A recent poll put together to celebrate the release of the board game Stratego Sci-Fi has found that the late Christopher Reeves as the Man of Steel is the public's favourite sci-fi star to grace the silver screen.

Reeves battled off tough competition from Star Wars’ Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Yoda (Frank Oz), who placed second and third respectively, and Star Trek's James T Kirk (William Shatner) and Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), who placed seventh and tenth in the countdown.

Perhaps the most unusual choice for the top ten was Will Smith's Agent Jay character from the Men In Black trilogy, who made it all the way to number five in the countdown, whereas one of the more natural choices - David Tennant as Dr Who - was pushed all the was down to number twenty.

Speaking on Superman's success in the poll, a spokeswoman for Stratego said: “Superman is the archetypal hero, and clearly as popular now as he was when he first appeared in comic books over 70 years ago.”

The poll took in the votes of 2000 people across the UK, with the top ten consisting of: 

1. Superman (Christopher Reeve) - Superman

2. Han Solo (Harrison Ford) - Star Wars

3. Yoda (Frank Oz) - Star Wars

4. ET - E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

5. Jay (Will Smith) - Men in Black

6. Darth Vader (James Earl Jones and David Prowse) - Star Wars

7. Captain James T Kirk (William Shatner) - Star Trek

8. Marty McFly (Michael J Fox) - Back to the Future

9. C3PO (Anthony Daniels) - Star Wars

10. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) - Star Trek