Revealing mistake: 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. (01:34:40)
Revealing mistake: In Houston, when a man is thrown through a truck, notice the ground he falls on: The sand is leveled higher than the rest of the road around, obviously to hide a landing mat. Furthermore, after the fall the man turns around and he's got a bulgy square on the back to help for a safe stunt.
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?
Continuity 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 "no entry" sign reversed, showing the film was flipped for some reason.
Continuity mistake: 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.
Continuity mistake: 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.)
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 mistake: 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 mistake: 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 mistake: 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.
Plot hole: Lois Lane and other people see Clark Kent unhurt when a taxi hits him and suffers damage, but don't draw the obvious conclusion that there's something extraordinary about him.
Suggested correction: I always took this as an intentional jab at how the people of Metropolis, and Lois in particular, were so oblivious to the fact that Clark was obviously Superman. Still a plot hole, just an intentional one.
Suggested correction: Maybe the cab-driver thinks that Clark is extraordinary, but he is shocked in the first moment, worrying about his damaged car. Later than he realises that this guy is maybe Superman, but cannot find him anymore. Just a guy of millions walking around the big apple.
Continuity mistake: 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.
Continuity mistake: 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 mistake: 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.
Revealing mistake: 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.
Continuity mistake: 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.
Factual error: When the police car's light is thrown at the boy and it blows up, it shouldn't have happened. The most that would've happened was that the kid would've been knocked off his bike when hit with the light. There is no explosive device in the light, so it shouldn't have exploded in the least like it did.
Other mistake: In the long shot of the Niagara Falls scene, the kid's right arm is way too long.
Revealing mistake: The shot of people walking on the street by the Daily Planet is the same one used in Superman I.
Revealing mistake: The fire that comes out of the flame throwers moves at a slow speed though the scene is developing at normal speed.
