Yes, Superman Returns is a true sequel to Superman: The Movie and Superman II. Superman Returns assumes that after the events of Superman II, edit: to clarify, Superman Returns relies on the Richard Donner Cut of Superman II, not the theatrical r.
By 2006, was in a period of success. Was in its sixth season keeping the franchise alive on TV, was keeping the alive, and had reinvigorated the Batman film franchise. Taking advantage of this popularity, it was decided that after nineteen years in limbo, the film franchise should be revived as well. Bryan Singer, who directed the first two of the, crafted Returns as both a sequel and an homage to and — while also, Superman IV, and (probably).Set five years after the events of Superman II, Superman returns to Earth after leaving to search for remnants of Krypton in deep space; in the time between Superman's departure and return, (Kate Bosworth) won a Pulitzer Prize for the article ' (ouch!), and the world has moved on in his absence. Superman has to deal with the ambivalent reaction toward his return, work on mending his relationship with Lois, and foil the latest deranged scheme by a resurfacing. This film contains examples of:.: Superman in Superman II promises that he'd never abandon the world after vanishing for at most two weeks.
Then goes off for five years to search for a planet his own father swore up and down was destroyed in the first film. Oh, and he does this before showing up in court, allowing Lex to be acquitted because Supes was a no show.: Piggybacking a shuttle on a Boeing plane has been done, although they are 747s, not 777.:.
in the prologue. Krypton is destroyed by a supernova (as established by ). Luthor's plan would have resulted in a, with much of the Earth flooded by his new continent.: Luthor's plan of just wasn't going to work, from an economical sense, and that one (among other kinds of long-lasting, and most probably equally apocalyptic, ecological impact from a whole new continent appearing all of a sudden) as collateral damage.: Zig-Zagged regarding the Wedge Principle. Superman's midair rescue of the plummeting jet, for the most part, is a case of; knowing that he'd tear straight through the fuselage and cabin if he wasn't careful, Supes expends most of his effort slowly braking the plane's descent after seeing his first attempt to stop it by grabbing a wing immediately fail.
Once he succeeds, though, he gently sets the large vessel down in a baseball diamond while holding it by the nosecone, even though it should have broken apart under its own weight. Near the end, he saves Lois and her family by pulling half of a huge luxury yacht from the sea, holding it by only a small portion of its frame. Grant: We had a little problem downstairs. Brutus is dead. He got hit with the piano.: In a deleted scene, Kal finds Jor-El's lab relatively intact, however, he flies further and all that remains of the rest of the planet is some debris.: Twice: one of the Pomeranians left in the old widow's mansion ate the other one after Lex left them unattended for an extended period of time, and Lex starts looking at the dog hungrily after he, Kitty, and the dog get trapped on a tiny island.: In-universe example — Kitty's out-of-control car catches Superman's attention for a damn good reason.
Lex Luthor: Well, of course I did.:. Superman foils a bank robber attempting to make a rooftop getaway in a Huey, who used the door-mounted minigun to hold off the cops. This doesn't work quite so well on. Averted with Lex Luthor's AW109.: Kitty is basically one to Eve Teschmacher from the 1978 film.: in the film's trailer money shot. A goon shoots Superman in the eye with a pistol, and the bullet flattens and bounces off. Superman doesn't even flinch.: A clear homage to Lois's original faint scene from the 1978 film (where Superman makes his first public appearance by catching and saving both Lois and a falling helicopter, and she collapses atop the helipad in a dead faint as soon as he deposits her on the roof and flies away).
An aircraft malfunction almost kills the entirety of its passengers, amongst whom is Lois, who at this point has already given up the hope of Superman returning from his many-years-long absence and no longer believes that the world needs him. Superman makes his first public reappearance by saving the aircraft and landing it safely in a packed sports arena. He then personally speaks solely to Lois, echoing their conversation on the helipad in the original film. Jor-El: They can be a great people, Kal-El, if they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way.
For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you. My only son. The film greatly expands upon the allusion in this speech from. Besides reusing the God-like floating head version of Jor-El, Superman's return is a 'Second Coming', he suffers a 'Passion' when Lex and his men beat him up and Lex stabs him in the side, after saving the day he falls to Earth near death in a, and he unexpectedly recovers from supposedly fatal injuries, with his empty hospital bed evoking the empty tomb. And as at least one critic (of Time magazine) pointed out, Superman secretly having a child with Lois is sort of like.: Kitty.: When Jimmy Olsen showed Lois and Perry a photograph of Superman, he was so far in the Picture one of them asked if it was a Bird and the other asked if it was a plane. The saving of the plane is a direct reference shot by shot of Supes saving the space plane in The Man of Steel #1.
The plane was attached to a space shuttle. Luthor: You can print money, manufacture diamonds and people are a dime a dozen, but people will always need land. It's the one thing we aren't making anymore.: says that he added old fashioned cars and machine guns in alongside modern camera phones so it wouldn't be obvious to future viewers that this movie was made decades after the early Superman movies.: The title of the movie is Superman Returns. Supes returns after going into space for several years to search for the remnants of Krypton.: Lots of Christ symbolism.: Superman Returns ignores the events of and, considering itself a direct sequel to. So, one can choose to believe that, after Superman II, the films got and ended up with Superman fighting Nuclear Man on the moon, or that Clark Kent left Earth for a decade or so and had a son with Lois Lane.: The video game has a health bar shared by the entire city, which goes down whenever enemies hurt civilians or cause property damage.: To the offending crook's credit, after the rounds failed to do anything, he got the idea that maybe it was the suit that was deflecting the bullets, pulled his pistol out, and then shot Supes in the eye. Not only does this fail, but.: Superman overhears Lois's address and flies to her house, watching her and her family while hidden outside, using his X-ray vision. He later X-ray-stares at her as she walks out of the office.: A crew of bank robbers is about to make a helicopter escape, and at first their rooftop-mounted is doing a of keeping the cops on the street pinned down.
Two security guards bust onto the roof (from a stairwell) but. Until zoom in from behind the gunman into the line of fire. Perry White: 'Okay listen up. I wanna know it all, everything. Olsen, I wanna see photos of him everywhere.
No, I want the photos. Sports, how are they going to get that plane out of the stadium?
Travel, where did he go? Was he on vacation? If so, where? Gossip, has he met somebody? Fashion, is that a new suit? Uh, health, has he gained weight? What's he been eating?
Business, how is this gonna affect the stock market? Politics, does he still stand for truth, justice, all that stuff? Superman returns.' .: It is made clear by Jor-El's narration in the first movie that Superman's journey to Earth took thousands of years, but he only aged a few years due to the effects of relativity. Jor-El's comment shows up in this movie when Lex and his goons are in the Fortress of Solitude.
Somehow, though, Superman has traveled all the way to the ruined Krypton and back, and only five years have passed by on Earth.: Lex Luthor has a moment where he acts like this to Lois. Lex:.: At the end, it's two kisses that awake a comatose Superman.