"SUPERMAN" (1978)

CLOSE ON a crumpled piece of rubbish lying in the gutter. It is flattened by the wheel of a pushcart. CAMERA PULLS BACK: we SEE a street in a city neighborhood still fighting its way out of The Depression. KIDS play stickball, PEOPLE stand about, out-of-work MEN recline on tenement stoops.

Over this SUPERIMPOSE: METROPOLIS 1938

CAMERA TRACKS UP past a boarded-up store window with a "For Rent" sign on it, PAST trash cans being investigated by foraging dogs, PAST the stoop of brownstone where some care has been taken to keep things clean, PAST the parlor floor where an undershirted MAN argues with a bathrobed WOMAN, PAST the second floor windows where a YOUNG COUPLE bend over a crib, shaking a rattle and cooing at a new-born BABY wrapped in a pink blanket, UP PAST the roof of the brownstone, higher and higher, PAST the distant skyscrapers: the Chrysler Building, the Fuller building, the great, neon globe symbol atop the Daily Planet Building.

CAMERA LOOKS DOWN on the Daily Planet Globe. The only sound is the wind. CAMERA TILTS toward the star-filled sky and the full moon, then TAKES OFF.

CAMERA SPEEDS through the heavens past the moon, through the Universe, traveling on, gathering speed, further and further through the limitless void until it bursts through into another Galaxy.

A miniscule RED DOT appears, growing larger, spreading evenly into a BLAZING SUN, which fills the SCREEN. The fiery red SUN now grows smaller as we fall through space and see beyond it - the planet Krypton. As CAMERA CONTINUES toward Krypton, we see satellites, spacecraft, and Krypton's two distinct hemispheres. CAMERA HOLDS, PEERS DOWN at the city of Kryptonopolis.

CAMERA PANS the white, prismatic crystalline mountains near the city. WE SEE a gleaming, quicksilver lake.

Kryptonopolis is a magical city, constructed of pure white crystalline matter that encloses and protects it from the blazing red sun. CAMERA TRACKS across futuristic glass buildings, glass skyways, tunnels, and enclosed gardens, finally CLOSING IN on a specific domed structure silhouetted against the sky. A MAN'S VOICE is heard, gathering in volume and intensity.

CAMERA CLOSES IN on the domed roof of the building, now DISSOLVES THROUGH:

An electric white aura fills the screen. The dim outline of JOR-EL'S head can be seen almost floating above it, facing away from CAMERA as he continues.

The face of JOR-EL fills the SCREEN as he points an accusing finger INTO CAMERA. A handsome, intelligent face with great intensity, bathed in the electric white aura which surrounds him, almost pulsating with energy.

JOR-EL stands on the dark edge of a circular white ring of light thrusting down from the ceiling of the chamber.

8 CONTINUED

The domed roof rises, cathedral-like above, imprinted with giant projections of the faces of the COUNCIL OF ELDERS (eleven, besides JOR-EL) who watch the proceedings in judgment, presumably from some other location. Each ELDER is bathed in a specific aura similar to that of JOR-EL. Trapped inside the central dazzling white ring of light are THREE FIGURES. JOR-EL circles the edge of the ring.

9 CLOSE ON NON

The monstrous face of NON peers through the light at JOR-EL. A man only to the extent that he is not an animal - a force of frightening destruction whose only sounds are terrifying guttural roars.

NON lunges at JOR-EL with a roar, bounces back off the edge of the ring of light, which imprisons him.

CAMERA PANS TO URSA: A tall woman with a strikingly beautiful and cruel face. Consumed by a total hatred. Consumed by a total hatred of the male sex, she stares back at JOR-EL with patronizing contempt.

CAMERA PANS TO GENERAL ZOD: Glaring defiantly at JOR-EL through the dazzling light with a staggeringly vicious face. Even trapped in the prison of light he seems to generate an evil force of his own.

REVISION 21/3/77

9 CONTINUED

The huge faces of the COUNCIL OF ELDERS peer down from the domed ceiling as JOR-EL finishes.

Silence. CAMERA PANS UP to the faces. The FIRST ELDER pauses momentarily.

The FIRST ELDER'S face instantly disappears from the domed ceiling.

The SECOND ELDER'S face disappears. One by one the remaining NINE ELDERS vote "guilty" in rapid succession until the ceiling has become a black void.

11 CLOSE ON JOR-EL AND VILLAINS

JOR-EL faces GENERAL ZOD, his aura glowing as a separate island of light outside the circle.

11 CONTINUED

JOR-EL hesitates briefly, then suddenly disappears – his electric white aura extinguishing itself. ZOD's face twists with rage.

The domed roof of the building cracks open, starts to swivel back. In the distance: a slate-gray atmospheric eminence (THE PHANTOM ZONE) travels rapidly through the sky, approaches the opening.

The VILLAINS are alone in the trial chamber. ZOD rants:

The gray mass of the Phantom Zone has entered through the open dome, closes down on the VILLAINS, erasing the ring of white light as it progresses.

REVISION 21/3/77

13 CONTINUED

The Phantom Zone envelops the VILLAINS, wiping them up In a linear, one-dimensional fashion, then sweeping them out toward space. ZOD is silenced.

The Phantom Zone travels quickly across the city, bearing the imprints of the THREE VILLAINS, floats into space. CAMERA PANS OFF, DOWN at another specific building in the city, PUSHES IN, DISSOLVES THROUGH:

A pristinely immaculate chamber that overlooks the city of Kryptonopolis. Austere, dominated by concentric circles around which the TWELVE ELDERS sit or stand. In the center of the inner circle revolved an intelligence source on which various information may be presented. JOR-EL enters the chamber, appearing almost through motivational volition than through physical propulsion. The ELDERS turn, look at him. JOR-EL is deeply concerned.

Consternation from the ELDERS. A suddenly angry JOR-EL gestures at the revolving intelligence source in the center - various unfathomable equations appear.

15 CONTINUED

VOND-AH gestures at the intelligence source. JOR-EL'S equations disappear, are immediately replaced by a new series. VOND-AH smiles thinly.

REVISION 21/3/77

15 CONTINUED

Deadly silence. The FIRST ELDER locks eyes with JOR-EL.

JOR-EL'S house stands bathed in the strange glow of Kryptonian twilight.

Massive brightly glowing energy columns encircle the lab. JOR-EL works in the center, passes his hands over portions of a gleaming, spiny, silvery object (rocket ship) as he places crystals inside it which respond to him with throbbing lights.

REVISION 21/3/77

18 ANGLE ON LARA

LARA turns away, shuts her eyes. JOR-EL crosses to her.

18 CONTINUED

JOR-EL looks at her with compassion, but with the strength to cut her off.

The COUNCIL OF ELDERS, still in session, listen attentively to a MILITARY OFFICER standing before them.

The FIRST ELDER exchanges a worried glance at the SECOND ELDER, then looks back at the OFFICER.

CAMERA CLOSE ON JOR-EL, LARA, and the BABY, their glowing auras spilling across the SCREEN as the parents stare down at their offspring. A loving, almost beatific family portrait. LARA'S eyes flutter. Tears run down her cheek.

REVISION 22/3/77

20 CONTINUED

Three MILITARY MEN descend an enclosed glass walkway to a frantically pulsating aura hovering above the ground. They enter the aura, take off quickly through the streets, past a tall structure. A tremor suddenly shakes the ground - a thin fissure appears on the side of the structure.

The massive energy columns throb with white light. The BABY has been fastened in a module, wrapped in his blankets. LARA reluctantly steps back as JOR-EL places the last crystals inside, including a green one, secures and seals all openings. The BABY vanishes from sight. The module automatically slides into a larger spacecraft and is sealed in.

The military aura speeds along as giant crystal formations suddenly begin to erupt, bend and crack.

A glass wall facing the capsule slides open. The launcher is raised. The ceiling above retracts, exposing the glow of Krypton night.

5/4/77 TM

Seen from within: the aura races through a glass tunnel.

The room shakes in a violent tremor as JOR-EL tries to get the engines fired. The energy columns glare at fever pitch.

The proximity of Kryptonian sun has bathed the planet in a reddish glow. NOTE: All scenes on Krypton both interior and exterior will from now on reflect this color.

The military aura nears JOR-EL'S house. Suddenly a huge tremor dislodges a mass of crystal which crashes down, obliterating the aura.

The tremor continues in the lab. Tons of crystal crash down into the room as JOR-EL frantically tries to fire the rocket. With a last desperate effort he lunges forward through the tumbling debris and hits the control which ignites it. With a deafening roar, the rocket starts to glide off into the night as the house begins to collapse, the energy columns shattering under the strain.

The module races away from the disintegrating planet below toward the Phantom Zone.

The Council room is destroyed collapsing on some of the ELDERS.

Various scenes of destruction, to include exterior shots and the trial chamber.

JOR-EL and LARA are buried beneath a cascading shower of debris, clinging together desperately in the moment of their death.

The house collapses in ruins.

The THREE VILLAINS, pressed against the linear Phantom Zone, watch the module hurtle past.

31 CONTINUED

The capsule heads out into the intergalactic void as the VILLAINS turn their attention to the planet Krypton, now in total eruption.

The red sun eats its way into the core of the planet Krypton which suddenly explodes and implodes - leaving a vast black void.

The module speeds through space to the accompaniment of steady electronic pulsings.

Lights flash on the complex instrument panel. A computer memory bank repeats recorded data while machines registers other space functions on graphs. The BABY is completely wired and fitted with instruments and tubes for his survival in space. The computer spews forth information.

The module voyages through space. A giant asteroid lost in the void, soars toward it at tremendous speed. The module and the asteroid nearly collide. The module sways on, away into the void.

The control panels continue to flash. The BABY has grown. The survival tubes, instruments and belts have adapted to his increase in size as the years have passed.

Traveling through space: A tiny yellow dot becomes larger as the module enters our Universe. The yellow dot grows rapidly into a flaming yellow sun.

The control panel lights flash rapidly. An electronic bleep quickens its squeal. The BABY has grown older.

The module enters the earth's atmosphere. We SEE the familiar astronaut's POV of the revolving earth, growing larger and larger until we can make out the recognizable shapes of land masses on oceans. As the module gets closer, it seems as if it will surely land in the middle of the Soviet Union. But as the Earth continues to revolve, the rocket heads for the dead center of the United States.

NOTE: As the module speeds down through the atmosphere, the resistance gradually transforms its shape into a jewel-like geode form, burnished hot by the pressure.

Miles and miles of golden wheat wave under a cloudless sky. CAMERA PANS: A dilapidated farm pick-up truck comes chugging down a long flat dirt road.

Two PEOPLE are seated in the truck cab, dressed in their shiny, patched "Sunday best" clothes. The MAN is in his 50’s, the WOMAN in her 40's. "Private" people who mind their business, Christian folk whose morals are as basic as the soil they till: JONATHAN AND MARTHA KENT. Suddenly an ominous black shadow quickly crosses the road. Simultaneously: a loud whooshing sound (the space module coming to Earth). JONATHAN is startled, darts a momentary look, in the direction of the noise.

The "bang" of a tire blowout is heard. JONATHAN slams on the brakes. The truck lurches violently to the right, the front tire having burst. The truck swerves, narrowly missing the embankment, stops.

43 CLOSE ON TRUCK

JONATHAN steps out of the truck cab, looks sadly at the punctured tire.

Grumbling, he goes around the rear to unstrap the spare tire and haul out the jack. MARTHA gets out of the cab, stretches her legs, gazes across the wheat fields as JONATHAN in B.G. places the jack under the car, then wedges a stone under it to hold the jack in place. CAMERA SUDDENLY ZOOMS IN ON MARTHA: Her face is frozen in astonishment at something she's seen in the wheatfield.

