Film Plot Summary

The action-adventure fantasy film opened with a background foreword:

On the doomed Planet Krypton, a wise scientist placed his infant son into a spacecraft and launched him to Earth. Raised by a kind farmer and his wife, the boy grew up to become our greatest protector... Superman. But when astronomers discovered the distant remains of his home world, Superman disappeared.

The first scene was on the crystalline planet Krypton before it exploded, where Jor-El (voice of archival Marlon Brando) told his son Kal-El (the future Superman) - before launching him away to Earth: "You will travel far, my little Kal-El. But we will never leave you, even in the face of our deaths. You will make my strength your own. You will see my life through your eyes, as your life will be seen through mine. The son becomes the father, and the father the son." Meteorite chunks of kryptonite blasted away, and under the credits, Kal-El's grand journey through galaxies was viewed, until the star-shaped spacecraft entered Earth's solar system and approached the blue orb.

Villainous arch-nemesis and career criminal Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) was first introduced (off-screen) speaking to frail and wealthy widow Gertrude Vanderworth (Noel Neill, who portrayed Lois Lane in 78 episodes of the TV show Adventures of Superman from 1953-1958). During a lightning storm, she pledged her faith in him (although admitting he had made a "few mistakes") after he had written her from prison and married her. [Later, it was learned that during his fifth appeal from prison, when Superman didn't appear in court to testify as a witness, Luthor was released.] Before dying, she told him that he would inherit everything as she signed her rewritten will: "In spite of your past, I know you're a good man. And all good men deserve a second chance...You said that if I helped you get out of prison, you'd take care of me. And you have. You've shown me pleasures that I've never felt. That's why you deserve everything. I love you, Lex Luthor." As he departed, he threw his toupee to other expectant but disappointed heirs and family members in the hallway: "You can keep that...The rest is mine."

At Martha Kent's (Eva Marie Saint) Kansas farmhouse late one evening, she was doing dishes in the kitchen sink, as the camera panned over the old-fashioned house where Clark had grown up - with a SCRABBLE board from a just-finished game with her neighbor Ben Hubbard (James Karen). The entire contents of the house shook, and the radio was filled with static, as she noticed a bright light and fiery crash outside. She drove a pickup truck to a flaming crater - where her almost-unconscious grown son Clark (Brandon Routh) collapsed into her arms, as she tenderly spoke: "Oh, Clark, Oh, my boy."

Resuming his job at the Daily Planet in Metropolis (and looking for an apartment in the city) after an absence of five years (although no one suspected the remarkable time congruence with Superman's absence), Clark was welcomed back by old friend - the newspaper's photographer Jimmy Olsen (Sam Huntington), and gruff, cynical editor-in-chief Perry White (Frank Langella), characteristically barking orders. In the office, he learned that fellow reporter and ex-love interest Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) was covering a live story - she was a passenger on a US Air Force 777 jumbo jet with the Genesis space shuttle piggybacking on top for an inaugural test flight launch. He saw a plaque that she was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for an editorial entitled: "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." She had become a "mommy," and had a son (out of wedlock) named Jason White (Tristan Lake Leabu), was in a "prolonged engagement" with Perry White's nephew Richard White (James Marsden), and was touchy about questions of marriage. She had obviously moved on. Jimmy and Clark went to have a few beers - at the start of their work day - where they discussed with the bartender Bo (Jack Larson, who portrayed Jimmy Olsen in 102 episodes of the TV show Adventures of Superman from 1952-1958) how Clark had been doing some "soul-searching," and had seen llamas. Bo asked Clark: "Must be tough coming back...to work." Clark lamented the fact that some things had changed that he wasn't expecting, although Jimmy confided that Lois was "still in love with you-know-who."

In another area of Metropolis, at the Museum of Natural History just before closing time, Luthor (wearing a wig disguise) and his gang entered to steal a chunk of green-glowing Kryptonite (originally found in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) identified by spectrum-vision in a display case, while well-dressed Kitty (wearing pearls) created a diversion street-side in a vehicle without brakes. [The crime was again prefaced and signaled by a power outage, a recurring theme.] Superman saved the hysterical Kitty by catching the careening car, and when she jumped into his arms, he flew her to a hospital to treatment, where she was smitten: "Would you like to get a cup of coffee, sometime?" - but he politely declined her devious request. To keep preoccupied, Superman performed more miraculous rescues, interventions and saves on every continent -- a man's suicidal fall from a building, a deli robbery, a house fire in Paris, etc. -- all were broadcast on TV and watched by an amused Clark. Perry talked more strategy with his reporters about possible stories, and eventually assigned Lois to interview Superman -- her specialty (although she complained: "I've done Superman. Covered him, you know what I mean") -- while Clark would investigate the blackout. Clark apologized to Lois, fearing that their required duties would possibly damage their "relationship" - a word-choice that she contemptuously questioned. She told Richard (who arrived with Jason) about her new assignment: "Perry - he just shoved Superman back into my life." The boy suffered another asthma attack, and appeared to recognize that Clark was Superman in disguise.

