Proposed Superman II ending

[GoNerdYourself]

From what I understand, Richard Donner didn't meticulously oversee The Donner Cut. It was more or less spearheaded by the cut's editor, Michael Thau, and Donner basically just signed off on it. Of course, it's not really a definitive version of what Donner's Superman II would have been if he hadn't been fired. The ending would have been changed. Different scenes would have been shot. Different editing choices. John Williams might've even come back, who knows?

As the film stands now, I kinda want an amalgamation of both cuts. The ham-fisted triumph of Superman flying the flag returned with the Jor-El scenes, Lester's main title sequence, Donner's opening sequence, the gun scene at the hotel, and the Metropolis fight being a combination of the two versions.

[thecolorsblend]

It's interesting to see Donner's footage... but ultimately the vision and the execution are both deeply flawed.

After all these years, I think WB missed an opportunity by not commissioning an animated Superman II using the STAS voice cast to give Donner and Mankeywhatsis full creative freedom to do whatever they want rather than be restricted to stuff they wrote and shot decades ago. Considering all the time that's passed, that or something like it is probably the best we could've hoped for.

Now, with Mankeywhatsis gone, we can't even hope for that.

[GoNerdYourself]

I like the Donner scenes. Well, the major ones at least. I just don't like the editing work on that cut as a whole. For example, I always felt the placement (or even the inclusion  of) the Washington Monument scene was very off-beat and many of the "new" scenes required tighter editing. Also, the few moments of additional CGI (which I believe was single-handledly done by the editor, Michael Thau) weren't very good.

I see this cut as more or less an experiment. Better yet, a time capsule that captures the hazy image of what Superman II could've been had the original intent prior to the decision to move the ending.

[The Laughing Fish]

I was looking back at Lois Lane's death in S78, and I was curious to know if her demise was originally planned in the shooting script. I was surprised to find out that it wasn't. As a matter of fact, it was originally planned that Superman saved Lois from the crushed car before rescuing Jimmy.

48   EXT. DESERT  -  DAY -  CLOSE ON LOIS

   LOIS speeds across the desert in her car which shakes from the impact of the quake.

248A   EXT.  SKY CLOSE ON SUPERMAN

SUPERMAN, flying at top speed, looks down, spots LOIS.  A crack in the earth    erupts behind the car, almost seems to chase it, overtaking the car from behind. 

248B   CLOSER ANGLE

LOIS' car topples into the crack in the earth, falling down some fifteen feet.

248C   CLOSE ON LOIS
   
LOIS is pinned inside her car by the double walls of earth.  The crack now starts to close
again, squashing the vehicle as the metal groans and LOIS  screams.

248D   ANGLE FROM BELOW

   SUPERMAN shoots up from the earth below, pushes the car up and out, lifts it into the air.
He looks down.

248E   ANGLE ON CRACK  -  SUPERMAN' S POV

   The crack slams shut with a sickening sound.

248F   EXT. MOUNTAIN TOP

   SUPERMAN deposits the squashed car with LOIS inside on a mountain top, rips the door
off, helps her out.

SUPERMAN
            Sorry about the car ...

               LOIS
            Forget it, it's a Hertz.

Source: https://www.supermanhomepage.com/movies/superman_I_shoot.txt

This confirms that Lois's death was added later on for dramatic effect, together with moving Superman's turn back time ending for the first film. Without it, Superman saves the day without any tension at all. I wouldn't mind this, but once again, it goes to show that killing off Lois and then bringing her back to life is a cop out. Ironically, I bet this would get ridiculed in today's 'damn if you do and damn if you don't' attitudes towards the character.

Can you imagine if they had the balls to kill off Lois permanently back then?

[The Laughing Fish]

I really enjoy Superman III. The flying effects are the best the Reeve franchise ever did and the story is pretty much in line with the comics of that time. Very underrated movie. Very enjoyable.

Looking back at this again, am I wrong to assume this is the only Reeve Superman film where he isn't selfish or impulsive? Admittedly, I haven't seen the film in a long time, but I don't remember him doing anything as consciously selfish as turning the world back in time to save one life and giving up his powers to be with Lois. Even in The Quest for Peace, he ignored the ghosts of the Kryptonian council and went out of his way to disarm the nuclear missiles around the world. He might've thought he was doing a noble thing to protect the world from nuclear war, but it was still selfish.

[The Dark Knight]

I think a sense of naivety works well with Superman, but it has to be done carefully. If it's overdone he can appear too dumb. I think Peace on Earth showcases this balancing act rather well. Superman has the noble intention of feeding the world, but his mission eventually backfires, and it's not all his fault. Generally speaking, being the last survivor of Krypton puts him into a unique position. Sure, the Kryptonian council ghosts can have their say. But ultimately Superman lives in the present day and has to make a decision. He's a living person who has freewill and free thought. Is that being selfish? I don't really think so. It's a judgement call. We're always working within the parameters of whatever situation we find ourselves in at the time.

[The Laughing Fish]

I saw a fan edit that combined both endings from the Donner cut and the theatrical cut.

I'm not a fan. The combination of the two endings simply doesn't flow.

While I'm on the subject of fan edits, I saw this other edit of Clark relinquishing his powers, using Jor-El and Lara together. Apart from the awkward swapping of Clark's normal clothes with the Superman costume in that line of dialogue from the Donner cut, I think the whole scene works quite well. But I prefer the Jor-El sequence untouched as it is.

