10 Cursed Movie Productions
2. Superman
One of the more believable so-called curses in films, the Superman franchise has long been dogged by the misfortunes of its leading men. Most well known are George Reeve and Christopher Reeves, who played the man from Krypton on TV in the ‘50s and in the ‘70s/’80s movies respectively.
George’s fate was so tragic as to be made into a film starring Ben Affleck - his career never recovering from playing such an iconic role, he killed himself aged 45 - though conspiracy theories around his death still rage. The film, naturally, flopped.
Christopher was paralysed in a horse riding accident in 1995, after similarly struggling to disassociate himself from his signature role; he died aged only 52. Lee Quigley - baby Superman in Reeves’ first film - died of solvent abuse aged just 14.
While the mortality rate has since dropped, the Man of Steel is still somewhat of a poisoned chalice. Brandon Routh, star of the underrated Superman Returns, is seldom seen nowadays, and some of the actors who didn’t die prematurely had difficulty being taken seriously given their association with such an iconic character.