Forget James Gunn’s ‘Superman,’ This Oscar-Nominated Movie Is the Man of Steel at His Best

For the better part of a century, Superman has been one of the most recognizable fictional characters in any form of media. After Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster brought the Man of Steel to life in the pages of Action Comics #1, it wasn’t long before his popularity skyrocketed. Within a decade, the character had been adapted to live action, headlined a popular radio program, and could be found in not just the pages of comic books, but newspaper strips as well. With all that being said, arguably the best take on DC Comics‘ famed “Champion of the Oppressed” came in the form of an Academy Award-nominated short film that first brought Superman to the big screen.

‘Superman’ Was a Major Hit That Nearly Earned Itself an Oscar

Back in the early 1940s, Superman had already taken America by storm. The character had become a bona fide symbol of truth and justice, soaring far higher than Siegel or Shuster likely imagined. It wouldn’t be long before he would find himself a staple in the movies as well. Just two years after his debut in 1938, Fleischer Studios — an animation house founded by brothers, producer Max Fleischer and director Dave Fleischer — secured the contract to develop the tales of Action Comics and Superman into a series of theatrical cartoon shorts. Paramount Pictures distributed the animated films, but only after convincing the Fleischer brothers to give the project a try. “I didn’t want to make Superman,” Dave Fleischer once admitted, according to RetroFan Magazine. “I couldn’t figure out how to make Superman look right without spending a lot of money.” However, Paramount fit the bill. They, like avid comic readers and radio audiences at the time, believed in the Man of Steel. It took seven months and $50,000, but Superman (though it is sometimes dubbed “The Mad Scientist” by fans) hit theaters on September 26, 1941, marking the character’s first appearance on the big screen.

As an “adult” cartoon, Superman wasn’t like the usual Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny fare. The Man of Steel wasn’t an anthropomorphic cartoon animal, but a serious hero who found himself in the middle of high-stakes action and suspense. It was pulpy, serious, and predated the distinct look of noir pictures. Bud Collyer, who had already been voicing the character in The Adventures of Superman radio series, reprised his role, accompanied by Joan Alexander (another radio holdout) as Lois Lane. With a quick runtime of 10 minutes, Superman distills everything perfect about the Man of Steel’s original adventures into a single high-quality, big-screen romp that more than holds up today. Everything vital about Golden Age Superman stories is present: the Daily Planet rivalry between Clark Kent and Lois Lane, the capture of Lois at the hands of the latest villain, Superman saving countless lives, and the hero’s dual identity are all at play here. Pick up an early issue of Action Comics or an old Superman newspaper strip from the era, and you’ll see that the Fleischers made a 1:1 adaptation of Siegel and Shuster’s otherworldly hero. That original cartoon is simply perfect.

Little did Fleischer or Paramount know, Superman would land them an Academy Award nomination for “Best Short Subject: Cartoons.” This honor was one of only three Superman productions to even be considered at the Oscars, followed by Richard Donner‘s Superman — which won a “Special Achievement Award” for Visual Effects after also being nominated for Best Sound, Best Film Editing, and Best Score in the late ’70s — and James Gunn‘s Superman, which was nominated for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound just last year. But despite the Oscar nomination, the original ’40s Superman cartoon ultimately lost to Lend a Paw, a Walt Disney-produced Mickey Mouse short. Sure, Mickey is great and all, but there’s no doubt that Superman was robbed.

The Fleischer Superman Cartoons Honor the Character’s Golden Age Roots

Fortunately, Paramount wasn’t interested in a one-and-done Superman cartoon. Fleischer Studios made eight more Superman shorts over the next year, pitting the Man of Steel against everything from “mechanical monsters” and “arctic giants” to more natural disasters like volcanoes and on-the-loose circus gorillas. However, come 1942, Paramount acquired Fleischer Studios, establishing Famous Studios in the company’s stead. Under this banner, eight more theatrical Superman cartoons were made, extending the superhero’s big-screen run from September 1941 to July 1943. For two years, these 17 short films came to define the character. From inventing phrases like “truth, justice, and the American Way” and “faster than a speeding bullet,” popularizing Superman’s powers of flight, and emphasizing the importance of Lois Lane in each adventure, the original Superman cartoons are everything that the original comic book stories were, full of action, excitement, strange adventures, and romantic American flare.

Indeed, as noted in First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series documentary, the original Oscar-nominated short would influence the visual style of Batman: The Animated Series decades later, and the ’40s costume has since been adapted in live-action for Superman & Lois. While the original Superman short was the only one to be nominated for an Academy Award, the rest of the Fleischer-era cartoons are simply phenomenal, boasting stunningly smooth animation, delightful characters, and a theme by Simon Timburg (and other uncredited musicians) that has come to be a daily staple in this author’s home (I blame my daughters). Even better, these Superman cartoons fell into the public domain in the mid-’60s when the copyright lapsed, making them quite easy to find online. For those hoping to see them in their full glory, Warner Bros. digitally remastered them a few years back. So, if you’re sick of all the modern takes of Superman flying about, revisit these iconic short films that still stun today.