Revealing mistake: When Lois jumps in the river, she is replaced by a very obvious mannequin that floats stiff. Furthermore, the current tilts the dummy and its two arms bent like a sex doll's are perfectly visible.
Revealing mistake: When Superman arrives at the tropical place, the sea doesn't move, revealing it's a very obvious still picture where a flying Superman has been inserted.
Revealing mistake: After the army jeep drives through a House in East Houston, notice the driver's stiffness despite the crash and fall, revealing it's a dummy.
Revealing mistake: When the 3 villains start blowing at the people in Metropolis, the papers come blowing from the left and right sides of the set, revealing where the huge fans where placed to achieve the effect.
Revealing mistake: When Ursa throws the sewer lid at Superman a sticky object protrudes from his back, revealing the mechanism that pulled him backwards.
Revealing mistake: Right when the Metropolis fight is about to start, Superman flies to the Daily Planet and passes by a building. Check the pattern on the windows and you'll notice that the same small door on the left appears almost everywhere, revealing that a miniature was used.
Revealing mistake: During the Metropolis battle, after Non and Super go down through the pavement, Non is launched upwards thorough the concrete. Check the people around, specially the cop on the right. They are blatant toys (note the cop's weird arms), revealing it is all a miniature set.
Revealing mistake: When the villains blow away the stuff in Metropolis, the fire hydrant falls down and reveals it wasn't fixed to the ground, a blatant prop.
Revealing mistake: When Non punches Superman and he crashes against a metal wall, there's a brief shot where Chris Reeve's stunt double is very noticeable.
Revealing mistake: At the Fortress, when the villains and Superman play the appearing/disappearing trick, there's a shot with 4 Supermen onscreen, a special effect which was achieved with stand-ins. The one in front of Zod, and especially the one next to Lois look nothing like Christopher Reeve.
Revealing mistake: When Luthor is about to climb up the balloon his bald cap wrinkles by his nape.
Revealing mistake: In the prison laundry, Luthor's bald cap is very noticeable, especially by his sideburns.
Revealing mistake: When the phantom zone explodes it is a cheap pencil drawing animation.
Revealing mistake: When Luthor and Teschmaker are in the balloon, in the wide angle they both become coloured green due to the blue screen effect.
Revealing mistake: When Superman launches the Eiffel elevator in space and he flies back to earth, a white rectangle surrounds him where his image was superimposed to achieve the flying effects. (The Ultimate Collector´s Edition Box Set).
Revealing mistake: When Superman grabs the antenna above the pram, part of the antenna disappears because of the blue screen effects.
Revealing mistake: As Zod and crew blow people and objects down the street, it is obvious in some shots that they're all heading toward a painted studio wall.
Revealing mistake: As Ursa slams the man's arm down, the section of the table their arms hit has been cut to make the stunt possible.
Revealing mistake: As Non lifts the car to get the shotgun, the front of the undercarriage has a pile of dirt it, possibly to hide the lifting device.
Revealing mistake: The Cosmonaut Zod meets first pulls at his supply line. As he does, if you look closely the black wire used to make the hose move is visible.
Answer: In the theatrical cut, nobody really knows why the green crystal restored his powers. However if you watch the Richard Donner cut, it is explained that the green crystal is a communication device that helps Superman talks to the residual essence/spirit/ghost of his father Jor-El. Before he died, Jor-El gave the crystal to his son. Jor-El anticipated that Kal-El might give up his powers, and he also anticipated that Zod might eventually escape the Phantom Zone, so Jor-El lets his son absorb the leftover energy of his spirit, thus restoring all his Kryptonian powers.
Matt Van Gogh