Continuity mistake: In the scene where Lois Lane is holding her son as Lex Luthor is revealing his plan to her the ring on her left hand switches back and forth between her middle and ring fingers. (01:25:05)
Continuity mistake: Near the end of the film when Lois makes to leave the hospital room after visiting Superman, she takes hold of her son's left hand with her right - meaning he should walk out whilst at her right side, furthest away from the hospital bed. In the next shot, both Lois and her son have swapped positions. (02:00:00)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Richard finds Lois and the son on the yacht, he hugs the boy and you can see that one of the drawers is open. When he looks up at Lois, the drawer is now closed. (01:46:30)
Continuity mistake: When Lois Lane and Lex Luthor are talking on the ship, the knot on his tie changes throughout the scene.
Continuity mistake: When Superman grabs the falling sculpture-globe the aerial view shows the hood of the cab on the left is undamaged. From a ground level view, the hood is severely damaged. (01:44:35)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Superman is trying to prevent the plane from crashing he is holding the nose of the plane and bits of it start to crumble in and fall apart or away. Once the plane is safely on the ground within the ballpark the scene shows the plane from the side where there is no damage to the nose. (00:40:15)
Continuity mistake: In the sequence with the kryptonite continent, Superman plunges under water, when he comes back up, his hair is soaked, then throughout the next few shots, it switches back and forth of being out of place and being "super" hair.
Continuity mistake: Before the earthquake, the radio in Ma Kent's changes positions between shots, and a table cloth appears under Ma Kent's reading glasses.
Continuity mistake: In the scene when Superman is entering the baseball stadium from above holding the 'plane, we see a quick shot looking down from above the 'plane. The field is empty of players.
Continuity mistake: When Superman is flying over the sea trying to locate Lois, his hair is fluffy. He suddenly stops and there's a brusque cut where a close-up of him shows his hair brushed and perfect.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Lois and Jason are going to the hospital to visit Superman, Jason's hair is wet outside as they are walking toward the hospital. Once inside however, his hair is dry.
Continuity mistake: In the scene when Lex is testing the kryptonite at the basement of the mansion, after the power outage, he is standing directly in front of a square yellow sign. Cut to a wider shot, and he has moved left and Kitty is now in front of the sign. Cut again and Lex is back in his first position. (00:32:15)
Continuity mistake: When Superman picks Kitty up from the car to take her to the hospital, her white skirt is way above her knees, revealing the top of her stockings. Superman's hands are on her stockings. When he starts to fly up, the skirt now covers her knees, with his hands on the fabric. (01:00:10)
Continuity mistake: Before Clark's spaceship crashes, Ma Kent washes a mug and places it upside down. On the next shot the mug is the other way up.
Continuity mistake: After Superman enters the plane, Lois' badge keeps turning around between shots.
Continuity mistake: During the robbery, the machine gun's ammunition belt is on the weapon's left side. In one brief shot, it's on the right. This shot is flipped. (00:55:35)
Continuity mistake: Near the beginning, in the Kents' house, we see 2 cooking books next to the breadbox and radio. In the next shot of it, there's now 3 books, a yellow one between the cookbooks and breadbox. In the final shot, the yellow book is now on the other side of the cookbooks.
Continuity mistake: During the plane crash, the plane goes into a vertical dive and the seats break loose and squash up against each other. When Superman gives the final push at the baseball ground the seats squash up again, and when the plane levels out and Superman boards the plane, the seats and passengers are back in place as if it never happened.
Continuity mistake: In the plane, after Superman says that planes are safe, the man next to Lois raises his arm way up high, but a frame later, from an angle behind, he is barely raising the tip of his hand.
Continuity mistake: A tube and oxygen mask suddenly appear over the seat in front of Lois after Superman enters the plane.
Answer: The film doesn't take place between II and III, it just carries on from Superman II, ignoring 3 and 4 completely. Think of it as a parallel timeline.
Tailkinker ★