The various film and theatre appearances of the Superman character have been accompanied by musical scores.

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The score for the 1978 film Superman, composed and conducted by John Williams, was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, with John Georgiadis as concertmaster. Recording took place on July 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14; September 9–11; October 6 (Irvine Arditti, concertmaster), 15, 24, 31 (Richard Studt, concertmaster), and November 4, 1978, at the Anvil Studios in Denham, Bucks, England. Source music was recorded on July 17. The recording engineer was Eric Tomlinson, assisted by Alan Snelling. Orchestrations were conducted by Herbert Spencer, Arthur Morton, Angela Morley and John Williams. The music editor was Bob Hathaway, assisted by Ken Ross.^{[citation needed]}

Williams's "Superman Theme", which is first heard during the opening credits to the film Superman, has been reused (with varying arrangements) as the opening music for every Superman film except for Superman III, in which Ken Thorne employed a lighthearted, somewhat comical cue to represent "the streets of Metropolis". It is also referenced in Jerry Goldsmith's score to the 1984 film Supergirl during a scene in which the title character sees a poster of Superman.^[1]

In the 2017 film Justice League, Danny Elfman reused Williams's Superman theme, as well as his themes from Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns for the new incarnation of the character. Blake Neely, the composer for the Arrowverse crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths", incorporated the march theme and "Can You Read My Mind?" with Brandon Routh reprising his role as the Superman of Earth-96.^[2]

In the 2022 film Black Adam, a rendition of Williams's Superman theme (composed by Lorne Balfe) was heard in the mid-credit scene. According to actor Henry Cavill (which this film later marks his final appearance as Superman), he chose this theme over Hans Zimmer's Man of Steel theme because it is more recognizable to audiences.

The score was composed, conducted and orchestrated by Ken Thorne (from original material composed by John Williams). Because of budget restrictions, the score was recorded by an orchestra of contract players rather than the London Symphony Orchestra. Recording took place on March 25–27, 29; April 17, 18, 25; and May 2, 1980, at CTS Studios (The Music Centre) in Wembley, Middlesex, England. The recording engineer was John Richards, assisted by Tim Pennington and James Abramson, and the music editor was Bob Hathaway.^{[citation needed]}

The score was composed, conducted and orchestrated by Ken Thorne (with original Superman themes by John Williams). Recording took place on February 14–16; March 7–9 and 18, 1983 at CTS Studios (The Music Centre) in Wembley, Middlesex, England. The recording engineer was John Richards and the music editor was Bob Hathaway.^{[citation needed]}

The score was adapted and conducted by Alexander Courage (from music by John Williams). Recording took place from May 11–18, 1987 at the Bavaria Studios in Munich, Germany, performed by Symphony-Orchestra Graunke. Recording engineer was Peter Kramper. Additional recording took place May 23 – June 2, 1987, at CTS Studios (The Music Centre) in Wembley, Middlesex, England, performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra. Recording engineer was Dick Lewzey, assisted by Steve Price and Jonathan Ruttley. Orchestrations were by Frank Barber and Harry Roberts, and the music editor was Bob Hathaway. Jack Fishman was musical advisor. Songs by Paul Fishman were recorded in September 1986 in Hampstead, London, England.^{[citation needed]}

The score was composed by John Ottman. Director Bryan Singer originally wanted John Williams to score the film, but Williams declined due to working on Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith at the time; he had also turned down an offer to score Richard Donner's version of Superman II for the same reason.

Director Zack Snyder's 2013 reboot of the series, Man of Steel, is scored by Hans Zimmer, and is the first Superman film not to use any of Williams' themes.

• The radio shows of the early 1940s already had the famous phrases, "Faster than a speeding bullet... It's a bird... it's a plane... it's Superman!" uttered by studio announcer Jackson Beck. Initially, the radio series had no theme tune under its introductory lines.
• The Superman cartoon series produced by the Fleischer Studios during the 1940s included a triad-based theme composed by Fleischer musical director Sammy Timberg. The cartoons were clearly intended to extend the characters from radio, as Jackson Beck again provided the introduction voiceover of the famous phrases, and Bud Collyer reprised his radio role as the Man of Steel.
• The two Superman Columbia Pictures serials of the late 1940s, starring Kirk Alyn, featured a theme that began with a triad, repeated once. The rest of the theme was a standard orchestral march, in a minor key, that did not refer back to the original triad. This theme was composed by Mischa Bakaleinikoff, who scored a number of the Columbia serials' themes.
• The 1951 film Superman and the Mole Men initially had an orchestral score by Darrel Calker featuring standard "sci fi" film overtones. That film was eventually edited down into the two-part episode which closed the TV series' first season, with the standard TV theme wrapped around it.
• The 1966 Broadway musical It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman, starring Bob Holiday, featured music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams. The script was written by David Newman and Robert Benton, who would go on to write the second draft of the screenplay for the first Superman film, released in 1978.

