Superman Returns is a 2006 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character Superman. The film was directed by Bryan Singer, and written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris from a story by Singer, Dougherty, and Harris. It serves as an homage sequel to Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980), ignoring the events of Superman III (1983), Supergirl (1984), and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). The film stars Brandon Routh as Superman, Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor, with James Marsden, Frank Langella, Eva Marie Saint and Parker Posey in supporting roles. In the film, Superman returns to Earth after five years and discovers that his love interest Lois Lane has moved on from him, and that his archenemy Lex Luthor is planning to kill him and reshape North America.
After a series of unsuccessful projects to resurrect Superman following the critical and financial failure of The Quest for Peace, Warner Bros. Pictures hired Singer to direct Superman Returns in July 2004. The majority of principal photography took place at Fox Studios Australia, Sydney while the visual effects sequences were handled by several studios, including Sony Pictures Imageworks, Rhythm & Hues Studios (R&H), Framestore CFC, Rising Sun Pictures and The Orphanage; filming began in March 2005 and ended in November. The film was the first film produced by Legendary Pictures.
The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its visual effects, storyline, and Singer's direction, but criticized its screenplay and runtime. While Superman Returns was one of the biggest films of the year, earning $391.1 million on a budget of $204–223 million and becoming the ninth highest-grossing film of 2006, Warner Bros. was disappointed with the worldwide box office return and cancelled a sequel for release in 2009. The Superman film series was rebooted in 2013 with Man of Steel, directed by Zack Snyder and starring Henry Cavill as Superman. Routh later reprised his role as Superman in the 2019 Arrowverse crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths".
Plot
Superman has been missing for five years, ever since he traveled to the location where astronomers believed they discovered the remains of Krypton. His arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor, has recently been released from prison and married a wealthy widow to inherit her fortune upon her death.
Having failed to find any surviving Kryptonians, Superman returns to Earth and resumes his job at the Daily Planet in Metropolis as his alter-ego Clark Kent. There, he learns that the woman he loves, Lois Lane, is engaged to Perry White's nephew, Richard, with whom she has a 5-year-old son, Jason. She has won the Pulitzer Prize for her article "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman."
Luthor travels to the Fortress of Solitude and steals Kryptonian crystals, which he uses for an experiment that causes a power outage on the East Coast. The power loss interferes with the flight test of a Space Shuttle to be launched into space from its piggy-back mounting on an airliner occupied by Lois, who is covering the story. Clark flies into action as Superman, launching the shuttle into the sky and stopping the plane from crashing into a baseball field.
The world rejoices at Superman's return, though he has difficulty coping with the fact that those he was once close to have moved on from him. When Superman gets distracted by an out-of-control vehicle, a diversion involving Luthor's henchwoman, Kitty Kowalski, Luthor steals Kryptonite from the Metropolis Museum of Natural History. Perry assigns Lois to interview Superman, while Clark investigates the blackout. Lois and Jason inadvertently board Luthor's yacht and are captured after Lois decides to hold an interest in the blackout story, which she connects to Luthor's experiment. He reveals to them his plan to use one of the stolen Kryptonian crystals, which he has combined with the Kryptonite, to grow a new landmass in the Atlantic Ocean that will supplant the United States and kill billions of people.
Seeing Jason's apparent reaction to Kryptonite, Luthor asks Lois who his father is; Lois asserts that his father is Richard. The crystal begins forming Luthor's landmass as Lois attempts to escape. She is attacked by one of Luthor's henchmen, but, as the boat rocks in the waves, a piano which was next to Jason slams into the henchman from off-screen. Meanwhile, Superman attempts to minimize the destruction in Metropolis caused by the new landmass's growth, and Richard pilots a seaplane to rescue Lois and Jason.
Confronting Luthor, Superman is weakened by the Kryptonite-filled landmass, allowing Luthor and his henchmen to brutalize him. Superman is stabbed with a shard of Kryptonite by Luthor, falls into the ocean, and is left to drown, but Lois and Richard rescue him. After Lois removes the Kryptonite shard from his body, Superman regains his strength and lifts the landmass, thanks to much of the island's mass being between him and the Kryptonite. Luthor's henchmen are killed, but Luthor and Kitty escape in their helicopter. Unwilling to let billions of people die, Kitty tosses away the crystals that Lex stole from the Fortress of Solitude before their helicopter runs out of fuel, leaving them stranded on a deserted island.
Superman pushes the landmass with the crystals into space. Weakened by the Kryptonite, he crashes back to Earth. At the hospital, after removing another shard of Kryptonite from Superman's body, doctors learn that they cannot penetrate his skin with their surgical tools, and he remains in a coma. While visiting Superman, Lois whispers something into his ear and kisses him. Superman awakens and visits the sleeping Jason, to whom he recites the last speech from his late biological father Jor-El. As Lois starts writing an article entitled "Why the World Needs Superman" (but has nothing on the page but the title), Superman reassures her that he is back to stay and flies off to low orbit, where he gazes down at the world.
