The first trailer for 'Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story' has been released

The man you knew, the story you didn't.

The powerful trailer for Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story has just been released - bringing a tear to many fans' eyes.

Christopher Reeve, who brought Clark Kent and his superhero persona Superman to life across four films throughout the '70s and '80s, was injured in a near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down.

As a quadriplegic, he continued to inspire generations of fans as an activist and advocate for spinal cord injury research, founding the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. He passed in 2004 from heart failure.

His story is now coming to the big screen in a new film directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, and featuring all three of Christopher Reeve's children, Alexandra, Scott and Matthew.

"We said goodbye … he gave this wave," Matthew Reeve recalled in the trailer for the documentary. "That was the last time I saw him on his feet."

The trailer also features a voiceover from the late actor, saying, "I had ruined my life and everybody else's," continuing that he won't be able to "throw a ball" with Will or "make love" to his wife Dana Reeve, who passed of lung cancer in 2006. "Maybe we should let me go."

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story will be released in New Zealand cinemas on October 10.