Superman Case Study

Superman is the original creation of comic book writers Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, gaining a national audience in 1938 on the cover of Action Comics #1. The lone survivor of his destroyed home planet of Krypton, a young Kal-El lands on earth and is raised as Clark Kent by two farmers in middle America. He masquerades as a bespectacled journalist at the Daily Planet, while channeling his superhuman powers into his alter ego, Superman.

The now iconic comic book character, with his striking blue suit, red cape and slicked black hair, has gone on to spawn many adaptations – not least on the big screen. 

To mark the release of James Gunn’s Superman – the most recent of these adaptations – we’ve traced the superhero’s journey on film and TV, exploring how evolving genre conventions and shifting audience expectations have led to adaptations with varying BBFC age ratings through the years.

1940s and 1950s

Superman debuted in cinemas in a series of animated shorts in 1941, but it was Kirk Alyn who took the part of the eponymous hero in the character’s first live-action outing in 1948: a 15-part serial for which all episodes were rated U for their black and white visuals and comic book style action.

George Reeves took on the suit in 1952, this time in colour, in The Adventures of Superman. While we’d classified a small number of episodes of this series in 1990, it wasn’t until 2006 that more were submitted to the BBFC. Some episodes were given a U rating, but a PG was required for others, with violence, threat and, in some cases, ‘spookiness’ mentioned in our content advice.

1970s and 1980s

The 70s ushered in a kid-friendly Superman in the cartoon serial Super Friends (1972-85), which also featured Batman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman. The series was submitted to the BBFC for the first time in 2007 and rated all episodes at U on account of its very mild fantasy action.

In 1978, Christopher Reeve stepped into the red boots of the first modern reimagining of Superman in Superman: The Movie.

We rated the film A, which permitted the admission of children of five years or over with or without an adult, but warned parents that there may be some scenes that they might prefer children under 14 not to see. The A was replaced with PG a few years later in 1982 so when Superman: The Movie was released on video in 1986, its scenes of action violence and threat were considered suitable for children. The film still stands at PG today, last classified for cinema release in 2020 along with the content advice of mild threat, violence, sex references, language.

The two sequels featuring Reeve, Superman II and Superman III, are also rated at PG.

1990s

The 1993 television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman looked closer at how Superman juggled his superhero responsibilities alongside his personal life as Clark Kent. On the whole, the series placed greater emphasis on Clark’s relationship with Lois Lane, with mild sex references occurring frequently throughout. Most episodes in this series were rated PG for issues of mild fantasy violence and threat, and sex references.

2000s

The early 2000s saw the character arc of a younger Clark Kent being explored in the longest running television series based on a comic book. Coming off the back of other series around at the same time featuring angsty teen heroes, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) and Roswell (1999-2002), Smallville (2001-2011) pitched Superman’s story to a young adult audience. 

The series focuses on Clark’s struggle to keep his superpowers a secret, to the point where the iconic red and blue costume was deliberately never properly showcased in each of the ten seasons of Smallville. This iteration of Superman was also tonally darker and more violent, with some episodes resulting in a 15 classification on account of violence, injury detail and horror.

The 12A-rated Man of Steel saw the Superman film franchise rebooted in 2013 during a time in which superhero blockbuster movies were driving massive box office returns. Henry Cavill dons a suit and cape of muted colours and is thrown around by various enemies in impactful scenes of fantasy violence, including some crunchy super-powered punches and neck breaks.

Other titles in the DC Universe followed throughout the 2000s with violence and threat being core classification issues at 12A. A re-edit of the 12A-rated Justice League, entitled Jack Snyder’s Justice League, is 4 hours long and contained some bloodier moments of violence than in the original theatrical release, which resulted in a 15 rating.

2025 and beyond

James Gunn’s Superman is slated for release in July 2025 and has yet to be rated. However, the official teaser trailer has been rated 12A, which you can watch below!