Superman II (1980) - 151 mistakes

Visible crew/equipment: In the town in Texas when General Zod and his crew first visit, watch when the boy's father (elevated by Zod's finger) falls to the ground. You can see the pad under the dirt when he hits it.

Revealing: Roughly 5-10 minutes from the end, Superman is returning the White House's flag to its rightful place, flying over the fountain on the lawn...which is frozen solid in place. Obviously a photo backdrop.

Visible crew/equipment: Ursa throws the sewer lid at Superman sending him flying backwards into the car windshield. Watch the sewer lid carefully when Superman actually hits the windshield. You can see that the sewer lid was actually attached to a belt around his waist so that it would stay in place for the shots where he is flying backward through the air.

Visible crew/equipment: When Superman is fighting Non under the New York Streets (in the sewers), manhole covers start to jet up in the sky. When the first manhole cover shoots up you can quite clearly see the gas tube in the hole and the gas cylinder attached to the cover.

Factual error: After Superman accidentally frees the phantom zone villains with the exploding hydrogen bomb, they start flying towards the moon. The sleeves in their clothes can be seen fluttering around. This would be impossible because there is no air in outer space, hence nothing to cause resistance against the clothes.

Continuity: There are two external White House shots in the film. The second is a still shot, and should take place at least a few days after the first. However, it is a frame from the earlier shot, with the same person standing in the same spot on the lawn.

Revealing: In the beginning, when Superman is flying to the Eiffel Tower, the last scene that shows him flying towards the tower, you can see the wire Christopher Reeve was attached to as he swoops down. The wire stretches all the way across as Superman glides down.

Continuity: In Niagara, Clark moves to the left to warn a kid from falling and a woman next to him lowers her camera. In next shot the camera is up and she repeats the previous movement.

Visible crew/equipment: In the shot where Zod walks on the lake's water, there is a platform visible just under the water's surface.

Other: At the end of the film Superman puts the US flag back onto the Whitehouse. Whilst he is speaking to the President through the hole in the roof the flag can clearly be seen flying in the wind, but his cape is completely still.

Other: When Clark and Lois are on their way to the diner, the wide shot of their car driving along looked very familiar. In fact, it was footage used in the first movie, where the car was used as part of Lex Luthor's "real-estate" plan and was run on remote control. If you look closely in part II, no one is driving the car yet you hear Clark say to Lois, "Hey, you seem pretty quiet over there...."

Revealing: When Zod lifts the boy's father with the beam of white energy, watch closely when he raises him up past the telephone pole...he 'clips' right through it, or rather the pole clips through him, as if he is transparent.

Continuity: Clark and Lois are undercover in a hotel in Niagara Falls investigating a Honeymoon scam. There is a scene where Clark is removing money from his pocket to tip a porter. You can plainly see that some of the money is falling on the ground. In the next scene the porter walks away with his tip and the falling money has disappeared.

Plot hole: Before the trio crashed into the Daily Planet (just before the battle with Supes), they were heard flying outside the building. For 3 superbeings with the ability to fly unaided, they sure sound heckuva lot like jet-propelled aircrafts. Jet aircrafts are noisy because of their engines, but superpeople?

Revealing: Inside the White House, Non throws a pillar at the soldiers. When it lands on the floor, it starts to move by itself like a puppet, revealing the whole structure was attached to a string.

Deliberate "mistake": During the fight in Metropolis, General Zod is about to throw a wall part at Superman, it cuts to a street scene with people and there is a "keep clear" sign reversed, showing the film was flipped for some reason.

Revealing: When Zod says to Ursa to "blow them a kiss my dear" to the helicopter that's firing on them watch as the helicopter is indeed a real military helicopter, then when it loses control it's an obvious model and just before it crashes into the house it's a full size helicopter again but is completely different from the first one that was originally shown.

