It’s been 85 years to the day since Superman’s pal, Jimmy Olsen, debuted in an episode of The Adventures of Superman radio serial. Aired on April 15, 1940, the six-part “Donelli’s Protection Racket” introduced Jimmy as a 14-year-old copy boy at The Daily Planet who would go on to accompany Clark Kent on his adventures. (Although a bow tie-clad office boy who appeared in the pages of 1938’s Action Comics #6 would later be identified as Jimmy, DC Comics recognizes 1941’s Superman #13 as Jimmy Olsen’s first appearance in the comics.)
The boyish photographer would go on to appear in the George Reeves-fronted TV series, Adventures of Superman, and then headline his own comic book, Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen, which ran for 163 issues between 1954 and 1974. Another 50 years later, Jimmy is headed back to The Daily Planet — this time in James Gunn’s Superman movie.
“Today is the anniversary of Superman’s Best Pal Jimmy Olsen,” Gunn wrote with a new behind-the-scenes photo posted on Threads, adding actor Skyler Gisondo’s turn as the character is “gonna knock you out of your socks.”
superman behind-the-scenes photo by jess miglio, via @jamesgunn on threads
David Corenswet (Twisters) and Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) star as The Daily Planet reporters Clark Kent and Lois Lane, respectively. The Daily Planet‘s bullpen includes the jock sports reporter Steve Lombard (Beck Bennett), gossip columnist Cat Grant (Mikaela Hoover), and reporter Ron Troupe (Christopher McDonald), with editor-in-chief Perry White played by Wendell Pierce (The Wire).
Gisondo, who previously appeared as Gwen Stacy’s younger brother in 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man and 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, is the latest actor to play Superman’s sidekick. On television, Jack Larson starred opposite George Reeves’ Man of Steel on Adventures of Superman, and the character has subsequently been played by Aaron Ashmore (Smallvile), Mehcad Brooks (Supergirl), and David Kaufman (Superman: The Animated Series).
Marc McClure appeared as Jimmy in all four Christopher Reeve-starring Superman movies between 1978 and 1987. Sam Huntington played Jimmy in 2006’s Superman Returns and Michael Cassidy in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which briefly depicted Jimmy as a CIA agent posing as a Daily Planet photographer (who was shot and killed by terrorists).
Superman, the first film in the new DC Universe, “Tells the story of Superman’s journey to reconcile his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as Clark Kent of Smallville, Kansas,” per the synopsis. “He is the embodiment of truth, justice and the American way, guided by human kindness in a world that sees kindness as old-fashioned.”
DC Studios’ Superman — also starring Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road) as Lex Luthor, Isabela Merced (The Last of Us) as Hawkgirl, Edi Gathegi (For All Mankind) as Mister Terrific, Anthony Carrigan (Barry) as Metamorpho, and Nathan Fillion (The Suicide Squad) as Green Lantern Guy Gardner — is in theaters July 11.
It’s been 85 years to the day since Superman’s pal, Jimmy Olsen, debuted in an episode of The Adventures of Superman radio serial. Aired on April 15, 1940, the six-part “Donelli’s Protection Racket” introduced Jimmy as a 14-year-old copy boy at The Daily Planet who would go on to accompany Clark Kent on his adventures. Read More