MovieChat Forums > Superman II (1981) Discussion > Can we talk about the numerous plotholes...

Can we talk about the numerous plotholes for a moment

posted 5 years ago by TMC-4 (20494)
10 replies | jump to latest

[1] How is it that Ursa can talk to the astronaut on the moon, where there is no atmosphere and therefore no sound?

[2] How are the Kryptonian criminals (General Zod and Ursa anyway), who’ve never been on Earth before, able to speak perfect English? (Also, even assuming that they somehow can do that, why don’t they at least speak Kryptonese, their native language, to each other?)

[3] Where do the villains’ levitational abilities come from? For all the powers of Kryptonians on Earth, levitating a person merely by pointing at him/her classically isn’t one of them.

[4] The holoimage recording of Laura, the mother of Superman, insists to him that giving up his powers to become a normal human is an irreversible decision—yet somehow he nonetheless manages to reverse it.

[5] Losing his super-powers is shown to be a severely strenuous process for Superman, yet when he tricks the evil Kryptonians into undergoing it, they don’t react at all, apparently not feeling anything.

[6] Superman isn’t like the X-Men’s Professor Charles Xavier, classically he has no mentalistic abilities, so how is he able to make Lois Lane completely forget about their recent relationship merely by kissing her?

[–] FootOfDavros (8715) 5 years ago

1. It's a comic book movie not a scientifically accurate study of what would happen should humanoid aliens come to Earth.

2. It's a comic book movie not a scientifically accurate study of what would happen should humanoid aliens come to Earth.

3. It's a comic book movie not a scientifically accurate study of what would happen should humanoid aliens come to Earth.

4. It's a comic book movie not a scientifically accurate study of what would happen should humanoid aliens come to Earth.

5. It's a comic book movie not a scientifically accurate study of what would happen should humanoid aliens come to Earth.

6. It's a comic book movie not a scientifically accurate study of what would happen should humanoid aliens come to Earth.

Hope these answers help with your understanding of this classic 40 years old movie...

[–] TMC-4 (20494) 5 years ago

That's the laziest, most cop out like excuse/explanation you can have. It pisses me off when people just right it off as "well, it's a comic book movie" for why we shouldn't analyze the likely plotholes. Of course, we all know that Superman is about him coming to earth from the planet Krypton in a rocket ship, when he was a baby. That still doesn't mean that they don't have to tell a storyline that still makes a semblance of sense.

[–] jekporkins (1985) 5 years ago

From what I read they took a lot of liberties with the source material and, especially the second director Richard Lester, was winging it as he went. Some things he did just to fit into the story. For instance, throwing his S and it turning into some sort of plastic wrap is definitely not a power, but something the director thought would look cool.

I also don't think back then people questioned nor cared as much about the technical aspects like speaking on the moon or the fact that Kryptonians spoke English. Heck, if that was the case Star Wars would have been laughed out of the theater for having explosion and laser sounds when there is no sound in space. Star Trek has countless alien species speaking English. I guess you're just supposed to roll with it. Remember that this was made before people would watch these films a dozen times and analyze every scene.

[–] moviechatterer (16326) 3 years ago

"That's the laziest, most cop out like excuse/explanation you can have."
pretty accurate though

Superman more than other comic movies i suspect , can just invent and discard new powers at will .

[–] JestersDead (485) 4 years ago

Davros, that's pretty weak stuff.

[–] JestersDead (485) 4 years ago

[deleted]

[–] strntz (12773) 5 years ago

[4] The holoimage recording of Laura, the mother of Superman, insists to him that giving up his powers to become a normal human is an irreversible decision—yet somehow he nonetheless manages to reverse it.

I assumed it was because the loss of super powers was a very serious and perhaps even a dangerous procedure. If Supes knew it possibly could be reversed, he might be inclined to try it with less forethought. It's also possible that Laura incorrectly believed it was irreversible, or thought it was a long shot at best.

[5] Losing his super-powers is shown to be a severely strenuous process for Superman, yet when he tricks the evil Kryptonians into undergoing it, they don’t react at all, apparently not feeling anything.

Well, yeah. That one is kind of glaring. When Supes is in the molecule chamber being de-suped, he seems under stress and even becomes partially transparent where his skeletal structure is seen. The evil gang was totally unaware when they were being de-suped.

You didn't mention that the chamber also changed his clothes for him when the procedure was done. I guess the molecule chamber took the suit and sent it out to launder.

But none of those are a "plot hole"

[–] Electone (43) 4 years ago

#1 pisses me off the most. Space is essentially a vacuum yet the villains speak normally to each other. Also, why are they so aggressively hostile to the astronauts? Yes, they're villains, but does that mean you're complete jerks to everyone?

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7994) 4 years ago

They are supposed to be wholey evil. Hence why they react to Superman caring about Earth's people with the expression of how he sees them as pets.

[–] millsey72 (10949) 4 years ago

All plot holes, except maybe for #2. English was being spoken on Krypton. However a question has to be asked, how did the English language develop on Krypton?

[–] strntz (12773) 3 years ago

Missionaries..