43 CONTINUED

JONATHAN turns, looks, eyes widening, equally amazed.

The space module has landed in the fields. The engines are silenced.

JONATHAN rushes to the strange, eerie metallic geode nesting in the charred wheat, MARTHA close behind him.

Suddenly: a wall of the module opens. A capsule ejects a little BOY still fastened inside, cushioned by the three blankets.

He looks inside the module, leans over, touches the capsule burning his hand.

The little BOY, aged 3, suddenly springs out of the electronically controlled belts, half naked.

JONATHAN stares, dumbfounded. MARTHA smiles softly at the baby, wraps him in the three blankets, picks him up.

MARTHA carries the BABY back to the truck, looks at him with wonder. JONATHAN walks in front, shakes his head.

46 CONTINUED

JONATHAN has arrived at the truck, starts jacking up the front end...

JONATHAN removes the lugs and the punctured tire.

The jack begins to shimmy. The truck shakes.

48 CLOSE ON JONATHAN

JONATHAN struggles with the spare tire under the truck, wondering why it won't fit in.

The jack continues to shimmy. Suddenly, the stone beneath it slips away.

50 CLOSE ON MARTHA

MARTHA screams, horrified.

51 BACK TO JONATHAN

JONATHAN under the truck, shoots a quick look at his wife, then - as her scream stops in a gasp - he looks behind him as CAMERA PANS: The BABY is holding up the truck, two wheels off the ground. JONATHAN and MARTHA are poleaxed with disbelief.

The BABY sits happily in MARTHA'S lap. The COUPLE look ahead, lost in thought, MARTHA in particular.

52 CONTINUED

CAMERA LOOKS DOWN on a typical Midwestern small town high school football field in the 1950's. A coach's whistle signals the end of the team's practice session. A group or GIRL CHEERLEADERS run through their routines nearby. Several PLAYERS practice "extra points" by kicking the ball through the goalposts from the 2 1/2-yard line, now stop, congregate around the bench with the other PLAYERS as they turn in their equipment, prepare to go home.

CAMERA TRACKS along the bench as the PLAYERS drop their pads, towels. kicking tees, footballs, etc. on the bench. Picking them up, stacking them neatly and methodically is a bookish-looking TEENAGER of 15. With dark, unstylish hair, heavy-rimmed glasses, and an air of social unease, he is the perfect candidate for team manager - the young CLARK KENT. CLARK nears the end of the bench, looks off at the CHEERLEADERS: five or six wholesomely cute teenagers in their uniforms of sweater, tiny skirt, sneakers, and white socks. They have finished rehearsing their final routine now laugh, applaud themselves, drop their megaphones and run off to join several of the departing PLAYERS. One CHEERLEADER (SUSIE) with an attractive, sensitive face - pauses, sees the megaphones strewn around the ground, begins to collect them.

55 CLOSE ON SUSIE

SUSIE gathers up the megaphones. CLARK crosses to her.

55 CONTINUED

CLARK blinks shyly, practically blushing.

A large FOOTBALL PLAYER comes into frame, looks at SUSIE with what passes for "macho" at 15.

CAMERA PANS as CLARK turns: the mass of equipment he had neatly piled on the bench has been tossed all over the field. Water buckets overturned, etc. In B.G. several other PLAYERS and CHEERLEADERS are crammed into an open, convertible car, snigger to themselves, pretend not to look.

56 BACK TO SCENE

CLARK'S face falls. He stares at the grinning FOOTBALL PLAYER as we see a momentary flash of anger pass through his eyes. Will he...? No. Regaining his former composure, CLARK smiles faintly.

The FOOTBALL PLAYER puts a victorious arm around the reluctant SUSIE, prods her off toward the open convertible. They get in. The car roars off.

57 CLOSE ON CLARK

CLARK is left totally alone on the football field, his face downcast with anger and hurt born of humiliation. He approaches a football sitting on the extra-point tee at the 2 1/2 yard line, is about to pick it up, suddenly gives it a frustrated kick. The ball takes off like a tiny rocket.

58 ANGLE THROUGH OPPOSITE GOALPOSTS

The ball whistles perfectly through the far goalposts. CLARK has kicked it over 100 yards.

59 BACK TO CLARK

CLARK turns, looks at the mess left by the players. He reaches down for the first towel, suddenly grits his teeth, accelerates into SUPER SPEED. His image is only a blur on the screen as towels, pads, buckets, etc. disappear from the field and miraculously reappear on the bench.

CLARK trudges along a country road, heading for home. In B.G. the open convertible appears, closing fast. He turns. It slows down, seems to be intending to pick him up. Then, at the last minute, the FOOTBALL PLAYER who is driving honks the horn loudly, roars past him, laughing, leaving CLARK in a swirl or dust.

61 CLOSE ON CLARK

CLARK stares angrily, his rage growing. He takes off his glasses, puts them in his pocket. Turning, he suddenly takes off, running cross-country.

The blur which is the running CLARK zooms through a cornfield, makes a hair-pin turn across a meadow and up over a rise.

Clark runs parallel to some train tracks on the other side of the rise. A train looms up rapidly behind him, overtakes him by one or two cars. For a moment CLARK is content to keep pace with the train, then looks up at its windows.

A LITTLE GIRL of six looks out one window, her nose pressed to the glass, her chin dropping in surprise.

65 BACK TO CLARK

He notices. Embarrassed, he runs faster, pulling on ahead and passing the train.

The GIRL'S PARENTS are the couple we saw in the opening shot of the movie, cooing over their baby. They are six years older now, as is she: LOIS LANE.

A small farm on a dirt road facing a wheatfield. A barn stands at one end of the front yard area. CLARK, running in a blur suddenly appears by the tree growing next to the front gate, stops. CAMERA PANS: coming down the road: the convertible with the FOOTBALL PLAYERS and CHEERLEADERS. CLARK leans nonchalantly against the tree as the car and its amazed occupants roll to a stop, stare with wonder.

He guns the car, irritated, roars off. CLARK breaks into a thin, self-satisfied smile.

68 ANGLE ON JONATHAN

JONATHAN KENT, much older now, stands with stooped shoulders, a scythe in one hand. He looks care-worn, but deeply concerned as CLARK joins him in the yard.

68 CONTINUED

CLARK turns away. JONATHAN watches with compassion.

CLARK turns, nods, understanding. JONATHAN puts his arm around him.

CLARK smiles, heads off toward the barn, CAMERA TRACKS with him. Suddenly: a choked scream is heard 0.S. CAMERA WHIP PANS: JONATHAN, his hand clutching his heart, staggers on the front step of the farmhouse.

66 CONTINUED

JONATHAN collapses, falling backwards as MARTHA opens the front door.

CAMERA CLOSE on a tombstone reading: JONATHAN KENT, 1887-1943 R.I.P., PULLS BACK: CLARK stands by a freshly filled grave, holds the hand of the weeping MARTHA. Both are dressed in mourning.

The barn stands silhouetted against the night sky. SLOWLY TRACKS TOWARD IT, passes through the door.

Pitch dark inside. A green light emanates somewhere from beneath a mound of hay the light seems to throb as it glows, as if calling out for something - or someone.

CLARK KENT, now 18 years old, is asleep, suddenly his eyes open. He sits up, looks around.

The back door opens. CLARK, fully dressed, emerges from the house, crosses to the barn.

CLARK enters, crosses to the mound of hay which throbs with the green light. Digging and pushing the hay aside, he uncovers the geode-like module which brought him to earth. The module glows brightly, lit by something from within. CLARK stares hard at it - his eyes changing in color and consistency.

Seen through CLARK'S X-RAY vision which cuts through the solid surface of the module: a green crystal throbs inside, resting on the red, yellow, and blue blankets.

76 BACK TO SCENE

CLARK kneels, opens the module, picks up the crystal, stares into it deeply, eyes widening in the eerie, pulsating light.

MARTHA stands over the kitchen stove in the early morning, bacon sizzling in the pan, a pot of hot coffee steaming nearby. She turns her head slightly, calls out.

She stops, has noticed something out the kitchen window. CAMERA PANS, pushes in through window: In the distant wheatfield across the road stands the motionless figure of CLARK.

CLARK stands quietly, immobile, staring north as the late morning sun hits the side of his face. The look is trance-like as if some force were pulling at him. There is a rustle in the wheat behind him. He does not turn...

MARTHA enters frame, stops, looks at him thoughtfully, full of emotion.

78 CONTINUED

CLARK turns now, faces her. He speaks flatly, trying to avoid breaking down.

The sun starts to set in the distance. CLARK approaches the vast wheatfield, his father's scythe in his hand. He hesitates a moment, unobtrusively looks around, then bursts toward the wheat at SUPER SPEED, cutting an instant four-foot wide swath across the field.

CAMERA looks through the kitchen window as the wheatfield practically disintegrates in neat rows before us, then PULLS BACK: MARTHA watches, her eyes filled with tears.

The wind is blowing. Tall, neat stacks of baled wheat rise up near the barn. CAMERA PANS: CLARK stands at the gate to the road in a windbreaker and slacks, has a rucksack at his side. MARTHA holds out a brown paper bag.

81 CONTINUED

CLARK smiles silently, closes his hand around the bag. He turns, opens the rucksack to place the bag inside.

The rucksack interior glows with a green light, tucked inside the red, yellow, and blue blankets is the same one seen earlier, in the barn. CLARK closes it.

83 BACK TO SCENE

They face each other for the final time, all emotion, both at a sudden loss for words.

MARTHA'S eyes glaze over. She manages a brave smile.

Unable to restrain themselves any longer, they reach out, collapse into a tight hug.

CLARK, in his light windbreaker, his rucksack on his back, walks by the side of the road. The wind howls, ruffling his hair, but he doesn't seem to mind the cold. CAMERA PANS: from a distance, a truck appears. It pulls up next to him, stops. The DRIVER opens the door.

84 CONTINUED

The DRIVER stares, amazed. CLARK really means it.

THE DRIVER slams the door. The truck roars off. CLARK watches it leave, then turns, walks off the side of the road cross-country, heading north.

CAMERA PANS a vast snow-covered plain and an arctic lake with icebergs floating in it in the distance. A polar bear trudges through the snow, stops, looks at something which has attracted his attention. CAMERA CONTINUES PAN: the tiny, dark figure of CLARK contrasts sharply with the dazzling white landscape as he makes his way still north, dressed only in his light windbreaker.

A flat, desolate plain, off to one side is a huge out- cropping of rock jutting out of the barren, snow-covered landscape. A blizzard rages. CAMERA PANS to reveal CLARK, the rucksack on the ground beside him. The wind rips across the plain. CLARK looks around, seems to be in the process of selecting a specific area. He marks its perimeters with heat vision, burning deep lines into the snow and ice. Once the boundaries are drawn, CLARK concentrates on the area within. The entire mass of snow begins to melt away as huge flames shoot around the gigantic excavation.

An enormous crater has been carved out of the rock and ice. CLARK stands in the center, reaches into his rucksack, places the green stone on the ground. Climbing back quickly to the edge, he focuses into the crater. As his heat vision hits the stone a crystalline foundation begins to solidify and expand. Green radiation glows all around the excavation site - a wall is formed.

87 CONTINUED

Another burst of energy intensifies and constructs a second side joined at a right angle. In the bright cone of green light, multi-colored molecules explode and expand into a third impregnable wall. Through the blaze of sparkling light this wall increases in size, spreads out to cover the fourth remaining side.

88 CLOSE ON CLARK

CLARK steps back to look with awe: The Fortress of Solitude is complete. It rises up in the northern landscape, its materials completely harmonious, the white opaque crystalline blending ingeniously into the surrounding countryside.

