Imagine for a moment you have created a character, a character that would take over the world, take over the imagination of everyone that came into contact with them. Something that would become a household name. Imagine you had poured your heart and soul into creating them. Imagine they became popular beyond belief, and made more money than you could ever even imagine. Sounds good right? What if someone ripped you off though, and you only recieved a completely insignificant amount of money for something that would go on to make millions? You'd be annoyed, right? So what would you do? Of course......you'd put a curse on this little character you had created, and everyone who came into contact with it.
I have never heard of the Superman Curse. It seems everyone else and there dog knows about it, but as usual I am the last to be made aware of it. There is a television programme on about it this weekend, telling the story of Siegel and Shuster, two young 1930s comic book pioneers who created characters, as works for higher, but did not share in the success of them. So they decided to put a curse on the whole thing. So here is a list of those who have supposedly suffered from this little curse (thanks wikipedia), which actually includes Siegel and Shuster as the first sufferers!
- Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created Superman in the 1930s and their employer DC Comics held the copyright to the character. In 1946 they sued DC, and they only got a $60,000 settlment each. Neither worked on any high profile comics after Superman
- Two brothers called Max and Dave Fleischer founded Fleischer studios, which produced cartoons like Betty Boop and Popeye, and the Superman Cartoons. Shortly after introducing the Superman cartoons the brothers started feuding and their company suffered and they were forced to sell to Paramount Pictures.
- Kirk Alyn played Superman in two low-budget 1940s serials, but failed to find work afterwards as he was to linked to the Superman brand.
- George Reeves played Superman in a 1951 film, and went on to play him in a television series. On June 16, 1959, days before he was to married he was found dead at his home, due to a shotgun wound. Apparently it was suicide.
- Richard Pryor played a villain in a Superman film. Three years later he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He died of cardiac arrest on Dec 10, 2005.
- Richard Lester who was credited for directing a Superman film, was so distraught by the death of Roy Kinnear during the shooting of The Return of the Musketeers that he quit directing.
- Marlon Brando who played Supermans biological father in a Superman movie, went through various tradgies throughout his life.
- John Haymes Newton and Gerard Christopher who played the title character in Superboy television series, and Stacy Haiduk who played Lana Lang all fell into obscurity after playing the roles.
- Christopher Reeves played Superman in several movies was paralyzed from the neck down after being thrown from his horse. He died on Oct 10, 2004 due to heart failure.
- Margot Kidder who played Lois Lane opposite Reeve suffered from intense bipolar disorder. In April 1996, she went missing for several days and was found in a severe paranoid state.
- Mariel Hemingway, a co-star in a Superman film, her sister was found dead at the age of 41. After taking an overdose. The death was ruled as suicide, though Mariel disputed this.
- Lane Smith who played Perry White on the Lois and Clark television series, was diagnosed with the rare Lou Gehrig's disease in April 2005 and died of the disease on June 13, 2005.
- Dana Reeve the widow of Christopher Reeve was diagnosed with lung cancer Aug 9, 2005. She died of the cancer on March 6, 2006 at the age of 45.
When you look at this list, it is quite shocking, that all these people linked with Superman seem to have suffered such misfortune. Lets put is into perspective though, many of these things happen to people all over the place, everyday, people we have come into contact with at some point. Does that mean we are cursed, because something bad has happened to someone we have known? The Superman name, alone, is big business, there is films, comics, televsions series, merchandise, when you think about all the people who have taken part in the Superman phenomenon that number of people listed above is really an insignificant figure. Maybe this is just another way of drawing media attention to another movie, that will no doubt be a huge hit.
So what do you think JU, is Superman Cursed?