Superman Trivia
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100 free Superman trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 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 100 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 100 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 Jonathan and Martha Kent found the rocket on their farm; the 1978 film and John Byrne's 1986 reboot both placed the town there.
Q 03Clark Kent works as a journalist for which Metropolis newspaper?
The Daily Planet
Siegel made Clark a journalist because he had often imagined becoming one himself after leaving school.
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 Clark Kent and Superman for most of the radio serial's 1940-1951 run, dropping his voice an octave for '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 (January 1993); the two fell together in the streets of Metropolis.
Q 08Roughly how many copies did the issue depicting Superman's death sell?
Over six million
Superman #75 sold over six million copies across its printings, its collector's edition sealed in a black polybag with a mourning armband, making it one of the best-selling single comics ever.
Q 09Why did DC need a big new Superman event in 1992, leading to his death?
A planned Lois and Clark wedding was delayed for a TV show
The wedding was pushed back so it could line up with the romance on the Lois & Clark television series.
Q 10Which of the four replacement "Supermen" ultimately revived the real one using Kryptonian technology?
The Eradicator
The Eradicator took Superman's body to a Kryptonian regeneration matrix beneath the Fortress of Solitude, then channelled kryptonite energy through himself to restore the revived hero's powers.
Q 11In what year did kryptonite make its debut, in a radio story called "The Meteor from Krypton"?
1943
Kryptonite debuted in 1943 on The Adventures of Superman radio serial, in the story 'The Meteor from Krypton'; the word later entered dictionaries as a term for anyone's fatal weakness.
Q 12Kryptonite finally entered the comics in Superman #61 in which year?
1949
Kryptonite reached the comics in Superman #61 (1949), in a story written by Batman co-creator Bill Finger and drawn by Al Plastino.
Q 13An unpublished 1940 Jerry Siegel story featured a prototype of kryptonite under what name?
The K-Metal from Krypton
Siegel's unpublished 1940 story 'The K-Metal from Krypton' introduced a kryptonite prototype and would have had Superman reveal his identity to Lois; DC shelved it.
Q 21After their late-1940s lawsuit, Siegel and Shuster gave up the Superman copyrights for just over how much?
$94,000
The 1948 settlement paid Siegel and Shuster about $94,000 and affirmed DC's ownership of Superman; their byline was dropped from the comics and newspaper strip soon after.
Q 22Lois's surname was borrowed from which 1930s actress, who had played reporter Torchy Blane?
Lola Lane
Siegel took the surname from Lola Lane, who played wisecracking reporter Torchy Blane in a 1938 film; Lois Lane debuted beside Superman in Action Comics #1.
Q 23In which year did Lois and Clark finally marry in the comics, in Superman: The Wedding Album?
1996
Lois and Clark wed in Superman: The Wedding Album (1996), timed to the TV wedding on Lois & Clark; their son Jon, first seen in 2015, grew into his own Superboy.
Q 14What was the cover price of Action Comics #1 in 1938?
10 cents
Action Comics #1 cost 10 cents, the standard comic-book price in 1938; Superman's 13-page story was only one of the anthology's features.
Q 15What is Superman doing on the cover of Action Comics #1?
Lifting a car over his head
The cover shows Superman lifting a green car over his head and smashing it against a rock as bystanders flee; the 13-page story inside was repasted from rejected newspaper-strip pages.
Q 16In April 2024, a copy of Action Comics #1 set a then-record public sale price of how much?
$6 million
A CGC 8.5 copy of Action Comics #1 sold for $6 million at Heritage Auctions in April 2024, a record for a public comic sale that stood until November 2025.
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 13-page Superman story in Action Comics #1?
$130
Siegel and Shuster received $130 for the 13-page story, $10 a page, and the cheque also signed all rights to Superman over to Detective Comics Inc.
Q 19Siegel and Shuster met as teenagers at Glenville High School in which city?
Cleveland
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were classmates at Glenville High School in Cleveland, Ohio, where the two teenagers bonded over science fiction before creating Superman in 1934.
Q 20In Siegel's 1933 story "The Reign of the Super-Man", the title character was what?
A bald vagrant with psychic powers who turns evil
The 1933 Super-Man was Bill Dunn, a bald vagrant with psychic powers gained from a chemist's experiment who turns evil; Siegel and Shuster later reworked the idea into a hero.
Q 24In real-world publishing history, why did Lex Luthor become bald?
Because of an artist's mistake
He debuted with red hair, and the hairless look stuck after it appeared in a newspaper strip and then Superman #10 in 1941.
Q 25Which office did Lex Luthor win in a 2000 comics storyline?
President of the United States
Luthor was elected President of the United States in the 2000 storyline Superman: Lex 2000, running on technological progress after building LexCorp into Metropolis's dominant company.
Q 26Which Oscar-winning actor played Jor-El in the 1978 film Superman?
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando played Jor-El, earning a reported $3.7 million plus a share of the gross for about two weeks of filming; fellow Oscar winner Gene Hackman played Lex Luthor.
Q 27The 1978 film received a Special Achievement Academy Award for what?
Its visual effects
Superman won a Special Achievement Academy Award for its visual effects and was nominated for editing, sound and John Williams's score, recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Q 28Who played General Zod in Superman II?
Terence Stamp
Terence Stamp played General Zod in Superman II (1980), flanked by Sarah Douglas as Ursa and Jack O'Halloran as the mute Non; Michael Shannon took the role in Man of Steel.
Q 29Under Directors Guild rules, what share of Superman II did Richard Lester need to shoot for sole credit?
40 percent
Guild rules required Lester to shoot at least 40 percent of Superman II for sole credit, so he reshot scenes Donner had finished; Donner's version finally appeared as The Richard Donner Cut in 2006.
Q 30In Superman III, what does Gus Gorman substitute for the unknown element when he synthesises kryptonite?
Tar
Unable to identify kryptonite's last 0.57 percent, Gus Gorman substitutes tar, inspired by a cigarette packet; the botched rock corrupts Superman rather than killing him, leading to the junkyard fight with Clark.