The original Superman film franchise started in 1978's Superman: The Movie. The film was directed by Richard Donner and starred Christopher Reeve as the title character. Christopher Reeve went on to play Superman in three sequels to the film. That might sound simple, but the film franchise has ended up having a confusing timeline.

The first thing that makes the franchise confusing is that there are two very different versions of Superman 2. Superman 2 was originally directed by Richard Donner and had Marlon Brando reprising his role as Jor-El. However, Richard Donner was fired from the production...