In light of the new Superman movie, I decided to go back and become better acquainted with some Superman movies. Starting with the classic Christopher Reeve films, Superman. The first of a series of 5 movies, though the last does not star Christopher Reeve due to his tragic horse riding accident that left him paralyzed.
In watching these, its become really apparent that I had only ever really seen the first two films, at least that I remember at anything about. Probably for good reason, since they also get worse as they go along. They also seem to be the only films anyone ever really references.
Superman (1978)
Not the first time Superman was on the screen, but its the first most people will think of. Back from a much simpler time in terms of style and power level for super heroes. Its your classic Superman origin story, Krypton is collapsing and Jor-El launches his baby son off to Earth.
Probably worth noting though, is the sequence with Zod and his crew. They only appear during this opening sequence, getting sentenced to prison before the planet collapses. Its setting up for the sequel, when they return.
Superman’s origin has not really changed much over the years, his pod crashes in the middle of nowhere and the Kent’s take him in and raise him as their own, his dad dies, because heroes don’t get parents, and he grows up to work at the Daily Planet in Metropolis where he meets Lois Lane.
The main villain is Lex Luthor, played by Gene Hackman, and sporting hair, I am not sure why movies always want to give Lex hair. We also get introduced to the power draining Kryptonite, which Lex uses to cripple Superman.
The real stand out of the film comes from Christopher Reeve as Superman. He does such an amazing job with the strong and friendly Superman, then the bumbling unsure of everything Clark Kent. He is definitely very convincing with the idea that no one would recognize Clark as Superman.
Probably the most memorable moment in the film is when Superman reverses the flow of time by rapidly flying backwards around the planet. Its goofy, and of course, time does not “work like that”. Its a pretty good fake out though, allowing Lex to “win” only to have it reverse.
Superman II (1980)
Probably the most remembered of these films, is Superman II. This time, instead of Lex Luthor, Superman faces a real treat with General Zod. And his pair of cohorts, Ursa and Non. The criminals that were locked up at the start of the first movie.
Like Clark, these Kryptonians become empowered by the Earth’s yellow sun. And there are three of them, which makes things a bit more complicated. But before that, we also get some action with Lois and Clark.
There is a fun action sequence during the opening involving some terrorists trying to blow up Paris with a nuclear bomb. Superman stops it of course, but in the process accidentally destroys the mirror prison holding Zod. We then get the start of some romance between Lois and Clark, or more accurately, Lois and Superman. While on assignment at Niagara falls, Lois catches Clark briefly without his glasses and becomes suspicious of bis identity. So convinced, she decides to jump into the dangerous water. Clark manages to save her as Clark, making Lois feel like a fool. But later he accidentally burns himself, or more, doesn’t burn himself, and she figures it out.
They head off to the Fortress of Solitude and Clark decides to use some equipment there to remove his powers so he can be with Lois.
Which feels a bit odd, because Lois, frankly, only seems to care about Superman. If anything, she kind of seems to dislike Clark. Meanwhile, Zod takes over the government and demands to see Superman. The power loss is short lived, because he just, goes back and restores himself. Despite that it was supposed to be irreversible. Apparently there is a better cut of the film that explains it all a bit better.
Anyway, Superman heads off and battles the Trio. Zod realizes Superman’s greatest weakness, not Kryptonite, but that he cares about the people of Earth.
They end up back at the Fortress of Solitude and Zod forces Superman back into the power draining chamber, except Superman reversed it and instead of draining his powers again, it drains Zod and crew.
Oh, and Superman has a special powers where he can apparently wipe people’s minds by kissing them, because he makes Lois forget that she knows who Clark Kent is.
Superman III (1983)
This is where things start to get a bit weird, and not great. This movie has its moments for sure, both good and bad. I can say that the opening sequence, which is this weird goofy slapstick comedy sequence out on the street, did not give me much confidence in what was to come.
The main claim to fame is the presence of Richard Pryor, who was apparently a big fan and wanted to be in a Superman movie. He isn’t terrible, but his character just feels so, off from what one would think of with Pryor, it makes him feel a little meh. I feel like its a case of doing the best with what he had.
