In Superman II, the Man of Steel must make the difficult choice between staying true to his duty or pursuing the love of his life. With lots of violence, smoking and sexual content—along with a self-idolizing villain—the film is not at all free from parental concerns. Still, it emphasizes the importance of self-sacrifice in the service and protection of others.
It hasn’t been long since we last saw Superman.
After he saved millions of Americans from the deadly missiles of Lex Luthor in Superman, the Man of Steel went back to Metropolis to continue working as the humble Clark Kent for the Daily Planet. With nobody the wiser.
Except perhaps Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane.
Lois finds it a bit odd that her polite colleague is mysteriously absent whenever the caped crusader comes around. In fact, she’s so sure that Clark and Superman are the same person, she’s willing to bet her life on it.
While on an assignment with Clark at Niagara Falls, Lois purposely takes a tumble into the perilous waters, hoping Clark will unveil himself as Superman to save her.
No such luck.
Clark helps pull Lois from the river without revealing his identity. But later that same day, he inadvertently blows his cover after tripping into a lit fireplace and coming out completely unscathed.
That’s when Lois decides to reveal her own secret: She’s fallen in love with Superman. And well, Superman loves her, too.
But if Superman wants to spend his life with Lois, he can’t continue being Superman. He’ll have to give up his Kryptonian powers and become mortal. That’s a sacrifice Superman is more than willing to do. After all, he kinda likes being Clark Kent. And he absolutely adores Lois.
Unfortunately, the timing couldn’t be worse.
Just as Superman decides to relinquish his abilities, General Zod—a warlord from Krypton who was imprisoned by Superman’s father, Jor-El, at the beginning of the first Superman film—escapes his Phantom Zone prison, along with two other criminals loyal to him alone. They head for Earth, planning to take over the planet and seek revenge against Jor-El’s son.
Zod and his cronies soon discover the light of Earth’s yellow sun grants them extraordinary powers—the same powers as Superman himself, actually. But rather than use their strengths for good, they wreak havoc, forcing the president and other world leaders to yield all authority to Zod.
Will Superman give up his powers for Lois, allowing Zod to enslave the citizens of Earth? Or will he choose his duty to protect humans over love?
Whether he’s fighting bad guys or posing as the bumbling Clark Kent, Superman exhibits many admirable qualities. He’s polite, humble and kind. And no matter what, he always tries to do the right thing. Zod tries to exploit these traits, believing that Superman’s love of humans and sense of justice will be his downfall.
But Superman is no fool. He has his flaws, certainly, and he makes a few mistakes along the way. However, he also learns from his failures. He perseveres. And in the end, he makes a huge personal sacrifice to keep the people of Earth safe from Zod and any other criminals who may threaten the world in the future.
Lois tells Superman that she’s selfish when it comes to him. However, when the going gets tough, she’s the first person to tell Superman not to give in to Zod’s demands, even though it means she might not be able to be with the man she loves.
Some people lose faith in Superman when he doesn’t immediately show up to stop Zod’s takeover. (Superman was simply unaware of the invasion.) However, a few folks remain hopeful. And when it seems that Superman might have been defeated, many people bravely take up arms against Zod and his cohorts.
As already mentioned, Superman has powers resulting from his proximity to our solar system’s yellow sun. He has super strength and speed—and he used the later to turn back time in the events of Superman. He can fly. He has heat vision and freezing breath. His skin is bullet-proof. He can teleport across short distances and create mirrored copies of himself. And he also has some ability to erase memories.
When General Zod and his companions, Ursa and Non, arrive, they discover they have the same abilities. (They also make great use of a super-breath power that allows them to blow people away with the force of a hurricane.)
Zod believes these powers make him worthy of worship. In fact, he demands it. When someone says, “Oh, God,” in fear, Zod corrects them, reminding them that his name is “Zod.” At another point, he uses his new superpowers to seemingly walk on water.