The tiny figure of CLARK enters the Fortress, looks up at a multi-leveled white fantasy. Stabbing spurs of crystal cut across the levels at a severe angle. The decor is spartan, minimal. The central area with its complicated memory crystal energy banks where SUPERMAN will communicate with his dead father is overlooked by a series of different levels which lead off to hidden corridors, rooms, etc. The entire dazzling interior is strongly reminiscent of what we have seen earlier on Krypton.

90 CLOSE ON ENERGY BANK SECTION

A crystal bench sits next to the energy bank which is lined with rows of smaller glowing crystals. CLARK approaches mesmerized, knowing what he must do but unsure of how and why. He reaches out for the first crystal, places it inside a mechanism in the energy bank, takes his seat on the bench, waits, suddenly:

91 WIDE ANGLE

The light in the Fortress changes dramatically. The walls and jagged planes of the structure seem to come alive with energy. The wall directly opposite vibrates with a special intensity: A giant face appears: It is JOR-EL. His head rises massively up and across the wall, burning with light, looking down, dwarfing the tiny figure of CLARK on the bench. JOR-EL'S eyes flash, focus on him. JOR-EL speaks.

25/3/77

91 CONTINUED

CAMERA BEGINS A SLOW 360-DEGREE PAN. The face and features of JOR-EL will appear and fade away in many dimensions and on virtually every area of the fortress in an intricate and continuous SERIES OF DISSOLVES:

[last sentence missing from script]

91 CONTINUED

At times there will be simultaneous representations JOR-EL: some merely features of the face in huge magnifications - eyes, mouth, profile, etc. The DISSOLVES will indicate the passage of a long period of time. Never, until the final culmination of the 360 PAN do we see or hear anything but the face and thought of JOR-EL.

CAMERA BEGINS FIRST SERIES OF DISSOLVES:

CAMERA BEGINS SECOND SERIES OF DISSOLVES:

CAMERA BEGINS THIRD SERIES OF DISSOLVES, has almost completed its 360 PAN, now starts to RISE behind a giant representation of JOR-EL'S face. LOOKING DOWN from behind through the eyes we see a tiny blue, red, and yellow figure in the distance. CAMERA PUSHES IN SLOWLY through the eyes.

91 CONTINUED

The FIGURE is discernible now as CAMERA PUSHES IN with increasing speed. FOR THE FIRST TIME:

SUPERMAN stands in his classic outfit, arms folded, gazing intently back up at the CAMERA which represents JOR-EL. He is older now. A handsome, strong man, his intelligence, warmth, and compassion shining through his clear eyes as the final words of JOR-EL flow through him.

[There is a handwritten notation to "cut to scene 96"]

[There is a handwritten notation "26/6/77 amended to page 56"]

CLARK KENT walks a crowded street in Metropolis, attaché case in hand, conservative suit, heavy-rimmed glasses, etc. A brisk breeze blows. CLARK reaches the street corner, looks around, admires the skyline, fascinated by the big city. He starts across the street to a building marked DAILY PLANET, oblivious to the red light turning green and the oncoming traffic. A taxi hurtles across the intersection.

93 ANOTHER ANGLE

The taxi smashes into CLARK with a sickening crunch. The DRIVER, horrified, jumps out.

CLARK, still standing, simply turns, smiles nicely.

The DRIVER stops, dumbfounded, stares at the hood of his cab.

The front of the cab has CLARK'S impression cut deeply into the hood, through the engine block to the windshield.

95 BACK TO SCENE

CLARK waves a cheery farewell to the non-plussed DRIVER, mouths another friendly "sorry", crosses the street, walks through the doors of The Daily Planet. CAMERA PANS UP the skyscraper to its tower (not the same building in the OPENING, but new, more modern quarters) where WE SEE the globe and the enormous electric sign: THE DAILY PLANET - Metropolis' Greatest Newspaper.

The city room of a large newspaper. Rows of desks. REPORTERS, EDITORS, COPY BOYS scurry back and forth. CAMERA PUSHES IN on a corner of the City Room where a few star reporter desks look a bit larger and widely spaced than the others. Behind them is a frosted glass door on which is painted: "PERRY WHITE, MANAGING- DIRECTOR."

97 ANGLE ON DESKS

Seated at the typewriter, working with intense concentration punctuated by occasional smiles, is a YOUNG WOMAN. Physically she is a knockout: long brunette hair, smart clothes on a smart figure. Mentally, she's just as good: bright, talented, ambitious.

97 CONTINUED

A girl with a wry sense of humor, a snappy reporter with an instinct for a big story, the grown-up version of that little girl last seen at the train window as it sped through Smallville: This is LOIS LANE.

98 ANGLE ON LOIS THROUGH REFLEX FINDER

LOIS turns, looks into the crosshairs of a reflex camera viewfinder. She is perfectly centered.

The shutter clicks.

99 BACK TO SCENE

A few feet away, a fresh-faced young CUB REPORTER lowers his press reflex camera. A teen-age eager beaver who idolizes LOIS, this is JIMMY OLSEN. He grins, crosses to LOIS, tries to see what's in her typewriter.

LOIS types the finish, rips the page from her typewriter, reads with gusto.

99 CONTINUED

LOIS rises, starts toward Perry White's office. JIMMY tags along at her heels as CAMERA TRACKS with them.

LOIS flashes him a knowing grin, knocks on PERRY WHITE'S door, enters without waiting for a response.

The office of a working editor. Copy pinned up on bulletin boards, photos piled on the desk, wire service tear sheets, plaques, awards, signed photos on the walls, etc. Behind the desk, rolled-up shirt sleeves, tie loosened, is PERRY WHITE, the no-nonsense, hard- working 50'ish editor of the paper. Beneath his gruffness is a nice guy who loves his grandchildren. PERRY struggles vainly with the screw-on top of a pop bottle as LOIS marches in, lays her story on his desk.

LOIS turns, not realizing there was someone else in the room. CAMERA PANS: Seated against the wall by the entrance is CLARK KENT. He rises, polite and friendly, extends his hand.

100 CONTINUED

LOIS looks back at PERRY as CLARK slowly lowers his hand. PERRY crosses, still struggling with the bottle top.

PERRY hands CLARK the pop bottle as LOIS continues. CLARK struggles with it mightily, but to no avail.

LOIS takes the bottle away from the straining CLARK, raps it sharply twice on the arm of his chair hands it back to him.

CLARK tries the bottle cap. It opens, suddenly fizzes out in a squirt from the agitation by LOIS. PERRY and LOIS turn, stare. CLARK winces shyly as the liquid dribbles down his pants leg. LOIS can't resist a smile, but sympathizes.

100 CONTINUED

CLARK smiles. LOIS looks back, unsure of how he meant that, as PERRY takes the bottle, from CLARK.

LOIS stares warily at CLARK. His sincere expression never changes.

CLARK hands PERRY a piece of paper from his pocket.

100 CONTINUED

LOIS stares at him, stunned. He actually does send his mother money. CLARK manages a pleasant smile.

[note - scenes 101-129 have had “NIGHT” marked out and “DAY” has been handwritten in.]

It is late at night. The street is semi-deserted as CLARK and LOIS walk along on their way back from work.

101 CONTINUED

As they pass an alleyway a VOICE is heard.

VOICE All right. Freeze. The both of you.

CAMERA STOPS, PANS: a rough-looking MUGGER stands just inside the darkened alleyway, a pistol leveled at them.

CLARK and LOIS look around nervously for help. The street is deserted.

CLARK and LOIS are forced up against the wall. CLARK seems nervous, LOIS grimly determined.

The MUGGER blinks. LOIS looks at CLARK unbelievingly.

102 CONTINUED

LOIS stares hard at him. Disgusted, she lets the purse drop. The MUGGER reaches down to pick it up. LOIS suddenly kicks him viciously in the neck, sending him reeling backwards: The MUGGER hits the pavement bringing up his gun with a deadly glare.

CLARK rushes forward with his arms outstretched pleadingly as the MUGGER fires.

AT SUPER SPEED: The bullet hits CLARK harmlessly in the palm of his hand. He closes his fist around it.

104 BACK TO SCENE

CLARK'S eyes bulge. He drops to the ground with a look of agonized astonishment as LOIS screams.

The frightened MUGGER scrambles to his feet, runs off down the alley as LOIS bends over CLARK.

CLARK'S eyelids flutter, then open with a sheepish smile. He looks up at LOIS.

104 CONTINUED

CLARK gets to his feet, dusts himself off.

CLARK turns self-consciously, strides out of the alley as LOIS watches him curiously.

CLARK and LOIS enter a cab, take off, CAMERA PANS to a newsstand on the corner.

A large MAN (OTIS) in a slightly disheveled one-color outfit which could pass for a uniform buys a newspaper. He checks the headlines and front page picture before paying, then starts off. CAMERA PANS: a police car is parked at a nearby corner directly in his path.

TWO OFFICERS watch as OTIS approaches, passing under a streetlight. Their eyes narrow suspiciously.

OFFICER #1 That's him, all right. Lex Luthor's right-hand man. Let's get him.

OFFICER #2 Wait. Maybe he'll lead us to the man himself.

OFFICER #1 (too good to be true) Lex Luthor...

OFFICER #2 You got it, Charlie. We both make Captain by midnight.

They look through the windshield. OTIS has spotted their car, now hesitates.

OTIS suddenly doubles back, rounds a corner. The police car pulls away from the curb, rolls after him.

OTIS has broken into a run. Still holding on to his newspaper, he heads for the entrance to a train station farther down the block. CAMERA PANS: the police car has picked up speed, continues to follow.

OTIS, now at a dead run, threads his way through arriving PASSENGERS and taxis, enters the station. In F.G. the police car pulls up. OFFICER #2 jumps out, turns to OFFICER #1.

OFFICER #2 Call for a back-up. I'm going after him. (slaps walkie-talkie on belt) I'll keep you posted.

OFFICER #2 arrives at the top of the main staircase leading down into the busy central hall of the station, scans the CROWD.

OTIS hustles through a group of PASSENGERS, heads down a ramp marked: LOWER LEVEL.

113 BACK TO OFFICER #2

OFFICER #2 has seen, speaks into his walkie-talkie, as he runs down the stairs.

OFFICER #2 Lower level, Charlie. I'm right on his ass...

OTIS hurries through the lower level, disappears into an entrance marked: TRACK 22. CAMERA PANS: OFFICER #2 has seen, follows quickly.

OFFICER #2 (into walkie-talkie) Track 22, Charlie...

OFFICER #1'S VOICE (through walkie- talkie) Back-up's here. We're right behind you.

OTIS runs down the platform. On one side is a waiting train, steam belching from beneath the cars as the final PASSENGERS set on board. OTIS joins them.

116 ANGLE ON OFFICER #2 (DAY)

OFFICER #2 at the top of the platform starts after him, suddenly stops as he sees:

OTIS emerges through the steam on the other side of the train. He looks down the opposite side of the platform along an empty track. A train approaches in the distance, its lights now visible, the noise of its wheels increasing rapidly in volume. OTIS looks: against the far tunnel wall are a series of concave man-sized indentations, meant for track workers to step back into in case of an oncoming train. Waiting until the last moment, OTIS suddenly, jumps down onto the track, crosses it, steps back into an indentation as the train roars past in F.G.

118 CLOSE ON OFFICER #2 (DAY)

OFFICER #2 watches, mystified.

119 ANGLE ON TRAIN (DAY)

The train rattles by quickly, its flashing windows obscuring OTIS from view. As the last car whistles by: OTIS has disappeared - the indentation is empty.

120 BACK TO OFFICER #2 (DAY)

OFFICER #2 grins confidently, speaks into his walkie- talkie.

OFFICER #2 Make it Track 23, Charlie. I see how he does it...

