Superman II

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.

Sacha

Revealing mistake: The villains send cars flying through the air. This was achieved with detailed scale model cars in a scale model Metropolis. But in order to mimic the blown-away citizens they use cheap mannequins that move on some sort of conveyor belt. (01:43:50)

Sacha

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.

Sacha

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.

Sacha

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.

Sacha

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).

Sacha

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.

Movie Nut

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.

Movie Nut

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.

Movie Nut

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.

Movie Nut

Revealing mistake: In a close-up shot of the kid falling into the falls, one can notice the kid is just a dummy. Notice how his face is a lot paler than it was before. (00:39:35)

Casual Person

Revealing mistake: The hole that Non and Superman go through is already patched, as it's a different colour from the rest of the pavement (either from previous takes or to allow the effect).

Sacha

Revealing mistake: During the Marlboro truck scene, Zod's stunt double has very noticeably longer, darker and bulkier hair, plus a thicker beard.

Sacha

Revealing mistake: After coming out of the Marlboro truck, Superman grabs Zod by his feet. When he sends him flying away, Zod's been replaced by an obvious doll.

Sacha

Revealing mistake: In the first scene when the villains are at the console, you can see Ursa's nose disappear, then reappear when Non walks behind her, then it disappears again. (01:44:30)

Repo_Man

Superman II mistake picture

Revealing mistake: In Houston, when a man is thrown through a truck, notice the ground he falls on: The sand is leveled higher than the rest of the road around, obviously to hide a landing mat. Furthermore, after the fall the man turns around and he's got a bulgy square on the back to help for a safe stunt.

Sacha

More mistakes in Superman II

Clark Kent: I have to go back.
Lois Lane: You can't go back, there's no way now.
Clark Kent: I have to. I've gotta try dammit, I've got to try something. Anything.
Lois Lane: It's not your fault. You didn't know this was going to happen.
Clark Kent: They knew. I heard 'em. I just didn't listen.

More quotes from Superman II
More trivia for Superman II

Question: How did Superman get his powers back? I don't understand what that green crystal did.

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

More questions & answers from Superman II

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