Two nuns are among some hostages taken by terrorists early in the film. Someone suggests that Superman must be Jewish. A man on the street wears a sign that says, “Prepare to meet thy doom. The end of the world is nigh.”
Ursa, Zod’s female companion, wears a black jumpsuit with a plunging neckline. After coming to Earth, she also cuts slits into the arms and legs of this outfit, revealing even more skin.
After confessing their love for one another, Superman takes Lois to his Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic. They share a romantic dinner, then Lois slips away to change into something “more comfortable.” When she returns, she’s wearing a nightgown-like robe. It’s modest compared to Ursa’s getup, but the intention behind the outfit makes it more tantalizing. And Lois and Superman spend the night together.
When we next see the couple, they’re in bed together with blankets covering their nakedness. Later in the film, Superman and Lois share a kiss.
An astronaut jokes that he is engaged to another male astronaut. Several men make inappropriate remarks to women throughout the film.
Lois and Clark pose as newlyweds at Niagara Falls as they investigate a honeymoon racket. A hotel attendant makes some unseemly jokes about their marital status, suspecting that all is not as it seems. When Clark asks Lois about their sleeping arrangements, she informs him that he’ll be sleeping on the couch. And Clark is surprised to learn that the bed in their suite shakes. Lois makes some cynical remarks about couples, suggesting that many will get divorced.
Several billboards feature bikini-clad women. Flashbacks to the first Superman film show a woman in a bikini. We also see Superman as a young boy emerge from the wreckage of his spaceship completely unclothed.
Zod and his cohorts are ruthless murderers. No surprise, since that’s part of the reason they were imprisoned to begin with. In fact, the first time we see the Kryptonian criminals, Non breaks a man’s neck. But all three have killed before. And the first thing they do upon escaping their prison is attack astronauts on the moon, killing three men without compunction.
As the film continues, these criminals continue attacking the citizens of Earth, causing destruction and mayhem wherever they go. We don’t see any explicit deaths onscreen, but people are certainly getting hurt. And Zod makes it clear that he plans to kill Superman.
When Superman finally battles Zod, Ursa and Non, there’s a lot of collateral damage, perhaps to be expected in a fight between four superpowered beings. Again, we don’t see any deaths onscreen—Superman goes out of his way to prevent that from happening—but there are still collateral casualties.
Throughout the film, police and soldiers fire guns, bazookas and rockets at Zod and his henchmen, but the three remain unharmed, thanks to their bullet-proof skin. We see many explosions throughout the film too, including a helicopter crashing into a barn after Ursa blows it off course.
Early in the film, terrorists take hostages at the Eiffel Tower, threatening to set off a hydrogen bomb if the French government refuses to meet their demands. (They later release the hostages in good faith.) Unfortunately, their bomb is prematurely triggered when French policeman try to blow the elevator it’s located on. Superman saves Paris from total destruction by taking the bomb to space. However, the shockwaves from the explosion are what break Zod and his companions free from their orbital prison in the Phantom Zone.
Lois hopes to become an award-winning journalist. However, in her determination, she often puts herself in harm’s way. She gets into several scuffles. She’s nearly crushed by a falling elevator when she sneaks into the Eiffel Tower during the terrorist attack. She almost drowns trying to prove that Clark Kent is actually Superman. And she even becomes a bit of a liability to Superman, since Zod and his companions threaten her life to manipulate the caped crusader.
Shortly after giving up his powers, Superman (now just Clark) goes to a diner with Lois. A man there takes Clark’s seat and tries to flirt with Lois. He refuses to vacate the seat upon Clark’s return, so Clark asks him to step outside. The man agrees but then sucker punches Clark in the back, knocking him into a glass panel. The now-powerless Clark tries to fight back, but he just gets hurt even worse. [Spoiler Warning] After regaining his powers, Superman returns later to teach the man a lesson, knocking him unconscious after embarrassing him. He apologizes to the owner of the diner for the damage and gives him some money to cover any repairs.