Factual error: The moon has no atmosphere. Yet, the Ursa and Zod are able to speak to the astronauts. We even hear wind as Zod kicks one of the astronauts in the air and snaps his cord. We also hear the explosions when the lunar lander is destroyed. If the moon has no atmosphere, then the super villains can't speak and there should have been no sound in this part of the movie.

Continuity: There must be a barber's shop or a cosmetics shop somewhere in the Phantom Zone. At the beginning of the first Superman film General Zod's hair looks as if it has been blow-dried, but all through Superman II he looks like he uses wet-look gel.

Continuity: In the opening scene where the three villains destroy the energy crystal and the lights go dark and the rings descend upon them, the light that surrounds them is shown coming down from the ceiling. But, when the dome opens, the light surrounding them shines up from the floor. (As also seen in Superman: The Movie.)

Revealing: The shot of people walking on the street by the Daily Planet is the same one used in Superman I.

Revealing: After Superman saves the kid at Niagara Falls, he lands on a lawn nearby. Then wires holding him are visible.

Continuity: While Superman is crushing Zod's hand, there's a close-up of Non watching the scene in awe. In the following shot, Non's expression has changed to normal.

Revealing: Wires holding Superman are seen when he lands on the island to pick up fruit.

Continuity: When Superman starts playing hide and seek with the villains, he stands away from the icicles. When Ursa shows up a frame later, he's leaning against them.

Revealing: The fire that comes out of the flame throwers moves at a slow speed though the scene is developing at normal speed.

Revealing: When Zod is thrown by Superman and passes by Luthor, the stand in is a guy with fluffy hair who looks nothing like Lex.

Revealing: In the ice cave, Superman throws a plastic S at Non. The wires moving it are visible.

Continuity: Before the villains arrive at the Daily Planet, Lois's hair is fluffy and her fringe has a straight cut. When the scene ends, her hair is shorter, and her fringe has some stylish cuts.

Continuity: When Lois is trapped under the elevator, the wide shots show a thick metal bar close to her throat. In the closeups showing her head and shoulders the bar isn't visible.

Continuity: Superman stands on a flag pole outside one of the windows in Perry's office to defy the 3 villains. When the shot cuts to an outside view of the villains flying, the flag pole has disappeared, and the nearest one is several feet to the left.

Continuity: When Clark and Lois land inside the ice cave, the wires holding her are visible.

Other: When Ursa, Non and Zod first arrive on earth, watch out for the horrible lipstick marks on Ursa's teeth as they walk away from the lake.

Continuity: The corner in the Fortress of Solitude that exploded looks totally different when we see it at the end of the film.

Plot hole: Lois and a friend of hers are watching Non and Superman fight. But this is totally senseless, because Superman had been flying around Metropolis and chances are slim that he appears in the very same spot to let Lois watch him. And, second and most important, should any doubts arise, the panning angles of the camera never show Lois's building, with the big broken window and the flag poles.

Continuity: When Luthor is at Perry's office door, his hair changes from long and messy to short and combed in a matter of nano seconds.

Continuity: Non enter Perry's office and kicks a plant which makes the coat hanger next to it wiggle, but not fall. When the angle changes, about a frame later, it is on the floor, several feet away from the first position.

Continuity: Non attacks the guard, who activates an alarm on his belt. In the wide angle all of his left hand is on the alarm, on the close-up only the index finger. This keeps swapping back and forth.

Revealing: After the Marlboro truck scene, Superman throws Zod and he goes through an office window. The harness to make him fly is visible on his back.

Continuity: Superman is putting the antenna back on the Empire State. first its base is brightly lightened, despite the antenna being on top. When he is about to anchor it, a split second afterwards, the base is totally dark.

Continuity: After Superman holds the antenna falling on the woman's pram, in a matter of 3 seconds the parked cars she was standing in between (a yellow cab and a black car) come much closer together.

Continuity: Lois is in the diner and the waiter serves her a Coke and leaves. Angle changes, the bad guy sits next to her and the waiter appears serving the Coke again. In the next shot, the angle changes again and he disappears.

