Talk:Superman curse

Untitled
Additional info: As far as Teri Hatcher is concerned, until she landed Desperate Housewives in 2004, it was widely considered that her career was on the decline after Lois & Clark. Prior to this, she was probably most notable for her work in the Radioshack commercials with Howie Long.


 * Lane Smith, who played Perry White on Lois & Clark died of Lou Gehrig's Disease in 2005.


 * Mark Pillow, who played Superman's nemesis in Superman IV never had another prominent role again. I believe that Superman IV is one of only two of Marc Pillow's acting credits.


 * Richard Lester, who was the credited director for Superman II and directed Superman III entirely, effectively retired from filmmaking after making The Return of the Musketters in 1989. Lester was distrught because he apparently, felt partially responsible for the death of actor Roy Kinnear, who died during after falling of his horse.


 * The much detailed production problems surrounding Superman II and Superman IV can also be included in the "curse."


 * Marlon Brando, who played Jor-El in Superman: The Movie had several personal tragedies later in his life. Most of them involved his children like his daughter's suicide and his son being convicted of murder.

User:TMC1982
 * "...it was widely considered that her career was on the decline..." by whom? Cite one source.  A glance at her filmography indicates that her career was no better or worse after Lois & Clark than it was before.  She's simply a B-list actor with a couple of high points in her career, namely Lois & Clark and Desperate Housewives.  If you are going to sling weasel words, prepare to be challenged.  Roy Kinnear's death had nothing whatsoever to do with any Superman production, and I have justifiably deleted it from this list.  Claiming that his death was part of a Superman curse has as much validity as saying that Lindsay Lohan's drug and legal problems are part of the curse because she once dated someone who watched Superman.  Anyway, the curse pertains to the actors who portray Superman, not to tragedies or career misfires that happen years after the fact to people tangentially affiliated with the role.  Adding extraneous items just because you feel that they must be related to some sort of curse doesn't make them so.  As far as the rest of the world is concerned, the curse extends to the unfortunate injury/death of Reeves and Reeve, and to the career-ending typecasting of Reeves, Alyn, Newton and Christopher.  The rest of this list is garbage. 71.204.204.249 17:24, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

Questionable statement
"Those who don't believe in the curse should consider that although both Bud Collyer and Teri Hatcher did gain fame after their Super assoiation but the former died at an early age of 61 which is uncommon for a rich man in the United States."

Uncommon for a rich man in the United States? It's not uncommon for anyone to die at 61, no matter how much money you make.

A rich man is more likely to live longer than a poor man or a middle class man because he has more money than them,giving him access to a healthier life (good food,excercise programs,clean home etc.)Nadirali 15:34, 24 November 2006 (UTC)Nadirali

A dubious earmark was placed on the quote "If you intend to play the strongest man on Earth, you will either die or end up in the weakest position possible". That is dubious becuase for one thing, we will all die one day, there is no getting around the fact that one day your body will stop working. A better analysis of this statement may be "if you intend to play the strongest man on Earth, you will either die a miserable death or end up in the weakest position possible". Dying in and of itslef is not strong enough to scare people about the supposed Superman curse. USN1977 (talk) 13:25, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

Hilarious
Some witty person has made some snide tongue-in-cheek comments at the end of each piece of "curse" evidence: ___________

In 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy's staff approved of a Superman story in which the hero touts the president's physical fitness initiatives, scheduled to be published with an April 1964 cover date. On November 22, Kennedy was shot and killed but, at the request of successor Lyndon Johnson, DC published a reworked version of the story[2] Some believe that Lex Luthor was the gunman on the grassy knoll.

Comedian Richard Pryor, who had previously suffered from a drug addiction that lead to an almost fatal accident, starred as an anti-hero in 1983’s Superman III, but later took Superman's side near the end of the movie and became a hero. Three years later, he announced that he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He died of cardiac arrest on December 10, 2005. It is undisputed that his appearance in the movie caused his disease and eventual death. Had he not appeared in the movie, he likely would have lived forever.

Richard Donner, who directed Superman: The Movie (1978), was hired by the Salkinds to direct Superman: The Movie and Superman II. With the compeletion of the first film released and about 25% of the sequel left to finish, Donner was fired from the project and director Richard Lester was hired on to finish and direct Superman II. Around 50% of Donner's film was scrapped and re-shot by Lester delaying the theatrical release by a few years until 1980 (Superman II was released in 1981 in the United States). In 2006, Donner released his version of Superman II on DVD with all of his footage restored (deleting most of Lester's film) making Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut a close estimation of what it could have been if he was allowed to finish it. Spooky, right? ______________

They are absolutely hilarious! It just goes to show how bad Wikipedia is that these remain undetected. The whole page is trivial though. Perhaps our usual prima donna editors, with their delusions of grandeur, think it is beneath them to check the quality of pages like these?