All of the above (as well as some TV and film themes) were recorded by a modern orchestra and released on a 1999 CD called Superman: The Ultimate Collection, released by Varèse Sarabande Records.

The TV theme for the 1950s series Adventures of Superman, starring George Reeves, had the unusual lead-in of a harp playing a kind of stringed "drumroll" as the camera moved through space, segueing into a dramatic brass triad accompanied by cymbals, drums, etc., at the moment when a shooting star explodes on the screen and the title card appears. A variation on the classic "Faster than a speeding bullet..." was rendered by deep-voiced actor Bill Kennedy. Three of the main characters from the show utter the famous lines "Look, up in the sky!", "It's a bird!", "It's a plane!". They are actors Robert Shayne, who played Inspector Henderson, George Reeves himself and Phyllis Coates who played the first Lois Lane. The actors just happened to be in the studio when the recording was being made.

The opening and closing theme, as well as a number of recurring underscore themes from the first season (the "Phyllis Coates episodes"), were released in 2000 on the CD Adventures of Superman: The Original 1950s TV Series from Varèse Sarabande Records. The liner notes make the point that although series musical arranger Leon Klatzkin is conventionally credited with composing the theme, that credit is in some doubt. The use of the Superman theme in the show became ingrained in viewers' minds because the same section of music was played nearly every time the scene cut to Superman flying. The episodes themselves were tracked with existing "library music". One particularly notable instance was a cue called "Tumult and Commotion", extracted from Miklos Rozsa's "Theme, Variations, and Finale", Op. 13, from 1933. Rozsa was one of Hollywood's leading composers during the 1950s, but he had no involvement in this repurposing of his music.

The 1988 animated series from Ruby-Spears was scored by Ron Jones. Its main titles opened with the John Williams theme from the Christopher Reeve films, then segueing into a similarly-styled original theme by Jones which was used as the primary Superman leitmotif in the episodes' underscores. This short-lived series (13 episodes) was distinctive for its "Superman's Family Album" vignettes, which each presented an event from some point during Clark Kent's Smallville upbringing. For these mini episodes, Jones continued to follow Williams' lead by employing a Coplandesque Americana sound.

Jones' music for this series was released in its entirety on its own CD as part of the 8-disc collection Superman: The Music (1978-1988), issued by Film Score Monthly in 2008.

• The theme for the 1990s series Lois & Clark, starring Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher, was composed by Jay Gruska, the son in-law of John Williams, composer of the score for the 1978 film Superman. This was another dramatic orchestral rendition, with a triad again in evidence, but not so prominently placed in the theme's score.
• Smallville, starring Tom Welling, has a vocal, rock-oriented main theme rather than a traditional "heroic" one. Written by band Remy Zero, the song takes the name "Save Me", from its chorus. Composer Mark Snow employs traditional orchestral underscore regularly. In several episodes, he has also musically alluded to themes from John Williams' score for the 1978 film Superman. The Williams theme also featured prominently during the series finale's closing moments.
• The 1966 series The New Adventures of Superman, produced by Lou Scheimer's and Norm Prescott's Filmation Associates, was scored by John Gart, under the name John Marion. Its main theme was based on a rising four-note motif evocative of previous Superman themes, but jazzier in style. No commercially available recordings of Gart's music were known to exist as of early April 2016.
• Shirley Walker's theme for the 1996 Superman: The Animated Series is yet another brassy orchestral piece with a triad-based melody. It was occasionally used as Superman's leitmotif in episodes of Justice League.
• When the later Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series were combined to form a "new" series, The New Batman/Superman Adventures, another new theme was composed by Shirley Walker. Her theme was later used in a Kraft Mac n Cheese commercial in the 2000s.
• Brandon Routh reprised his role as Superman for the 2019-20 Arrowverse crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths". In the first scene where Clark changes into his Kingdom Come inspired costume, the John Williams theme can be heard.
• "HERO" was songwriter Christopher Santangelo's tribute to Christopher Reeve's portrayal of Superman. Christopher Reeve died October 10, 2004. Surge of Power: The Stuff of Heroes was released on August 14, 2004, making 'HERO" the official last song about Superman to appear in a movie before the passing of Christopher Reeve, who statistically is considered the best Superman of all time.
• In the 2022 animated film DC League of Super-Pets, Williams’ Superman score is heard throughout the film, from the opening sequence of the infant Kal-El and puppy Krypto playing together and “Planet Krypton Fanfare” played during the destruction of the planet as they escape for Earth; Krypto (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) briefly singing his praises about his relationship with Superman to the tune of the “Superman Theme;” when Krypto breaks out of Stryker's Island prison after getting back his powers and in several confrontations with the hairless guinea pig, Lulu, the film’s main antagonist.