Superman rescues a young boy after the child falls off a railing at Niagara Falls. At one point, Superman (dressed as Clark) gets hit by a taxi; he walks away unscathed, but the taxi is heavily damaged. Flashbacks from the first film show Superman saving people from crashed helicopters, breaking bridges and broken train tracks.
A snake bites Ursa after she picks it up, so she vaporizes it with her heat vision. Elsewhere, she breaks a man’s arm after he invites her to sit on his lap. His buddy tries to defend him (even though she’s a girl, he says) but Zod throws the man through a wall.
Several characters are tossed into the bottomless crevices of the Fortress of Solitude (Superman’s Arctic home) during a fight. We briefly see Superman’s skeleton as he goes through the transition to become human, which seems to be painful.
At one point, Clark tells his boss that he doesn’t enjoy television because he finds it too violent.
We hear occasional uses of “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n” and “h—.” God’s name is misused a dozen times. Jesus’ name is misused once.
Lois and other characters smoke throughout the film. Lois’ habit is satirically punctuated by the fact that she claims to be health focused. We see print ads for cigarettes throughout the film. One man smokes a cigar. Some people drink at a bar. Lois and Superman share a bottle of champagne.
Lex Luthor is serving “life plus 25” for his criminal actions in the first Superman film. He executes an escape with the help of his girlfriend, Eve Teschmacher. When his henchman, Otis, proves to be too heavy for their air balloon, Lex cuts him loose, leaving Otis to be recaptured by prison guards.
Upon learning about Zod’s power, Lex tries to negotiate a deal with him. He asks that Zod give him control of Australia in exchange for giving the location of Superman’s hideout. He tries to double-cross Superman later in the film, too. And he encourages the kidnapping of Lois as a bargaining chip against Superman (which Zod eventually follows through on).
Several characters are rude and condescending. Lex, in particular, treats Otis and Eve cruelly, leaving viewers to wonder why they put up with him. And Non, one of Zod’s followers, is a mute man who is often treated with contempt by his companions.
Ursa and Lois insult each other’s appearance. Other insults are hurled throughout the film by a variety of characters.
A mother ignores her child while visiting Niagara Falls, and the child nearly falls into the water twice as a result (though Superman saves him both times). When the mother realizes what is happening, she scolds the boy for embarrassing her.
You know, I’d like to give Superman II a clean bill of health. I remember watching this film when I was a kid with my own parents. I remember liking it. But I definitely did not remember how much suggestive content was in this movie—a trait it shares with many other favorites from that era.
For instance, you might know that Superman and Lois are something of an item. But I wasn’t expecting them to hop into bed together. Of course, we don’t see anything explicit onscreen. But when we see them snuggled under the sheets together later on, there’s no doubt what occurred.
There are also a bunch of advertisements for cigarettes scattered throughout this film. Granted, this film has a lot of product placement anyways, but tobacco companies certainly had the most marketing dollars invested in Superman II.
I also forgot just how murderous General Zod was. In addition to killing people himself, he orders people to be executed about three different times—and for the most insignificant reasons. He also really plays up his godlike status, demanding people kneel and worship him.
But Zod’s ego is meant to be a stark contrast to Superman’s humility. When Superman came to Earth, he didn’t demand reverence or obedience. Rather, he hid his true identity, using his powers for good, to protect the people of Earth.
That’s one of the film’s more positive aspects. We also get a deeper look at Superman himself. He’s given the choice to be human—to let go of his responsibilities. And for a time, he embraces that option, hoping to live out his days with Lois, the love of his life.
However, when duty calls, Superman realizes that he can’t be selfish. He may not have asked for his Krypton-born abilities, but he has a responsibility to use them wisely. His parents—both the Kents on Earth and the El family on Krypton—instilled ethical values in him. They taught him to defend the weak, to protect the innocent and to seek justice for all.
That right there is the whole point of Superman. His task isn’t an easy one. It demands sacrifice on his part. But it’s one that he willingly and joyfully performs day in and day out. And that just might be enough to make Superman II an enjoyable pastime for families.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