The formula for these so far is basically, Clark/Superman is off doing random things in one plot line, while the villain plot like is set up. Then Superman saves the world. In this case, Lois, who barely appears in this one, heats off on an assignment abroad, while Clark goes back to his hometown to a High School reunion. He reunites with Lana Lang, which sparks a pseudo romance subplot. I say pseudo, because it doesn’t feel all that romantic, and its kind of just a reskin of the Lois loves Superman and is indifferent to Clark. There is an added layer of complexity because Lana has a kid and her ex is an abusive jackass.
Meanwhile, Richard Pryor is cut off from unemployment for being on it too long, and is inspired to go into computer programming, and it turns out he has a natural talent. He immediately puts his BASIC programming skills to work as a Black Hat hacker and gets recruited by an Oil Baron in a plot to hold the world’s oil supply hostage for profit.
He also gets the oil exec to build him a super computer, which is used to synthesize some fake Kryptonite. Instead of killing him, the synthetic Kryptonite turns Superman into a petty asshole. We get a sequence of Superman doing some mean things like blowing out the Olympic torch and straightening the Leaning Tower if Pisa.
This leads to probably the best scene in this whole movie, where Clark and Superman split and fight in a Junkyard. Its surprisingly brutal in nature as Superman tosses Clark in the crusher and metal shredder and Clark dropping Superman into a vat of Acid. Its a literal version of this internal struggle between Clark and Superman.
Clark wins of course, and then he manages to stop the Super Computer, which has been used to reroute all of the world’s oil tankers. There is a goofy bit where they trap Superman in a sort of, plastic bag, and he starts suffocating. Like Superman does not regularly go into fucking SPACE where there is no air. The computer also briefly becomes sentient after first being disabled.
What really interesting here is that, they don’t name them, but these two plot lines are basically analogous to Bizzaro and Brainiac from the comics. Its kind of a shame they couldn’t have expanded on that a bit.
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)
Seems like things have gotten a bit more serious again, and Lex Luthor has, once again returned, but this time as the main villain again. This time assisted by his nephew. But first, we gotta set up some Clark Kent activities. The Daily Planet is being taken over by a rich media mogul, which introduces Lucy into our little Love… multi dimensional quadrilateral world. Though, Lana is long gone, so it’s just Lois and Lucy. Lois likes Superman, Lucy, surprisingly, likes Clark. Clark of course, likes Lois. Superman jut loves the Earth I guess. Anyway, given the common comment people make today about how no one reads past the headlines, this is brought up by the new owner, which is really amusing given this is from 1987. I guess the more things change…
There is also a fun little bit where Superman gathers up all of the world’s Nuclear weapons and tosses them into the sun. I mean, I get the message, but it seems kind of inconsequential to the plot and kind of unceremonious.
Meanwhile Luthor gets the bright idea to clone Superman and uses his DNA with Superman’s and the power of the sun to create Nuclear Man, a super powered version of Superman, who looks nothing like Superman, but talks like Lex. He is kind of another take on Bizzaro really, but a handsome Bizzaro.
Nuclear Man and Superman start having it out, which leads to some weirdness where Superman has… repair eyes for a power? He repairs destroyed parts of the Great Wall of China, just by staring at them and, zapping them?
I guess?
Anyway, after some more fighting, Nuclear Man “kills” Superman, or at least it’s reported that way after Nuclear Man poisons Superman using his Nuclear Claws.
Lois goes and find the sick Clark. There is this funny little subplot going on where it’s heavily implied that Lois has regained her memory of Clark/Superman, but she doesn’t want to let on that she has.
Anyway, Nuclear Man has this weird fascination going on with Lucy, so I guess we are back to out Multi Dimensional Live Quadrilateral again, and the two have it out again. It turns out that Nuclear Man literally cannot survive without the sun’s rays, because he pretty much shuts down anytime he is in the dark. Superman defeats him by causing a lunar eclipse, draining his power, then locking him in a Nuclear Power plant to… create power. That’s kind of dark isn’t it? Is he dead? Is he alive and trapped in there like a hamster on a wheel?
The real victory is Perry White stopping the hostile take over of the Planet.