OFFICER #2 runs down the platform, stops opposite the indentation OTIS used. He is about to jump onto the track, hesitates as he looks off: Another train is coming down the track, its lights now visible in the distance. OFFICER #2 grits his teeth, jumps off onto the track.

CAMERA CLOSE on a TV monitor screen. OFFICER #2 is seen on it, crossing the track. A disapproving, clucking sound is heard. A hand comes into frame holding a remote control device. A button on it is pushed. The TV image changes: We now see OTIS

122 CONTINUED

walking nonchalantly down a narrow underground passageway lined with enormous steam pipes, still holding on to his newspaper.

The remote control device switches back again: Seen on the monitor: OFFICER #2 has crossed the track, looms large in monitor F.G. as he takes his place inside the indentation.

OFFICER #2 has stepped inside the indentation, now waits. The train roars down the track towards him. Suddenly - the rear wall of the indentation pushes forward, shoving him out in the direction of the track. He fights vainly for a moment, then catapults onto the track with a scream as the train rushes past.

124 ANGLE ON TOP OF TRACK 23 PLATFORM (DAY)

OFFICER #1 has arrived with two other POLICEMEN. They scan the platform area as the train roars by. CAMERA PANS:

The train has passed. All that remains on the track is a chewed-up policeman's hat and a dented walkie-talkie which squawks pure static.

Seen on the TV monitor: the POLICEMEN scratching their heads, puzzled, walking along the empty platform. The hand with the remote control device comes back into frame. A button is pushed. The screen goes dark.

OTIS proceeds down an even narrow tunnel. Water drips from the rock ceiling above. A couple of rats scamper past and through some rusted heating and electrical ducts which line the sides. CAMERA PANS with OTIS. He heads for a rusty, bolted metal door marked: DANGER – NO ENTRY - CONDEMNED.

CAMERA FOLLOWS another train (this one a model) as it snakes its way around mountains and through deserts in a made-to-scale U.S. western-type landscape. Emerging from a tunnel it heads out onto a bridge which is only half- completed, suddenly tumbles off, the falling cars demolishing a papier-mâché model of a hospital directly below. A low chuckle is heard O.S. CAMERA PANS UP: A few feet away, a beautiful YOUNG WOMAN (EVE TESCHMACHER) reclines with her feet up in a deep, luxurious sofa, working on a needlepoint pillow. A projected blue-sky backdrop shimmers on the wall behind her, looking quite real from this angle and distance. EVE is open, straightforward if slightly dim, with an unmistakable honest sexiness about her which matches her personality. She looks up INTO CAMERA, wide-eyed, disapproving.

129 WIDE ANGLE ON LEX LUTHOR AND LAIR - EVE'S POV (DAY)

LEX LUTHOR sits behind a massive desk in his palatial underground lair, now seen for the first time as CAMERA PANS: At first glance - breathtaking, with its multi- leveled areas, only some of which are immediately visible. The entire wall behind him which rises to a high ceiling is completely covered with full bookcases bulging with periodicals, papers, etc. Another separate area has a complicated laboratory with viewing theater, banks of electronic gadgets which have been connected to underground electrical lines exposed in portions of the rock-faced walls. In the same manner we will discover exposed heating ducts and water mains. One higher level near the ceiling is completely blocked from view. Off to another side - a large and colorful aviary, stocked with live birds of prey: eagles, falcons, hawks, etc. The walls and ceilings, as we will discover, are almost all canvas on which projections can and will be made, different ones servicing different specific parts of the lair.

129 CONTINUED

One other aspect of this underground kingdom will soon become apparent: whether through the architecture which strangely resembles that of Metropolis Station, or the row of bookcases which curiously look like old ticket windows, or the odd, faded track marker which signals the way off into one or another of the hidden corridors of the lair - it is clear we are in an abandoned railroad station, drastically remodeled, but nonetheless a fact.

CAMERA PUSHES IN ON LEX LUTHOR: His face is a task of elegant demonic Genius, for this is a man with an infinite capacity for sadistic evil. Cutting, given to rapidly changing moods, but always thinking - the master criminal incarnate. He stares at EVE, the only person he allows to "nag" him, loving her in spite of all. LUTHOR shakes his head sadly disappointed.

EVE goes back to her needlepoint as LUTHOR glares. There is a metallic "clank." O.S. OTIS has entered from a lower level, dutifully approaches the desk holding his newspaper, smiles, cheery.

OTIS looks over his shoulder, deeply concerned.

129 CONTINUED

LUTHOR stares at him, OTIS hangs his head.

LUTHOR rips the paper from OTIS' hands, swats him viciously in the side of the head with it.

129 CONTINUED

LUTHOR drops the paper on the desk, sits.

The paper is The Daily Planet. Clearly visible on the front page: a large photo of two nuclear missiles on their launching pads and the headline: TWIN I.C.B.M. TEST CONFIRMED - LIVE WARHEADS TO BE USED.

131 BACK TO SCENE (DAY)

LUTHOR beams, drops the paper, rises, ecstatic.

LUTHOR presses a button. A brilliant desert vista appears on one wall.

Another button. Another vista. This one of the snow- capped Rockies.

131 CONTINUED

LUTHOR, angry, turns to OTIS who shifts his feet.

LUTHOR hands him the paper, sighs.

131 CONTINUED

EVE continues to needlepoint, but feels his gaze on her.

LUTHOR approaches her, glaring with genuine malice.

LUTHOR stands over menacingly, looks down. She glances up, smiles helplessly.

LUTHOR grins, lies down on the sofa next to her, puts his arms around her, looks deeply into her eyes.

EVE snuggles in, hopelessly cozy.

They kiss passionately. LUTHOR reaches into his pocket, pulls out a remote control device, presses a button.

CAMERA CLOSE on a high dam set into the landscape of the previously seen model. It cracks, then collapses: sending a rush of water down onto a schoolyard below, knocking over a toy school bus, sweeping away little figures of children standing in the playground.

Frantic activity: The wall clock indicates 8:00 P.M. CAMERA TRACKS through the chaos as PERRY WHITE exits his office, a sheaf of galleys in his hand.

133 CONTINUED

JIMMY OLSEN disappears quickly with the galleys. PERRY crosses to a desk, picks up the phone.

PERRY hangs up, crosses to LOIS' desk.

PERRY leaves. CLARK rises, crosses to LOIS who rereads her article delightedly, puffs on a cigarette. CLARK clears his throat nervously.

133 CONTINUED

LOIS rises, grabs her notebook, starts off for the elevators. CLARK follows, CAMERA TRACKING.

133 CONTINUED

They have reached the elevators. The door opens. LOIS enters, turns to CLARK, smiles.

The elevator doors shut. A moment later another empty elevator stops, opens its doors. CLARK enters.

LOIS emerges through a rooftop exit, looks off past an illuminated helicopter pad with a small waiting room building on the far side. A fierce wind in howling. LOIS turns her face as she sees:

A helicopter heads in for the roof, swaying slightly, fighting the tricky winds. It lands uncertainly on the edge of the pad. LOIS ducks her head, runs for the open door.

The rubber-encased cables connecting the helicopter pad floodlights dance wildly in the wind like black snakes. The helicopter struts are precariously near to them, too precariously, as one cable inadvertently hooks itself around a strut.

137 BACK TO SCENE

LOIS has entered the helicopter. The PILOT takes off. The helicopter starts to rise through the strong winds, suddenly jerks back as the hooked cable takes hold, yanking out one of the floodlights. The helicopter lurches down violently to the PILOT'S side, its spinning blades knifing through the waiting room window, spraying showers of glass. The helicopter, still hooked to the edge, one strut hanging over the side.

The cable holding the helicopter has split, short- circuits, spitting electric sparks.

The PILOT, on the roof side, has been knocked unconscious by the impact of hitting the waiting room. LOIS, on the street side, looks over at him, paralyzed with fear. Held In by her seatbelt, she looks down her side to the street, terrified.

A shear drop to the street. A small CROWD has already started to form.

The CROWD grows rapidly in size, staring up, pointing excitedly. CLARK arrives on the scene, looks up as well, eyes widening in horror.

The helicopter dangles half over the edge of the roof.

143 BACK TO CROWD

Determined, CLARK pushes his way through the crowd, looking for something.

A phone booth stands on the corner - but this is a modern booth -- it covers only the top half of the body.

[amended from page #33 - 145A/B/C Sc. 92,93,94,95]

CLARK starts to cross an empty street to an alley, oblivious to the red light turning green and the oncoming traffic. A taxi hurtles across the intersection.

145A ANOTHER ANGLE

The taxi smashes into CLARK with a sickening crunch. The DRIVER, horrified, jumps out.

CLARK, still standing, simply turns, smiles nicely.

The DRIVER stops, dumbfounded, stares at the hood of his cab.

The front of the cab has CLARK'S impression cut deeply into the hood, through to the engine block to the windshield.

145C BACK TO CLARK

CLARK crosses to alley.

LOIS looks up past the unconscious PILOT to the edge of the roof. She has only one chance. She unbuckles her safety belt, tries to crawl over him. As she moves, the helicopter shifts position, swings out farther over the roof.

The cable jerks with the weight. Sparks fly. It holds together by a thread.

148 BACK TO LOIS

LOIS tumbles back with the movement, falls out the door grabbing her unbuckled seatbelt at the last minute on the way out.

The CROWD scream. LOIS dangles from the roof, holding on to her seatbelt for dear life.

TO PAGE 57

An incredibly garish BLACK PIMP exits an alley doorway, stoned, stops in awe as he, sees: SUPERMAN in full costume heading towards him, determined.

With a burst or energy SUPERMAN rises from the ground, flies up into the night sky. The PIMP watches in wonder.

The hushed CROWD watches LOIS hanging from the roof as SUPERMAN appears, flying quickly towards her.

LOIS dangles from the helicopter, eyes closed, her mouth moving in some sort of silent prayer. The helicopter suddenly lurches.

The cable snaps.

154 BACK to LOIS

The helicopter falls. LOIS screams, eyes welded shut. Suddenly SUPERMAN'S mighty arm reaches out, grabs her around the waist. With his other hand, he takes the bottom strut of the helicopter.

LOIS' eyes open tentatively, then flutter unbelievingly.

SUPERMAN smiles warmly as he lifts both LOIS and the helicopter back onto the roof.

SUPERMAN gently deposits the awestruck LOIS on the roof, then lowers the helicopter.

LOIS opens her mouth to speak, but SUPERMAN takes off again. She stares after him, gaping.

SUPERMAN is in mid-air, exhilarated - literally high. He executes a cocky "loop," feeling a kind of release, a genuine physical joy in flying.

The CROWD has grown in size. A TV mobile unit has arrived. The PEOPLE "ooh" and "aah" in wonder. A TV CAMERAMAN points, looks over at his CREW.

He tilts his camera up. CAMERA PANS with him to the sky.

SUPERMAN notices the attention, suddenly stops his aerobatics, embarrassedly self-conscious. He looks off:

A BURGLAR emerges from a high apartment house window, steps out onto a ledge. He drops a fistful of jewels into a bag tied to his waist, then positions suction cups attached to his hands and knees. Slowly, laboriously he ascends the side of the building.

160 CLOSE ON BURGLAR

Breathing hard, he continues. Looking up, his face suddenly registers shock.

SUPERMAN strolls down the side of the building towards him, defying all laws of gravity. He smiles at the BURGLAR...

162 BACK TO BURGLAR

The terrified BURGLAR frantically tries to get away, his suction cups coming loose. He falls - SUPERMAN swoops down, catches him firmly.

PATROLMAN MOONEY quietly walks his beat on a deserted city street, looks up as he hears a "whoosh!" SUPERMAN lands next to him, deposits the terrified BURGLAR.

