Superman: The Movie

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Superman, often promoted as Superman: The Movie, is a 1978 film about Superman. Directed by Richard Donner, the film stars Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, and Margot Kidder. It was released on December 15, 1978 and was a box office success. It received a "Special Achievement" Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. It also was nominated Best Music, Best Sound, Original Score, and Best Film Editing. Four sequels have been made following its release and an official re-boot of the franchise will begin in 2011.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Sequels 3.1 Superman II 3.2 Superman III 3.3 Superman IV: The Quest for Peace 3.4 Superman Returns 3.5 Future film

[edit] Plot

The film begins with a young boy reading a June 1938 issue of Action Comics. In a courtroom on the planet Krypton, General Zod and his emissaries, Ursa and Non, are being charged with treason against the planet. The Kryptonian Council finds them guilty and the judge, Jor-El, makes the final vote needed to send the outlaws to the Phantom Zone, an eternal punishment of his own design. Before being put in the Phantom Zone, Zod vows to one day have Jor-El or his heir bow down before Zod. Later, Jor-El, is critical of some of his fellow scientists who do not agree that they need to leave the planet to avoid some unspecified disaster. After this, Jor-El is advised by a council not to leave Krypton or to spread his disaster theory, to which he obeys that niether he or hiw wife will evacuate the planet. However, Jor-El places his infant son, Kal-El, in a ship. He blesses his son and places a green crystal into the ship. Eventually, the planet begins to destruct and Jor-El activates the ship to take of as he and his wife Lara remain behind and perish along with Krypton.

Three years later, Kal-El lands in a cornfield in Smallville, Kansas. His ship landing is witnessed by Martha Kent and her husband Jonathan Kent. The ship's landing causes Jonathan to pop a tire on his truck. When they get out to look at their vehicle, they see Kal-El's ship. Martha shows great joy in taking care of the young child inside the ship and has hope of keeping the boy, saying she had prayed for such a miracle for years. During this conversation, the truck slips from the jack, and Jonathan tries to get out of the way. Before anything happens, though, the two discover that Kal-El caught the truck and is supporting it all on his own. They decide to name him "Clark" after Martha's maiden name and claim that he is an orphan from Martha's cousin in North Dakota.

Clark is next seen as a student at Smallville High School who does not seem to fit in well with other students, and his character is that of a nerd and a weakling. He is the equipment manager for the football team and seems to be enamored with one student in particular, Lana Lang. He doesn't use any of his powers when his classmates are around, and it is evident that this is likely the reason he does not fit in with other students. Lana invites Clark over to another student's house to listen to some records, but Lana's boyfriend, Brad, makes Clark stay behind to clean up the football gear. Clark then uses his super-speed to catch up with them and in the process passes a train (which boards a young Lois Lane who witness Clark running by featured in the extended cut of the film).Clark returns home to which his father believes he was showing off. Jonathan tells Clark that even though with all the things he can do he was sent to Earth for "a reason". Moments later, Jonathan dies of a heart attack. Clark is devastated by his death believing that with all the power he has, he couldn't save his life.

On morning of Clark's eighteenth birthday, he feels drawn to the barn. Clark searches under the floor boards and discovers the space ship he arrived in as a baby along with the glowing green crystal. The next morning, Martha calls Clark for breakfast, but he does not arrive. Instead, she finds Clark standing in a the fields. He tells Martha he is leaving and heading north. Martha tells Clark that she knew this day would come and reminds him to always remember her. At the North Pole, he throws the green crystal into the ocean and it grows to build the Fortress of Solitude. There, Clark meets Jor-El and over the next twelve years learns about his origins, his powers of flight, and gets his suit.

In Metropolis, Clark takes a job as a reporter at the Daily Planet. He meets reporter Lois Lane, photographer Jimmy Olsen, and chief editor Perry White. Lois thinks Clark is sweet at first after he tells Mr. White to send half of Clark's sallary to his mother, but begins to have differnet thoughts after learning his is bumbling and uses the word "swell." Later, while Clark and Lois are walking together after work, a mugger corners them both in an alley and demands for Lois' purse. Clark tries to set the mugger strait, which fails. Instead, Lois drops her purse and as the mugger bends down to recieve it, she kicks him in the face causing his gun to fire at them and he runs away. Lois, unharmed, sees Clark slunched against the building, but he awakes telling her that he fainted when in relality he caught the bullet in his hand.

