If you grew up watching Superman between 1978 and 1987, Christopher Reeve probably sits at the top of your list as the best actor to play the character. The cape. The smile. The calm confidence that made you believe a guy could fly. For a lot of fans, he wasn’t just playing Superman. He was Superman. Then you see a photo of his son, Will Reeve, and do a double take.
The resemblance hits you fast. Same jawline. Same bright, earnest look. Same tall frame. It almost feels like someone opened a comic book, and he stepped out. But Will’s story isn’t about playing Superman on screen. It’s about living through the kind of challenges that would test anyone.
Will Reeve was born in 1992 to Christopher Reeve and Dana Reeve. He was their only child together, though Christopher had two older children, Matthew and Alexandra, with his former partner Gae Exton. By the time Will turned three, life changed forever.
In May 1995, Christopher Reeve was thrown from a horse during an equestrian event in Culpeper, Virginia. The fall damaged his first and second cervical vertebrae and left him paralyzed from the neck down. For the rest of his life, he relied on a ventilator to breathe.
For fans, the accident shocked the world. For Will, it meant growing up with a father who faced daily challenges but still showed up.
Years later, Will explained how their bond grew through simple moments. They watched sports together, especially baseball, and Christopher even made it to one of Will’s hockey games the day before he died in October 2004. Will was only 11.
He once recalled how his father pushed past limitations to still be a dad. In an interview with People, he remembered learning to ride a bike. Imagine that moment for a second. A father who couldn’t move his body still guiding his son through childhood milestones.
Only 17 months after Christopher’s death, tragedy struck again. Dana Reeve died of lung cancer in March 2006 at age 44. Will had just turned 13.
Two parents gone before high school.
Dana had prepared for the worst. She arranged for Will to stay in Bedford, New York, with family friends Ralph and Ann Pucci so he could remain near his school and community. Will never forgot what they did for him. “The Puccis are…lifesavers. They are the very best people. […] They are the reason that I was able to emerge from the darkest period of my life – relatively unscathed,” he said. “They took me in, and they loved me, not even like a son, they loved me, and do love me, as a son.”
Will didn’t follow his father into acting full time, even though he appeared as a child in the 1997 television film In the Gloaming, directed by Christopher Reeve. Instead, he went another direction. After graduating from Middlebury College in 2014 with a degree in English and American Literature, he stepped into journalism. ESPN hired him as a contributor later that year, and he even hosted The MSG Hockey Show before leaving the network in 2018.
Today, Will works as a correspondent for ABC News and appears on Good Morning America and other platforms.
He also keeps his parents’ mission alive through the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. Christopher launched the advocacy work after his accident, pushing for spinal cord injury research and support for people living with paralysis. The organization merged with the American Paralysis Association in 1999 and continues to fund research while helping families navigate life after injury.
One statistic the foundation often highlights is that roughly one in fifty people in the United States lives with some form of paralysis.
Will joined the foundation’s Board of Directors in 2013 and continues to stay involved. For him, the work isn’t about preserving a celebrity name. It’s about honoring two parents who believed deeply in helping others.
He explained it simply during an interview with Today. “Their passion for everything is what made them so special. They deeply cared about making a difference in the world in any context.”
Of course, fans still notice the Superman connection. When Henry Cavill’s future as the character sparked debate in 2018, some people half-jokingly suggested the obvious answer: cast Christopher Reeve’s son. Will laughs at the idea. In an interview with Jeff Pearlman, he admitted, “I’m not a huge Superman fan or fan of superhero movies in general.”
That probably shocked a few comic book fans.
Still, he did sneak into the DC universe in 2024. Set photos confirmed that Will filmed a cameo as a TV reporter in James Gunn’s Superman movie. The scenes were shot in Cleveland, Ohio, with Gunn himself on set.
He also appears in the documentary Super/Man, directed by Ian Bonhote and Peter Ettedgui, which explores Christopher Reeve’s life and career. Watching it brought back memories Will never fully experienced growing up. “The majority of my memories of my dad involve him after the accident because I was not yet three years old when he was injured,” he told Variety. “So to see his entire life leading up until that time laid out so poetically and cinematically and authentically by our wonderful directors has been a real gift for me.”
Christopher Reeve once said, “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”
His son, Will Reeve, didn’t wear the cape. He didn’t need to.