Continuity: In the diner, whilst Clark is asking the bad guy to step outside, the waiter is leaning over the baddie's right shoulder. When the angle changes he is leaning on the left shoulder.

Audio problem: When the villains are trapped in the mirror triangle Zod cries out something against Jor-el, but his mouth isn't in sync with what he says.

Continuity: Atop the Eiffel tower the climate keeps changing from sunny to cloudy within seconds depending on the angle.

Continuity: When the villains are in front of the sheriff's car he places his hat next to the steering wheel. When the angle changes, the hat is away and he's repeating the movement.

Continuity: Zod throws the Sheriff's rifle away and it lands next to the wheel. When the angle changes it has moved behind the wheel.

Continuity: When Lois is making an orange juice the position of the oranges differs between wide and close shots.

Continuity: When Superman brings the flag to the White House, the wide shot shows the wind stopping, and the flag coming to a smooth stop. Immediately after, in the close-up, the flag is moving wildly.

Continuity: When Zod is considering things on the moon, look at the shot of the Earth and the Sun behind him. First, there's apparently a lunar eclipse going on. You see the Earth on the Sun's right side. Then the camera pans over, and the Earth moves over to the Sun's left.

Audio problem: When the three villains fly after Superman, they all gather in a circle and one of them says "Wait there". It can't be Ursa because it is too deep and neither Zod's or Non's lips are moving so it is not them. So, who is it?

Visible crew/equipment: Lighting focus reflected on the cosmonaut's visor.

Deliberate "mistake": French officers and firemen speak in English between them.

Continuity: In East Houston, after Ursa says "your general wishes to speak" a sudden change of light takes place and her face swaps from shady to very bright.

Continuity: Before the East Houston scene, the rear view mirror in the cops' car is skewed in the outside shots, but straight in the ones inside.

Continuity: Man in a yellow shirt disappears after Ursa stops the bus in Metropolis.

Deliberate "mistake": When the villains rampage the White House, the flag's base remains on the ceiling, and the flag pole falls inside the house. So the final scene with Superman carrying the flag and its base as if it had been previously stolen or destroyed, is nonsensical, but it looks very patriotic indeed.

Continuity: In the Niagara falls, when Superman brings Lois a hot dog, the wider angle doesn't show a woman with a beige sweater coming form the right, who suddenly appears in the close up.

Continuity: When Ursa says "your general wishes to speak" her right arm changes the way it's open.

Continuity: After saving Lois in the river, Clark falls on the water and Lois cries "Here.", a split second later she has changed position, being now turned around and she has also moved 3 feet into water close to Clark.

Continuity: When villains fly through Perry's window the reflection of the lights disappear and the blinds flutter without any problem, revealing that the glass was taken out to allow for a safe jump.

Continuity: In the bar in East Houston, the man that challenges Ursa to arm-wrestle has his right arm and elbow on the table. In the next shot they're down.

Continuity: When Ursa sits down to arm-wrestle, a man with a red jacket who was sitting several feet to the left, suddenly appears on the back close to the guy with a Coors T-shirt.

Continuity: During the scene where villains arrive to the Daily Planet, Jimmy Olsen's haircut changes from long to very short.

Continuity: When Clark comes back to the diner to take revenge, a dish next to the bad guy suddenly appears.

Continuity: When Super arrives at the Daily Planet to defy the 3 villains, the outside shot shows three piles of books lined along the window. From the inside, all of the books are piled to the right.

Continuity: At the end of the movie, in the diner, the bad guy's food keeps changing appearance.

Continuity: When Superman reveals his identity to Lois, the liquid in the top of the lava lamp changes from filled to empty in half a second.

Visible crew/equipment: Crew members are seen wandering inside Lois' apartment at the end of the movie.

Revealing: When Non and Zod break in through the White House window, a black strap is seen attached to each one's body to help them descend safely.

