIS FRANKLIN

Superman. The Man of Steel. The Last Son of Krypton. Co-creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster felt he was going to be a big deal, even before he lifted that green car on the cover of Action Comics #1 (June 1938). Shuster even doodled images of Superman promoting popular products of the time.

The young men from Cleveland were right, Superman was an instant smash, and manufacturers wanted in on the Action Ace. Clark Kent’s alter-ego began appearing in stores in the form of wooden dolls, tin wind-ups and Krypto Ray Guns. He also quickly moved into other media, first a long-running radio show, and then a series of lavishly produced animated shorts that are still unrivaled to this day. Superman was not only comics’ first true superhero, but he was also a pioneer in both marketing and media synergy.

For nearly 90 years, there’s been a fairly steady stream of Superman merchandise on retail shelves. There have been spikes in the number of products when new TV or film projects are released. In case you’ve been living under a Kryptonite rock, there’s a new film debuting this week, with S-shield emblazoned products ranging from toys to dog biscuits. So as a new Man of Tomorrow takes flight, what better time than to look back at yesterday, and some figural representations of the World’s Greatest Superhero across the decades?

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Flying Superman (Hassenfeld Bros./Hasbro, 1965). Able to leap small trees in a single bound! Not sure how durable this slingshot-like projectile was for play, considering the Man of Steel is made from thin blow-molded plastic and the cape is Styrofoam… but somehow it survived the decades to make it into my collection a few years ago! The sculpting on this one is quite nice and feels very much like the Curt Swan-drawn Silver Age Superman of the period.

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Soaky Bubble Bath Container (Colgate Palmolive, 1965). I recently added this 1965 piece to my collection, and it’s quickly become a favorite. He now joins the Batman and Robin Soaky bottles I’ve had for decades. Unlike the Dynamic Duo, his head sculpt is a bit more realistic. It’s a year ahead of his Broadway debut, but I’m seeing Bob Holiday from the Broadway play It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman. Despite the slide into realism, Superman had to share the TV commercial advertising his bubble bath container with the nearly forgotten cartoon character Tennessee Tuxedo.

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Official World’s Greatest Super-Heroes/Comic Action Heroes/ Pocket Super Heroes (Mego, 1972-78). Of course, Superman was front and center in Mego’s initial wave of DC-based figures in their 8” World’s Greatest Super-Heroes series. The example here is one of the earlier, Type 1 versions with stirrups on the legs of his tights, ribbed-texture body suit, and nylon shorts. Mego would include Superman figures in every format they produced, such as the smaller Comic Action Heroes (squat posed) and Pocket Super Heroes line.

They’d go bigger with the 12 1/2” figure line, and produce two distinct versions of Superman — a comic-based figure, and the movie-inspired one shown here. While not quite capturing Christopher Reeve’s likeness, the hair looks a bit more like his. The box design for the movie tie-in figures is my personal favorite Mego packaging, reinterpreting comic art from the likes of Curt Swan and Ross Andru in a spectacular presentation.

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Energized Superman (Remco, 1979). Remco figured out a way to mow Mego’s grass by making “in-action” figures of the big DC and Marvel characters. By putting simple, battery-operated mechanisms in them, they could market them as “Energized Super Heroes!” Superman came with “simulated X-Ray vision” and a huge chunk of Kryptonite (not pictured, sadly), which, when plugged into him, would make his powers fade. Continuing the long tradition of packing Superman with the one thing that could kill him… and even making it a play feature! Kal-El here is a bit skinny, but I had fun with him as a kid, and he looks really nice on the shelf.

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Super Heroes (Gulliver, 1981). Argentinean/Brazilian manufacturer Gulliver teamed with Pepsi to produce this line of incredibly well-sculpted figurines of several DC characters. The fact that they chose to capture the iconic shirt-rip transformation from Clark to Superman, revealing the hidden hero inside, speaks volumes on just how omnipresent that moment is in pop culture, worldwide.

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Super Powers Collection (Kenner, 1984-1986). Several years ago, I picked the combo of Superman and Clark Kent for the No. 1 slot in my ranking of Super Powers figures here at 13th Dimension. That was met with some controversy, but the Super Powers toy line, animated series, comics and all media revolved around the undeniable fact that, as my friend and fellow podcaster Michael Bailey is fond of saying, “It all comes back to Superman.” Plus, Kenner managed to distill the essence of the Man of Tomorrow into a 5-inch figure, capturing his strength and benign nature all at once.

Their Clark Kent, the subject of the line’s final mail-in campaign, evokes a bit of Christopher Reeve, who unlocked the secret of making the dual identity work like none before him. Reeve’s co-star Marc McClure, reprising his Jimmy Olsen role, even advertised the figure offer! My two childhood figures are depicted in front of a slim carded Superman, created by Kenner for distribution in Canadian Shell gas stations.

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Superman: The Animated Series Strong Arm Superman (Kenner 1996). Kenner didn’t quite nail the look and feel of Superman: The Animated Series as they had with their animated Batman efforts. Action figures had evolved in the early ’90s into more pre-posed affairs, and that influenced the direction of the Superman line. The Bruce Timm design aesthetic from the TV series is still there, however, and makes for a nice-looking line of figures. One of the better Superman variants is Strong Arm Superman, who came with both a piece of a brick wall and an Art Deco-like car bumper for the Man of Steel to toss around.

