Superman Returns: Difference between revisions

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Superman (Brandon Routh) returns to Earth five years after leaving to search for remnants of Krypton in deep space; in the time between Superman's departure and return, Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) won a Pulitzer Prize for the article "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman", and the world has moved on in his absence. Superman has to deal with the world's reaction to his return, work on mending his relationship with Lois, and foil the latest evil plot from power-hungry [[Lex Luthor]] (Kevin Spacey).

* [[Crazy Prepared]]: The Daily Planet has prepared headlines {{spoiler|for Superman's death or his recovery.}}

* [[Crucified Hero Shot]]: The exhausted Supes falling to Earth after {{spoiler|hurling an entire island made of Kryptonite out of the atmosphere.}} [[Anvilicious|Just in case you hadn't realized yet]] that [[Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory|he's Jesus]].

* [[Dark Mistress]]: Kitty.

* [[Data Crystal]]: The computer in Superman's Fortress. Luthor had some ideas for them.

* [[Dull Surprise]]: Kate Bosworth was accused of this.

* [[Eat the Dog]]: Twice: one of the Pomeranians left in the old widow's mansion ate the other one after Lex left it unattended for an extended perioid of time, and {{spoiler|he says he's going to use the remaining one as emergency rations after he threatens Kitty that he'd trade 300000 coconuts and all of her blood for a gallon of kerosene for his helicopter and she asks what would they eat then when they end up stranded on an island at the end of the movie.}}

{{quote|'''Kitty:''' I was going to ''pretend'' the brakes were out. '''Pretend!''' Like we talked about! You didn't actually have to ''cut them''!

'''Lex Luthor:''' Well, of course I did. [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|A man can always tell when a woman is pretending]]... [[Living Lie Detector|especially]] [[The Ace|Superman]]. }}

* [[Every Helicopter Is a Huey]]: Superman foils a bank robber attempting to make a rooftop getaway in a Huey, who's used the door-mounted minigun - which is inexplicably not only present but loaded - to hold off the cops. This doesn't work quite so well on [[Shooting Superman|Superman]].

* [[Eye Scream]] / [[Go for the Eye]]: It doesn't faze him.

* [[Foot Focus]]: Close up shot of Lois taking her shoes off before flying with Superman, and another close up shot of her bare feet when they land on the roof of the Daily Planet.

* [[Foreshadowing]]: When asking Clark about why Superman left without even saying goodbye, he reasons that it was too difficult for him to do so, to which Lois responds in her sarcastic manner; "What's so difficult about saying goodbye?!" {{spoiler|At the end of the film, before Superman lifts the Kryptonite continent into space, [[Heroic Sacrifice|an act that all involved were almost certain would kill him]], he says goodbye to Lois, and it seems she finally realizes what Clark meant earlier}}.

* [[Just Plane Wrong]]:

** Stranded on a tropical island with his female lackey and an out-of-fuel helicopter, Luthor laments, "I would trade three hundred ''thousand'' coconuts and every ounce of your blood for a ''quart of gasoline''!" However, his helicopter is an AW109, which runs on jet fuel (kerosene), not gasoline.

* [[Made of Iron]]: Lois. During the plane scene she gets tossed around the crashing plane more than a rag-doll in a tumble dryer, I mean really knocked around the plane's cabin yet walks away from it with nary a bruise or concussion. Sure she passes out but gets up the next day without a scratch.

* [[Magic Brakes]]: Used as a distraction {{spoiler|while Luthor steals some Kyptonite}}.

* [[Mama Bear]]: Played straight when Lois {{spoiler|begs Luthor to at least allow Jason to leave the yacht}}. Just after that, an [[Inverted Trope|inversion]]: {{spoiler|when Lois' captor notices her [[Message in a Bottle|transmission of an SOS fax]] (with the yacht's location) to the ''Daily Planet'' office, [[Would Hit a Girl|he predictably gets rough with her]]. That's when Jason ([[Berserk Button|scared and shocked by such abuse]]) [[Does Not Know His Own Strength|reflexively]] [[Pint-Sized Powerhouse|shoves the piano he'd been playing]] onto the unsuspecting guard.}}

* [[Meganekko]]: The [[Hot Scoop]] played by Peta Wilson.

* [[Not So Harmless]]: ''Lex Luthor'' of all people gets this treatment by {{spoiler|stabbing ''Superman'' [[In the Back]] with a shiv made out of Kryptonite}}.

* [[Off on a Technicality]]: Lex Luthor's conviction for his crimes at the [[Superman (film)|first Superman movie]] was overturned because Superman didn't show up to testify against him during the appeal.

* [[Pretty in Mink]]: Kitty wears some. It's not [[Fur and Loathing]], since it's established she is not actually evil.

* [[Rule of Symbolism]]: Lots of Christ symbolism.

* [[Spiritual Successor]]: It's often unclear whether the movie is a ''sequel'' to Donner's movie, or an example of this trope.

* [[Stealth Pun]]: A crew of bank robbers is about to make a helicopter escape, and at first their rooftop-mounted [[Gatling Good|minigun]] is doing a [[More Dakka|fine job]] of keeping the cops on the street pinned down. Two security guards bust onto the roof (from a stairwell) but [[Boom! Headshot!|his vest stops]] [[Averted Trope|all of their panicked shots]]. Once [[Now It's My Turn|he trains his weapon onto them]], [[Oh Crap|they know they are obviously screwed...]] {{spoiler|until [[Bullet Time|we see]] [[Immune to Bullets|Superman]] zoom in from ''behind the gunman'' into the line of fire. "[[Catch Phrase|Faster than a speeding bullet]]", indeed.}}