Superman
Canon Immigrant in this franchise. open/close all folders
The Adventures of Superman radio series
- Jimmy Olsen is perhaps the earliest well-known example; he originated on the Superman radio show (though an unnamed copy boy briefly appeared earlier in the comics).
- The radio series was the first medium to depict Superman flying, rather than simply "leaping tall buildings in a single bound."
- The phrase, "Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!" was originally the Opening Narration for the radio series. The phrase "Up, up and away!" was used as an audio cue to indicate when Superman was about to fly.
- Kryptonite also debuted on the radio show, though it was used earlier (as "K-Metal") in an unpublished comic book story. Because the shows were broadcast live, it was originally employed to give Superman's overworked voice actor, Bud Collier, some much-needed downtime.
- Perry White, editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet, also first appeared on radio and transitioned to the comics in 1940. The name Daily Planet was a radio show invention as well. As with Jimmy Olsen, the comic had had proto-versions of them, with George Taylor, editor of the Daily Star. When Silver Age comics would declare Superman's Golden Age adventures to have happened on the parallel Earth 2, the names George Taylor and the Daily Star were retained there, even though the names Perry White and Daily Planet had actually been used through most of the Golden Age.
- Inspector Henderson first appeared in the Superman radio series in the 1940s and later in The Adventures of Superman television series in the 1950s. He eventually appeared in the Superman comics in the 1970s. Since then he has turned up in Lois & Clark, Superman: The Animated Series and Black Lightning. Since the later adaptations all give him a Race Lift, the comics, having promoted the original Bill Henderson to Commissioner, introduced the African-American Inspector Mike Henderson.
The 1940s Fleischer shorts
- Clark Kent turning into Superman in a phone booth is Common Knowledge, but it almost never happened in the comics and in fact originated in the 1940s Fleischer cartoons.
- It is often said that Superman first flew in the Fleischer shorts, because flight was easier to animate than leaping, but this is technically not true. It is why the Fleischers made him fly, but Superman had flown once in the comics prior to this, due to a mistake by a new writer, and of course the radio show, which debuted over a year earlier, had him flying. They were the first time that Superman was shown flying, however.
- The descriptor, "Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!" was first used in the cartoon's Opening Narration.
The film serials
- Atom Man from the 1950 serial Atom Man vs. Superman appears in Superman Smashes the Klan, though this version of the character is a Nazi supervillain rather than the costumed identity of Lex Luthor.
The Reeve films
- Eve Teschmacher, Luthor's female accomplice from Superman: The Movie film, showed up in the JLA: Earth-2 graphic novel as Lex's secretary. She later made a full appearance in Superman's Pal: Jimmy Olsen (2019).
- Otis, Luthor's henchman from the same film, showed up in Young Justice as the head of Lex's security detail. He's also Lex's P.A. in the Smallville continuation comics (where his surname is "Berg"). And he had a cameo as a LexCorp security guard in the mainstream DCU's Forever Evil comic. Lex had a henchman in an episode of the Super Friends named Orville Gump who resembles Otis.
- Ursa and Non from Superman II didn't come to the comics until 26 years later. However, they were based on Quex-Ul and Faora, two Phantom Zone criminals from the comics. Zod was an amalgamation of the comics' Zod and Jax-Ur. Furthermore, Zod's image was reworked to pay homage to the actor who made the character one of Superman's greatest enemies, Terence Stamp, complete with black hair and a Beard of Evil.
- Black Kryptonite from Superman III was introduced into 2005 story arc Girl Power.
- Superman (Brian Michael Bendis) introduced Nuclear Man from Superman IV: The Quest for Peace into the DC Universe.
The DC Animated Universe
- Most of the original characters in Superman: The Animated Series were simply expies of existing DCU characters (e.g., Luminus and Mala, for Dr. Light and Faora/Ursa), but a few exceptions have had staying power in other media:
- Mercy Graves, Luthor's Tyke-Bomb/Battle Butler, follows from Harley's lead. She proved popular enough that she would subsequently appear in other animated series like The Batman (with some slight changes) and Young Justice, and heavily inspired the character of Tess Mercer from Smallville. She made her film debut in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, portrayed by Japanese actress Tao Okamoto. Perhaps as a nod to her origin's debt to Batman, she made her first DCU appearance in the Batman crossover Batman: No Man's Land.
