I didn’t like it, but truth be told, I’m not sure there’s ever been a live-action Superman film I liked. At the very least, I’m kinda put off by the whole “messiah” thing, and Superman Returns had quite a lot of it.
These were my ideas at the time, and I stand by all of them:
Story improvement ideas:
More flashbacks. We see a young Clark bouncing around learning to fly for the first time, but the only significance the scene has is suggesting that when younger he needed glasses but reached a point when he didn’t. Aside from being kind of a rip-off of Spider-Man, this scene also suggest a parallel when the kid seems to stop needing his asthma inhaler. What the film needed was more than just that one flashback, to flesh out some of the story and help explain why Supes did split for a number of years.
New scene: Superman tries to save the plane but breaks off the wing instead. As he zooms after it, we zoom in on his worried face and then flashback to another scene of a young Clark. He’s in a barn with a younger Martha and a pre-dead Jonathan Kent. Something heavy is about to fall and squish Jon but Clark zooms in and yanks Jon to safety, smashing the falling threat (possibly a piece of farm equipment). He’d saved his father life, but injured Jon’s arm and destroyed the equipment when with a bit more control and less reflex, he could have avoid the injury and the damage. Jon gives Clark a brief fatherly talking-to about how his power is growing faster than his control and he has to be careful. “But don’t worry, Son. You’ll get there. All you need is time.” Cut back to the present and Superman’s face is now grim and determined. He zooms after the plane and saves it using delicate balancing and control.
Later on there’s another flashback, to an adult Clark in Smallville with Martha. He looks sad and beaten and there’s a Daily Planet headline reading “SUPERMAN DEFEATS INVADERS” and showing pictures of Terence Stamp, Sarah Douglas and Jack O’Halloran (the villains from Superman II).
Clark: They were from Krypton, too. It can’t be just me and them, we can’t have been the only survivors.
Martha: But there’s no way of knowing, Clark. You don’t even know where Krypton was.
Clark: [determined] Maybe I can find out.
Cut to slightly later flashback, news report of astronomers working with Superman’s help locating the remains of Krypton. Superman does say goodbye to Martha and Lois, saying this is something he has to do. The crystalline technology he’s used to build his ship will get his there in less than three years, in suspended animation. He has to find some artifact, he can’t possibly be the last son of Krypton.
During the scene where Supes lands on Luthor’s island and loses his powers, he gets beaten up. He tries to punch one of the goons but it’s barely a tap, since he’s used to tightly controlling his strength. Jonathan Kent’s lecture about control echoes in his ears. Suddenly, he punches one of the goons, very hard, with all his mortal strength. He begins beating all three severely, putting all his energy into it. For the first time, he doesn’t have to hold back. Luthor is a bit taken aback by this, but after Superman clobbers the third goon (and seeming to enjoy the experience of cutting loose), Luthor levels a gun on him and gives a brief speech along the lines of “You think it’s fun to be human? To feel pain and weakness and death.” The island shifts a bit, undergoing another growth spurt. Luthor smiles. “My baby’s growing up, and soon I’ll have power that men dream of. All I need is time.” Superman looks at him, looks at the island, then turns, runs and dives into the ocean. Luthor is somewhat surprised and vaguely troubled by this.
Lois and Richard, meanwhile, are flying their plane back to the island because Lois knows Supes is in big trouble. They find him, swimming and tired, nearly drowned, trying to get as far from the island as possible, hoping his powers will return before he collapses of exhaustion. They pick him up and he weakly tells them to fly him to STAR labs or some other high-tech facility. Shortly, Superman (his power returning but not yet at maximum) is picking out the facility’s best radiation suit. “What are you going to do?” ask Lois. “I have to get that thing off of Earth. It’s what [dramatic music] destroyed Krypton,” replies Supes. “Wait, Superman” says an earnest lab tech, “The suit is designed for radiation protection. It’s not a spacesuit. It’ll never stand up to the stresses.”
Supes, suited, tries anyway. He lifts the island of Earth but his radiation suit starts to shred. Supes clearly gets weaker and weaker and just barely pushes the island away before falling back to Earth, the radiation suit burning off of him. He plunges to Earth.
Later, he has the same scene in the kid’s room, except in addition to the “father/son” stuff, he also says to the sleeping kid that he’ll have the kind of power men dream of. All he needs is time.
He knows Lois loves Superman, but Richard doesn’t act bitter or angry. He’s there standing up for himself and their relationship.
is too risky. Supes has to handle humans like they are eggs. One slip in concentration and there’s a yellow puddle in his hand.