10 Superman Movie Mistakes You’ll Never Be Able to Unsee

Like with any movie in the MCU, Fast & Furious, or Star Wars film franchises, the Superman films were produced via the hard work of hundreds of people. Many very talented people, it should be noted. However, nobody’s perfect, and when you have such a great number of people working on a single product, it’s a complex process…some things end up skating through and making it into the final cut. Typically, these things are continuity errors, or small details that one could be forgiven for missing unless they’re looking for them. But, sometimes, these continuity errors are noticeable. Even the best films on the planet have these types of errors.

What follows are mistakes that fit within that mold. They’re noticeable mistakes that you don’t necessarily have to be on the lookout for. They can pull you out of the narrative no matter how good the movie you’re watching is. It’s just, in this case, all the mistakes are in a movie featuring DC’s Superman.

Did Lois Change Clothes in Superman?

When Lois Lane dies in a landslide in Richard Donner’s original Superman movie, she apparently is able to still take her clothes and put them in a washing machine. Superman flies in and sees her, realizing he’s too late, and it’s just after this point the continuity error comes in.

When Superman removes Lois from the car and places her gently on the ground, her arms are pointed down towards her legs and her clothing is coated in dirt. There’s then a shot of him screaming in anguish and flying away. When she’s shown during his scream, one of her arms is now up by her head and her clothes are free of dirt.

Did Jor-El Say That?

Like in Richard Donner’s cut, the theatrical cut of Superman II begins by once again showing the viewer the trial of Zod, Ursa, and Non. But, in the theatrical cut, every word uttered by Marlon Brando’s Jor-El is different. It’s a bizarre way of doing things, as it would have been cheaper to just replay the same scene anyway.

It’s really only jarring if you’ve just finished watching the first film and, considering the best way to watch the two films is the way they were shot, back-to-back, it’s likely the viewer will pick up on it. Fortunately, the aforementioned Richard Donner cut restored the original Jor-El dialogue, and like the theatrical cut that version is part of the 4K Blu-ray box set.

Yeah, That’s a Bald Cap

In the second film, when the late Gene Hackman‘s Lex Luthor and Ned Beatty’s Otis are in prison, it’s extremely obvious that Hackman’s head wasn’t shaved, but rather he was wearing a bald cap. For one, there are flaps going down the side of his face, used to cover the actor’s sideburns.

The bald cap becomes even more obvious (especially when viewed in 4K) when Luthor and Otis turn and face the prison wall, attempting to sneak slowly and avoid the moving spotlight. The viewer can see the part of the bald cap covering the back of his neck wrinkle. Bald caps are an often-obvious necessity in cinema, typically used in situations where an actor is playing a role in two different projects, one that requires hair and one that does not. But, for a movie and actor of Superman II‘s and Gene Hackman’s caliber, you would think they’d have procured a higher-quality cap.

A Torch of a Different Type in Superman III

Not many aspects of Superman III work very well, but Supes’ turn to the dark side is one of them. Even still, there’s a gaffe that only exists because he turns all grim and moody.

There’s a montage of Superman doing things that aren’t particularly nice. One of those is swooping down to an Olympics ceremony and blowing out the torch held by a running man. The first time the audience sees that man, he’s running up the stairs with a torch with a top made of sparklers. However, when Superman blows it out, it switches to a close-up shot of the torch and, instead of sparks, it’s a quickly dying flame. Naturally, it only makes sense for the torch to have a flame. You can’t blow out sparklers. So why not just have a flame torch in the wide shots, as well?

Pedestrians, No Pedestrians, Pedestrians

The much-maligned Superman IV: The Quest for Peace by far contains the most errors of any installment in the franchise. It came with the territory of being a film from the Cannon Group.

For instance, there’s a scene featuring Nuclear Man flying over a large group of Metropolis residents. He’s carrying the Statue of Liberty, which he threatens to drop on them all. As would be expected, the pedestrians all look up and scream in horror. However, then next wide shot has Nuclear Man and a bunch of moving cars. The wide shot after that? We’re back to Nuclear Man and screaming pedestrians. Even for Superman IV, this is a pretty massive continuity error. Not quite the Statue of Liberty massive, but massive.

[RELATED: Is Superman & Lois the Best Superman TV Series Ever?]

The Superman & Lois Flying Scene Is More Than a Little Repetitive in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

Margot Kidder played Lois Lane in three of the four initial Superman movies. And, in all three of them, there’s a scene where Superman flies her around. It’s a bit repetitive. And, when it comes to the flying scene in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, repetitive takes on a whole new meaning.

In one shot, Superman and Lois fly just over a train. It’s going left to right. When it goes from a wide shot to a close-up, it’s a different train, going right to left. Then, when they fly over San Francisco, there’s first a shot of them flying in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. However, in the very next shot, they’re not beyond the Golden Gate Bridge, they’re approaching it. Yet another example of how Superman IV: The Quest for Peace features the most glaring continuity errors of the franchise.

Electric Billboards Can Change the Shown Image. This Billboard Isn’t Electric.

One of the fruitless subplots in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is Clark Kent’s budding romance with Mariel Hemingway’s Lacy Warfield. At one point he goes to her apartment, which is the exact location where a pretty laughable gaffe occurs.

When he’s at her apartment, Kent looks out the window and sees a big billboard that reads “Super Slurpee.” However, the next time the camera shows outside that window, the billboard the viewer sees is entirely different.

A Big Continuity Error in The Daily Planet Office

In Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns, there are a few scenes of Clark Kent working at the Daily Planet. And in Singer’s reboot, like in the earlier films, he shares conversations with photojournalist Jimmy Olsen.

When one of those conversations ends, Kent is called into editor Perry White’s office at which point he tells Olsen he’ll be right back. Right then, Olsen turns as if he’s about to walk away and Kent turns to begin his walk to White’s office. However, in the next shot, they’re once again facing each other, at which point Olsen once more turns and walks away. But that’s not all as, between those two shots, all of the extras in the Daily Planet office disappear.

Where’s the Daylight?

One of the big scenes in Man of Steel has Zod broadcasting his threat to people all over the world. There’s a montage showing people all across the globe listening to and hearing this cryptic message.

It’s a good scene, but at its core there’s a gaffe. Every location shown during this montage is shrouded in darkness. If it’s nighttime in the United States, it’s daytime in, say, Australia.

Time-Jumping MetaHuman Files

Just because it’s a gaffe in a Superman movie doesn’t mean Superman is involved. Specifically, there’s a big one in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, when Bruce Wayne is perusing the MetaHuman files and comes across Aquaman’s.

Aquaman’s file shows him swimming towards the camera crew with a combative look and his trademark trident. However, this footage shows the character before the events of his 2018 origin story film. He doesn’t get the Trident of Atlan from Karathen in the Hidden Sea until the end of that film.