The group worked late at the Daily Planet office researching their stories, as Lois described to Richard information about Superman's powers, his weakness to Kryptonite and his size - and they both momentarily noticed physical similarities between Clark and Superman. When Lois went to the open-air rooftop to sneak a smoke, she was startled when Superman blew out her lighter's flame, cautioned her about smoking, and then offered himself for an interview - to explain why and where he had disappeared for so long. He told her about his search for Krypton: "I had to see for myself." She sarcastically mentioned: "Well, you're back and everyone seems to be pretty happy about it!" He challenged her Pulitzer Prize-winning article that criticized his importance and was written when he was absent and couldn't defend himself. She was still resentful, unhappy with Superman for not saying goodbye and for leaving without explanation (as Clark suggested, it was too "unbearable"), and was refusing to accept him back: "How could you leave us like that? I moved on. So did the rest of us. That's why I wrote it. The world doesn't need a savior. And neither do I." To answer her, he patiently proposed to show her something - another flight in his arms: "Will you come with me?" He took her up into the air - she slipped out of her high-heeled suede shoes and stood barefoot on his dark red boots - to show her unique views of the city (beyond what pilot Richard could show her), and to tell her: "I hear everything." He said that he heard people crying for a savior every day, and then apologized for leaving her. After flying by her house, he gently landed her back on the office's rooftop, where they brushed their lips together and almost kissed - although she paused and noted: "Richard's a good man. And you've been gone a long time." As he left, he reminded her: "I'm always around. Good night, Lois." When she returned to her family, they were eating tofu and veggie wraps, and she lied about being on the roof just for fresh air.

In the next scene, Lois turned in a new article to Perry White entitled: "Superman Returns" -- when he mentioned her Pulitzer Prize to be awarded that evening: "the biggest night of your life." She recognized the contradiction in the award - that it was for her other article "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman," although the recent news headlines all told an opposing story. Perry advised: "Pulitzer Prizes are like Academy Awards. Nobody remembers what you got one for. It's just that you got one." At that moment, Superman was entering his Fortress of Solitude, where he was dismayed to find the crystals missing from the console - pilfered by Luthor. Lois was investigating the power blackout on her own, and learned that the first site of the power grid failure was at the Vanderworth residence location across the river - Luthor's mansion! Immersed in her work, she had forgotten to pick up her boy Jason at school, around 3:15 pm. Afterwards, she drove to the Vanderworth residence with him and both trespassed onto Luthor's yacht parked at the dock. The sight of Luthor's wigs in his bedroom's dressing room somehow tipped her off - and she was confronted by the bathrobed villain brushing his teeth in the hallway as the ship launched. Soon after, Luthor further explained how his double life sentence had been bypassed - Superman had missed his court date to testify against him. The evil criminal refused to turn the boat around and suggested Lois interview him during their cruise, since they had "time to kill." Luthor revealed his scheme, on a giant map, to use one of the stolen Kryptonian crystals from the Fortress of Solitude to grow a huge landmass - an "entirely new continent" in the North Atlantic that would eventually usurp and destroy North America and put it underwater. He stressed that he couldn't be challenged: "I'll have advanced alien technology thousands of years beyond what anyone could throw at me. Bring it on!" Billions of people would die as a result - "This is front-page news." And as Luthor brandished a carved cylinder of Kryptonite, he threatened: "Mind over muscle," and then asked: "Who is that boy's father?" He was unsure that Lois' answer: "Richard" was truthful, and held the Kryptonite close to the boy's face as a test - but there was no adverse effect.