Anyway, I am guessing the Wikipedia fad will end as the novelty fades away. Wikipedia won't die; it will still be around but as more and more discerning people realise what a poor source of information it is, it will be marginalised. Thanks to whoever added those tongue-in-cheek comments, both for your humour and for proving why Wikipedia is rubbish. 210.50.60.1 00:40, 27 October 2007 (UTC)


 * The above comments tell it like it is. 124.169.181.231 (talk) 13:21, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

If it's so bad, what are you doing reading any article of any variety on Wikipedia? And if the comments are so hilarious, why bring it to anyone's attention for deletion? Sounds a bit hypocritical to me.... Alan 24.184.184.177 (talk) 21:25, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

Missing someone?
You left out one big one, Dean Cain, who portrayed him for 84 episodes alongside Teri Hatcher in the Tv Series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. And what of Smallville? That shows doing pretty well.

-Alan 24.184.184.177 (talk) 21:28, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

What about Brian Singer? His latest Tom Cruise epic has gone way over budget and more than half the film was destroyed at the lab. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Captaincalcium (talk • contribs) 17:30, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

George Newbern? They made him Superman in The Batman when The Batman has absolutely nothing to do with the established DCAU.Zero no Kamen (talk) 12:28, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Dean Cain seems to have done ok, he was the host of Ripley's Believe it or Not, and I think he was in Gentle Ben 1 and 2

And also, why is Heath Ledger mentioned in the Superman curse article? He had nothing to do with Superman. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.230.120.78 (talk) 07:27, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

Also, Bryan Singer's Valkyrie made 198 million, so it was not exactly a flop... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.230.120.78 (talk) 07:29, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

I really expected this article to say something about Tom Welling's refusal to appear full-body in Superman's costume in the finale of Smallville. --Keeves (talk) 04:41, 23 November 2011 (UTC)


 * Please see WP:V and WP:IRS. The article can't say something about something unless someone adds it, with a reliable, published source. Nightscream (talk) 09:13, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

The "Curse of Superman"
The myth of a so-called "curse of Superman" has grown over the years, and is occasionally revived by the media, due to the misfortune that a number of actors involved in Superman portrayals have suffered, such as George Reeves (possible suicide) and Christopher Reeve (paralysis). Critics of the myth point out that the evidence is highly circumstantial. . Margot Kidder who played Lois Lane in the original Superman movies stated in an interview "With any group of people in life, sad things happen, and crazy things, and happy things. When you're in the public eye, it's just amplified, that's all. There's no curse." . The story of George Reeves' possible suicide is told in the 2006 film Hollywoodland.Peregrine Fisher (talk) (contribs) 15:56, 17 July 2008 (UTC)


 * ... and how was Kirk Alyn 'cursed', precisely? Dying of Alzheimer's at 89 is scarcely unusual. Surely this whole article should be consigned to footnote somewhere.--82.0.30.166 (talk) 20:38, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:Superman64box.jpg
The image Image:Superman64box.jpg is used in this article under a claim of fair use, but it does not have an adequate explanation for why it meets the requirements for such images when used here. In particular, for each page the image is used on, it must have an explanation linking to that page which explains why it needs to be used on that page. Please check


 * That there is a non-free use rationale on the image's description page for the use in this article.
 * That this article is linked to from the image description page.

This is an automated notice by FairuseBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Media copyright questions. --01:49, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

Article rewrite or delete?
Would anyone support a deletion of this article? It seems like there could be an article here, focusing on the phenomenon of people believing in and writing about something they refer to as a "Superman curse" - but that isn't what this article is about. This article was clearly written by people who do believe in this hogwash.

Also, this line could be nominated for the funniest sentence on wikipedia award "The notion that Donner was actually "cursed" by his association with Superman is a subject for debate" - because obviously it is not the subject of a very long debate. 128.223.131.109 (talk) 21:43, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

I agree and support Isepterian (talk) 20:00, 2 March 2022 (UTC)

It sounds like it should be deleted based on how the talk page has become a trivia page of names. Apparently being associated with Superman means you are no longer allowed to be human and suffer human calamities, despite the fact that Superman is a fictional character and no longer in their lives to save them. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2604:2D80:A48F:300:4131:21C:4D84:9393 (talk) 23:18, 11 October 2023 (UTC)

If you "play" the strongest man on Earth ...
The curse is defined in the article to mean If you play the strongest man on Earth, you will either die an untimely death or end up in the weakest position possible.

