And Superman wouldn’t be Superman without Otis, Lex Luthor’s bumbling, incompetent henchman that late actor Ned Beatty aimed straight at the children in the audience.

In other words, Otis was a comic book character, and Beatty played him as such.

You also need Otis to deliver the best joke in the movie: “Otisburg.”.

Not that Beatty talks down to kids, but in an age where superhero movies can be woefully complex, it’s refreshing to see a film so concerned with explaining the stakes to the youngest audience members.

In the years since Superman, movies like Batman and X-Men would de-escalate the henchman role.

But you can still feel some of his DNA in the superhero movies that aren’t afraid to have a little fun.

With no reference other than comic books to pull from, Beatty dives into the bumbling supervillainy with aplomb.

He made Hackman look more threatening, made Superman (Christopher Reeve) look more powerful, and made the world of the film more heightened, more like the comic book that opens the film.

Beatty gave dozens of great performances in his life.

But to those who grew up on Superman, he’d always be Otis, and we love him for it