[The Laughing Fish]

Here is a fan edit of Superman fighting TIE Fighters and the Death Star. Makes me believe a more action packed Superman film back in the day could've been possible.

[thecolorsblend]

I was looking back at Lois Lane's death in S78, and I was curious to know if her demise was originally planned in the shooting script. I was surprised to find out that it wasn't. As a matter of fact, it was originally planned that Superman saved Lois from the crushed car before rescuing Jimmy.

...

This confirms that Lois's death was added later on for dramatic effect, together with moving Superman's turn back time ending for the first film. Without it, Superman saves the day without any tension at all. I wouldn't mind this, but once again, it goes to show that killing off Lois and then bringing her back to life is a cop out. Ironically, I bet this would get ridiculed in today's 'damn if you do and damn if you don't' attitudes towards the character.

It is my understanding that Donner made the decision to abandon filming on Superman II about 3/4's of the way through the process. At some point along the way, somebody realized that if the first movie doesn't succeed, there won't be a second movie.

Lois was originally slated to "die" in Superman II. Then Superman reverses time (or something) such that the villains never escaped from the Phantom Zone, thereby saving her life. Obviously, that time travel ending was shot for SII but the time travel concept got repurposed for STM. My understanding is that her death in SII was never filmed but obviously elements of the time travel bit that "resurrected" her did get shot for SII.

Honestly, time travel is a crutch anyway. But if it must be used, it belongs in STM. Because in SII, Superman makes some very difficult decisions and time travel allows him to largely skip out on his responsibility for those decisions.

Obviously, Donner never got a chance to finish Superman II. But the plan was to develop a new ending for SII that didn't involve time travel.

Can you imagine if they had the balls to kill off Lois permanently back then?

I don't think they were contractually allowed to do it. WB attached all sorts of limitations on what the Salkinds were and were not permitted to do in the films. They had a lot of leeway. More than you might think. But certain characters were not allowed to be permanently killed off.

Looking back at this again, am I wrong to assume this is the only Reeve Superman film where he isn't selfish or impulsive? Admittedly, I haven't seen the film in a long time, but I don't remember him doing anything as consciously selfish as turning the world back in time to save one life and giving up his powers to be with Lois. Even in The Quest for Peace, he ignored the ghosts of the Kryptonian council and went out of his way to disarm the nuclear missiles around the world. He might've thought he was doing a noble thing to protect the world from nuclear war, but it was still selfish.

I see Superman IV as the one where Superman learned that he can't do the heavy lifting for mankind. "It is forbidden for you to interfere in human history. Rather, let your leadership stir others to their own capacities." He's supposed to be a good and example; not a dictator.

In Superman IV, he became a dictator. A benign dictator, but a dictator nevertheless. And he learned that mankind will have to solve some problems on their own. Artificially enforcing peace upon them is just as immoral as forcing anything else upon them.

Frankly, I don't think nuclear disarmament was a very pressing concern in 1987. But whatevs, it's on point for the character to recognize and accept that there are social limitations on his abilities as well as practical limitations. He may have the physical capability to rid the world of nuclear weapons. He may have the social currency to do it. But he doesn't have the moral right to impose his will upon others.

Years ago, I skimmed a fanfic where Superman takes on a more activist role. Rather than rid the world of nuclear weapons, he instead publicizes the USA and USSR's respective missile ranges, deployments, nuclear capabilities and other technical information. The idea is that the whole world would know what each country is and is not capable of. Publicizing that information was intended force both nations into knowing all of the other side's secrets at the same time their own secrets are known as well. The thinking goes that revealing that information would force both sides to abandon their posturing and blusters.

I don't know if the second part was ever published. But in the fanfic, relations between Washington and Moscow became completely destabilized because the USSR had far more missiles overall while the US had missiles that were more powerful overall. Neither side understood those things and so the entire worldwide balance of power had gotten thrown up into the air. The NATO countries began quietly developing nuclear programs of their own to counter Soviet firepower since, it seemed, the Americans weren't getting it done.

Far from eliminating the nuclear threat, Superman had increased it as more countries began acquiring nukes, either through their own development or through sales by international arms dealers.

In the fic, western Europe became a bigger thorn in everybody's side since they (understandably) were sick of living in the potential USSR/USA nuclear crossfire and they were determined to blow the crap out of everybody if things ever went sideways.

The writer was trying to make the point that a lot of international situations with which Superman involves himself are unspeakably volatile and could result in the very problems he's attempting to correct getting worse. He said that the object of his fic was to show Superman ultimately settling into a role of perfect moral leadership rather than heavy-handed tactics of personally ridding the world of nuclear weapons or activist tactics of publicizing everybody's nuclear secrets.

It was sort of a boring fanfic, really, but the moral premise of it is intriguing.

[The Dark Knight]

Honestly, time travel is a crutch anyway. But if it must be used, it belongs in STM. Because in SII, Superman makes some very difficult decisions and time travel allows him to largely skip out on his responsibility for those decisions.

Time travel can be fascinating to me from a storytelling perspective, especially if a full arc is devoted to that plot. It can be haunting, complicated and very rewarding. I prefer there to be consequences, but I'm usually okay with a clean resolution if the journey to that place is harrowing and at times in doubt. The ending of Superman (1978) is on the simplistic side and thus I've never been much of a fan. Superman can fly, lift huge weight and blast heat from his eyes - I'd prefer time travel powers relegated to the Flash.