Superman II

***Superman II*** is the second *Superman* movie by Richard Donner. Donner was fired during production and Richard Lester took over. As a result, there is both a theatrical release and a "Donner Cut", which features different shots and unfinished footage.

### Plot

A year or so after the events of *Superman: The Movie*, Lois Lane goes on assignment to cover the story of a terrorist threat in Paris to detonate a nuclear bomb on top of the Eiffel Tower. Being the kind of reporter that she is, Lois hides herself underneath the elevator car as it rides up to the top of the tower to overhear what the terrorists are planning to do when an incident causes both the car to plummet and the bomb to start ticking away. Superman comes to the rescue at the nick of time, saving Lois and then flying the elevator car with the bomb deep into outer space where it detonates safely. However, the shock waves of the explosion causes the gateway to the Phantom Zone to shatter as it passes toward that direction, freeing the three criminals Jor-El had imprisoned in it.

Soon with the liberty they now possess, General Zod along with Ursa and Non also discover as they head towards the moon and kill the three astronauts sent on a joint space mission from the United States and Russia that they now possess powers and abilities that they haven't possessed before. Heading towards Earth and landing near a small town called Houston, Idaho, the three of them use their newly-discovered powers to terrorize its citizens to no end, eventually bringing them to their knees and demanding obedience unto Zod for their continued existence. This brings them to the attention of both the television stations and the military, who attempt to stop them with all means short of a nuclear missile, only to find them as impervious and powerful as Superman.

Meanwhile, Lois Lane and Clark Kent are sent to Niagara Falls to do an undercover piece about honeymoon hotels exploiting newlyweds, posing as newlyweds themselves, when they take a walk near the falls and see a young boy playing near the fence who falls off. As the people gather around to see what will happen, Superman immediately shows up, catches the boy, and brings him safely back to his mother. Lois begins to suspect something as she notices that whenever Superman shows up, Clark somehow disappears, and so makes a daring test to Clark to prove whether he's Superman or not: she throws herself into the raging river on purpose right in front of Clark. Instead, Clark secretly uses his heat vision to cause a big branch to fall into the river and calls out for Lois to grab onto it so she can swim to shore. Lois looks at Clark in disbelief and starts to feel embarrassed.

At the same time, Lex Luthor breaks out of prison with the help of his aide Eva Tessmacher flying a hot-air balloon, and uses his "little black box" to track the location of Superman's secret place at the North Pole -- the Fortress of Solitude. Inside the place, Luthor uses one of the crystals to activate a hologram of Superman's mother Lara, who tells "her son" about the three evil Kryptonians placed inside the Phantom Zone. Realizing that those criminals could be on Earth and that they would need help finding Superman, Luthor quickly heads back south.

Back at the hotel, Lois discovers by accident when Clark trips over the bearskin rug and stuck his hand into the flames of the fireplace, yet didn't burn his hand doing so, that he truly is Superman. With the revelation of his identity now made known to her, Clark decides to take her to the Fortress of Solitude to tell her everything over dinner, letting her know how much he loves her. As they both felt so strongly for each other that they couldn't live their lives separately any longer, Kal-El confides with the hologram of his mother his desire to marry Lois. Lara tells him that the only way he can do that is to live as one of the humans, without any of his powers, and shows him the molecular chamber that harnesses the power of Krypton's red sun that will remove his powers forever. Believing that his love for Lois is worth the cost, Superman steps into the chamber as Lois watches it strip away the Kryptonian that he was, leaving him as Clark Kent the human being.

The Phantom Zone criminals have reached Washington, D.C. and barged their way into the Oval Office, forcing the President to bow before Zod and to concede all governmental control to him in exchange for his own life. Later on, at a roadside diner where Clark Kent gets painfully roughed up by a bully trucker named Rocky, the President goes live on television to declare the news of this surrender of control while pleading for Superman to help. Clark then realizes the danger he's put the world in with his decision to become human and heads back to the Fortress of Solitude in the hopes that he can restore his powers. By the time he gets there to find the only possible answer being the green glowing crystal that built the Fortress, Lex Luthor makes contact with the Phantom Zone criminals and offers his help for them to get revenge on the son of their jailer in exchange for being ruler of Australia.

In Metropolis, Lois Lane waits nervously in Perry White's office at the Daily Planet for Superman to show up when the rogue Kryptonians show up first, wrecking everything in their path toward the office where Luthor tells them to take Lois hostage. Soon Superman shows up outside the building, daring for Zod to step outside. The three Kryptonians engage Superman in battle, flying and fighting all around the city in the hopes of destroying the son of Jor-El. They notice Superman protecting the humans during their battle and decide to endanger them in order to weaken him enough to destroy him. Eventually Superman realizes the danger that the fight is causing the citizens and flies off, much to the disappointment of those hoping to see Superman defeat the villains.

Luthor then directs the Phantom Zone criminals to the Fortress of Solitude, where they also take Luthor and Lois in their attempt to destroy Superman. It is there that Superman, who again fights them but is unable to prevail against them, gets Luthor to trick the Kryptonians into having him be put into the molecule chamber to strip away his powers once again, as Lois sadly watches. However, as Zod made the now seemingly-weakened Superman bow before him, take his hand, and swear eternal allegiance to him, Superman crushed Zod's hand, revealing that he altered the chamber so that he would be safe while the other three Kryptonians lost their powers. Zod, Ursa, and Non all fall into the abyss, and Superman turns Luthor over to the authorities once more while he took Lois back home to her apartment.

The following day, Clark Kent checks up on Lois at the Daily Planet to see how she is doing, and finds her crying because she cannot deal with what she knows about Clark now and how to relate to him anymore. Clark takes Lois close to him and kisses her, and with the kiss he makes her completely forget anything she knew about Clark Kent being Superman, restoring her to the Lois Lane that he knew. Later on, at the same roadside diner he went to earlier, Clark Kent gives Rocky a taste of his own medicine. As Superman, he flies the replacement sky dome with an American flag on it to the White House and tells the President that he won't let him down again.

### Notes

* Terence Stamp plays Jor-El in Smallville.
* Richard Donner makes a cameo appearance as a man walking past a diner.
* The original DVD cover art, as well as several shots from the film itself show the World Trade Center towers and the Empire State Building, indicating that the Metropolis of the movies is analogous to New York City.