Superman II

Superman II is a 1980 sequel to the 1978 feature film Superman. It is the only Superman film to be helmed by two directors. Its release in Europe and Australia was in late 1980 but was not distributed in the United States until June 1981, unusual for such a major production.

Taglines:

The three outlaws from Krypton descend to Earth to confront the Man of Steel in a cosmic battle for world supremacy.
The adventure continues.
The Man of Steel meets his match!
The Man of Steel is back, and better than ever!

Cast

Actor	Role
Christopher Reeve	Clark Kent / Superman
Margot Kidder	Lois Lane
Gene Hackman	Lex Luthor
Valerie Perrine	Eve Teschmacher
Ned Beatty	Otis
Marc McClure	Jimmy Olsen
Jackie Cooper	Perry White
Terence Stamp	General Zod
Sarah Douglas	Ursa
Jack O'Halloran	Non
Susannah York	Lara
Clifton James	Sheriff
E. G. Marshall	The President

Plot

The film begins with a condensed version of a scene from the beginning of the first film wherein the traitorous head of Krypton's military forces, General Zod, and his co-conspirators, the man-hating Ursa and the brutish Non, are convicted of sedition by the Kryptonian elders and banished to the Phantom Zone as punishment for their crimes.

The story then moves forward to a few months from where Superman: The Movie left off. Clark learns from Perry that Lois was rushed to France to cover terrorists who have seized the Eiffel Tower and who claim to have a hydrogen bomb. As Superman, he races across the ocean to Paris.

At the Eiffel Tower, French gendarmes blow the elevator controls, unaware that Lois, who has sneaked into the tower, is hiding in the elevator's undercarriage and that the elevator itself contains the terrorists' hydrogen bomb. The elevator car begins a rapid plunge with both a terrified Lois and the now-armed bomb aboard. Superman arrives in at the tower, catches the falling elevator and rescues Lois. She warns him of the bomb, and he takes the elevator out the top of the shaft and out of the atmosphere. He stops to let the elevator’s momentum carry it into deep space, where the elevator and its thermonuclear cargo explode. After recovering from the shock, Superman returns to Earth. Unfortunately--and without Superman realizing it--the shockwaves from the explosion shatter the Phantom Zone, now floating through space near Earth; Zod, Non, and Ursa are released.

Lex Luthor, meanwhile, has escaped prison with Miss Teschmacher's help, leaving a hapless Otis behind. He uses a gadget he constructed in prison to find Superman's arctic Fortress of Solitude, where he learns from a hologram about the three Kryptonian villains and their prison's only weakness: it can be shattered by a nuclear explosion in space. Putting the pieces of the puzzle together, he hurries south, convinced his device has detected the three criminals' alpha wave signatures.

Clark and Lois are on assignment in Niagara Falls, Ontario, investigating what Perry calls a "honeymoon racket". Superman rescues a boy who falls over the railing, and Lois suddenly decides it is far too convenient that Clark disappears every time Superman shows up. She tries to prove it by falling into the Niagara River, but Clark never changes identities, and instead merely uses his heat vision to break off a tree branch for Lois to use for floatation. Later, as she dries off in the hotel room, embarrassed and dejected, Lois asks Clark for a brush; Clark, bringing her the brush, then trips over the head of a bear-skin rug and accidentally plunges his hand into the fireplace. Realizing that his hand wasn't burned, Lois finally determines that Clark really is Superman's secret identity. After some hesitation, Clark admits the truth to Lois and then, as Superman, takes her to the Fortress of Solitude. He shows her the crystals which created and control the Fortress's operations, (and in what will prove to be a fortunate mistake) Lois leaves the primary green crystal used to create the Fortress under her purse, outside the control panel. They have dinner, and after a conversation with the hologram of his mother Lara about the consequences of being in love with a "mortal," Superman agrees to give up his superpowers in order to marry Lois. Before he undergoes the painful depowering process, which culminates in the explosion of the Fortress's crystal control panel, his mother tells him that once he has given up his powers, there is no return and that he shall remain a mortal human for the rest of his life. He emerges from the chamber, now a human, and tells Lois that his sacrifice was made for her. The two retire to his bedchamber and make love.

Meanwhile, the three Kryptonian criminals having devastated a joint NASA-Soviet Moon expedition, killing three moonwalkers, have arrived on Earth, which they believe to be a planet called "Houston", having overheard radio transmissions between the moon mission and mission control in Houston, Texas. They wreak havoc on a small town, easily defeat the U.S. military's response, deface Mount Rushmore, and arrive in Washington DC to attack the White House. General Zod demands the surrender of the President of the United States, and eventually the entire world.

