Superman animation guide: every cartoon from 1941

Superman has been a cartoon almost as long as he’s been a comic. From wartime cinema shorts to Saturday-morning team-ups and today’s anime-influenced series, here’s every major animated Superman, with the voices, dates and UK ratings.

The Fleischer shorts (1941–43)

Superman’s first animated outings were 17 theatrical shorts: nine from Fleischer Studios (1941–42) and eight from Famous Studios (1942–43). The first, Superman, opened on 26 September 1941, and the last, Secret Agent, on 30 July 1943.

• The first short was nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject (Cartoons). It lost to Disney’s Lend a Paw.
• Bud Collyer voiced Superman and Joan Alexander voiced Lois (Likely).
• The music was by Sammy Timberg, Fleischer’s music director.
• Warner Bros. released a restored Max Fleischer’s Superman Blu-ray on 16 May 2023, from a 4K scan of the original negatives (Likely).

Are the Fleischer cartoons free to watch?

In the US, the shorts are public domain, because their copyrights weren’t renewed. That doesn’t free up Superman himself: the character is still under copyright, and Warner Bros. still owns the original film masters.

In the UK, their status is unclear. UK film copyright is worked out differently from US rules (see section 13B of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 in our sources), so a US public-domain status doesn’t carry over. We’re not lawyers, and this isn’t legal advice. The safe way to watch is the official Warner Bros. Blu-ray or an official stream, which is why we don’t host or embed the films here.

TV series

Super Friends ran in seven versions, from the original 1973 series to The Legendary Super Powers Show (1984) and Galactic Guardians, whose last new episode aired on 26 October 1985.

Superman: The Animated Series

Running from 6 September 1996 to 12 February 2000, with Tim Daly as Superman, this is the series most fans treat as the modern benchmark. The BBFC rates it PG, with some episodes U, so it’s a good family starting point. See our parents’ guide.

My Adventures with Superman

This anime-influenced series follows a young Clark, Lois and Jimmy, with Jack Quaid as Clark. It began on 7 July 2023, and season 3 arrived in June 2026. In the UK it first streamed on Channel 4 and aired on E4 in October 2023, and it’s now on HBO Max. The BBFC rates its seasons 12, PG and 12, so it isn’t all for little ones.

Season 4: as of 6 November 2026, the show has been neither renewed nor cancelled, according to showrunner Jake Wyatt in August 2026. A spin-off, My Adventures with Green Lantern, is reported to be in development. Some coverage links the delay to Warner Bros.’ wider corporate changes, but that’s speculation.

DC animated films

Superman: Man of Tomorrow (2020) began the run of linked films fans call the “Tomorrowverse”, and the three-part Crisis on Infinite Earths (2024) ended it. Several share their titles with famous comics: see our comics reading order for the originals, and Doomsday or Mongul for the villains behind them.

What’s new and what’s next

• Krypto Saves the Day! shorts, featuring Krypto and Supergirl, launched on the DC Kids YouTube channel on Superman Day, 18 April 2026, and are on HBO Max (BBFC U). See Krypto.
• No new Superman-led animated film has been announced as of 6 November 2026. DC’s animated film line is busy with the Batman: Knightfall trilogy.
• My Adventures with Superman season 4 is still undecided.

For the live-action shows, see Superman on TV, and for the films, Superman films in order.