Superman Trivia
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150 free Superman trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
51 free Superman trivia questions with answers. Superman has been saving the day since 1938, and almost every decade has added a new layer to the legend: a radio show that invented kryptonite, cartoons that taught him to fly, a TV star in a padded suit, Christopher Reeve making the world believe, a comic-book death that sold six million copies, and a 2025 reboot with a very badly behaved dog. This quiz covers all of it. The 150 questions run from easy warm-ups (where did his rocket land?) to genuinely hard ones about publishing history, box-office numbers and behind-the-scenes decisions. Play it solo, or use it to build a round for comic-night, movie-night or a pub quiz. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia and primary sources before it went live, and each explanation adds one extra fact you can use to win the argument afterwards.
30 of 150 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What was Superman's birth name on the planet Krypton?
Kal-El
Superman's Kryptonian birth name is Kal-El; his parents Jor-El and Lara launched him toward Earth in a small rocket shortly before Krypton exploded.
Q 02In which US state is the town of Smallville, where the Kents raise Clark?
Kansas
Smallville is in Kansas, where the Kents found the rocket on their farm; the comics left the state unnamed for decades, until the 1978 film placed the town there.
Q 03Which composer wrote the fanfare theme for the 1978 film Superman?
John Williams
John Williams got the job only after first choice Jerry Goldsmith dropped out over scheduling; he recorded the march with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Q 04Superman's secret hideout, located somewhere in the Arctic, is called what?
The Fortress of Solitude
Superman's Arctic hideout is the Fortress of Solitude; the name was borrowed from pulp hero Doc Savage, whose own Arctic Fortress of Solitude appeared in the 1930s.
Q 05Which young newspaper photographer is frequently described as "Superman's pal"?
Jimmy Olsen
Jimmy Olsen, the Daily Planet's cub photographer, was popular enough to headline his own title, Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen, from 1954 to 1974.
Q 06Who provided Superman's voice on The Adventures of Superman, broadcast from 1940 to 1951?
Bud Collyer
Bud Collyer voiced both Clark Kent and Superman for most of the radio serial's run, marking the change by dropping from a high tenor to a deep bass on 'This looks like a job for Superman!'
Q 07Which villain killed Superman in the famous 1992 storyline?
Doomsday
Doomsday, a near-mindless Kryptonian monster, beat Superman to death in Superman #75; each landed a final massive blow on the other, and both fell in the streets of Metropolis.
Q 08Superman #75, the 1992 issue in which he dies, came bagged with which mourning keepsake?
A black armband
A black armband came sealed inside the black-bagged collector's edition of Superman #75, which sold more than six million copies and was the best-selling comic of 1992.
Q 09Why did DC's writers need a big new Superman story in 1992, leading to his death?
His wedding was put on hold
His wedding was put on hold to coincide with the TV series Lois & Clark; left without a big story, the writers took up Jerry Ordway's running joke that they should just kill him.
Q 10Which of the four replacement "Supermen" ultimately revived the real one using Kryptonian technology?
The Eradicator
The Eradicator stole Superman's body and placed it in a Kryptonian regeneration matrix, drawing on its energy for his own power; the real Superman recovered there and walked out alive.
Q 11In its 1943 debut story, how did kryptonite reach Earth?
As a meteor
As a meteor: kryptonite debuted in 'The Meteor from Krypton', a 1943 story on the Superman radio serial, a full six years before it appeared in the comics.
Q 12Superman can safely carry kryptonite sealed in a box of which metal?
Lead
Lead is the one element kryptonite's radiation cannot pass through, so a lead box makes the rock safe; lead also blocks Superman's X-ray vision.
Q 13An unpublished 1940 Jerry Siegel story featured a prototype of kryptonite under what name?
The K-Metal from Krypton
The K-Metal from Krypton drained Superman's strength while giving humans powers; the 1940 Jerry Siegel story was rejected because in it Superman reveals his identity to Lois Lane.
Q 21What did Siegel and Shuster win back from DC in 1975?