But many of the supposed victims never played Superman:
 * Siegel and Shuster created Superman.
 * The Fleischer Brothers made Superman cartoons.
 * John F. Kennedy was portrayed in a comic book with Superman.
 * Richard Donner directed a Superman movie (or movies).
 * Dana Reeve married an actor who had played Superman.
 * Margot Kidder, Marlon Brando, Richard Pryor, Mariel Hemingway, and Mark Pillow played various non-Superman characters in Superman movies.
 * Ilan Mitchell-Smith played Clark Kent's roommate in Superboy.
 * Lane Smith played Perry White in Lois & Clark.
 * Jeph Loeb wrote Superman comics and the Smallville TV series.

In fact, the majority of the people listed in the article never played Superman. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 18:44, 22 August 2010 (UTC)

This article is complete twaddle
... which does not of itself rule it out as a Wikipedia article, but it reads as if the evidence speaks for itself. The word 'theory' appears in the first line. In whose dictionary might this material be an exemplar of any sort of 'theory'? Surely a more even-handed approach would be to mention that the coincidence of mishaps to a significant number of those involved over the decades has led some to apply the term 'curse'. --62.239.159.6 (talk) 14:46, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Curt Swan
the guy was kicked hard in the butt after over 30 years of loyal work, never accepting a marvel offer with more money. pretty cursy if you ask me, especially considering that most of the old comics folks never had stocked up enough money for the retirement, so they went around searching work wherever they could find it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.34.158.94 (talk) 00:17, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Revisions
Since it looks like the article is going to be kept, I've started reorganizing it. The main thing I think the article needs is a history of the belief in the curse. That is, as far as I can tell, nobody talked about a Superman curse until Christopher Reeve was paralyzed. Before then, nobody attributed, say, Bud Collyer's death to any Superman curse. But after Reeve's accident, anything bad that happened to anyone associated with the Superman franchise became associated with the alleged curse. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 07:29, 1 October 2011 (UTC)

Brandon Routh
Propose the following statement should be revised/removed: "However, many critics have since stated that "Routh's lack of a career after Superman Returns is proof that he is a victim of the curse." [13][29]".

Besides the fact that he has worked on several projects since Superman Returns, Brandon Routh has most recently found success as a recurring character (Ray Palmer/The Atom) on The CW's Arrow (TV series) -- a character that will be getting his own spin-off of Arrow, in which Brandon Routh will co-star, called Legends of Tomorrow, premiering in 2016. Though many roles have been minor or supporting in the years following Superman Returns, he has been working consistently since the release of the film, with several recurring and leading TV roles under his belt. One look at his Filmography refutes a "lack of a career".

Furthermore, neither of the references linked to that statement have any evidence of "critics having stated that Routh's lack of a career is proof that he's a victim of the curse" within the sources themselves.

Therefore, this statement should be revised/removed.

Chibiusa40 (talk) 00:26, 8 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Add it then if you wish and we'll see it's result on the article.--NadirAli نادر علی (talk) 05:23, 30 August 2017 (UTC)

External links modified (January 2018)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 3 external links on Superman curse. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added tag to http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=%2F2004%2F10%2F29%2Ffeatures%2F9238453&sec=features
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20130719063733/http://xfinity.comcast.net/slideshow/entertainment-hollywoodcurses/9/ to http://xfinity.comcast.net/slideshow/entertainment-hollywoodcurses/9/
 * Corrected formatting/usage for https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/apr/05/theinjusticeofsuperman
 * Corrected formatting/usage for https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE6D71330F930A3575BC0A964958260

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 08:34, 25 January 2018 (UTC)

Re: Reverted edit
I hope this ping works because I have no idea how to do it: I should have explained my edit in the comments, and you're right, "sustained an attack" is pretty clumsy wording. I made the edit because "suffers from" carries unnecessary emotion, emotion that the writer of the article is assigning to the person, not emotion that the person actually has (unless that person has said that they suffer, but if it's a paraphrase the article should probably indicate that). This edit is consistent with the manual of style for medicine-related articles (check out that APA link at the bottom of the section), and presumably medical-related language. Waitalie Nat (talk) 02:21, 30 April 2018 (UTC)