Returning from the Fortress of Solitude, the now human Clark finds that without his powers he can't even defend himself against a diner's bullying customer. His despondent mood is worsened when, in horror, he watches the President announcing the surrender of Earth to General Zod. The President suddenly pleads for Superman to help; Zod then issues a challenge to Superman to face him. Realizing the danger posed to the world and the terrible mistake he made, Clark is forced to return to the Fortress in search of a way to restore his lost powers. Arriving in the now-darkened sanctum, he falls into despair, shouting for his father. He sees the green crystal glowing where Lois had accidentally left it, and uses it to recreate the Fortress and become Superman once more.

Lex Luthor has visited the bored Zod at the White House and negotiated a means to bring Superman out by holding his favorite among the humans, Lois Lane. He also reveals that Superman is the son of Jor-El, their imprisoner. They arrive at the Daily Planet offices and seize Lois, intending to hold her hostage, only to be interrupted by Superman's arrival, his powers fully restored. An epic and destructive--if often slapstick--battle throughout Metropolis ensues among the four as Superman struggles with the new experience of physically battling multiple enemies of his power level. When Superman seems to be dead, the people vengefully try to attack the Kryptonians, but in vain as the three blow them back with super-breath. Superman emerges and flies off, seemingly in defeat.

Luthor convinces them they must pursue Superman to his fortress, where Superman battles them with weapons he has prepared. Superman manipulates Luthor into tricking the criminals, counting on Luthor to double-cross him. Forced into the same depowering chamber Superman had used before, the same red light that drains super-powers is actually loosed on the Fortress while Superman is safe inside. Superman feigns weakness, and then crushes Zod's hand after seemingly accepting it in submission. Lois easily dispatches the now-powerless Ursa, and Non leaps towards Superman, only to find he can no longer fly. All three villains fall into the depths of Superman's fortress, supposedly to their dooms. Superman and Lois return to Metropolis, leaving Luthor to find his way back. Back in Metropolis, Superman uses a form of telepathy to erase the knowledge of his dual identity from Lois, returning them to their usual status quo. Clark Kent then takes revenge on the customer who bullied him at the diner. The film closes with Superman restoring the American flag atop the White House and assuring the President that he'll never fail to rescue the Earth again.

Score

Controversy and cut status

Off-screen problems hampered production of this movie: like other Salkind productions such as The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974), this was filmed at the same time as the first Superman movie to be a direct sequel. However, Marlon Brando filed suit over his percentage of the first film's profits, so as a response his scenes were excised from the second film. Director Richard Donner argued with the producers over their attempts to make the film "more campy," in his opinion, which led to his removal and replacement on the project by Richard Lester. Following that, Gene Hackman declined to return for any reshoots by Lester, which cut down the number of scenes in which he appears in the final cut (or with a few scenes where a body double was obviously being used).

Another reason behind Richard Donner's removal may have been because the Salkinds were upset that Donner went over their originally planned budget for the movie. Warner Brothers ended up getting more and more involved in the race to complete the film, allowing the studio to receive more profits from the film's box office take than the Salkinds had originally agreed to. With their power slipping away, Donner was unfortunately made the scapegoat.

Despite all the difficulties, and with only a few noticeable shifts in tone between the two directors' scenes (Lester's scenes tend more to camp and humor), it was noted by critics to be a remarkable and coherent film, highlighted by the movie's battle sequence between Superman and the three Phantom Zone prisoners on the streets of Metropolis. Scenes filmed by Donner include all the Gene Hackman footage, the moon sequences, the White House shots, Clark and the bully, and a lot of the footage of Zod, Ursa and Non arriving at the Daily Planet. Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeve's appearance looked different between Lester/Donner footage. Reeve appears less bulked up in Donner's sequences since these were scenes filmed in 1977 as he was getting beefed up for the part. The Lester footage was shot almost two years later. Kidder on the other hand has dramatic hairstyle changes throughout the montage of Lester/Donner material shot inside the Daily Planet and the Fortress of Solitude near the movie's conclusion.

In the years since the film's release, the controversy continues to be fueled, while the film itself has achieved cult status. In 1983, Alexander Salkind's production company pieced together an "Expanded International Cut" of the film for television using approximately 24 minutes of footage not shown in the theatrical release, some of which was original Richard Donner footage shot before Richard Lester became director. The "new" footage expanded on the film's many subplots, including a further explanation of the villains' task on Earth, Superman and Lois' romance, and an alternate ending involving Lex Luthor, the three Kryptonian villains, and the final fate of the Fortress of Solitude. This 146-minute expanded version was released throughout Europe and Australia in the 1980s (the initial expanded U.S. ABC and Canadian CBC telecasts, though edited differently, were derived from the European/Australian TV edit).

