Superman curse

The Superman curse refers to a series of misfortunes that have plagued creative people involved in adaptations of Superman in various mediums, particularly actors who have played the role of Superman on film and television.

Supposed victims of the curse

 * Writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster created Superman in the 1930s but their employer DC Comics held the copyright to the character. In 1946, the two sued DC, arguing that they were inadequately compensated for the character. The New York Supreme Court limited their settlement to $60,000 each, a small sum of money, compared to the millions of dollars Superman comics, films, television series and merchandize would gather in the coming years. In 1975, in response to a campaign launched by the two and joined by several prominent comic book creators, DC agreed to pay the Siegel and Schuster each a lifetime pension of $35,000 a year and credit them in every adaptation of the character. While both are respected in comic book fandom for Superman, neither went on to work on other very high-profile comic books.
 * Brothers Max and Dave Fleischer founded Fleischer Studios, which produced the original Popeye, Betty Boop and Superman cartoons. Shortly after bringing Superman into animation, the Fleischers began fueding with one another and their studio slumped financially until they were forced to sell to Paramount Pictures. Paramount ousted the Fleischers and rearranged their company as Famous Studios. Although Dave Fleischer went on to a career as a special effects advisor at Universal Studios, Max died poor at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital.
 * Kirk Alyn played Superman in two low-budget 1940s serials but failed to find work afterwards, saying that casting directors thought he was too recognized as Superman. He eventually retired to Arizona.
 * George Reeves played Superman in the 1951 film Superman and the Mole Men and the ensuing television series The Adventures of Superman. Like Alyn, he was recognized only for the role. On June 16, 1959, days before he was too be married, Reeves was found dead of a shotgun wound at his home. The death was ruled a suicide but other theories persist.
 * Christopher Reeve played Superman in the 1978 film Superman: The Movie and three sequels throughout the 1980s. On May 17, 1995, Reeve was paralyzed from the neck down after being thrown from his horse in a cross country riding event. He died on October 10, 2004 due to heart failure stemming from his medical condition.
 * Margot Kidder, who played Superman’s love interest Lois Lane opposite Reeve suffered from intense bipolar disorder. In April of 1996, she went missing for several days and was found by police in a paranoid, delusional state.
 * Comedian Richard Pryor, who had previously suffered from a drug addiction that lead to an almost fatal accident, starred as a villain in 1983’s Superman III. Three years later, he announced that he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He died of cardiac arrest on December 10, 2005.
 * Both John Haymes Newton and Gerard Christopher, who starred as the title character in the Superboy television series (1988-1992), fell into obscurity after their respective tenures as the character.