Their creator credit
Their creator credit returned to Superman stories, with a yearly pension, after Siegel went to the press as Warner prepared its Superman film; in exchange they agreed never to contest the copyright.
Q 22Lois's surname was borrowed from which 1930s actress, who had played reporter Torchy Blane?
Lola Lane
Lola Lane lent Lois her surname, Siegel said, but the character's spark came from Glenda Farrell, who played Torchy Blane in most of the films; Lane took the role only once.
Q 23When Clark married Lois in the 1996 comics, what had he lost?
His superpowers
Q 14What was the cover price of Action Comics #1 in 1938?
10 cents
Action Comics #1 cost 10 cents in 1938, and its print run of 200,000 sold out; a surviving copy can now sell for millions of dollars.
Q 15What is Superman doing on the cover of Action Comics #1?
Lifting a car over his head
Lifting a car over his head is how the world first saw Superman; publisher Jack Liebowitz said he picked the cover because it looked thrilling, and that running Superman at all was pure accident.
Q 16Which actor's copy of Action Comics #1 was stolen in 2000 and found in a storage locker in 2011?
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage had already been paid by his insurer when the stolen comic turned up in a California storage locker; it sold that November for $2.16 million, then a record for a comic book.
Q 17Roughly how many copies of Action Comics #1 are estimated to still exist?
Around 100
Only around 100 copies of Action Comics #1 are thought to survive from a print run of about 200,000, which is why high-grade examples sell for millions.
Q 18How much were Siegel and Shuster paid for the first Superman story in Action Comics #1?
$130
Siegel and Shuster received $130, $10 a page, in a deal that also signed over all rights to Superman; they spent decades in court trying to win them back.
Q 19Siegel and Shuster met as teenagers at Glenville High School in which city?
Cleveland
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster met at Glenville High School in Cleveland, Ohio, and bonded over science fiction; Shuster's family had moved there from Toronto when he was a boy.
Q 20In Siegel's 1933 story "The Reign of the Super-Man", who was the title character?
A telepathic villain
A telepathic villain: Bill Dunn, a vagrant picked from a bread line, gains mind powers in a chemist's experiment and tries to rule the world; Siegel and Shuster later reused the name for a hero.
His superpowers were gone, lost in the earlier Final Night crossover, so Clark married as an ordinary man; the priest at the altar was drawn to look like co-creator Jerry Siegel.
Q 24In real-world publishing history, why did Lex Luthor become bald?
Because of an artist's mistake
Because of an artist's mistake: Luthor debuted with a full head of red hair until a newspaper-strip artist drew him bald, perhaps confusing him with a bald henchman, and the look stuck.
Q 25Which office did Lex Luthor win in a 2000 comics storyline?
President of the United States
Lex Luthor became President of the United States in a 2000 storyline, winning on a platform of technological progress, but his reign collapsed before he finished his first term.
Q 26Which Oscar-winning actor played Jor-El in the 1978 film Superman?
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando played Jor-El for a reported $3.7 million plus a share of the gross for about two weeks of work, and refused to memorise his lines, so cue cards were placed around the set.
Q 27The 1978 film Superman received a Special Achievement Academy Award for what?
Its visual effects
Its visual effects earned Superman a Special Achievement Academy Award: for the flying scenes, the actors hung on wires in front of images projected onto a special screen.
Q 28Who played General Zod in Superman II?
Terence Stamp
Terence Stamp, a 1960s star who had left for India and an ashram, found wider fame as General Zod, flanked in Superman II by Sarah Douglas as Ursa and Jack O'Halloran as Non.
Q 29Which director of the 1978 Superman film was fired from Superman II with most of it already shot?
Richard Donner
Richard Donner had filmed most of Superman II alongside the first film when the producers replaced him with Richard Lester, who reshot much of it; Donner's own cut finally appeared in 2006.
Q 30In Superman III, what does Gus Gorman substitute for the unknown element when he synthesises kryptonite?
Tar
Tar is what Gus Gorman types in when his computer can't identify one ingredient of kryptonite; the flawed rock leaves Superman unharmed but slowly corrupts him, until he splits in two and fights Clark Kent.