The thunderstruck MOONEY gapes as SUPERMAN takes off again. The BURGLAR shrubs, extends his wrists to MOONEY for the handcuffs.

A police car, light flashing, sirens blaring, chases a sleek black Cadillac as they crisscross, screeching through the pillars of a river highway underpass. Both cars blaze away at each other with firearms. The Cadillac squeals into a l80-turn, heads down a short pier to a waiting cabin cruiser. The police car tries to imitate the turn, smashes head-on into a stone pillar, one POLICEMAN catapulting through the windshield onto the hood. TWO OTHER POLICEMEN pile out, guns drawn, open fire down the pier.

165 ANGLE ON POLICE FROM PIER

THREE HOODS empty out of the Cadillac near the cabin cruiser, the police bullets slamming into their car. They wheel, holding automatic weapons, cut down the TWO POLICEMEN, jump onto the cruiser, take off.

The cabin cruiser plows down the river at top speed. CAMERA ZOOM BACK, PANS: SUPERMAN watches from mid-air.

TWO of the HOODS are in the main cabin. ONE drives the boat while the OTHER makes three neat piles of money on a table, pulling it out of a black satchel. The FIRST HOOD grins at his PARTNER, then looks back through the windshield of the cabin, his jaw suddenly dropping.

SUPERMAN stands on the front deck, arms folded, staring sternly inside at them.

The THIRD HOOD sneaks up behind SUPERMAN, a heavy barbed steel boat gaff in his hands. As SUPERMAN stares in through the windshield, the HOOD swings it down viciously straight into his head. The gaff recoils as if it had hit solid steel - the HOOD stands unbelievingly, his entire body shaking in spasms from the impact. SUPERMAN turns with a smile.

A flustered MOONEY stands before his amused DESK SERGEANT.

The SERGEANT gets down from behind his desk, walks MOONEY to the station door. CAMERA FOLLOWING

They have reached the door, start out, suddenly stop, rooted to the spot.

The cabin cruiser sits in the street, balanced on its keel. The THREE HOODS are wrapped in the anchor chain, the satchel of money hanging from one of their necks.

172 BACK TO MOONEY AND SERGEANT

SUPERMAN continues through the air as a bolt of lightening slashes by next to him. Then a clap of thunder. It starts to rain. He hears something, cocks his head.

A LITTLE GIRL looks up plaintively through the rain at a tree in her back yard. We hear a miserable "meow." CAMERA PANS UP: A wet cat sits stranded in the top branches of the tree.

Suddenly - SUPERMAN soars into frame, scoops FRISKY out of the tree, glides down, gently deposits the cat in the LITTLE GIRL'S arms.

SUPERMAN flies off. CAMERA PANS with the LITTLE GIRL as she runs up here house steps and inside. CAMERA HOLDS a moment. Suddenly - the sound of a "smack."

Another bolt of lightening slashes through the night sky. The rain becomes noticeably heavier.

Air Force One fights its way through the pounding storm; heading for Metropolis airport. Suddenly a bolt of lightning cracks into the wing. Flames shoot up as the outboard engine on the PILOT'S side splits in two, drops off the wing. The plane starts into a dive.

The PILOT and CO-PILOT fight the controls, try to level off. Suddenly: the plane's nose comes up. The aircraft seems to right itself to the astonishment of the PILOT who looks out the window, eyes now widening.

SUPERMAN has grabbed hold or the wing in the cavity created by the fallen engine, now flies, stretched out in its place. He turns his head, smiles at the PILOT.

The dumbfounded PILOT looks back as the CO-PILOT strains to look past him out the side.

LOIS waits in the storm with a mob of excited REPORTERS. Emergency equipment stands by, lights flashing. Everyone turns, flabbergasted, as they see:

Air Force One glides safely to a landing, taxis up in front of them. SUPERMAN does a backflip, stands on the wing, looks in at the pilot, gives him the 'high sign' then looks off at the PRESS.

181 ANGLE ON PRESS

The REPORTERS watch in stunned silence. LOIS elbows her way to the front, waving.

SUPERMAN spots her, grins, waves, then takes off again, disappearing into the night sky. The amazed REPORTERS crowd around LOIS.

181 CONTINUED

LOIS smiles privately, heads off, the mob of REPORTERS trailing behind her, yelling "who is he?", "C'mon, Lois, what's the story?", etc. CAMERA PANS to the doorway of Air Force One: the PRESIDENT'S ENTOURAGE appears to clear the way. No one notices - there is no longer a way to clear.

The SCREEN is filled by the giant head of JOR-EL. He looks down INTO CAMERA, his expression a blend of slight displeasure and parental understanding.

SUPERMAN falls silent again, ashamed. JOR-EL can't resist a small smile.

181A CONTINUED

The face of a TV NEWSCASTER looks INTO CAMERA through the window of a store which sells television sets.

CAMERA PULLS BACK: the store window is filled with a myriad of TV sets, all three networks simultaneously broadcasting the same story, although only one NEWSCASTER’S voice is audible. A CROWD has formed in front of the window, hanging on to every word with a bemused expression on his face - CLARK KENT.

A CROWD MEMBER turns to CLARK.

CLARK frowns. He hadn't counted on this reaction.

182 CONTINUED

CLARK turns, walks off CAMERA PANNING with him.

The highest level of the underground complex is an improvised swimming pool area. The domed ceiling hangs low over what once was a massive staircase down into the station and now serves as the entrance steps to the pool. A projection of an idyllic Caribbean island setting and seascene shimmers against one wall. LUTHOR sits in the shallow end of the pool in a roped-off, bubbling Jacuzzi bath section. EVE, looking fetching in a bikini, lies on a mat nearby, black goggles over her eyes, absorbing rays from a sunlamp. OTIS sits in an armchair, watches the NEWSCASTER on a television in front of him.

184 CLOSE ON LUTHOR

LUTHOR is deeply troubled. He glowers pensively as the NEWSCASTER finishes.

OTIS switches off the set, turns.

184 CONTINUED

OTIS beams, settles back in his chair.

LUTHOR frowns, his mind working double-time. EVE stares up at the sunlamp, her eyes still covered by goggles.

LUTHOR snaps his fingers. OTIS rises, crosses to him with an elegant bathrobe.

CAMERA PUSHES IN as LUTHOR rises, lost in the philosophical justification of it all. OTIS starts to wrap the bathrobe around him.

184 CONTINUED

CAMERA PULLS BACK: the bottom section of LUTHOR'S robe is submerged below the waterline.

A lovely apartment in a high-rise building with a balcony-terrace off the living room. Books, modern art posters, desk with typewriter, etc. CLARK sits at one end of the sofa. LOIS paces next to him.

185 CONTINUED

CLARK frowns as he hears the name for the first time, then stifles a smile.

LOIS crosses to open the kitchen door.

SHE enters the kitchen. The door swings shut behind her. CLARK rises, listens, interested.

185 CONTINUED

CLARK has heard something. He cocks his head, looks off at the terrace.

CLARK comes out, listening intently. CAMERA ZOOMS to a rooftop across the street covered with TV aerials. CLARK'S super hearing picks up an announcement coming over the air waves.

Lines of SCHOOL CHILDREN file out the front doors and down the steps of a public school. being monitored by TEACHERS and POLICE who load then into busses.

CLARK listens, eyes widening.

CLARK checks his watch.

The time is 11:50

Looking up from the street: CLARK jumps off Lois' terrace. CAMERA PUSHES IN: as he falls, a gradual transformation to Superman takes place in blurred, overlapping stages.

SUPERMAN hits the street, the transformation having completed. He shoots off into the sky.

Bed-ridden PATIENTS are being wheeled out of the Emergency Exit of a hospital by NURSES and ATTENDANTS, and loaded into waiting ambulances under POLICE supervision.

LOIS can still be heard talking from the kitchen.

LOIS enters the living room, looks around.

The warehouse is cordoned off. Fire trucks and police cars are drawn up. BOMB SQUAD PERSONNEL stand nearby strapping on their protective gear; now look up as they suddenly hear a "whooshing" sound O.S.

194 CLOSE ON WAREHOUSE DOOR

SUPERMAN lands directly in front of the warehouse door, waves the POLICE back. He turns to face the warehouse. The massive metal doors are linked with a giant padlock.

LUTHOR, EVE and OTIS sit in comfortable seats in an elegant viewing theater somewhere inside the underground complex. A bank of large TV screens faces them. One screen projects the live image of SUPERMAN. (NOTE: As the action progresses through the warehouse, different screens will be activated presumably from different cameras). LUTHOR sips a tall drink, smugly adjusts several knobs on a large console next to him. EVE chews gum, stares curiously at SUPERMAN. OTIS munches a large candy bar, excited.

LUTHOR'S eyes flash. EVE smiles nervously.

LUTHOR glowers at SUPERMAN ominously.

SUPERMAN jerks the padlock backwards off the doors. They open with a huge explosion - the SCREEN is filled with smoke and flame. As the smoke clears: SUPERMAN stands in the doorway, unharmed. He tears apart what's left of the doors like tinfoil, steps inside. A bright row of arrows painted on the warehouse floor points the way for him.

LUTHOR scowls, a bit unnerved.

SUPERMAN follows the painted arrows into a bare room. The door suddenly slams shut behind him. Instantly: wall panels slide open on all sides filled with machine gun barrels. They all open fire at once in a withering deafening, blinding barrage. SUPERMAN stands erect, arms folded, as thousands of bullets ricochet of him. The barrage finally ends. The floor of the room is totally covered with spent shells. Brushing them aside with his boot to find the painted arrows, SUPERMAN calmly proceeds on his way.

LUTHOR looks nervous, flustered even, as he fumbles with the controls on his panels.

SUPERMAN enters the second room, has reached the center when: the walls and ceiling suddenly come alive with flaming gas jets. The room becomes a blinding inferno. SUPERMAN stands in the center serenely, waits until the holocaust dies down. Then, adjusting his cape, he nonchalantly starts off for the third room.

LUTHOR holds his head in his hands. EVE and OTIS watch.

SUPERMAN enters room, suddenly disappears from view into the middle of an incredibly thick blizzard. The blinding snowstorm fills the SCREEN.

LUTHOR watches the smog-filled monitor.

The blizzard stops. The air slowly clears. In the middle of the room: a large cone of ice-has formed. Suddenly, a thin crack appears, running down the center. The crack breaks open. SUPERMAN steps out, rubs his hands together briskly, then starts off.

LUTHOR watches, his face twisted with rage.

LUTHOR swivels, hurls his drink at OTIS, who ducks: it smashes into the wall behind him.

SUPERMAN has exited the third room into a circular alcove with four lead doors leading off from it. Each is sealed by a huge tumbler lock similar to those on bank vaults. The painted arrows lead off to all four doors. SUPERMAN stops, stares hard at the doors, momentarily mystified.

LUTHOR leans in toward the screen, fascinated for once by what he sees.

If SUPERMAN did have a problem, he solves it quickly. He rips off all four lend doors in super-speed. They crash to the ground, twisted. Finding the doorway he wants, SUPERMAN enters.

The central area of the room has been blocked off by a ceiling-high thick wire mesh fence. Behind it: the propane lithium pellet hangs suspended by a thin cord over a beaker of acid. SUPERMAN glances O.S.

A timer clock on the wall indicates eight seconds left.

211 BACK TO SCENE

SUPERMAN approaches the fence. It starts to hum. His hands reach out, grab hold of the wire: fierce electric sparks shoot out like lightening bolts, the current passing through him harmlessly. He rips through the fence as: the pellet suddenly drops. SUPERMAN dives at it with super-speed, catches it at the last second. Staring at it curiously he shrugs, pops it in his mouth, swallows it. He looks down at the beaker of acid, lifts it, swallows it. He looks down at the beaker of acid, lifts it, then quaffs it down as a chaser. Tapping his chest lightly with his fist, he lets out a discreet "burp."

