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On the eve of Superman Returns' premiere, the LAT takes a moment to revisit the icon's various hairstyles over the years. Why, we're not exactly sure, though a comparative timeline highlighting changes in the size and style of the Package of Steel™ would have been inappropriate for a family paper. The piece even goes so far as to consult a "Hollywood stylist" on tips for achieving the looks at home. (Though it egregiously omits perhaps the greatest single coiffured Superman of all time, Indian Superman.)

1978: Christopher Reeve becomes the living embodiment of the 1930s icon in this now-classic film interpretation. [...] Styling method: Hmmm, shiny and glossy — shoe polish, perhaps? "That blue-black hair is very rare, very hard to find naturally," [stylist Chaz] Dean says. "It's what everybody wanted in the '80s."

1993: Dean Cain slips into the legendary tights, becoming the youngest-looking Superman to date. [...] Styling method: Quite possibly, enough mousse and hairspray to make Cain's head harder than the dome at the Hall of Justice.

Latest Superman Brandon Routh was born with a freakishly thick head of hair: enough lustrous, jet-black locks to top ten mortal men's heads at least. And while that may have been a convenient source of envy to help a balding Kevin Spacey access the rage required of him to convincingly play the even balder Lex Luthor, it was actually Kate Bosworth who found herself cursing her co-star's follicular good fortune, as she'd unsuccessfully attempt to remove the sticky, Kryptonian-styling-product residue on her palms after every tender love scene.