Revealing: When Ursa throws the sewer lid at Superman, watch his logo on the back: It has a bumpy thing underneath and a lot of cables coming out, showing where all the mechanism to pull him back was.

Continuity: After Superman throws Zod against the ice wall, Non's position changes between shots: First he is way behind Luthor, and a second later both are side by side.

Continuity: When Non enters the Daily Planet there's a wood shelf with four sheets of paper, the ones in the middle are yellow and the rest are black and white. When the shot changes to a wide angle, all the papers are black and white.

Revealing: When Zod throws a man against the wall in East Houston, the man goes through the wall into a truck. Before he crashes against the truck, wires holding him are visible.

Continuity: When Ursa sits down to arm wrestle, coasters magically appear on the table.

Continuity: When Non rampages the Daily planet, the grey file cabinet lying on the floor changes positions before and after he enters.

Continuity: The watch on the left hand of the cop holding the binoculars while watching the Eiffel Tower, appears and disappears between shots.

Continuity: When Ursa throws the White House cop out of the window on the ceiling, the hole in the glass appears before he goes through it.

Continuity: When Ursa descends through the White House window, she is facing the back of the cop holding a gun. In the next shot she lands facing somewhere else, the cop now being by her side.

Continuity: After Zod grabs the cop's rifle, a close-up shows the rifle's butt close to the policeman, which is inconsistent with the next shot where the villains are seen many meters away.

Continuity: When Ursa grabs the snake, in the close-up her badge appears skewed. In the rest of the shots the badge appears straight.

Continuity: Trapped under the elevator, Lois says "Capital P" but she is not mouthing the word.

Revealing: When Zod takes the rifle out of the cop's hand the strings moving the rifle are seen, each by the side of the cop's cowboy hat when the rifle turns red.

Continuity: The coat hanger in Perry's office disappears between shots.

Continuity: Non smashes Perry's glass but a second later the glass is back in place.

Continuity: After Non smashes Superman against a metal structure which gets totally crumpled, Superman stands up and the structure is undamaged.

Continuity: When Clark is laying beat up on the diner floor, a man in a brown suit next to him disappears.

Continuity: In the Fortress of Solitude, when Non is (green screened) flying towards Superman, Ursa and Lois disappear.

Continuity: When Superman lands by the truck there are no people behind him. In the next shot there are a lot of people running around behind him.

Revealing: When Ursa blows the helicopter away, the string holding it is visible.

Continuity: Superman descends to stop the big truck from exploding and lands in front of it, by the cabin. A frame later he is seen landing a meter before the truck.

Continuity: In the first scene, when the guard gets caught off-guard by Non his right arm is on the side, in the close up it is bent to defend against Non. A frame later it's down.

Continuity: After crushing Zod's hand, Superman sends him flying away. Luthor's head turns around twice.

Revealing: When Non falls on Superman and breaks the concrete, the hole opens before Non falls on him.

Continuity: When the TV camera focuses on Zod, there's a man crouching by a car behind him. Half a second later he is standing and leaning on the hood.

Continuity: When the ring falls on the villains, Non is looking down and a split second later he is looking up.

Continuity: When Non lifts the cops' car, the fat cop starts to tuck his head inside the car, but a frame later it's already in, without having finished the movement.

Revealing: In the ice cave, when Superman makes himself invisible, watch Zod's head jumping slightly to the back, revealing where the scene was edited to achieve the effect.

Continuity: When Non is about to break Perry's desk in half, Jimmy and Lois are standing very close to each other. A split second later they're farther apart.

Continuity: When the antenna is about to crush the pram, the mother is first behind it. A second later she's by the side. Then a second later she's on top of it, and a second afterwards slightly covering it. Boy she moves FAST.

Continuity: Inside the Fortress of Solitude, when Non jumps to fight Superman, before he flies, Ursa and Lois are looking at Superman. A mere frame later, when Non starts to fly, both girls are in a different position fighting against each other. It's a really awkward and sudden change.

