Revealing mistake: All the footage of the missiles being launched is of a poor quality and grainy, which is inconsistent with the good quality of the rest of the shots, revealing that it's stock footage.
Continuity mistake: In the extended edition, before Superman enters Lex's lair his hair is short, then when he's being shot at, his hair is much longer and bulkier. When he finally enters the place, it's back to short.
Revealing mistake: Superman has just saved Jimmy at the dam and is holding him in the air. Jimmy's fringe is standing up thanks to some hair fixer to achieve the effect of wind blowing (though it's a green screen effect). When Superman sets him on the floor his hair remains up giving away the trick, until the angle changes and it looks all combed and nice.
Continuity mistake: The two cops are following Otis at Grand Central Station and two girls, one in yellow, pass by their left side. When the angle changes to a closer one, the girls are in the back and pass by again.
Continuity mistake: When Clark shows Perry a white paper with directions of where to send the payroll, the way he holds the paper differs between shots.
Continuity mistake: Lois exits Perry's office and Clark enters to talk about salary. His hat swaps from facing up to down between shots.
Continuity mistake: When Clark is about to jump in front of the train, there's a crossing sign shaped as an X. Depending on the shot the front upper left part is either bent and about to break, straight, or missing.
Continuity mistake: When the Kent's stop the truck and see the cradle, the sky swaps from sunny and clear to heavily cloudy in a second.
Continuity mistake: When Kent's father pulls over his car, he holds the steering wheel with his right hand on the top. From the side, barely a frame before, he has his left hand on the side.
Continuity mistake: The first wide shot of Superman arriving at the broken railway shows no logs hanging. The close shots, and then on, do show logs.
Continuity mistake: The way the bags are positioned in the Kent's pickup differs between the side and back angles.
Continuity mistake: When Lois exits the alley where Clark grabs the bullet, her hair is much shorter than when she entered.
Continuity mistake: When Superman arrives at the ditch by the railway, the gap is 3 times his length. In the next shot the gap has shrunk and now measures exactly Superman's height.
Continuity mistake: In Lex Luthor's lair, the bottles to the left of the TV broadcasting the news disappear in the following shot.
Continuity mistake: When Superman is in Luthor's lair and Lex calls Ms. Teschmaker , the lamp on the floor changes from lit to unlit depending on the shot.
Revealing mistake: When Superman takes Otis and Luthor to the prison wires holding them are visible.
Continuity mistake: When hanging from the bridge, the damage on the school bus' hood is different depending on the shot.
Continuity mistake: When Superman walks to Luthor's lair, the amount of snow on the bridge of the snow-chamber differs between the CCTV shot and the one from the inside.
Continuity mistake: When Ms. Teschmaker is sunbathing, the trolley by her side is close to her thigh. In the wider angle is by her ankle.
Continuity mistake: When Jimmy runs towards Hoover Dam his hair is long. A fraction of a second later it's very short.
Answer: When Krypton exploded, the resulting debris was chemically altered through nuclear fusion, converting it into kryptonite. Bits traveled through space, some eventually ending up on Earth, where it is now lethal to anyone who was from that planet.
raywest ★
Pieces of Krypton that exploded in the Red Sun were made radioactive, and the Red Sun is one of the weaknesses of the Kryptonians.
I thought the Red Sun was poisonous to Kryptonians and caused the remnants of the planet Krypton to become radioactive and also absorb some of the solar energy from the Red Sun. I was under that impression, maybe I'm mistaken.