Supergirl (1984 film) in the context of Saturn Award for Best Actress

Jimmy Olsen is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Olsen is most often portrayed as a young photojournalist working for the Daily Planet. He is close friends with Lois Lane and Clark Kent, and has a good working relationship with his boss Perry White. Olsen looks up to his coworkers as role models and parent figures. From 1954 to 1982, Olsen appeared in 222 issues of the comic series Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen and Superman Family, in addition to the main Superman titles.

The character has appeared in most other media adaptations of Superman. He was portrayed by Tommy Bond in the two Superman film serials, Superman (1948) and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950); Jack Larson in Adventures of Superman; Marc McClure in the Superman films of the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the 1984 film Supergirl; Michael Landes in the first season of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Justin Whalin in the subsequent three seasons; Sam Huntington in the 2006 film Superman Returns; Aaron Ashmore in The CW's Smallville; and Michael Cassidy in the 2016 DC Extended Universe film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In the Arrowverse series Supergirl, he was portrayed by Mehcad Brooks. Douglas Smith portrayed the character in Superman & Lois. In Superman (2025), he was portrayed by Skyler Gisondo.

DC Comics's Superman franchise, based on the character of the same name created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in June 1938, has seen the release of various films since its inception.

The character debuted in cinemas in a series of animated shorts beginning in 1941 and was the protagonist of two movie serials in 1948 and 1950. An independent studio, Lippert Pictures, released the first Superman feature film, Superman and the Mole Men, starring George Reeves, in 1951. In 1973, the film rights to the Superman character were purchased by Ilya Salkind, Alexander Salkind, and Pierre Spengler. After multiple scripts and several years in development, Richard Donner was hired as director, and he shot two films, Superman (1978) (marketed as Superman: The Movie), and Superman II (1980), at the same time, both starring Christopher Reeve. Donner had filmed 75 percent of Superman II before it was decided to suspend shooting on the first film. The Salkinds fired Donner after Supermans release and commissioned Richard Lester as the director to finish Superman II. Lester returned to direct Superman III (1983). The Salkinds also produced the spin-off Supergirl (1984). They then sold the rights to Cannon Films, which produced the poorly reviewed Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). Ilya Salkind commissioned a fifth Superman script before Warner Bros. acquired the rights in 1993.

Superman Returns is a 2006 American superhero film directed by Bryan Singer, and written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris from a story by Singer, Dougherty and Harris, based on the DC Comics character Superman. It serves as an homage sequel to Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980), ignoring the events of Superman III (1983), Supergirl (1984), and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). The film stars Brandon Routh as Superman, Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor, with James Marsden, Frank Langella, Eva Marie Saint and Parker Posey in supporting roles. In the film, Superman returns to Earth after five years and discovers that his love interest Lois Lane has moved on from him and that his archenemy Lex Luthor is planning to kill him and reshape North America.

After a series of unsuccessful projects to resurrect Superman following the critical and financial failure of The Quest for Peace, Warner Bros. Pictures hired Singer to direct Superman Returns in July 2004. The majority of principal photography took place at Fox Studios Australia, Sydney while the visual effects sequences were handled by a number of studios, including Sony Pictures Imageworks, Rhythm & Hues Studios (R&H), Framestore CFC, Rising Sun Pictures and The Orphanage; filming began in March 2005 and ended in November.