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HE’S the latest Hollywood hunk to don the infamous suit and cape – and sweep Lois Lane off her feet, literally.
Replacing Brit star Henry Cavill, relatively little-known actor David Corenswet takes up the Superman mantle for the latest Man of Steel reboot.
The 32-year-old actor, known for roles in the remake of the ’90s classic Twister, the horror film Pearl, and the Netflix hit House of Cards, truly embodies the DC comic book hero in the new movie, directed by James Gunn, which hits theaters this Friday.
Corenswet might have secured one of the most sought-after roles in Hollywood, but can he avoid the curse that has long haunted this iconic part?
Actors who have portrayed Superman have often encountered a series of unfortunate events, and many who appeared alongside the Man of Steel have also faced hardships and tragedies.
Here we take a look at the real-life ups and downs of the stars who portrayed one of the world’s most famous superheroes.
Royalties row
Superman was mired in trouble from his very inception.
The jinx started with Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who created the character for Action Comics’ first edition, which came out in June 1938.
The pair sold the rights to the superhero to Detective Comics – the forerunner to DC Comics – for just £102.
They were then employed by DC to continue writing the stories but when the character went on to become an astonishing success, Siegel and Shuster were left furious as executives earned millions.
Writing to executive Paul Sampliner in 1951, after unsuccessfully suing DC for the rights to Superman and Superboy, Siegel claimed the firm had ‘destroyed him’ and ‘crushed’ his career.
In a warning that has seemingly come true if you believe the jinx, Siegel wrote in capital letters: “I put a curse on you.”
In 1975, after years of court battles, he and Shuster entered into a financial settlement of around £15,000-a-year.
By that time illustrator Shuster was slowly going blind and struggling with failing health.
Siegel died of a heart attack aged 81 in 1996, four years after Shuster died of congestive heart failure.
‘Ruined career’
TV’s first Superman Kirk Alyn said he failed to find work after being typecast in the role.
Kirk, who served in the US Navy, had a successful Broadway career before Superman, said simply in a 1988 interview with the Associated Press: “I couldn’t get another job.”
He played the Man of Steel in the 1948 movie serial and its 1950 sequel Atom Man vs Superman.
Recalling when he was first asked to play the role by producer Sam Katzman, he said: “I thought it was a publicity stunt. I didn’t think you could ever put Superman on film.”
He said people from DC Comics liked him because of his similarities to drawings of Clark Kent, before giving him rather unusual instructions to test him out for the role.
Playing Superman ruined my acting career and I’ve been bitter for many years about the whole thing
Kirk Alyn
Kirk recalled: “They said, ‘Take off your shirt,’ so I did and flexed my muscles.
“Then the guy said, ‘Take off your pants,’ and I said, ‘Wait a minute’.”
He added: “I was 37 when I played Superman. I picked up that girl and ran up that flight of stairs like it was nothing.”
After his stint as the caped crusader came to an end he struggled to find work and lived mainly off voiceover, commercials and uncredited screen roles, until a resurgence in the Seventies saw him invited to comic book conventions.
Kirk said: “Playing Superman ruined my acting career and I’ve been bitter for many years about the whole thing. But now, it’s finally starting to pay off.”
The actor, who died in 1999 at the age of 88 after developing Alzheimer’s disease, also made a cameo in the 1978 film Superman, which starred Christopher Reeve, as Lois Lane’s father.
Dropped from franchise
Former Superman star Henry Cavill, 42, was dropped by studio bosses in 2022 – two months after he’d announced his triumphant return to the superhero franchise.
In a lengthy Instagram statement, Henry said the new bosses of DC Studios, James Gunn and Peter Safran, had decided he was not a part of their “new universe”.
He added: “After being told by the studio to announce my return back in October, prior to their hire, this news isn’t the easiest, but that’s life.”
It was a humiliating turnaround for the actor, who’d reportedly quit hit Netflix show The Witcher to focus on his return as Superman.
The public reason given for his sacking was that Gunn and Safran — who took over comic book franchise DC Studios on November 1 — wanted a younger actor as their new movie will focus on the hero’s early life.
But behind the scenes there was talk that Henry — no stranger to controversy, with a backlash over comments he made about women and outrage over him dating an alleged animal killer, a woman caught in a racism storm and a college student — was not just too old, but outdated.
In 2018 he claimed the #MeToo movement had left him scared to date women for fear of being “called a rapist”.
He said in the interview: “I think a woman should be wooed and chased, but maybe I’m old-fashioned.
“It’s very difficult to do that if there are certain rules in place. Because then it’s like, ‘Well, I don’t want to go up and talk to her, because I’m going to be called a rapist or something’.”
After a social media storm, Henry had to issue a grovelling statement, insisting that he would “continue to hold women in the highest regard”.
Henry had previously raised eyebrows by dating university student Tara King, then 19, who he took to the London premiere of Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice in 2016.
When asked about the 13-year age gap, Henry said: “People say age is just a number. It’s actually real and a true sign of someone’s maturity. But in this case, she’s fantastic. When I met my girlfriend, I was super intimidated. I wanted to impress her.”
And there was more furore around his relationship with animal hunter Marisa Gonzalo, then 21, who Henry dated for a year before meeting Tara.
The romance with Marisa, who posted pictures of her kills online, angered fans because Henry has long been an animal rights activist with his own foundation, Cavill Conservation.
Other exes include MMA fighter Gina Carano, 40, and Big Bang star Kaley Cuoco, 37, who he is said to have romanced for just ten days.
