Superman (1978)

2 factual errors - chronological order

★★★☆☆

Starring: Gene Hackman, Marlon Brando, Ned Beatty, Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder

Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-fi

Factual error: When Clark speaks to Jor-El for the first time in the Fortress, Jor-El says "I will have been dead for many thousands of your years..." Fine in theory - Baby Kal-El travelled to Earth at above light speed so time passed differently for him. However, as such, wouldn't Jor-El have seen Earth as it was thousands of years ago? Which also makes there a problem with all the things Kal-El was taught during his voyage to Earth, as Jor-El references Einstein by name, for instance, and he would not have existed at the point when Jor-El sent him to Earth.

Factual error: When Superman is turning back time by flying around the Earth, right before he starts orbiting the Earth is spinning way faster than it actually should be. If the Earth actually spun that fast, a day would pass by every 1.44 minutes.

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Mistakes

Plot hole: After Superman has reversed time the Hoover Dam reverts to its previous undamaged state as it should, but Jimmy Olsen should then have been replaced back on the dam. Instead he interrupts the potential kiss between Lois and Superman and complains of being abandoned by Superman in the desert.

skeffderry

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Superman is moving at speeds fast enough to turn back time. He can spend 5 seconds to yank Jimmy away from the top of a dam he knows is going to be destroyed just to be safe in case he can't actually stop it all from happening again.

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Quotes

Perry White: I want the name of this flying whatchamacallit to go with the Daily Planet like bacon and eggs, franks and beans, death and taxes, politics and corruption.

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Trivia

Trivia: Jeff East, who plays teenage Clark Kent, was dubbed over with Christopher Reeves' voice. The only time Jeff's actual voice is heard is when he shouts in excitement after jumping past the speeding train.

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Questions

Question: One thing I don't understand about the movie is why kryptonite is so harmful (almost making him drown in a pool), yet he was born there and he didn't die. Kryptonite did come from his home planet, Krypton, right? How come he didn't die when he was born?

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.