Continuity: At the end, in the Fortress of Solitude, Lois' hairstyle keeps changing from fluffy and dull to smooth and stylish.

Continuity: After the hide and seek game in the ice cave, Luthor's fringe constantly changes length and style.

Continuity: When Lois prepares orange juice, Clark lowers his left arm and sneaks it behind his back. A second later the arm is up.

Revealing: During the big fight in Metropolis, the close-up of the pram shows its empty. It must a very expensive pram for the mother to protect it in such a heroic way.

Continuity: Clark steps out of the diner and the waiter has his hands on his chest. A shot later his hands are on the counter.

Continuity: After being hit by a cab, Lois calls Clark and the people behind her change in a split second.

Continuity: In the big fight in Metropolis Ursa chokes Superman, but a frame later she is 3 meters away from him and her hands are off his neck.

Continuity: Zod makes a short jump from the white car to the Marlboro truck, but in the next shot we see the two cars are several feet further apart.

Continuity: In East Houston, the army jeep is passing by a brown car, then Ursa talks and we hear the jeep engine coming close, but when the image focuses back on the jeep it is several feet behind the brown car, instead of being in front of it.

Visible crew/equipment: Wires holding Superman is visible when he is about to stop the elevator.

Continuity: In East Houston, while the helicopter fires at the 3 villains, a soldier runs behind Ursa and she is left totally alone. In the next shot he is behind her, running away again.

Continuity: When Clark crosses the street before being hit by a cab there's barely no people behind, in the next shot there's a lot more.

Continuity: In the big fight scene in Metropolis, after Ursa chokes Superman, Non descends and wires holding him is visible.

Continuity: When Clark comes out of the river one shot shows the back of his jacket with one half up and another down. When the angle changes the entire jacket is up.

Continuity: When the Empire State antenna falls down the wires holding it are visible.

Continuity: When Superman is about to stop the elevator, he flies with one arm up the other down. A frame later in a new angle both arms are up.

Audio problem: Most of the times when the French terrorists talk, their lips are not in synch or their mouths don't move.

Continuity: On Krypton, when the guard gets caught, Non's hand is at chest level. In the close-up it is at belly level.

Continuity: When Ursa throws the sewer lid to Superman, first she is standing in the middle of the street but in the next shot she is close to the curb, by a yellow cab.

Revealing: In the first confrontation between Superman and the Zod Squad, Superman gets chased out over the water. In the first two shots in this chase, if you look at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen (at least in the letterboxed version) you can see the wake of the boat that they used to make these two pull-back shots.

Continuity: When Lois is falling on the elevator, the camera angle cuts between her reactions and the ground coming up quickly. When Superman arrives to save her, there is suddenly a LOT more distance from the elevator to the ground than there was just a moment before.

Revealing: In the New York battle scene, just after Nod has grabbed Superman, he restrains him (both are in the air above the city). Ursa punches Superman, and he goes flying backward toward a building. Watch very carefully along the bottom of the screen. You can tell that Superman isn't even matted in from the chest down. Where is the rest of him?

Revealing: When Non tries to fly at the end of the film, but falls into the bottom of the Fortress of Solitude, watch closely. He appears to hit some sort of safety pad after he falls, making the fog around him disperse very briefly, which shows him safely land on the pad. The fog quickly comes back and covers him as he ducks his head down.

Revealing: When Ursa kicks the astronaut into space, she takes a step back and looks upwards. When this happens you can tell that the film is being shown at double speed. Also, when Clark spins the guy on the chair at the end of the film, he snaps back upright far too quickly.

Continuity: When Zod throws the shotgun after discharging it, it lands in front of the police car's back tyre. But when the dumb one goes to pick the gun up, it is now towards the back of the car.

Continuity: When they are in east Houston, Idaho, the helicopter gets knocked out of the air and lands upside down onto a jeep. You see the pilot get smashed into the seat of the jeep real hard and yet seconds later he walks away unharmed.

