Jor-El, lord of Krypton, sends his son to the earth before his planet will be destroyed. A family of farmers accomodates him and call him Clark. The boy with supernatural powers grows up to Superman. Disguised as a clumsy journalist, Clark moves to Metropolis and falls in love with his colleague Lois Lane. When archenemy Lex Luthor plans to destroy several parts of California, Superman is at his best....

In the year 2000 the Director's Cut of Superman was released. Most of the new material are smaller sequences with plot extensions, but there are two bigger sequences added as well. The first one shows Superman in the Fortress Of Solitude, talking to his father Jor-El about the advantage of his supernatural powers. The second one shows Luthor trying to stop Superman by the use of heavy arms, fire and ice. The 4 Disc Special Edition is a Must Have for each fan of this film beacuse it's the only DVD release including the Director's Cut and the Theatrical Cut as well.


Directors Cut: 145:12 Min. credits included.
Theatrical Version: 137:14 Min. credits included.

Directors Cut: 137:57 Min. credits excluded.
Theatrical Version: 130:07 Min. credits excluded.


Compared is the DVD: Warner Home Video Special Edition, which is equal to the Theatrical Cut with the Director's Cut of the Warner 4 Disc Special Edition.

13 cuts = 467 seconds (=7min.47sec.) (added running time of the cut scenes)

10.49
The old man discusses the punishment of the three villains with Jor-El. That they got what they deserve: isolution in the Phantom Zone. Jor-El'd rather talk about his theory that Krypton is doomed. But the council is having none of it.
29 sec.

11.42
The old man says that Jor-El is one of their most capable scientists, the old men replies that this also applies to Vond-Ah. Then she appears in that area.
11 sec.

Alternate footage:
Timecode DC: 13.07
Timecode TC: 12.27

Director's Cut:
After Jor-El's threat to inform the inhabitants that the world is doomed, the Director's Cut includes a further scene where Jor-El gets informed by the old man that he will be banned to the Phantom Zone, either, if he's going to tell the inhabitants.
11 sec.

Theatrical Cut:
He doesn't mention it here. Instead we see an alternate shot of the old man.
3 sec.

13.51
Close up of the spinning hologram which vanishes moments later.
3 sec.

15.55
The council notices that Jor-El has an enormous consumption of energy in his lab. The old man gives the order to investigate. Furthermore he lets Jor-El know that the announced punishment will be enforced if he ignores the council's decision.
26 sec.

22.04
There's an additional scene when little Kal-El is traveling through space in his spaceship, where we see the three trapped villains.
6 sec.

29.09
There's a further scene after Clark's race with the train. A little girl saw everything and she tries to convince her grandparents of what she saw. It turns out that the girl is the young Lois Lane.
15 sec.

36.15
We see Martha Kent at home early in the morning. She does some housework and calls for Clark. She wants him to get up, but he's already awake, standing in the field in deep thoughts.
33 sec.

52.14
It's Clark's first day at the Daily Planet. After the arrival at the office, the scene continues. A colleague introduces himself to Clark, Jimmy Olsen enters the room and they also introduce themselves too each other.
23 sec.

01:16.36
There's a completely new sequence in the Director's Cut which shows Superman in the Fortress Of Solitude. He explains to his father that he used his supernatural powers to help the humans. Jor-El advices him to keep his supernatural powers a secret to protect his real identity and his family. In addition to that Clark is told not to overestimate himself because vanity is one of the reasons why Krypton was destroyed.
136 sec.

Alternate footage:
Timecode DC: 01:19.03
Timecode TC: 01:14.11

Director's Cut:
A lot of pedestrians are standing in front of a shop's window, a TV runs in the background. The news reporter says that reporter Lois Lane got saved by an unknown, flying man. Clark is also standing around there. A man standing next to Clark explains him that he doesn't buy it.
16 sec.

Theatrical Cut:
In opposite to the Director's Cut the Theatrical Cut only shows the pedestrians standing in front of the window.
5 sec.

01:47.40
Superman looks for Luthor's hiding spot in the sewer. Luthor watches him with a video camera. At first he fires at Superman with a machine gun, but that doesn't bother him. Then he gets shot with flame throwers, but there's still no reaction. After that Luthor tries to freeze him. It seems to work at the beginning, but Superman can bust out of this trap, either.
147 sec.

Alternate Cut:
Timecode DC: 01:50.05
Timecode TC: 01:42.30

Director's Cut:
After Superman has passed each of Luthor's trap, he walks to the armor-plated door where Luthor's hiding. The scene where Otis tries to listen to what's going on behind that door, is set differently in the two versions. The scene itself is equal in both versions.
2 sec.

02:03.13
After Luthor's putting his diabolical plan into action by shooting some missiles into San Andreas Graben, the earth shakes. There's an additional scene in the Director's Cut which shows Superman flying through the earth's interior. A group of girlscouts, that is climbing the Hollywood Hills, gets shaked by the earthquake pretty hard. The famous Hollywood Sign seems to collapse. And Superman again, trying to pass the lava.
22 sec.