On the same night after his first day on the job, Clark reveals himself to the world as Superman to save Lois' life from a helicopter accident. He later stops a jewelry-store burglar and takes him to the police, and rounds up a gang by tying them up and leaving their ship in the middle of the street, rescues a cat from a tree, and brings Air Force One to a safe landing. The next morning, Mr. White puts all his staff on an assignment to get an interview with Superman. That evening, Superman arranges an initial interview with Lois and states his mission: to fight for truth, justice, and the American way. The interview ends with Superman taking Lois flying with him. Lois publishes the interview as “I Spent the Night with Superman”.

Meanwhile, Lex Luthor, criminal mastermind living underground in Metropolis, becomes aware of Superman. Lex is assisted by his two henchmen, Otis and Eve Tessmacher, for his scheme for "land". Lex plans to steal two XK-101 rockets from the US military and to deploy one of the rockets to fault lines California in an attempt to create a new shoreline of property that he has purchased. The other missile will be launched to Hackensack, New Jersey, in the opposite direction making it harder for Superman to stop both at the same time. To ensure that Superman doesn't interfere, Lex summons him to his underground lair by stating he has a gas mine ready to destroy Metropolis. Superman arrives to find out Lex had lied and explains his real plan to Superman. Lex explains that the only way to stop the rockets is from a detonator hidden in a lead chest, but when Superman opens only to discover kryptonite. Lex knew that Superman couldn't see through lead because it was disclosed in his first interview with Lois.

Miss Tessmacher, after discovering that Lex has the second missile heading towards her mother's hometown of Hackensack, rescues Superman from Lex's swimming pool that he recently pushed him in to drown with the kryptonite necklace, but before she frees him of the necklace, she kisses him first. She later tells him that she only kissed him because she feared he wouldn't let her later. Superman promises to save Miss Tessmacher's mother first, and does so before heading west to stop the rocket heading towards the San Andreas fault-line. By the time he makes it to California, the rocket has already struck and he must stop the effects of the explosion. Lois, who had been in California doing a story about the land scheme, becomes trapped in her car during the earthquake and suffocates to death. Superman is heartbroken by her death and in anger flies into the sky to set things right, but is instead stopped by Jor-El telling him not to change human events. Superman also then comes to remember the last words Jonathan Kent told him: "You are here for a reason." In making his final choice, Superman flies around the world, making time go in reverse, and erases Lois death from happening (although the earthquake still took place as because Lois remembers it). Superman arrives back at Lois' car glad to see her alive and finally attempts to kiss her, but is interupted by the presence of Jimmy running towards them. Superman tells them both goodbye and flies away. Jimmy wishes that Clark was here to witness everything and Lois ponders to think that Clark might be Superman, but then quickly doubts it. The film closes with Superman taking Lex Luthor and Otis being taken to prison. Lex finally removes his wig, revealing himself to be bald, and vows that the prison walls will not hold him for long.

[edit] Cast

• Marlon Brando - Jor-El
• Gene Hackman - Lex Luthor
• Christopher Reeve - Superman/Clark Kent
• Ned Beaty - Otis
• Jackie Cooper - Perry White
• Glenn Ford - Jonathan Kent
• Margot Kidder - Lois Lane
• Valerie Perrine - Eve Teschmacher
• Marc McClure - Jimmy Olsen
• Terence Stamp - General Zod
• Phyllis Thaxter - Martha Kent
• Susannah York - Lara Lor-Von
• Sarah Douglas - Ursa
• Jack O'Harlloran - Non
• Jeff East - Young Clark Kent

[edit] Sequels

[edit] Superman II

Superman II is the first sequel released in 1980 in the U.K. and 1981 in the U.S. The sequel about the three villain from Krypton attempting to rule over Earth. Lois Lane discovers Clark Kent's secret as Superman and him making the mistake of him giving up his powers to be with her. Though the film is credited to be directed by Richard Lester, around 25% of what is seen Superman II (making all of Gene Hackman's scenes) was filmed by director Richard Donner during production of Superman: The Movie in 1977. Donner, who had roughly completed around 75% of II, was taken off the project in 1979. Lester re-shot and re-vised many scenes and finished the final film for it's theatrical release. The film was still a commercial success and was the #2 highest grossing picture of the year.

Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut is a 2006 re-edit of 1980's Superman II. It is director Richard Donner's vision of what Superman II could have been with his footage containing deleted scenes with Marlon Brando as Jor-El that were cut from the original version. The film still follows the same story as the theatrical release with the exceptions of a new alternate beginning and ending and taking out much of director Richard Lester's footage. The music is now credited to John Williams, and some cues by Ken Thorne. The film is re-edited by Michael Thau, who restored the extended-cut of Superman: The Movie in 2000.

[edit] Superman III

Superman III is the second sequel, released in 1983 and the last Superman film by the Alexander and Ilya Salkind. The story follows computer genius, Gus Gorman (Richard Pryor) who wants to build a super-computer. Clark returns to Smallville for his high school reunion and is reunited with Lana Lang (Annette O'Toole). Richard Pryor and Annette O'Toole join the cast. Despite the film's poor reviews from fans and critics for its strong use of comedy, Superman III was still a box office success. The film is directed by Richard Lester. One year after the film's release in 1984, the Salkinds released Supergirl staring Helen Slater. The movie bombed at the box office causing the Salkinds to sell the Superman rights to Cannon Pictures.

[edit] Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is the 1987 sequel and the last installment to the Christopher Reeve Superman films. It was also the first and only Superman film from Cannon Pictures. In the film, Superman is facing nuclear wars. Lex Luthor is still in jail and his nephew Lenny Luthor comes and escapes with Lex and together they create the Nuclear Man who has the same powers as Superman. During the film's post-production, Superman IV was cut down from a 2-hour movie to just 90 minutes, causing many known plot holes in the film (mostly dealing with Nuclear Man's crush on Lacy Warfield). Superman IV was made very quickly with cheap special effects causing it to be a box office failure. It is considered to be the worst Superman film in the series. The film is directed by Sidney J. Furie.

[edit] Superman Returns

Superman Returns is the 2006 film and a spin-off sequel to Superman: The Movie and Superman II. It tells the story about Superman's return to Earth after five years of being gone and dealing with the change. Lex Luthor was freed from prison after Superman did not appear as a witness to Luthor's trial. Lois Lane now has a son and has gone on without him by writing a Pulitzer Prize winning article titled "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman". The film stars Brandon Routh as Superman/Clark Kent, Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane, and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor, and Marlon Brando as Jor-El. The screenplay was written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris. The film was directed by Marvel's X-Men director Bryan Singer.

[edit] Future film

Originally, a sequel to Superman Returns was planned for a 2009 release titled "Superman: Man of Steel", but due to the 2007-08 Writer's Strike, the release date was moved to 2010. Singer was going to return to direct the film with the original cast returning. However, Warner Bros. was disappointed with Superman Returns box office gross and many fans and critics criticized the lack of action in the film. With Warner Bros. success of the Christopher Nolan's Batman re-boot series, with The Dark Knight (2008) becoming the second highest grossing picture of all time underneath Titanic (1997), the studio decided to re-boot the Superman franchise for a 2011 release.  Currently, there is a court ruling with Jerry Seigel's family wanting to regain the rights to Superman's origins and stating that they will sue Warner Bros. for lost revenue if a film is not made by 2011.

==References in Smallville Smallville has many references, as well as jokes, gags, and foreshadowing events, with the Christopher Reeve Superman film series. Although the two are considered non-canon to each other, the production of Smallville was affected by the 2006 release of Superman Returns delaying some references, mostly about Clark and Lois' relationship, until the after the film's release. Some examples include:

• The cast's names in the main titles zoom onto the screen in a similar way as the opening credits do in Superman: The Movie.
• The shooting location of the Smallville, Kansas seen in the series is filmed in Canada around the same location as the Smallville seen in films.
• In the first season, Lana has a kryptonite necklace in which she keeps in a case made of lead. In Superman: The Movie, Lex Luthor keeps a kryptonite necklace hidden in a case of lead. Later, he places it on Superman and pushes him into his swimming pool to drown. In the Pilot, Whitney Fordman places the necklace on Clark as a prank.
• In Hothead, Jonathan tells Clark not to play football because that was not was he was here to do. The conversation is similar to the one in Superman: The Movie about the same subject.
• In X-Ray, Lex denies he robbed a bank saying that he's no "criminal mastermind." In the films, Lex always refers to himself with the statement.
• In Nicodemus, Clark states after Jonathan goes into a coma that he "couldn't have the power to save him", a statement Clark said in Superman: The Movie after the death of Jonathan.
• In Drone, Clark, in a class presidential race, claims he stands for "truth, justice, and... other stuff". Superman's completed quote is "truth, justice, and the American way", which was also mentioned in Superman: The Movie. Also, in this episode, Clark, Lana, and Lex frequently quote the movie The Godfather, which stars Marlon Brando who portrayed Jor-El in Superman: The Movie.
• The episode Rosetta includes the most references to the Superman film series including John Williams's "Superman Theme" heard with the introduction of Virgil Swann (Christopher Reeve). Chloe states that Swann was Time Magazine's "Man of the Year" in 1978, the year to release of Superman: The Movie. The episode's purpose in the series was to have Reeve himself tell Clark who he is and where he comes from as a way of "passing the torch" to the next "Superman".
• Bridgette Crosby, who is played by Margot Kidder, is found dead buried in dirt, the same way Lois Lane (who was played by her also) was found dead in Superman: The Movie.
• In the Reckoning, Chloe Sullivan asks Clark if he traveled back in time by spinning the Earth backwards, a reference to the way Superman traveled through time in Superman: The Movie. Also, Clark only wanted to travel back in time to save Lana from a car accident; this was the same reason he did so in Superman: The Movie, after Lois car was crushed with her in it.
• In Arrival, the police attempt to fight the Kryptonian villains in the same manner as the military tried to defeat Zod, Ursa, and Non in Superman II.
• The Phantom Zone along with its "hula-hoop" portal entrance is the same design as seen in Superman: The Movie and Superman II.
• In Zod when General Zod's spirit is released from Lex, the face and scream of Zod is of Terence Stamp (the actor who played Zod in the movies). Terence Stamp also plays the voice of Jor-El in Smallville.
• At the beginning of Season 5, Clark loses his powers and makes love with Lana. This is also seen in Superman II where Superman gives up his powers and sleeps with Lois. In the same manner, Jor-El warns his son of the dangers and consequences of doing so. In Smallville, Jor-El punishes Clark by taking the life of a loved one away from Clark in order to restore his powers. In Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut Jor-El (because Marlon Brando did not appear in the theatrical release) restores Clark's powers by giving up all his spirit energy that was keeping him alive in the Fortress of Solitude and dies.
• In the episode Hidden, Clark stops a missile from destroying Smallville in a similar manner to the ending of Superman: The Movie where Superman throws a missile launched for Hackensack, New Jersey into space.
• Clark once crushed a piece of coal into a diamond for Lana. He did the same thing in Superman III as a way to replace a diamond ring she sold.
• The character Bizarro is similar to Evil Superman as depicted in Superman III.
• In the episode Apocalypse, the footage of Krypton used was from Superman: The Movie
• In the Season Seven episode Siren, Oliver Queen jokes that Lois will able to accept his secret identity when the "earth cracks open and time spins backwards," a reference to the climactic earthquake scene in Superman: The Movie.
• Black kryptonite is seen in Crusade to split Clark's persona into Kal-El and Clark. In Superman III, artificial kryptonite has the same affect although it initially has the same effects as Red K as seen Red, Crimson and Phoenix
• In the Season Eight episode Bloodline, Kara goes to look for Kandor after hearing it still existed. In Superman Returns , Superman left for five years to search for krypton after scientist said they found it.
• In almost every episodes that showed General Zod as a primary villain he has uttered the phrase "Kneel before Zod" a phrase made famous in Superman II.
• Johnathan Kent's death in Reckoning was as a result of a heart attacks, just as it was in Superman I ==