Continuity: When Superman falls on the Marlboro truck, the part reading "Ma" gets more crumpled after Superman leaves the truck compared to when he landed on it.

Continuity: When the three super villains attack the astronauts on the moon, as Non lifts the lander's leg, there is a shot of the astronaut inside a collapsing cabin. It is like there is something crushing the roof inwards, but all three super villains are accounted for, with Zod sat in the moon buggy, Ursula standing next to him and Non lifting the lander. This happens twice in the space of a few seconds before Non jumps on top of the lander to crush it.

Audio problem: In the Fortress of Solitude, when Superman kneels before Zod, we hear Lois sobbing, but her mouth and body don't move.

Continuity: Inside the bar in East Houston, Zod pushes a man backwards, but the next shot shows the man flying as if he had been thrown upwards.

Continuity: When the villains are being judged, for a brief second they change positions, Zod being on the far right instead the far left.

Plot hole: When the villains rampage Perry's office and later fly through the windows, no one ever comes close to the pillar between the windows, nor any violence is done around it. However, after the fly away the pillar falls down on the street.

Audio problem: At the Eiffel Tower, after Lois asks the French officer if the terrorists have the proper equipment, his voice is heard but from a side view his mouth and jaw don't move.

Continuity: In East Houston, behind the man lifted by Zod, there's a man standing several feet away from a car. A frame later he's very close to the car.

Revealing: When Non goes through the pavement, the hole reveals it's a foam made floor.

Continuity: When the News Beat reporter arrives, the shadow on the satellite dish changes significantly in a couple of seconds.

Continuity: When Zod burns several cars, the street is filled with parked cars and people. From Superman's point of view the street is empty and you only get to see the three burning cars and a couple of cabs.

Audio problem: When the villains blow the people back in Metropolis, all the ones near the KFC restaurant (the waitress, the guy in the phone booth and the couple) shout or make comments but their mouths either don't move or are not in synch.

Visible crew/equipment: When Non crashes Perry against the ceiling, a crew member's hand is seen holding Perry.

Revealing: When Zod jumps out of Perry's window he falls down, revealing its a stunt from a ground level window. The outside shots however, show Zod flying up and straight.

Deliberate "mistake": Luthor and Teschmaker visit the North Pole protecting themselves against the cold. Lois manages to wander around with a mere, but sexy, shirt.

Revealing: Before the villains change the faces on Mt. Rushmore, the original ones (which are a matte painting) have a greenish look. Definitely not like the real sculptures.

Revealing: At the beginning of the movie, we see the three villains in front of several backgrounds. In most of these backgrounds, their outlines are fuzzy, indicating that they are actually standing in front of a green screen.

Revealing: When there are multiple Superman's in his home, Lois Lane runs to one of the fakes. It seems as if she is the fake because her image becomes slightly transparent as she runs through him.

Continuity: When the elevator falls down the shaft with Lois trapped underneath, Superman flies up to rescue her. He stops the elevator, and when he does, Lois climbs off from the bottom of the elevator and runs to hug him. Problem is, when she climbed off the bottom of the elevator, there should have been nothing but air underneath her.

Visible crew/equipment: When the super baddies arrive on the moon and encounter the astronauts, the girl Kryptonian kicks one of the astronauts into space and you can see the strings around his waist as he floats away.

Deliberate "mistake": Near the end of the film when the 3 villains enter the fortress, Ursa throws Lex Luther off of her back and flies away. You can clearly see that it was a stuntman and not Gene Hackman.

Continuity: Zod punches Superman and makes him fly backwards and crash against a metal structure. The wide shot shows him in the middle of it, but in the immediate close one, he is located on the right side.

Continuity: After Superman crushes Zod's hand, his hair gets wet and the fringe appears combed as a toupee.

Continuity: When Ursa is moving the helicopter around, the sky keeps changing from sunny to cloudy.