Continuity mistake: When bad Superman punches Clark, he lands half a meter behind a red car hood. In the following shot the hood is by his side.
Continuity mistake: When the Olympic marathon runner holds the torch while running on the track toward the stairs, he has a large upper body build. Also, his shirt has a very noticeable logo that is lying right on his sternum. As he climbs the stairs we see him from behind and this is the last of the real footage from the Olympics. The actor holding the torch, that gets blown out, does not climb the stairs near as gracefully as the Olympic athlete. When they show him from the front, not only does he have very little upper body muscle, but his face is nowhere near the same as the athlete in the stock footage. (01:12:10)
Continuity mistake: After Evil Superman was done melting the mirror in the bar he slowly stood up from the stool to leave the place. The immediate next shot from the sidewalk right outside the bar shows a pedestrian approaching, and as he walks by the establishment Superman can be seen through the window still sitting down at the counter.
Answer: There were rumors that Hackman was angry with the Salkind Brothers (the producers) for firing director Richard Donner, though Hackman later disputed saying that. His explanation, though he may have been downplaying the real reason, was that he had a number of other movie projects at the time, and he also did not wish to continually play the same villain in an ongoing movie series.
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