Cast Brandon Routh as Clark Kent / Superman: The Kryptonian superhero whose alter-ego is a mild-mannered farmer-turned-journalist. Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane: A reporter who works with Clark Kent at the Daily Planet, and former lover of Superman. James Marsden as Richard White: The nephew of the Daily Planet editor-in-chief Perry White and fiancé to Lois Lane. Marsden said Richard acts as an emotional challenge for Superman, since the hero comes back to find that "Lois Lane picks somebody who's very Supermanesque". Frank Langella as Perry White: The editor of the Daily Planet. Eva Marie Saint as Martha Kent: Clark Kent's adoptive mother. Parker Posey as Kitty Kowalski: Lex Luthor's henchwoman. She served as a prison nurse and would give Lex his examinations.Superman Returns Prequel #3 (Lex Luthor) The character is based on Eve Teschmacher from the 1978 film, portrayed by Valerie Perrine. Kal Penn as Stanford: One of Luthor's henchmen. Sam Huntington as Jimmy Olsen: A photographer at the Daily Planet and a friend of Clark. Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor: A sociopathic scientist armed with vast resources and an extensive knowledge of science who is Superman's nemesis. Spacey's version of Luthor retains some campy attributes and a similar interest in real estate from the earlier Gene Hackman version, but is also more serious and threatening than Hackman's portrayal. Spacey said that director Singer told him to play the character as "darker and more bitter" compared to Hackman and not to use the earlier portrayal as an inspiration. Tristan Lake Leabu as Jason White: The son of Lois Lane. The question of whether Superman or Richard is Jason's father is never explicitly resolved. Jason has asthma and other ailments, but some scenes tease that he feels discomfort around Kryptonite and that he might have superhuman strength.
Marlon Brando appears posthumously as Jor-El, Superman's late biological father. Brando, who died in 2004, reprises his role from the 1978 film through the use of previous footage combined with computer-generated imagery, his footage, filmed before by Richard Donner for Superman II before his dismissal, were rescued for the making of Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut. This required negotiations with Brando's estate for permission to have his footage used. Singer explained, "We had access to all of the Brando footage that was shot. There was unused footage that had Brando reciting poems, trailing off subject, and swearing like a sailor."
Peta Wilson appears as NASA spokeswoman Bobbie-Faye. Jack Larson, who portrayed Jimmy Olsen in the 1950s television series Adventures of Superman, makes a cameo appearance as Bo the bartender. Noel Neill—who portrayed Lois Lane in the television series and the film serials Superman (1948) and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950)—appears as Luthor's elderly wife Gertrude Vanderworth. Richard Branson cameos as the engineer aboard the space shuttle, along with his son Sam. Another of Luthor's henchmen (Riley) is played by Australian Rugby League footballer Ian Roberts.
Production
Director, screenwriter, and producer Bryan Singer conceived the storyline of "Superman returning to Earth after a five-year absence" during the filming of X2 (2003). He presented the idea to X-Men (2000) and X2 producer Lauren Shuler Donner and her husband Richard Donner, director of Superman (1978). Donner greeted Singer's idea with positive feedback.
In March 2004, Warner Bros. Pictures was commencing pre-production on Superman: Flyby (which Singer previously passed on as he wanted to make his own story), which had a scheduled theatrical release date of June 2006. McG was signed to direct with a script by J. J. Abrams, but dropped out in June 2004. That same month, Singer was approached by Warner Bros. to pitch his idea for Superman Returns, as he was preparing to leave for Hawaii on a short vacation with his X2 writers Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris. While in Hawaii, Singer, Dougherty, and Harris began to outline the film treatment. In July 2004, Singer signed on to direct and develop Superman Returns.
Although he was not a comic book fan, Singer was most impressed with Donner's 1978 film, citing it as an influence on his, Dougherty, and Harris's writing. With Singer's hiring, he dropped out of X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and also had the Logan's Run remake pushed back. Superman Returns was financed 50/50 between Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures, and pre-production began in November 2004. By February 2005, Dougherty and Harris had written six drafts of the script. Early versions of the script contained references to the September 11 attacks before they were removed.
Casting Jim Caviezel expressed interest in playing the role of Superman but Singer believed only an unknown actor would be suitable for the part of Superman. Brandon Routh was chosen from thousands of candidates interviewed at casting calls in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. He had also auditioned for Clark Kent in the television series Smallville, losing to Tom Welling. Routh had also met director Joseph "McG" Nichol for the role during pre-production of Superman: Flyby. Dana Reeve, widow of Christopher Reeve, believed Routh's physical resemblance to her late husband was striking. To obtain the muscular physique to play Superman convincingly, Routh underwent a strict bodybuilding exercise regimen. Prior to Routh's casting, Singer had X2 actor Daniel Cudmore audition. Jon Hamm, Henry Cavill, Glenn Howerton, Sam Heughan and Chris Pratt also auditioned; Cavill would later portray Superman in several DC Extended Universe films. Cavill later denied that he read for Returns and stated he only tested for McG.