Superman is a series of seventeen American animated superhero short films released in Technicolor by Paramount Pictures and based upon the comic book character Superman, making them his first animated appearance.
They were originally produced by Fleischer Studios, which completed the initial short and eight further cartoons in 1941 and 1942. Production was resumed in May 1942 by Famous Studios, the successor company to Fleischer, which produced eight more cartoons in 1942–1943. Superman was the final animated series initiated by Fleischer Studios before Famous Studios officially took over production.Barrier, Michael (1999). Hollywood Cartoons. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 303-305. .
Although all entries are in the public domain in the United States, ancillary rights, such as merchandising contract rights, as well as the original 35 mm master elements, are owned today by Warner Bros. Entertainment, which has also owned Superman's publisher, DC Comics, since 1969, as well as the Popeye the Sailor series of cartoons produced by both studios. In 2023, Warner Bros. released a Blu-ray set containing the 17 cartoons, taken from high-definition restorations of the original 35mm source elements.
History Development and initial entries Only the first nine cartoons were produced by Fleischer Studios; nonetheless, all seventeen shorts are collectively known as "the Fleischer Superman cartoons". In 1942, Fleischer Studios was dissolved and reorganized as Famous Studios, which produced the final eight shorts. These cartoons are seen as some of the finest quality and most lavishly budgeted animated cartoons produced during The Golden Age of American animation. In 1994, the first entry in the series was voted #33 on a list of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.
By mid-1941, brothers Max and Dave Fleischer were running their own animation studio in Miami, Florida, and had recently finished their first animated feature film, Gulliver's Travels. The Fleischers were also well into production on their second, Mr. Bug Goes to Town. They were reluctant to commit themselves to another major project at the time when they were approached by their studio's distributor and majority owner since May 1941, Paramount Pictures. Paramount was interested in financially exploiting the phenomenal popularity of the new Superman comic books by producing a series of theatrical cartoons based upon the character. Dave Fleischer had misgivings about Superman as a subject, recognizing the greater technical difficulties and costs that would come with properly animating the characters as compared to the more unrealistic, traditionally cartoony characters that Fleischer Studios were experienced with. The Fleischers hoped to discourage Paramount from committing to the series, so they told the studio that the cost of producing such a series of cartoons would be about $100,000 per short (or $ per short as of ), about four times the typical budget of an average cartoon of that period.Maltin, Leonard (1980, rev. 1987). Of Mice and Magic. New York: Plume. pp. 120–122. Instead of withdrawing its request, Paramount entered into negotiations with them, and got the per-episode budget lowered to $50,000 (or $ per short as of ).Barrier, Michael (1999). Hollywood Cartoons. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 304. However, only the first short was actually done for $50,000; the rest of the series were produced at $30,000 per short.
Recognizing that the Fleischer Studios staff were inexperienced in animating characters like Superman, Max Fleischer hosted a sketch class for the animators and assistant animators. Superman co-creator Joe Shuster also became involved during the design phase. Schuster happened to be in Miami for a visit at the time, and an acquaintance invited him to the animation studio to see them working on Superman. Fascinated by what he saw of the project, Schuster stayed at the studio for a few days drawing model sheets of the characters.
In the summer of 1940, Paramount announced their deal with Fleischer Studios and promised the first in the series would be released that Christmas, but technical issues stalled the project. The first cartoon in the series, simply titled Superman, was released on September 26, 1941, and was nominated for the 1941 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons. It lost to Lend a Paw, a Mickey Mouse cartoon from Walt Disney Productions and RKO Radio Pictures.
The voice of Superman for the series was initially provided by Bud Collyer, who also performed the lead character's voice during The Adventures of Superman radio series. Joan Alexander was the voice of Lois Lane, a role she also portrayed on radio alongside Collyer. Music for the series was composed by Sammy Timberg, the Fleischers' long-time musical collaborator.
Rotoscoping, the process of tracing animation drawings from live-action footage, was used to lend realism to the character's bodily movements. Muscleman Karol Krauser served as the rotoscope model for Superman. Many of Superman's actions, however, could not be rotoscoped (such as flying, lifting very large objects, etc.). In these cases, the Fleischers' lead animators—many of whom lacked training in figure drawing—animated "roughly" and depended upon their assistants (usually inexperienced animators but established draftsmen) to keep Superman "on model" during his action sequences.