In 2005, several Superman movie fans attempted to bring the film closer to Donner's original vision by creating their own professionally-made video restoration of the "International Cut" and offered free DVDs of it on one of the many Superman fan sites, but their efforts were thwarted by Warner Bros., who are reportedly threatening legal action.

All four Superman films will get Special Edition releases in 2006 to coincide with the release of Superman Returns. It has been confirmed that Ilya Salkind has released Donner's footage for the Superman II disc and that Donner is involved in the project. According to an interview conducted by website supermanhomepage.com, Ilya confirmed that Time Warner now owns all of the footage shot for 1978's Superman, 1980's Superman II, 1983's Superman III, 1984's Supergirl, and 1987's Superman IV: The Quest for Peace including distribution rights. SE restorationist Michael Thau is again working on the project alongside Richard Donner and Tom Mankiewicz, who are supervising the Superman II reconstruction. Despite some initial confusion, Thau has confirmed that all the footage shot by Donner in 1977 was recovered and transferred from England. The new edition will be released in November, and according to the MPAA will be called The Richard Donner Cut. It has also been confirmed that the new cut will feature less than 25% footage filmed by replacement director Richard Lester. As of writing, Ken Throne (musical composer), Jack O' Halloran (Non) and Sarah Douglas (Ursa) have all been interviewed for the Superman II SE. Sarah Douglas has made a commentary track for the theatrical version and there is rumor that Richard Lester will make an appearance on the disc.

Trivia

The original script had the nuclear missile from Superman: The Movie releasing Zod and companions from the Phantom Zone, instead of the Eiffel Tower bomb.

Early drafts of Superman: The Movie and Superman II written by Mario Puzo contain 500-plus pages of script. They apparently had the names of the Phantom Zone villains as Jax-Ur, Kru-El, Faora and Professor Va-Kox from the comics. Later on through several rewrites a fourth villain along with General Zod, Ursa and Non was added. JAK-EL, a psychopathic trickster who played sick practical jokes that were only funny to him, was supposed to be a source of comic relief. The later, final versions of the shooting script dropped him in favor of only three villains.

In the version of the film planned by Richard Donner, the love-struck Superman, while shopping around the world for food and drink for his dinner date with Lois at his Fortress Of Solitude, whizzes around the Leaning Tower of Pisa at incredible super-speed, accidentally causing it to stand up straight due to the base of the tower being unable to withstand the tremendous force.

This was dropped by Richard Lester when he took over directing the remaining parts of Superman II (50 or so percent for a director's credit). He re-used the concept in Superman III, in which the 'bad twisted' version of Superman straightens the Tower of Pisa on purpose.

Its said that Derek Meddings and Colin Chilvers shot much of the opticals/model FX work for the Superman II sequences for Richard Donner's original vision. For the Metropolis battle between Superman and the three Kryptonian villains and also the three super-villains' rampage of Earth that was to be seen in a montage, the following scenes may have been shot: The destruction of the Washington Monument, the Statue of Liberty's arm being destroyed (during the Metropolis battle), melting of the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, fires throughout the cities of Japan and Russia and Ursa's reshaping the 4 faces of the ex-Presidents on Mount Rushmore.

Some of the scenes involving an extended chase between Superman and the Phantom Zone villain Non flying in between the city buildings were seen in the extended network TV cut of Superman II during the Metropolis battle. Many of these sequences are said to have been done by Derek Meddings for Donner's Superman II. But work on Superman II was put on hold during the time Donner had to complete work on Superman: The Movie (as both films were shot back-to-back at the same time) and the interim period when he was fired and the scenes for Superman II were altered ('dropped'?) and changed around by director Richard Lester whom the Salkinds brought in to replace Donner.

In the Donner-intended version of Superman II and Tom Mankiewicz's original 1977 script draft, the three Phantom Zone villains conquered the Earth, causing chaos and destruction around the globe in a reign of terror much like in The War of the Worlds where the invading aliens were considered to be unbeatable by the military trying everything to stop them. The Kremlin in Russia lay in flames; in Paris, France, the large villain Non destroyed the Eiffel Tower with his heat vision; in Tokyo, Japan, the citzens fled in panic; and the villain Ursa reshaped Mount Rushmore with her heat vision (as opposed to the finished film version, where the three villains fly over and obliterate Lincoln's face and reshape the others to their likeness). General Zod gave his speech about starting his new world order on Earth from the top of the Washington Monument. After the police arrived in several cars and told him to come down from there on the police bullhorn, he became angry and flew off the top of the Monument. Flying directly into it, he destroyed the Washington Monument and crushed those below with the stone debris from the Monument.