CAMERA CLOSE on PERRY'S desk where lies an edition of The Daily Planet with the screaming headline: SUPERMAN SAVES THOUSANDS.

213 WIDER ANGLE

A dozen REPORTERS, including LOIS and CLARK, stand at attention as PERRY paces back and forth behind his desk, ranting.

The REPORTERS file out. LOIS has a look of grim determination on her face. CLARK notices, comes up.

214 CONTINUED

JIMMY walks by, has heard, interrupts, full of admiration for CLARK.

CLARK is trapped. He shrugs, decides to play along with the image, gets very "Mr. Terrific."

214 CONTINUED

CLARK blushes. LOIS leaves with a smirk.

LOIS, looking absolutely gorgeous in her best evening gown, puts the finishing touches to her hair in front of a mirror near the open door to her terrace. She stares at herself critically for a moment, then smiles, nods.

She smiles, crosses to a small bar, pours a glass of wine.

LOIS takes her glass, wanders out onto the terrace.

A beautiful night. The lights of the city are visible in the distance. LOIS sips her wine, stares wistfully up into the sky.

There is a loud "whoosh." SUPERMAN lands on the top comer of her terrace ledge, looks down at the stunned LOIS.

216 CONTINUED

LOIS rushes inside. SUPERMAN smiles to himself, hops down onto the terrace, speaks in the direction of the open doorway.

LOIS emerges with reporter's pad and pencil, takes a seat at the terrace table.

LOIS smiles, hiding her nervousness, lights a cigarette from a box on the table.

Seen through SUPERMAN'S X-RAY vision: A flashing medical X-Ray type shot of LOIS' lungs.

218 BACK TO SCENE

LOIS blinks, puts out her cigarette, picks up her pad.

218 CONTINUED

LOIS blinks, realizes he's serious, returns to her pad.

A quick flash of LOIS sitting in the chair, dressed only in her bra and panties.

220 BACK TO SCENE

LOIS writes it down, all business in spite of her blush.

220 CONTINUED

LOIS puts down her pad, flustered in spite of herself.

220 CONTINUED

220 CONTINUED

LOIS heads quickly back inside.

SUPERMAN crosses, smiles, covers her with his cape, his arm encircling her. He looks deeply into her eyes. LOIS looks back, trembling slightly, her hand inadvertently grazing his bicep.

He tightens his grip, sweeps her off her feet. They shoot up into the night sky.

SUPERMAN flies through the night sky holding LOIS, his swirling cape covering them. They look off as CAMERA PANS DOWN: the gleaming lights of Metropolis grow smaller in the distance.

222 FLYING MONTAGE

A series of aerial POVS INTERCUT with flying reaction shots of SUPERMAN and LOIS as the circle the world, passing through different time zones.

A. EXT. PARIS - NIGHT

The illuminated Place D'Etoile at night.

B. EXT. VATICAN - NIGHT

The illuminated St. Peter's Square and Cathedral.

The sun rises behind the Great pyramids

A day view of the Taj Mahal in Agra, India.

E. EXT. CHINA - DUSK

The sun sets behind the Great Wall of China.

G. EXT. SKY - ANGLE DOWN ON LOIS' TERRACE - NIGHT

CAMERA ZOOMS DOWN on LOIS' terrace from the sky.

SUPERMAN deposits LOIS gently on the terrace once again. She is absolutely struck dumb with wonder, stares at him.

223 CONTINUED

SUPERMAN hops on the terrace ledge, shoots off into the night sky. CAMERA PUSHES IN on LOIS' face, almost drugged with contentment.

Suddenly - the doorbell rings from inside. Then, loud knocks on the apartment door. CLARK enters B.G., crosses quickly out onto the terrace, fussily angry.

LOIS turns, smiles vapidly.

CLARK looks at LOIS curiously, then spots the wine glass on the table, lifts it suspiciously.

LOIS smiles, shakes her head.

6/4/77 TM

CAMERA CLOSE on the front of a newspaper held by EVE who reads it intently, OTIS peering over her shoulder. The banner headline is clearly visible: I SPENT THE NIGHT WITH SUPERMAN - an exclusive interview by Lois Lane. CAMERA PANS to the desk. LUTHOR sits behind a massive pile of books, notations, calculators, etc. He works feverishly with a slide rule, his face aglow with demonic inspiration.

LUTHOR suddenly slams the slide rule down on the desk in a rage. It breaks in two, part of it whizzing across the room. EVE looks up, terrified. LUTHOR manages a patient smile, rises.

LUTHOR crosses to the massive wall of books behind him, climbs a large rolling wooden ladder attached to the shelves. He turns to OTIS.

6/4/77 TM

224 CONTINUED

OTIS crosses to the ladder.

OTIS begins to push the rolling ladder along the wall.

The staircase stops. LUTHOR looks down.

LUTHOR turns dramatically, pulls out a specific periodical, starts to leaf through it.

6/4/77 TM

224 CONTINUED

He finds the page he was looking for, his face lighting up. EVE and OTIS pick it up eagerly, look.

LUTHOR lets the periodical sail down to the floor. EVE and OTIS pick it-up eagerly, looks.

The photo shows an ETHIOPIAN FARMER holding a wedge- shaped green rock about a foot long and five inches high. The FARMER grins at the camera. The caption beneath reads: Meteorite Lands near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June, 1951.

226 BACK TO SCENE

EVE and OTIS stare at the picture, mystified.

6/4/77 TM

226 CONTINUED

LUTHOR steps off the ladder, beams proudly at EVE.

LUTHOR stares up at the ceiling dramatically.

6/4/77 TM

226 CONTINUED

SUPERMAN flies easily over the ocean, scans the horizon for trouble. He looks down.

The super-sonic Concorde airliner streaks through the sky below and just ahead of him.

227B CLOSER ON CONCORDE

The PILOT is visible in the cockpit. He glances out the side, momentarily blinks in disbelief as SUPERMAN pulls up parallel to him. Suddenly realizing who it is, the PILOT grins, gives SUPERMAN a friendly salute which the Man of Steel returns. Then, accelerating, SUPERMAN passes the plane.

SUPERMAN nears the eastern coast of America, looks down, suddenly concerned.

An offshore oil rig, seen from the air. WORKERS scramble about quickly in all directions as a black oil spill begins to appear around the rig, spreading rapidly.

The WORKERS run back and forth across the deck of the rig, looking over the side desperately. A loud alarm blares ominously. One WORKER yells up at another in the cab of the drilling rig.

WORKER #1 Shut it down! Shut it down!

WORKER #2 Too late! Pipe's jumped the bit! Can't control it...!

WORKER #3 (pointing off) Hey, look!

A blue streak knifes into the water next to them.

SUPERMAN shoots through the water with the same ease as he does though the air. He reaches the disconnected drilling pipe, which dances wildly around the open bit to the drilling hole from which oil now spews forth. Grabbing the pipe, he straightens it, then forces it back into the bit hole, securing it. SUPERMAN checks his work, heads up quickly for the surface.

SUPERMAN breaks the waterline, wheels in mid-air, blows hard across the surface with his super-breath. He forces the mass of heavy oil across the water and away from the rig, circling it as he goes, compressing it. Rising higher into the air, he trains his x-ray vision on the gooey oil clot. It turns white-hot, explodes, then completely disappears. A cheer is heard O.S. from the WORKERS on the rig.

229 CLOSE ON SUPERMAN

He is about to start off again, then notices something wrong near the base of the rig.

A sea eagle is perched forlornly on one of the lower cross-struts of the rig. Its feathers are heavily matted with oil. Its body trembles, unable to fly. SUPERMAN lands next to it, slowly reaches out, meticulously starts to clean the feathers by blowing warmth into his hands and melting the coated-on oil with them. The process completed, SUPERMAN takes the bird in his hands, tosses it gently upwards. The sea eagle takes off, heading higher into the sky.

The eagle bursts through a white cloud bank up once more into the clean blue air. After a short moment SUPERMAN does likewise, trailing the bird. For a few moments we are privileged to witness this real beauty and poetry of flying as the eagle and SUPERMAN chase each other through the air doing banks, loops, and dives, swooping closely together like two beautiful fighter planes in tight formation. The unspoken ceremony over, they silently acknowledge each other, then head off in different directions.

14/4/77 TM

A country landscape with a winding, undulating road. CAMERA PANS OFF a sign marked: DANFORTH MISSILE PROVING GROUNDS - 12 MILES to a rise in the road. Heading for it is a military convoy. Two jeeps of MP's are in front and one is behind - a huge bulldozer towing a flatbed truck bearing the enormous XK101 rocket. The large missile is covered by a thick, tied-down tarpaulin. The convoy rolls on, crossing the SCREEN from right to left.

A sleek car speeds quickly down another part of the road, heading across the SCREEN from left to right.

CAMERA LOOKS OUT the windshield of the speeding car from the rear. To our amazement there is no DRIVER in the vehicle - no one at all, in fact. The riderless car continues to roar down the road.

CAMERA CLOSE on an electronic guidance box being held by OTIS who tries to manipulate the speeding car, which is presently out of sight. A complicated tool belt is strapped around his waist. LUTHOR stands next to him, curiously dressed in an all-white outfit, looks at the box, alarmed at the signals it is giving off.

LUTHOR snatches the box away angrily, adjusts it.

14/4/77 TM

230D ANGLE ON SPEEDING CAR

The drone car shifts over to the right of the road.

LUTHOR waits expectantly. From this ANGLE we can see EVE in the trees behind him. She is dressed in a hopelessly slinky and revealing outfit, adjust her makeup in a hand mirror. LUTHOR turns to OTIS.

OTIS runs off through the brush and trees to the right. LUTHOR checks the box, looks over his shoulder at EVE.

LUTHOR looks up as the drone car speeds at him around a corner. He presses a button on the box.

230F CLOSE ON DRONE CAR

The drone car suddenly flips all by itself, rolls over and over, bursting into flames.

The first jeep in the military convoy stops as the sound of the explosion echoes over the top of the rise. The alarmed OFFICER inside gestures the vehicle forward again. It reaches the top. The MP's look down.

230H - 230L missing from script.

OTIS puts back his screwdriver, takes out a small wrench, starts to adjust various needles from one set position to another training a flashlight on his arm from time to time where a set of numbers is printed.

The MP's now surround the fallen EVE who is completely obscured from view. Only her legs stick out, twitching as a result of the over-attention being paid her.

Suddenly - a siren is heard. An ambulance roars around the corner, screeches to a stop. LUTHOR jumps out, crosses, begins peeling the MP's off EVE.

The ambulance with LUTHOR and EVE screams around a corner, turns off its siren, stops near the side of a hill. OTIS scrambles down through the brush, jumps into the back.

LUTHOR drives, EVE next to him. OTIS leans in from the rear section, excited.

5/5/77 TM

230Q CONTINUED

OTIS roll up his sleeve, reads the numbers off his arm.

LUTHOR stares at the arm, in total disbelief.

5/5/77 TM

LUTHOR'S legs stick out of the inner rear section of the ambulance where he is pummeling OTIS as the ambulance careens back and forth wildly across the road. EVE frantically tries to control the vehicle from the passenger seat as it disappears around the bend.

Another missile convoy identical to the first one heads down another country road. The same arrangement: two jeeps of MP's in front of the rocket, one in back.

CAMERA LOOKS THROUGH the front side window as LUTHOR and OTIS ride together in what seems to be the cab of a small truck. OTIS looks over apologetically at LUTHOR who drives, eyes forward. CAMERA PULLS BACK, PANS: the small cab vehicle is towing an entire house on a double- width flatbed truck. The huge structure takes up the full breadth of the narrow road.

