It's no surprise that Mego would start with the character that truly originated the word "Superhero" in the first place. Superman was also the first Mego WGSH ever produced as evidenced by the Prototype Superman featured in the 1973 Mego catalog.
Superman remained in the WGSH offering from the beginning to the end. Unlike Batman and Robin, who share that distinction, Mego Superman was the only figure who stayed essentially the same.
Because of Mego running the same character for nearly ten years at different production facilities, there are some variations of Mego Superman, things such as emblems, capes and outfits are different from each release.
Packaging
Solid Box Superman is the earliest Superman figure produced. Some very rookie issues with this figure is his very large logo and his suit which is somewhat purple in colour. These type 1 figures have satin like shorts, skinny boots and the same stirrup suit as Removable Cowl Batman. Mego VP Neal Kublan mentions that early Superman figures were being sent from Hong Kong with "S" upside down, regrettably as of this writing, so examples exist.
One nice detail that was found on early Superman and not on subsequent releases was the cape sticker. (thanks to Scott Arendsen for this photo)
This early window boxed Superman features all eight of the WGSH, whether they were Marvel or DC. The correct figure for such a box would have a type 1 body. Later boxes would remove the Marvel characters.
Later edition of the Superman box replaces Marvel's Captain America with newly Captain Marvel (Shazam!) Photo provided by Scott Arendsen.
On the left is an early large sticker Superman and on the right a corrected version. Both figures are on the earliest Kresge cards (Note the heroes in the header) and shows that the Large S Superman was an early variant that was quickly changed. (Photos courtesy Scott Arendsen)
The next Kresge Card in this progression shows the two newest heroes to the Mego Roster, Captain America and Tarzan. As with all Mego WGSH packaging, the artwork would be further altered to not have the DC and MArvel heroes intermingling. The estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs seemed to have no problem with Tarzan sharing the spotlight with Superman however.
Later Kresge cards (not shown, yet) would have revised headers to feature Green Arrow and would contain a type 2 Superman, we are working on bringing those to you.
Pictured above is a complete run of US Mego Superman cards, from the left we have the 1976 (Scowly) card, the 1977 card and the Smiley 1979 edition. Of the three, the 1977 seems to pop up the most frequently.
Foreign Releases
Palitoy the UK distributor for the WGSH created their own unique packaging for their "Super-Heroes" line of figures, it involved single character cards with striking artwork. Superman is very sought after by collectors and is not commonly found.
Fist Fighting Superman was exclusivley made by Palitoy for the UK market and came on this unique die cut card.
Not drooling yet? Well then check out this rare Mexican Superman produced by Lily Ledy. Ledy had the rights to produce Mego figures on their own soil, a MIB example is hard to find. Courtesy of the super great Luis Felipe.
The Japanese Superman box. Distributed by the Popy Company of Japan this box bears no mention whatsoever of the Mego Corp. These are standard Megos. Look in the Spiderman and Batman Galleries for more Japanese packaging.
The box art on the Popy figures is some of the best you'll see on a Mego box, and that's saying something. leave it to the Japanese to design a killer Mego box. Dig the classic Neal Adams Batman.
A line up of the many different ways Mego marketed Superman. Courtesy of Brian. Be sure to check out the Bend N Flex, 12 Inch and Pocket Superheroes galleries among others for more Mego Superman.
A number of Superman figures were produced in other formats by Mego. Of particular note would be the Super Softies , Bend N Flex and Comic Action Heroes but if it was a Superhero item made by Mego, Superman was there.