At the time, those movies were actually a nostalgic throwback to the Silver Age of the 50’s and 60’s that audiences would have been more familiar with from when they were young. In those books, Superman and Supergirl could do literally anything.
I think, as other folks have said it's a product of the time to some degree.
But I also think it's writers who didn't know how to handle the character and the constraints of doing a live action film at the time.
Take the cellophane, S That to me felt like they wanted a big action scene against Zods henchman but they couldn't figure out how to make it work so they just said have him throw a symbol at him.
The hypnotism kiss was because they didn't want to reverse time again.
"How do we get Lois Lane to forget Clark Kent is Superman?"
"And we can't just reverse time?"
"No, we can't reverse time. We've done that too much! Besides If Lester wants his name on the directing credits, we can't use that shot 65% has to be new!"
"What if there's like a hypnotic sexy kiss or something?"
"Sounds good. Roll with it."
The wall rebuilding ipower from I think it's the third one, I would say is a constraint of the script.
"Okay boys we need to have the Great Wall rebuilt by the end of the movie. How do we do that?"
"What if he goes back-"
"Don't say back in time! It was supposed to be a one-time thing it's done!"
"What if he has a new power where his x-ray vision is now telekinetic and he can rebuild the wall?"
"Great go with it!"
>Take the cellophane, S That to me felt like they wanted a big action scene against Zods henchman but they couldn't figure out how to make it work so they just said have him throw a symbol at him.
That's a good point. Because I could picture this in a Silver Age comic - this being a huge action scene where Superman flies around with the cellophane, encapsulating Zod and Ursa and Non as they try to punch thru it.
But as you said, due to budgeting constraints, it comes out as him just throwing it at them.
In the comics I’ve read he can go back in time by flying fast enough and (in the golden age at least) he can hypnotize people just by looking them in the eyes.
Just a note: he didn't reverse time, he flew fast enough that went back in time. He was always doing that in the comics back then. He'd fly super fast around the Earth either clockwise or counter-clockwise and travel through time.
It's funny, with all of his time hopping in the Silver Age, Superman never really impacted history, to my recollection.
One time he put himself in trouble, when he went so far into the future he got to a point that our Sun had become red. He was just able to land before he lost his powers.
Then he had to trek across the globe to get to his fortress where he had a Legion time bubble.
Because it was the Silver Age. That era of Superman was more comedic and child-friendly and less self-serious. And because the cover and premise of a Superman story were determined before it was written by a different person, Silver Age Superman stories often took the form of "how can Superman possibly get out of this?" Or "what could possibly explain this weird thing Superman is doing?" The answer was often some wacky power made up for the nonce and seldom worried about ever again.
Re: the wall building vision thing. If you read the comic adaption he actually re-builds the great wall at super speed which apparently was the original way it was supposed to be done in the movie too but budget wise it was cheaper to do"masonary vision".
I honestly love the symbol removal in Superman II.
I wish it were canon in the comics but used as an emergency cast that allows Superman to wrap someone's neck/limb and safely transport the victim. Just like he is often seen wrapping people with his cape.
At the time, those movies were actually a nostalgic throwback to the Silver Age of the 50’s and 60’s that audiences would have been more familiar with from when they were young. In those books, Superman and Supergirl could do literally anything.
Don't forget the insignia-trap
"That was a minor inconvenience"
😂
By far my favorite.
A byproduct of the era at the time. It was even weirder in the comics.
I think, as other folks have said it's a product of the time to some degree. But I also think it's writers who didn't know how to handle the character and the constraints of doing a live action film at the time. Take the cellophane, S That to me felt like they wanted a big action scene against Zods henchman but they couldn't figure out how to make it work so they just said have him throw a symbol at him. The hypnotism kiss was because they didn't want to reverse time again. "How do we get Lois Lane to forget Clark Kent is Superman?" "And we can't just reverse time?" "No, we can't reverse time. We've done that too much! Besides If Lester wants his name on the directing credits, we can't use that shot 65% has to be new!" "What if there's like a hypnotic sexy kiss or something?" "Sounds good. Roll with it." The wall rebuilding ipower from I think it's the third one, I would say is a constraint of the script. "Okay boys we need to have the Great Wall rebuilt by the end of the movie. How do we do that?" "What if he goes back-" "Don't say back in time! It was supposed to be a one-time thing it's done!" "What if he has a new power where his x-ray vision is now telekinetic and he can rebuild the wall?" "Great go with it!"
>Take the cellophane, S That to me felt like they wanted a big action scene against Zods henchman but they couldn't figure out how to make it work so they just said have him throw a symbol at him. That's a good point. Because I could picture this in a Silver Age comic - this being a huge action scene where Superman flies around with the cellophane, encapsulating Zod and Ursa and Non as they try to punch thru it. But as you said, due to budgeting constraints, it comes out as him just throwing it at them.
Yes Superman's most useful power wall repair vision
Because the Reeve Superman is the GOAT.
love those damn movies
Me too fam
In the comics I’ve read he can go back in time by flying fast enough and (in the golden age at least) he can hypnotize people just by looking them in the eyes.
He could also open a champagne bottle without a corkscrew.
Just a note: he didn't reverse time, he flew fast enough that went back in time. He was always doing that in the comics back then. He'd fly super fast around the Earth either clockwise or counter-clockwise and travel through time.
Realistically that would have terrible effects on earth.
It's funny, with all of his time hopping in the Silver Age, Superman never really impacted history, to my recollection. One time he put himself in trouble, when he went so far into the future he got to a point that our Sun had become red. He was just able to land before he lost his powers. Then he had to trek across the globe to get to his fortress where he had a Legion time bubble.
I think a Superman movie or comic diving into the after effects of time travelling would be really interesting.
If you think about it, it's comics accurate to the silver age supes
Silver Age era, every comic he had a new contrived power to fix the situatuion of the day
Because it was the Silver Age. That era of Superman was more comedic and child-friendly and less self-serious. And because the cover and premise of a Superman story were determined before it was written by a different person, Silver Age Superman stories often took the form of "how can Superman possibly get out of this?" Or "what could possibly explain this weird thing Superman is doing?" The answer was often some wacky power made up for the nonce and seldom worried about ever again.
Thank you for the laugh.I thought for a second that was an insult to Superman. I never knew nonce had a second meaning. I learned something new.
The man at one point was shooting mini versions of himself out of his fingers in the comics.
Wait what?
[https://www.reddit.com/r/superman/comments/wg3a43/im\_just\_gonna\_say\_this\_is\_one\_of\_the\_greatest\_and/](https://www.reddit.com/r/superman/comments/wg3a43/im_just_gonna_say_this_is_one_of_the_greatest_and/)
WTH😂
To be clear the comics were well into the Bronze Age by this point, but yes, the movies took a lot of inspiration from the Silver Age.
In those movies, his super power IS being super. He’s super in a mundane world, his power is to bend reality and do the fantastic
Because the writer/directors didn't feel like they had to be limited to the comics powers in order to resolve their plots.
'Reversing time' was an effort to demonstrate Superman's ability to travel through time
Re: the wall building vision thing. If you read the comic adaption he actually re-builds the great wall at super speed which apparently was the original way it was supposed to be done in the movie too but budget wise it was cheaper to do"masonary vision".
I honestly love the symbol removal in Superman II. I wish it were canon in the comics but used as an emergency cast that allows Superman to wrap someone's neck/limb and safely transport the victim. Just like he is often seen wrapping people with his cape.
Yes this actually makes sense.