Writer Jay Morton was tasked with coming up with the opening lines to the series that would introduce the main character, Superman. He went through numerous drafts, such as "More powerful than a bolt of lightning, scaling tremendous heights in a single leap, faster than time itself, this amazing ally from the planet Krypton, mighty man of steel, Superman!" Eventually Morton arrived at "Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap buildings in a single bound!", but he felt that the meter was bad, so he tried adding various adjectives to "buildings" before finally deciding on "tall buildings". The first seven cartoons used these opening lines, which, along with the now-classic exclamation "Up in the sky, look! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!", were shortly after adopted by the Superman radio series and the live-action television series a decade later. The radio series also eventually used the cartoon series' theme music. For the final two Fleischer-produced cartoons and the first of the eight Famous Studios-produced cartoons, the opening was changed to "Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to soar higher than any plane!". For the remaining Famous Studios-produced cartoons, the opening line was changed again to "Faster than a streak of lightning! More powerful than the pounding surf! Mightier than a roaring hurricane!" For international prints of Superman cartoons starting with "Showdown" the opening line is "Faster than a streak of lightning! More powerful than the pounding surf! Mightier than a roaring hurricane!"
The Fleischer cartoons introduced the trope of Clark Kent using phone booths to change into costume to the Superman mythos. The Fleischer cartoons were also responsible for giving Superman the power of flight. When the Fleischers started work on the series, the Superman of the comic books could only leap long distances. After seeing the leaping fully animated, however, the Fleischers deemed it "silly looking", and asked permission from Action Comics (later DC Comics) to have him fly instead; the publisher agreed. Previously, he was only shown flying on the cover of Triumph #772, in "The Adventure of Superman" radio show and in the comics due to an artist and editorial error in Superman #10. The flight power was adopted into the Superman comic books in 1943.
Transition from Fleischer to Famous By the start of 1941, the Fleischer brothers were no longer speaking with each other, and communicated by passing notes. Dave Fleischer left Florida for New York, where he became the new head of Columbia Pictures' Screen Gems studio. Dissatisfied with the situation, Paramount executives put a financial squeeze on Max and Dave Fleischer, effectively forcing them to resign from Fleischer Studios. After the Fleischers were removed, Paramount renamed the company Famous Studios, placing Seymour Kneitel (Max Fleischer's son-in-law), Isadore Sparber, Sam Buchwald, and Dan Gordon in charge of production.
Although the series maintain the $30,000 budget, Famous Studios lowered the scope of production for the remaining shorts. Most of the scenes were now animated "on twos" (unlike the Fleischer shorts which were mainly done "on ones"), the action sequences were less elaborate, and the use of rotoscoping was reduced, resulting in a slight drop in animation quality. Animator Myron Waldman commented that after Famous Studios took over production, "... they stopped putting the work into them because they were limited by budget, and they kept changing him." The characters' voices were also recast, with Lee Royce (best known for voicing Bluto in the Fleischer Popeye the Sailor cartoons) now being both the voice and rotoscope model for Superman, and Barbara Willock now voicing Lois Lane, after beating out other contenders in her audition with her distinctive Lois Lane scream.
There was also a change in the storylines of the series, as it took on a grimmer and more horrific tone. The first nine cartoons had more of a science fiction aspect to them, as they involved the Man of Steel fighting robots, giant monsters, meteors from outer space, and natural perils. The later eight cartoons in the series, which were all Famous Studios productions, dealt more with World War II propaganda stories, such as in Eleventh Hour, which finds Superman going to Japan to commit acts of sabotage in order to reduce the morale of the enemy. An angered Adolf Hitler appears at the end of Jungle Drums after Superman foils another Nazi plot.
Later history Famous Studios ended the series after a total of seventeen shorts had been produced, replacing it with the Little Lulu series, which was based on Marge's comic strip of the same name. The high cost of the series kept it from continuing in the face of budgetary restrictions that were imposed after removing the Fleischers from the studio. The first cartoon had a budget of $50,000 (equivalent to $ in ), and the other sixteen each had a budget of $30,000 (equivalent to $ in ), bringing the total cost of the series to $530,000 (equivalent to $ in ). Paramount cited waning interest in the Superman shorts among theater exhibitors as another justification for the series' cancellation.Maltin, Leonard (1980, rev. 1987), p. 312.
The Fleischer Superman cartoons became a staple of local TV shows during the 1950s, broadcast in black-and-white since television stations had not yet upgraded to color broadcasting.
The rights to all seventeen cartoons eventually reverted to National Comics, who licensed TV syndication rights to Flamingo Films (distributors of the TV series Adventures of Superman). All eventually fell into the public domain, due to National's failure to renew their copyrights; thus, they have been widely distributed on VHS, LaserDisc, and DVD. Nonetheless, Warner Bros. Entertainment (via DC Comics) now owns the original film elements to the cartoons. Warner Bros. Entertainment and Paramount Pictures became sister companies in 2026, both being owned by Skydance Corporation.
Related works Issue #19 of DC's Superman comic series (August 1942) included a comic story titled "Superman, Matinee Idol!" by Superman creators Jerry Siegel (writer) and Joe Shuster (artwork). In this short story, Lois and Clark attend a Saturday movie matinee and see a Superman cartoon, in which Superman battles a giant robot created by the Mad Scientist from Superman, the first episode of the Fleischer animated series.