10 Reasons Why Richard Donner's Superman Is Still Awesome

We live in a superhero movie renaissance. The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to thrive, DC has finally gotten out of the mud with Wonder Woman, and Fox’s X-Men films are still trucking along despite some forgettable moments.

But in all the deluge of films about costumed crime fighters and their varying degrees of angst, little attention is seemingly paid to the film that started it all.

Not Iron Man or Spider-Man, not The Dark Knight or even the original Batman. The real OG is Richard Donner’s 1978 classic Superman, the film the practically invented the genre as we know it.

Is it the best superhero film of all time? No, but it’s certainly among them and easily one of the most influential.

Now a lot of people might call the film cheesy and dated, but not only does Superman hold up incredibly well, it actually does some things that are missing from the more modern cinematic interpretation of the character...

From the instant Superman starts, John Williams' score immediately captures the imagination. Though Williams had already created quintessential scores for Jaws and Star Wars, one could argue that his music for Superman is the best work of his entire career.

Of course, the Superman theme itself is instantly recognisable and still the music most associated with the character. The Max Fleischer cartoons, Superman: The Animated Series and Man of Steel all had solid themes, but nothing quite matches the heroic majesty of Williams' work.

But the rest of the score is just as memorable. Right after the opening credits, the forboding theme of Krypton captures the grandeur of the movie in a few simple notes.

Lex Luthor's theme is incredibly goofy but memorable and extremely fitting for this film's interpretation of the character, and Can You Read My Mind? is a beautifully romantic piece that accentuates a lynchpin scene of the movie; thank the gods they didn't use the version with Margot Kidder singing over it.