Meanwhile, Luthor left the yacht and helicoptered to the newly-formed crystal landmass, while Richard arrived by seaplane at the yacht and rescued Lois and Jason who were locked in the ship's pantry. One of the growing crystal peaks pierced the hull of The Gertrude, lifted the ship high out of the water and impaled it there. When the yacht broke in half and began sinking, the three were imperiled by rising water in the sinking ship, and Lois was hit on the head and knocked unconscious by a closing hatch. To the rescue, Superman raised the entire vessel out of the water, opened the hatch door, and brought the threesome to the seaplane. He pointed the aircraft in the "right direction" for take-off toward Metropolis, and then flew off to find Luthor on the dark, desolate "alien" landmass. He found Luthor - dressed in a white trenchcoat - greeting him: "See anything familiar?" Sweating, Superman already felt the weakening effects of the landmass, laced with Kryptonite. (Lois convinced Richard to turn around from his flight path toward Metropolis, and return to rescue Superman, urging: "He'll die.") Luthor and his henchmen harshly beat up Superman with repeated punches and kicks, and held his head underwater, although the superhero protested: "I'm still Superman!" - they left him lying in muddy water. Luthor stabbed Superman twice in the side with his sharp shard of Kryptonite, taunted: "Now, fly!", raised his arms to the side, and let the decimated superhero fall off a cliff into the ocean to drown: "So long, Superman." Jason was the first to spot Superman in the water - and after the seaplane landed, Lois jumped in and brought him to the plane. Their aircraft struggled again to take off as Lois extracted the Kryptonite shard from Superman's side with pliers. After a few moments of recovery, the revived superhero stood up and vowed to again face Luthor: "I have to go back." As he flew upward, the healing rays of the sun strengthened Superman, and he returned to battle Luthor, causing tremors on the land mass and forcing Luthor and his gang to flee in their helicopter (Kitty, who was sympathetic to the loss of life, tossed the remaining crystals away, to Luthor's dismay). Superman burrowed into the ocean floor and from there lifted the entire landmass out of the ocean (shielding himself with the outer bedrock) and into the upper atmosphere, as pieces of it crumbled and exposed the Kryptonite underneath. After tossing the gigantic island away into space, self-sacrificing Superman fell backwards to Earth, with arms extended in a Christ-like pose, and landed in Central Park. He was transported to a trauma center of a hospital, where another splinter of Kryptonite was removed from a second wound, and then was reported in critical condition - unconscious and unresponsive - dead.

Thousands of visitors surrounded the hospital to pay their respects. Lois and Jason visited Superman's hospital room, where she whispered to him: "I wanted to tell you..." and then kissed him on the lips. Jason also ran up to Superman's side and kissed him on the forehead before they left the room. (His Earth mother Martha Kent, looking like the Virgin Mary, was within the awaiting crowd, but not allowed to enter.) Luthor and Kitty were stranded on a tropical island with only coconuts to eat after their helicopter ran out of fuel. And then suddenly, Superman's hospital bed was empty - he had awakened and flown off. Lois, with one tear falling, was at her computer struggling with writer's block about her next article, "Why the World Needs Superman." The superhero was touchingly at the bedside of sleeping Jason, where he spoke: "You will be different." He then recited Jor-El's speech: "Sometimes, you will feel like an outcast. But you'll never be alone. You will make my strength your own. You will see my life through your eyes, as your life will be seen through mine. The son becomes the father, and the father becomes the son." He then talked to Lois on her front lawn (without blowing out her cigarette lighter this time) -- she asked: "I - Will we see you? Around?", and he reassured her: "I'm always around. Good night, Lois." The film ended in typical fashion - Superman flew over the nighttime city and then into a low orbit around Earth, where he kept vigilant watch on the world.

Film Notables (Awards, Facts, etc.)

This 2006 film was a reboot (or pseudo-sequel) 19 years after the end of the original Christopher Reeve series of four films from 1978 to 1987. It was also a continuation of the first two films in the original series -- ignoring installments III and IV. It was some time after the events of the first two films, about five years, during which time Superman had literally been forgotten.

With a production budget of $209 million, and box-office gross receipts of $200 million (domestic) and $391 million (worldwide).

The next film was a reboot also, an expensive blockbuster titled Man of Steel (2013), directed by Zack Snyder - on the 75th anniversary of the DC Comics hero (from 1938). After the lukewarm reception for WB's previous rebooted film Superman Returns (2006), it was imperative that the film rejuvenate and revamp the series. The modernized role of Superman was played by Henry Cavill, while Amy Adams took on the character of Lois Lane, and Russell Crowe took the role of Superman's (Kal-El) father Jor-El (played earlier by Marlon Brando). The Kents (a Kansas farm couple) were portrayed by Diane Lane and Kevin Costner, and Daily Planet boss Perry White was played by Laurence Fishburne.

Nominated for one Academy Award: Best Achievement in Visual Effects.

Nominated for one Razzie Award: Worst Supporting Actress (Kate Bosworth).

The film was dedicated "with love and respect" to Christopher Reeve (and his late wife, Dana) who died in 2004 after years of paralysis resulting from a horseback-riding accident.