The missile convoy rounds the corner of a small hill, starts to proceed onto a two-lane bridge, suddenly stops, the rocket itself only halfway on.

LUTHOR drives the house trailer across the other side of the bridge, rolls to a stop, blocking the passageway completely.

The house trailer faces the convoy. The two lead jeeps full of angry MP's drive forward.

The MP's pile out of their jeeps, approach the trailer cab, yelling. LUTHOR smiles thinly, reaches down, presses in the cigarette lighter on the dashboard.

Two of the rear tires on the trailer suddenly puncture.

231G WIDE ANGLE

The rear end of the house sags helplessly on the bridge.

16/4/77 TM

The one remaining jeep behind the missile has been screened by the corner of the hill. The frustrated MP OFFICER waves the DRIVER forward to see what's happened. CAMERA PANS to hillside: EVE scrambles down wearing the same tool belt OTIS had on earlier, heads for the tarpaulin-covered rocket.

Several REPORTERS cluster around a portable TV on a desk in the corner. An ANNOUNCER'S VOICE can be heard.

CAMERA PANS: CLARK enters, looks around, notices that LOIS' desk is empty, heads for the REPORTERS.

ONE REPORTER turns to CLARK.

CLARK crosses back to PERRY'S office.

5/5/77 TM

CLARK knocks. PERRY looks up from behind a stack of news dispatches.

PERRY rises ponderously, hands in pockets, strolls pensively toward his half-opened window, looks out.

16/4/77 TM

232A CONTINUED

As CLARK listens, PERRY'S VOICE seems to fade away, is replaced by a high-pitched whine like that given off by a high frequency transmitter. CLARK winces, hearing it, his hand rising involuntarily to his ear. PERRY drones on at the window, apparently oblivious to it.

Several stray dogs rummage through turned-over garbage cans, suddenly stop as they hear the whine, begin to howl and bay excitedly.

232C BACK TO PERRY'S OFFICE

CLARK tries to focus his super-hearing on the sound as it weakens momentarily and PERRY'S VOICE fades back in again at the window.

More dog howling is heard from the streets through the partially opened window.

232D CLOSE ON CLARK'S EAR

PERRY'S VOICE and the dog howls fade away as CLARK'S super-hearing picks up the high-frequency message.

16/4/77 TM

232E ANGLE ON CLARK

CLARK listens, eyes widening as PERRY drones on silently out the window.

CLARK slips out of PERRY'S office, quickly crosses the city room where the REPORTERS cluster around the TV.

Looking up from the street: CLARK jumps out a window high up on the Daily Planet building. As he falls, a gradual transformation to SUPERMAN takes place in blurred, overlapping stages.

SUPERMAN hits the street, the transformation having taken place. He stares up into the sky.

Seen by SUPERMAN'S X-Ray vision: The pulsating, high frequency sound waves originating from somewhere behind the skyline.

232I BACK TO SUPERMAN

SUPERMAN takes off in the direction of the sound waves, following them.

SUPERMAN looks down at a crowded city street from mid- air. The sound waves seams to emanate through a particular section of the sidewalk.

SUPERMAN lands on the sidewalk. Happy PEDESTRIANS start forward with "Hey, it's Superman," etc. He waves them away.

Arms folded, SUPERMAN suddenly begins to spin in place like a figure skater, around and around at a dizzying speed, boring a circular hole in the pavement as the startled PEDESTRIANS hold on to their hats.

A CUTAWAY SHOT showing SUPERMAN boring through the ground with his spinning motion, heading down through layers of rock, underground city cables etc.

16/4/77 TM

The same tunnel we saw OTIS walk down in an earlier sequence. SUPERMAN bores through the ceiling, hits the floor directly opposite a high-powered radio transmitter. He looks down the length of the tunnel at the heavy metal door marked: DANGER - NO ENTRY – CONDEMNED.

LUTHOR, EVE and OTIS sit in comfortable seats in an elegant viewing theater inside the underground complex. A bank of large TV screens faces them. TWO of the screens show the two Danforth missile silos. A third has the image of SUPERMAN staring directly INTO CAMERA from the tunnel. LUTHOR sips a tall drink, smugly adjusts several knobs on a large console next to him. EVE chews gum, stares curiously at SUPERMAN. OTIS munches on a large candy bar, excited.

LUTHOR'S eyes flash. EVE smiles nervously.

6/4/77 TM

232O CONTINUED

LUTHOR reaches for a button on the console.

SUPERMAN starts down the tunnel for the door. Suddenly panels open on both sides filled with machine gun barrels. They open fire simultaneously in a withering, deafening barrage. SUPERMAN walks forward calmly as thousands of bullets ricochet off him.

The great steel lids of the two missile silos slowly begin to open.

SUPERMAN continues. The walls and ceiling of the tunnel suddenly come alive with flaming gas jets. The tunnel becomes a blinding inferno, as SUPERMAN proceeds serenely through the holocaust.

The launching rockets start to activate. Fire and exhaust surround the bottom of the missile.

SUPERMAN continues, then disappears from view into the middle of an incredibly thick blizzard. A large cone of ice is instantly formed. The blizzard stops. Suddenly a thin crack appears, running down the center. SUPERMAN steps out, rubs his hands together briskly, approaches the door.

18/4/77 TM

LUTHOR sits behind his desk, a model of smug composure, calmly reading the newspaper with the headlines and picture announcing the dual missile test. A large, blank screen has been lowered on one wall next to him. In front of the screen, a black lead trunk forms the base or something which has been converted into a bench, covered with cushions. Some distance away, OTIS finishes setting up a slide projector. EVE watches nervously from the open entrance to the viewing theater. The heavy metal main door to the complex suddenly starts to tremble under SUPERMAN'S strength. LUTHOR looks up from his paper, calls out.

SUPERMAN bashes the thick metal door to the ground like a stick of balsa wood, enters. LUTHOR winces, then rises pleasantly.

OTIS starts forward with a tentative half-smile, is suddenly rooted to the spot by SUPERMAN'S stare.

18/4/77 TM

233 CONTINUED

The two XK101 rockets are launched simultaneously with a rush of flames and a mighty roar.

The two missiles quickly rise to less than a hundred feet, then suddenly stop, split, head off in different directions, skimming rapidly over the ground.

TWO MISSILE CONTROLLERS sit in front of the complex bank of TV screens, computers, and control panels. Red lights flash everywhere. Alarms ring out.

MISSILE CONTROLLER #1 Jesus Christ, they've gone berserk!

CONTROLLER #2 (madly flipping switches) I can't control them! Red Alert! Red Alert! Get the Pentagon!

The CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF sits behind his desk on the phone, red-faced, astonished, wild.

He grabs his red phone, picks it up.

A group or suit-clad SECRET SERVICE AGENTS stand around a golf-cart near a bunker trap. A red phone inside the cart rings wildly. An AGENT picks it up, listens, thunderstruck, turns.

A chunk of turf goes flying up over the top of the bunker from B.G.

The first stage of a lightning fast trip across American from the POV of the rockets at an altitude of less than twenty feet. The images whiz by like magic. ROCKET #1 heads eastward, passing over the yellow wheat fields of Kansas.

Employing the same photographic process, ROCKET #2 heads westward, passing barns and cattle ranches.

SUPERMAN has tolerantly taken a seat on the cushioned bench of lead. LUTHOR holds a professor's pointer in his hands, approaches the rolled-down blank screen. OTIS mans the slide projector. LUTHOR stops, turns dramatically to SUPERMAN.

18/4/77 TM

235 CONTINUED

LUTHOR snaps his fingers. OTIS flips on the slide projector. A brightly illuminated map hits the rolled- down screen. LUTHOR starts to speak, then looks at it curiously.

OTIS flips up another slide. This time it is recognizable as the western half of America. LUTHOR points.

235A CLOSER ON MAP

CAMERA CLOSES on map. LUTHOR begins tracking the San Andreas Fault with the pointer.

8/4/77 TM

235A CONTINUED

18/4/77 TM

235A CONTINUED

LUTHOR smiles broadly, snaps his finger.

235B CLOSE ON SCREEN

A new, close section of the map is suddenly magnified hundreds of times. It is recognizable as desert land. Literally dozens or superimposed grid lines converge on a single point in the middle of the desolate wasteland. LUTHOR'S pointer rises to it.

CAMERA PUSHES IN on the map, then DISSOLVES THROUGH to the actual piece of land.

A car speeds quickly down the dusty desert road.

LOIS drives the car, looks out across the bleak landscape. Sitting in the passengers seat: AN ELDERLY AMERICAN INDIAN CHIEF with classic features, nicely dressed. A tape recorder lies between them as LOIS is doing an interview.

18/4/77 TM

236 CONTINUED

ROCKET #1 now whizzes by over the green fields of Ohio and Indiana, heading east.

ROCKET #2 speeds quickly across the painted desert of Arizona, heading for the Grand Canyon.

The car with LOIS and the Chief disappears across the arid land as CAMERA HOLDS, DISSOLVES BACK THROUGH to the map on the screen in LUTHOR'S lair.

The screen becomes blank again. LUTHOR turns.

18/4/77 TM

238 CONTINUED

SUPERMAN rises quickly, eyes widening, as LUTHOR wheels maniacally to EVE standing in the doorway to the viewing room.

SUPERMAN leaps at LUTHOR, grabs him by the neck.

SUPERMAN scans the room with his X-Ray vision, suddenly stops as he sees the lead trunk he's been sitting on.

238 CONTINUED

SUPERMAN drops LUTHOR in a pile on the floor. He crosses quickly to the trunk, tosses the cushions aside.

SUPERMAN stops suddenly, recoils, stunned, a dim green light reflecting of his face.

The green Kryptonite rock glows inside the box. It is linked on both sides by a chain.

238B BACK TO SCENE

SUPERMAN is instantly immobilized, his strength waning, his knees getting wobbly.

LUTHOR advances, bursting with glee.

LUTHOR pulls the rock out of the box by the chain, dangles it in front of him. SUPERMAN desperately tries to raise his arm to shield himself from the rays.

18/4/77 TM

238B CONTINUED

LUTHOR loops the chain around SUPERMAN'S neck, pulls the staggering, helpless Man of Steel after him like a dog on a leash.

LUTHOR stops, puts his two little fingers on each of SUPERMAN'S shoulders, pushes him down to his knees.

LUTHOR checks his watch, looks down at the pitiful hulk below him, the life ebbing from SUPERMAN.

LUTHOR turns toward the viewing theater. SUPERMAN looks up at him, gasping for breath.

LUTHOR kicks out contemptuously with his foot, pushes SUPERMAN over the crumbled railing bordering the office portion of his complex.

18/4/77 TM

238C ANGLE FROM POOL

SUPERMAN'S lifeless body splashes helplessly down into the pool below.

238D BACK T0 SCENE

LUTHOR crosses to the viewing theater where EVE stands at the entrance, stunned.

LUTHOR enters the viewing theater. EVE stands at the doorway, glances at the pool, unsure. LUTHOR'S hand suddenly appears, yanks her back inside.

ROCKET #1 whizzes eastward. Larger, more populous communities loom up ahead.

LOIS has dropped off the CHIEF by a cluster of makeshift houses where other INDIANS can be seen loading their belongings onto pickup trucks, etc. LOIS waves goodbye, drives off.

5/5/77 TM

ROCKET #2 speeds across desert land matching the kind where we just saw LOIS.

JIMMY OLSEN walks along the top of the giant dam, taking pictures of the surrounding towns and areas in the distance as well as the dam itself.