- Shock and Awe-powered Livewire — another spunky young female villain.
- Angela Chen was introduced in the show as Lois Lane's rival at the Daily Planet. She made the jump to the comics in DC Rebirth as a talk show host.
- While Mrs. Gsptlsnz originated from the comics, the shows gave her a significant Adaptational Attractiveness and personality change, turning a short impish women into a Jessica Rabbit-look-alike and essentially creating a completely new character. This version was later adapted into the comics.
Smallville
- Following the Infinite Crisis reboot of The DCU, Clark Kent spent his teenaged years dealing with various mutant villains created by the Green Rocks that accompanied his spaceship. Also, Luthor grew up in Smallville (though this had already been established in a previous storyline, it has been repeatedly retconned back and forth).
- DC Comics has made several in-continuity winks to the character of Lionel Luthor, Lex's father. In one instance, Lex hired an actor to play the part of his foster father in order to enroll him at Smallville High School. The actor in question bore a physical resemblance to John Glover. It has since been established that Lionel Luthor is Lex's legitimate father in canon DC Comics continuity. However, instead of being a wealthy businessman, the comic book version of Lionel was a blue collar alcoholic.
- Ma and Pa Kent have been consistently redrawn to resemble elderly versions of Annette O'Toole and John Schneider (as well as appearing in flashbacks as they did in the series).
- There were plans for Chloe Sullivan to make the jump to the comics following Infinite Crisis, but ultimately it fell through. (At one point Word of God noted that it was hard to find a role for her, Lana Lang and Lois Lane were already fulfilling the "friend from home" and "Intrepid Reporter" roles, respectively.) She eventually showed up in a Jimmy Olsen feature, though the controversy surrounding Allison Mack's involvement with the sex trafficking cult "NXIVM
" might have put DC off of further appearances, with the only notable one since 2011 being in the animated Reign of the Supermen adaptation.
Supergirl ( 2015 TV series)
- National City, Supergirl's home base in her 2015 TV series, was brought into the comics in The Final Days of Superman, and serves as her home base in Supergirl (Rebirth).
- Her foster parents Jeremiah and Eliza Danvers also first appeared in her TV show.
- Dreamer, a new heroine created for the show (but loosely inspired by, and later confirmed as an ancestor of, Dream Girl of the Legion Of Superheroes), later made her comic debut in the DC Pride one-shot, in a story written by her actor Nicole Maines. Following this, Dreamer was officially brought into the DC Universe in the Superman: Son of Kal-El series.
Elsewhere
- Professor Pepperwinkle from the 1950s The Adventures of Superman TV series made his first appearance in the comics in 1974. This was probably helped by the fact that the TV series was commonly rerun in syndication, so readers who weren't alive in the 1950s were still likely to recognize him.
- The often-mocked (but beloved by some) Supermobile was originally based on a 1970's toy made by Corgi. It only had a handful of appearances in the comics (because readers complained it was silly), but it appeared in several episodes of Super Friends. A very different-looking Supermobile toy was later produced by Kenner for its 1980's Super Powers line. Amusingly, Luthor's Super Powers vehicle, the "Lex-Soar," did make an appearance twenty years later in Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade.
- The Pre-Crisis Superwoman, Kristin Wells, first appeared as a time traveling historian in Elliot S! Maggin's Superman novel Miracle Monday.
- Alexis Luthor was introduced in the Legion of Super Heroes cartoon as the descendant of Lex Luthor. In The Just #1, Grant Morrison made her canon as the daughter of Earth-16's Lex Luthor. Incidentally, in the 90's Luthor had a daughter Lena, named after his sister.
- In Supergirl (Rebirth), Supergirl's enemy Selena hails from her 1984 film feature.