Henry welcomed his first child with girlfriend Natalie Viscuso in January.
Mysterious death
George Reeve took over the mantle from Kirk, starring in the 1951 film Superman And The Mole Men and 104 episodes of the TV series Adventures of Superman.
Much like Kirk he struggled to land other big projects due to the popularity of the role.
One year after his final time in the cape in 1958, George was found dead in his apartment from a single gunshot wound to the head.
His passing occurred just days before he was due to tie the knot with society playgirl Leonore Lemmon.
While his death was ruled a suicide, no fingerprints were found on the gun and his mother petitioned for the case to be reopened.
A second autopsy found suspicious bruises on his head and body, but stuck to the original findings.
No one in Hollywood believed the suicide story
Rory Calhoun
George was said to have spoken about money troubles prior to his death but many, including his pal Rory Calhoun, doubted he would have ended his life, adding: “No one in Hollywood believed the suicide story.”
Several theories emerged, including that he was killed by the husband of Toni Mannix, a married actress who George had a seven year affair with, which he ended months before he was killed.
Bizarrely it was claimed Toni’s husband Eddie Mannix, an MGM Studios fixer, was ok with the fling but was furious when George broke things off with her because she was devastated.
It led some to believe that Eddie, who allegedly had links to the Mafia, had the 45-year-old killed.
George’s tragic life and mysterious death was turned into the 2006 film Hollywoodland, which starred Adrien Brody, Ben Affleck and Diane Lane.
Freak accident
Christopher Reeve became one of the most beloved actors to portray the legendary DC Comics character – but his life also ended in tragedy.
His first outing was in Superman: The Movie back in 1978, and over the following decade he starred in three popular sequels.
Much like those before him, Christopher struggled to replicate the success he had in the cape, and in 1995 his career came to a dramatic halt after a tragic accident.
The actor was paralysed from the neck down after being flung from a horse during a cross-country equestrian event. His injuries meant he needed a wheelchair and a ventilator for the rest of his life.
He became a campaigner for disability rights and launched the Christopher Reeve Foundation, which raised more than £51.5million for spinal injury research and awarded £4.7m in grants to those in need.
Christopher, who died from heart failure aged 52 in 2004, made two appearances in Superman TV spin-off Smallville and released two autobiographical books.
Some believed his wife Dana was also a victim of the ‘Superman curse’ as she died at the age of 44, just a year after her husband, from lung cancer, despite having never been a smoker.
It’s believed exposure to second-hand smoke while singing in bars and hotel lobbies in her early career contributed to her developing cancer.
Teen tragedy
Christopher’s co-stars are also among those who suffered misfortune after appearing in the beloved superhero films too.
Lee Quigley was just a baby when he appeared on screen in the 1978 Superman film as a young Kal-El – the superhero’s Kryptonian name, which meant ‘star child’.
Tragically he would go on to become the youngest victim of the franchise’s ‘curse’ after he died from a heart attack at the age of 14.
Lee’s passing in 1991 was attributed to solvent abuse, which followed years of bullying at school and developing a habit of glue-sniffing.
Family struggles
Marlon Brando starred in the same film, playing Superman’s dad Jor-El, and suffered similar misfortune, with his family struck by a series of tragedies.
His son Christian was sentenced to five years in prison after shooting Drag Drollet, the boyfriend of his half-sister Cheyenne, just hours after meeting him in 1990.
The killing followed Cheyenne, who was eight months pregnant, claiming her partner of four years had been physically abusive towards her.
In a drunken haze, Christian pulled a gun on Drag “to scare him” and after wrestling with the weapon it accidentally went off. In court he pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Cheyenne’s mental health declined after the death, with her repeatedly entering drug rehabs and psychiatric hospitals, where she would later be diagnosed with schizophrenia.
She lost custody of her infant son Tuki and took her own life at the age of 25 in 1995.
Marlon became a recluse after her passing and died in 2004 at the age of 80.
Mental breakdown
Margot Kidder, who played Superman’s love interest Lois Lane between 1978 and 1987, was involved in a horrific car crash just three years after her last superhero film.
She was left partially paralysed from a spinal injury, which occurred on the set of the TV series Nancy Drew And Daughter, and left her unable to work for two years.
It led Margot to fall into more than £635,000 of debt and, shockingly, her attempt to sue production company Nelvana for £790,000 in damages failed.
Margot, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, suffered a nervous breakdown in 1996 after a computer virus wiped out three years of work on her autobiography.
She disappeared for four days and was found in a stranger’s backyard with her hair hacked off, bruises all over her body and damaged teeth.
Margot, who was in a deeply distressed state, was convinced her husband was trying to kill her and tried to fake her own death before she decided to live on the street.
The actress was placed under psychiatric care and started treatment for bipolar shortly after.
In 2018 she was found dead in her apartment from a “self-inflicted drug and alcohol overdose”.
Who is new Superman actor David Corenswet?
THE new man to don Superman’s famous red cape and blue lycra suit is David Corenswet.
The Pennsylvania-born actor, 31, attended the famous performing arts school Juilliard in New York.
Two years after graduating, he bagged several guest roles on TV series including in a 2018 episode of House Of Cards.
It led to leading roles in the Netflix series The Politician and Hollywood. He’s also starred in the films Look Both Ways and Pearl.
Interestingly, David’s maternal grandfather is the creator of the Choose Your Own Adventure book concept and authored more than 50 books for the series.
In 2023, David married Julia Best Warner, who is also an actor. That same year he was announced as the next star to take over as Superman.
