METROPOLIS, Ill. (AP) -- The yearly festival honoring Superman has taken off in the southern Illinois city that enthusiastically claims the Man of Steel as its favorite son.

The Superman Celebration is under way in the 6,500-resident Ohio River community of Metropolis and runs through Sunday.

Tens of thousands of visitors are expected to attend the celebration that includes movies and music, along with appearances by John Glover and Cassidy Freeman from the Superman television series "Smallville."

Metropolis has no real connection to the fictional crime-fighter beyond the fact that Superman's co-creator, Jerry Siegel, happened to choose the name "Metropolis" when he first wrote the strip in the 1930s.