Superman II

1980
PG
2h 7m

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

117K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer2:21

Superhero Urban Adventure Action Adventure Sci-Fi

Superman agrees to sacrifice his powers to start a relationship with Lois Lane, unaware that three Kryptonian criminals he inadvertently released are conquering Earth.Superman agrees to sacrifice his powers to start a relationship with Lois Lane, unaware that three Kryptonian criminals he inadvertently released are conquering Earth.Superman agrees to sacrifice his powers to start a relationship with Lois Lane, unaware that three Kryptonian criminals he inadvertently released are conquering Earth.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

117K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

2,235

216

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 4 wins & 7 nominations

Trivia
In a 2004 interview, Margot Kidder claimed that Richard Donner shot enough scenes to make his own cut of the film, and that the unused footage was "somewhere in a vault." A website started a petition for Warner Bros. to allow and sponsor Donner's cut of this movie. The footage was re-edited into Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (2006).

Goofs
Superman and Lois fly to the Fortress of Solitude (which is at the North Pole). After Superman gives up his powers, they have no way to return to civilization. Somehow, they got to a diner safely which doesn't appear to be close by. It's even shown that Lex Luthor, who's human, used a snowmobile to get to the Fortress of Solitude and back.

Superman could have made arrangements to return safely back to civilization prior to surrendering his powers.

Quotes
Superman: General, would you care to step outside?
General Zod: Come to me, son of Jor-El, kneel before Zod!

Crazy credits
Opening credits incorporate an extensive amount of footage from the first Superman movie.

Alternate versions
In late 2006 a new version, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (2006), subtitled "The Richard Donner Cut," was released on DVD and Blu-ray by the new rights-holders of the franchise. It reinserts virtually everything that could been salvaged from what Donner shot for his intended original version of the film, such as the infamous Marlon Brando scenes, before the producers sacked him. This version uses less than 20% of material filmed by Richard Lester, and since that left a few gaps in the story with no possibility of re-shoots, Donner had to make do with just about every bit of footage he had shot some 25 years before, including some which had only been shot as screen tests.

Connections
Edited from Superman (1978)

Soundtracks
Pick Up the Pieces
(uncredited)
Written by Roger Ball, Hamish Stuart and Average White Band (as The Average White Band)
Performed by Average White Band (as The Average White Band)
Courtesy of Atlantic Records

User reviews360

Review

Featured review

Everything Good About the Original Is Carried Over and Improved

Superman II (1980)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Very good sequel has Superman (Christpher Reeve) giving up his powers so that he can be with Lois (Margot Kidder) but once he does this the planet comes under attack by three Kryptonian bad guys. I might be the only person in the world to think so but to me this sequel actually surpasses the original film and I think by a rather large margin. Everything that was good in the original is pretty much carried over to this film where it's done even better. I think the big benefit here over the original is that this sequel doesn't run too long and instead it has a much better pacing to it. However, what really makes the film tick are some incredibly action sequences, which includes a hilarious one at Niagra Falls where Lois plans to test Clark to try and see whether he's really Superman or not. The way this entire scene plays out is incredibly funny but also contains some great action. Humor is something that is also much better this time around and especially during the scene where the three aliens wreck havoc on a small redneck town. This here is a pretty long sequence but the laughs really don't stop at any point. I think another major plus with this sequel is that we're given not only a great villain in Luthor (Gene Hackman) but the aliens are also a lot of fun. The three of them make for a great group to root against but at the same time you really love to hate them. As with the previous film, the performance are all extremely good with Reeve once again leading the way in his dual role as both the superhero and the nerd with glasses. I think it's safe to say that the actor really just had something special in him that allowed him to perfectly fit into both roles. Both Kidder and Hackman are good in their parts as is Jackie Cooper, E.G. Marshall and Ned Beatty in his one but funny scene. The action scenes are all extremely good and the special effects this time out are even better. SUPERMAN II is a rare case where the sequel is actually better than the original.