CAMERA CLOSE on two TV screens monitoring the progress of both rockets NOW PULLS BACK: OTIS mans the console as LUTHOR'S face twitches nervously in the excited anticipation, glued to the screen. Curiously enough, EVE is missing.

EVE walks quietly to the top of the crumbled railing, looks down, deeply troubled.

SUPERMAN is dying, barely able to keep afloat. He makes one final, feeble gesture at trying to unhook the chain from his neck, then looks up, spots EVE.

5/5/77 TM

239B CONTINUED

EVE looks around, quickly makes up her mind, dives off the crumbling railing into the pool.

239C ANGLE ON POOL

EVE swims over to SUPERMAN who is just about to go under. She reaches out to unhook he chain from his neck, grabs hold of it, suddenly stops, looks deeply into SUPERMAN'S eyes.

EVE suddenly kisses him hard, breaks, then unhooks the chain. The Kryptonite sinks to the bottom of the pool. SUPERMAN actually seems to enlarge in the water, all his super-strength returning in a rush. He looks at EVE curiously, his power recharging itself.

239C CONTINUED

SUPERMAN roars up out of the pool, heading for the roof of the complex like a supersonic blue dart.

SUPERMAN bursts through the pavement on a busy midtown street, streaks up into the sky at top speed.

SUPERMAN flies for speed, straining himself to reach the maximum. He looks off and down.

Far below - the missile. In the distance looms the city of Hackensack.

240C BACK TO SUPERMAN

He dives for the missile.

SUPERMAN plants himself firmly in mid-air directly in the path of the oncoming missile, braces himself to grab it. As the missile flies straight at him, it suddenly changes course.

18/4/77 TM

240D CONTINUED

SUPERMAN lunges for it but it veers off out of reach, then whizzes away into the distance. SUPERMAN flies off after the rocket, a look of grim determination on his face.

The missile zooms on toward Hackensack.

SUPERMAN catches up, now comes at the missile from the side. But the sensory device picks him up again - the missile dodges out of range, leaving him behind.

240H CLOSE ON MISSILE

The missile speeds on. SUPERMAN comes back into frame, catching up. He grabs it from behind, gripping it tightly. With a mighty effort, he wrenches the rocket off its course. Steering it from behind he accelerates quickly, flying straight up into sky.

SUPERMAN climbs higher and higher over the United States, gaining speed, suddenly flings the missile up into space like a javelin. It whistles off into the blackness as SUPERMAN wheels in mid-air, looks back down at the United States, freezes in horror.

ROCKET #2 hits the San Andreas Fault and explodes! A white-hot mushroom cloud starts to form.

241B BACK TO SUPERMAN

SUPERMAN streaks back down to Earth.

18/4/77 TM

SUPERMAN circles the mushroom cloud at top speed, going faster and faster, not only stopping its expansion but actually compressing it. He then dives straight into the center of the holocaust.

SUPERMAN swoops to the base of the cloud, blows up with his super-breath.

241D ANGLE ON MUSHROOM CLOUD

The entire cloud with its fallout and pollution is blown high up into the stratosphere, away from Earth.

242 CLOSE ON SUPERMAN

SUPERMAN stops in mid-air, looks, listens. A loud rumble begins, gathering in intensity. The earthquake has arrived.

The land shakes on the Pacific Coast. Huge chunks of cliff begin to fall into the sea.

Great yawning cracks rip open across the land in all directions.

242C ANGLE ON SUPERMAN

SUPERMAN quickly dives down, disappears into a crack in the earth.

SUPERMAN bores through the underground, desperately trying to repair the crack. He pushes plates of land back together, dams up a flow of onrushing lava, redirecting it, suddenly looks off and up through the earth with his X-Ray vision.

18/4/77 TM

A long, sleek passenger train hurtles down the tracks, shuddering under the impact of the earthquake.

A crack in the earth shoots across the tracks ahead, splitting the rail ties.

244B BACK TO TRAIN

The train rushes on, unable to stop.

244C BACK TO CRACK

SUPERMAN suddenly appears in the crack, coming up from underneath, now physically spans it with his body.

244D WIDER ANGLE

The long train rolls over SUPERMAN, continues on safely down the tracks.

A complex of enormous electric power cables stretches across a highway jammed with shaking automobiles and panicked MOTORISTS. Suddenly - one cable snaps: showers of sparks fly high into the air as the live cables drop down toward the metal cars below.

245A CLOSER ANGLE

SUPERMAN swoops down, grabs a cable end in either hand. For a moment he almost resembles a bright blue light bulb as the powerful current runs through him. Pressing the cables together with his super-strength he literally solders them, then once more safely strings them tight across the highway.

18/4/77 TM

The famous Hollywood Sign perched on the hill in Los Angeles trembles, then cracks apart in the center. It starts to fall.

246A ANGLE ON GIRL SCOUT TROOP

SUPERMAN lands in the middle of the broken sign, pulls on the two halves with either hand, pushing it back together to spell HOLLYWOOD again, solid once more.

The famous Golden Gate Bridge sways precariously, then sags, starts to break in the center.

247A CLOSE ON BRIDGE

Several cars and a school bus begin to topple off, their OCCUPANTS frozen, screaming in terror.

247B WIDER ANGLE ON BRIDGE

SUPERMAN flies under the bridge, pushes up, saving the vehicles and straightening the bridge.

247C CLOSE ON SUPERMAN AND BRIDGE

SUPERMAN holds the bridge up, quickly welds the cracks shut again using his X-Ray vision.

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

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.

The crack slams shut with a sickening sound.

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

JIMMY holds on to the top railing of the huge dam which shakes and strains under the force of the quake. He bravely tries to take pictures with his camera which dangles from his neck, suddenly hears something, looks down in horror.

The dam begins to crack - little cracks at first, then growing larger and more numerous.

250 WIDER ANGLE

SUPERMAN suddenly appears - a tiny blue dot as compared to the size of the mighty dam. He pushes back against it.

251 CLOSE ON SUPERMAN

The cracks start to run in all directions, now grow wider. It's hopeless. SUPERMAN looks up in desperation as JIMMY yells down at him.

252 CLOSE ON JIMMY

Before Jimmy can finish his sentence he is scooped up into air by SUPERMAN.

253 ANGLE IN MID-AIR

SUPERMAN wheels in mid-air holding JIMMY, looks down at the dam, then back at JIMMY again.

The enormous dam suddenly bursts. Huge jets of water spit through the crumbling structure on all sides.

FLASH CUT: LOIS stands by her squashed car on the mountain top. A blur seems to cross the SCREEN, then instantaneously leave. JIMMY is standing next to her.

18/4/77 TM

The structure collapses. A gigantic wall of water cascades down toward the valley town below.

Screaming, panicked citizens react in terror as the raging torrent heads down directly at them.

257 ANGLE LOOKING DOWN FROM SKY

SUPERMAN dives to earth, carves a wide new river bed like a human bulldozer, channeling the water so it bypasses the town. The current rushes off down its new course into the desert lands beyond.

The assembled INDIANS watch, thunderstruck, as the new river bed is carved through their land, irrigating it. They cheer wildly. SUPERMAN waves happily back at them, then flies off.

SUPERMAN lands on the mountain top, joining LOIS and JIMMY. The rumbling has stopped. JIMMY notices.

SUPERMAN smiles modestly, turns to LOIS.

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259 CONTINUED

SUPERMAN zooms off into the air. LOIS watches him go, a hopefully wistful smile on her face.

The recreation yard of a large prison. CONVICTS mill about under the supervision of watch towers. Off to one side of the yard the WARDEN confers with two of his GUARDS.

261 CLOSE ON WARDEN AND GUARDS

The WARDEN looks up in astonishment as SUPERMAN whizzes down through the air holding LUTHOR and OTIS with either arm, lands directly in front of them.

26/6/77

261 CONTINUED

LUTHOR and OTIS are led away. The WARDEN turns admiringly to SUPERMAN.

SUPERMAN flies higher into the NIGHT sky.

As SUPERMAN flies higher into the atmosphere we SEE the other side of the EARTH as he FLIES into DAYLIGHT.

SUPERMAN flies majestically through the sky, gaining altitude. He's done his job well. OR HAS HE? CAMERA PANS OFF HIM, ZOOMS UP INTO SPACE.

ROCKET #1 which SUPERMAN hurled upward from earth continues traveling through space, unchecked by gravitational pull. It speeds through other solar systems, gradually approaching something which - to our horror - we recognize from earlier: The Phantom Zone containing the THREE GREAT VILLAINS: ZOD, URSA, and NON.

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264 CLOSE 0N ROCKET

The ROCKET nears the Phantom Zone, then suddenly explodes. The massive shock waves ripple furiously through space.

265 CLOSE ON PHANTOM ZONE

The intense waves caused by the nuclear explosion collide with the Phantom Zone. It cracks, releasing the VILLAINS. They rush to the opened section and their unexpected freedom. NON lets out the horrible roar of an animal suddenly uncaged.

Their grotesque faces fill the SCREEN with howls of glee as they drift off into space.

SELECTED SCENES FROM SUPERMAN II

Selected film clips from SUPERMAN II with the exact content to be determined, but certainly establishing:

A. LOIS and SUPERMAN making love. B. JOR-EL physically appearing before SUPERMAN to give him new life. C. CLARK KENT being beaten up and bloodied. D. ZOD, URSA and, NON destroying and conquering the world.

INSERT SHOT - COMIC BOOK

The tiny CHILD'S hand seen in the opening shot of the film comes back into frame, quietly turns over the final page of the SUPERMAN comic book. On the back cover is the enticing message:

DON'T MISS THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN!

COMING SOON!

FADE OUT:

26/6/77

AMENDMENTS

SUPERMAN I

1. See Page 33 - Scenes 92/93/94/95 are transposed to page 56 to follow Scene 145 becoming Scs. 145A/B/C with some minor alterations and are played at NIGHT.

P. 33. SC. 91 cuts directly to Sc. 96 INT. DAILY PLANET - DAY

2. Scenes 100B, 101, 102, 103,104, 105 - 131 inclusive - PLEASE READ DAY and amend script accordingly.

3. Pages 1O1 - 128 inclusive - Scs. 232- 259 inclusive should read DUSK.

3A. Page 128 - Sc. 260 READ 'NIGHT' and see new pages for amendment.

SUPERMAN II

4. Page 239A Sc. 267 - PLEASE NOTE THAT CLARK KENT DOES NOT change to SUPERMAN - the 'blue blur' will be a gray blur or whatever the color of suit he is wearing for previous scene.

5. Pages 241 - Scs. 302. 303. 304. 305. 3O6 - sequence following LOIS' falling into the fruitcart – OMITTED From Sc. 3O1 CUT DIRECT TO 3O7 INT. PERRY WHITE'S OFFICE.

6. Pages 283. 283A. 284 - Escape from prison in balloon.

*NOTE: screenplay reformatted, 6/24/01 by G.R. This document is based on the T. Mankiewicz shooting script now widely circulated on the Internet. The purpose of this revision is to increase legibility by standardizing the formatting throughout the document. The alterations made are primarily ones involving indentation, page breaks, capitalization, and punctuation. Spelling has been preserved to match the previous text source except in cases where obvious mistakes were made, many of which seemed to be caused by the limitations of OCR software. One additional exception is that British spellings have been Americanized, although a future revision may reverse those changes. No attempt has been made to reconceive the screenplay’s original pagination that is referred to occasionally within the document. None of the notes (excepting this one) within the text are mine, but rather that of the original screenwriters or those first responsible for bringing the text to a digital format. While I attempted to emulate the formatting of other professionally drafted screenplays, I am not a professional and do not have access to the film’s original screenplay sources. Therefore, this is not to be understood as a definitive shooting script for Superman The Movie, but hopefully an improvement upon what has been available.