The original battle between Superman and the three villains was much more violent in the Tom Mankiewicz 1977 draft and had plenty of fisticuff action between them. At one point, as originally planned, Non hits the Empire State Building knocking the top section off. Superman tries to stop it by holding up parts of the building but Non recovers in time to yank Superman away and it falls onto the street causing a great deal of damage. At one point, Superman is punched by Non to the 42nd Street Bridge where his impact causes the cars to plunge off it into the streets below. As Non closes in for the kill, a police SWAT truck fires a barrage of bullets which angers the villain even further. The villain then uproots a lamppost, swings it like a baseball bat and crushes the SWAT truck with one blow.

During the battle, Superman has an 'Irresistible Force' vs. 'Immovable Object' clash with Non in which they ram each other and both of them are knocked senseless. Superman recovers first. He flies behind Non and kicks him out of frame, over the Metropolis harbor and into the Statue of Liberty knocking off the 'torch arm' which sails harmlessly into the sea. That scene was then followed by Lex Luthor's line: "Who would have thought this thing would go the distance".

(note: Mankiwicz described Manhattan as an incredible scene of destruction at this point with police cars and other emergency vehicles racing through the streets)

In Donner's version of Superman II, Superman punches Zod sending him flying through the air into a 'Winston Cigarette' advertisement sign, demolishing it, with large chunks hitting the streets around many screaming Metropolis citizens below. He then is sucker punched by Non into the neon 'Coca Cola' sign. In the released 1980 film Superman throws General Zod into the Coca Cola neon sign. Other variations occur from the 1977 script to the filmed and completed Richard Lester version. Ursa alone in the 1977 draft is holding the stopped bus in the middle of the street. But in the completed film under Lester, Non and Ursa are both holding onto the bus of terrified passengers and then attempt to hurl the bus at Superman. In the 1977 draft of the script the two villains also search the remains of the bus afterwards by using their X-ray vision, looking at the hole in the wall of a building caused by Superman bearing the brunt of the impact of the bus, being hurled into the other side of the street and saving the passengers. They find no trace of him.

In one TV version, a US "polar patrol" is shown picking up the three Kryptonians and Lex Luthor at the end of the film. Without this ending, it appears that Superman has sent them plummeting to their deaths, though Superman has a strict code against killing and their deaths aren't necessary once they are depowered.

This film gives Kryptonians powers they do not normally have, such as telekinesis, memorably demonstrated when a man points a gun at General Zod who deadpans "These humans are beginning to bore me!" as he points at the man with his finger and sends him flying in mid-air, and the abilities to teleport and create duplicates of themselves during the final battle in the Fortress of Solitude. The shooting script describes the teleportation as super-speed, while Superman's doubles are explained as technology he uses at the Fortress (a line in the script reads, "Zod begins to realize that Superman, on his home turf, has powers and devices at his command beyond their comprehension").

In the Fortress of Solitude, Superman flings what appears to be a cellophane version of his S-insignia at one of the villains, trapping him temporarily. This scene was satirized in an episode of the TV series Family Guy. The shooting script confirms that this was a weapon Superman armed himself with when he returned to the Fortress, and not a "power" as some would believe. Another unexplained ability is the power to emit a white energy beam from the palm of one's hand or finger. This is shown in the Fortress when the Kryptonian criminals use it to overwhelm Superman. However, according to the shooting script, this was supposed to be a form of heat vision.

Superman also uses the rare "super-kiss" to make Lois forget he is Clark. While this was a real power Superman had in the comics, it was rarely used, and eventually removed from the comics.

In the scenes shot by Donner, the Phantom Zone villain Non is not seen with large boot lifts. His boots are hardly ever seen in a single full frame with his whole body. In director Richard Lester's scenes, however, he is seen with large boots which clearly have lifts on them.

The scene where Lois Lane discovers Clark Kent's true identity was scripted for use in the first Superman film and formed part of the casting script. The DVD of Superman: The Movie features screen test footage, including Christopher Reeve and several actresses trying out for the part of Lois (Margot Kidder among them) performing the original version of this scene.

During the scene of Superman battling Zod, Ursa, and Non in Metropolis, the civilian onlookers attempted a revolt against the Kryptonian supervillains when it was thought that Superman was killed by being crushed by a bus thrown by Non and Ursa. The three Kryptonian super-villains squelched the uprising by using their super-blowing powers. This scene includes several pop references, such as shots of a roller skater wearing sequins being blown backwards (roller skating was popular at the time) and of a Ford Pinto being blown backwards until it falls into a hole in the street, causing the rear of the vehicle to explode and engulf the car in flames (at the time, reports came out that if a Ford Pinto is hit in the rear, it could rupture the gas tank and cause the car to explode).

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