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Classic Silver Age Superman & Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White (DC Direct, 2001-06). While Mattel had the master DC license at the turn of the millennium, DC Direct began dipping their toes into Super-waters with this fun and well-sculpted set of Silver Age-inspired figures. Superman and Lois (complete with pillbox hat) came in an initial two-pack, followed up by individual figures of Jimmy Olsen and Perry White, as well as Lex Luthor, a Robot Superman Duplicate, and a Super Lois.

These charming figures evoke all of those great, sometimes wacky ’50s/’60s comic tales of the Daily Planet staff. And for me, the importance of Superman’s cast was cemented by endless reruns of The Adventures of Superman TV series that I watched growing up. That series’ focus on the side characters resulted in both Jimmy and Lois receiving long-running comics titles of their own. It seems like writer/director James Gunn is putting these characters to good use in his new film.

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Superman Returns Epic Powers Superman (Mattel, 2006). Superman Returns was the hero’s first film in 19 years. Anticipation was high, and Mattel and other manufacturers were ready for a merchandising blitz. Unfortunately, the movie underperformed, more than likely due to the strange direction the story went in, focusing on Superman and Lois’ love child, their strained relationship, and adhering to aspects of the Reeve-led, Salkind-produced films without any of the cast able to return.

The somewhat adult, contemplative subject matter didn’t make for a great commercial for toy sales either. Mattel tried their best, and their Epic Powers Superman is a fun, cloth-costumed 10” figure that harkens back to Mego — in particular the UK-exclusive Power Action Superman produced with distributor Denys Fisher, who also came with a flexible girder to simulate super strength. This fairly accurate figure of Brandon Routh also features light pipe eyes for a heat-vision effect.

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Superman The Movie 1/6th Scale Collectible Figure (Hot Toys, 2011). He made us believe a man can fly, but this figural representation of cinema’s eternal Superman, Christopher Reeve, is so accurate, it’s almost unbelievable. Reeve’s likeness is a particularly hard one to nail, but the always impressive team at Hot Toys outdid themselves, not just capturing the look, but the very character of Reeve from the original 1978 film in just one sculpt. Add in the accurate costume, Fortress of Solitude base and other key accessories like the chained Kryptonite rock, and you have, in this author’s opinion, the first and last word on collectible pieces from the greatest Superman film ever made… so far, anyway.

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Man of Steel Movie Masters Superman (Mattel, 2013). Divisive or not, Man of Steel generated a wide breadth of product, and the Movie Masters figures from Mattel were quite nice, especially for mass-produced figures at a fairly low price point. Their Henry Cavill sculpt is solid, but the paint apps may be a bit thick on his five o’clock shadow. Kudos to the design team for reproducing the intricate costume detailing at this scale. Mattel offered toys geared more toward kids as well, despite this movie doubling down on the somber tone that did Superman Returns no favors just seven years prior.

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DC Multiverse Classic Animation Superman / DC Direct Superman (The Silver Age) (McFarlane 2024/25). McFarlane Toys definitely overcomplicates the releases of their figures with ungainly naming conventions and differentiations in what is essentially one 7″ DC action figure line. But the figures are often outstanding. These Superman figs represent the alpha and omega of the character in many ways. The “Classic Animation” (read: Fleischer) Superman captures not only that landmark film-short series’ design, but a bit of Joe Shuster’s original, squinty-eyed Man of Steel as well. The Silver Age (actually Bronze Age) Superman is the ultimate, ideal iteration of the character, based directly on the DC Style Guide art of Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (Praised Be His Name). And for this old, pre-Crisis fanboy, they represent the Earth-Two and Earth-One versions of the character quite nicely.

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DC Multiverse Superman and Krypto (Superman Movie) Deluxe Theatrical Edition (McFarlane, 2025). We end with the man of the hour, cinema’s new Superman. Writer/director James Gunn and Superman actor David Corenswet have a lot to prove, but from the looks of all the footage released so far, it appears they’re going to deliver. Superman seems to be an earnest guy just trying to do what’s right in a world that keeps knocking him around. But he gets back up, every time. I think we can all relate. McFarlane has delivered a nice likeness of Corenswet and his new suit, which has slowly grown on me through all the marketing of the film.

The figure comes with extra face plates to change his expression, and more importantly, Krypto! The Canine of Steel is sure to become the breakout star of the summer for a lot of people. For us old-school fans, it’s a great sign that we’re about to see more of Superman’s amazing world in live action than we ever have before.

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MORE

— The Complete SUPERMAN WEEK INDEX of Columns and Features. Click here.

— Beautiful! Dig BILL MORRISON’s Utterly Exquisite Homage to FLEISCHER SUPERMAN. Click here.

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13th Dimension contributor Chris Franklin is a graphic designer, illustrator, writer, and podcaster, who co-hosts and produces several shows on the Fire and Water Podcast Network, including JLUCast. Check out his illustrative and design work at chrisfranklincreative.com.