Superman : Plot (1978)

Unable to convince the ruling council of Krypton that their world will destroy itself soon, scientist Jor-El takes drastic measures to preserve the Kryptonian race: He sends his infant son Kal-El to Earth. There, gaining great powers under Earth's yellow sun, he will become a champion of truth and justice. Raised by the Kents, an elderly farm couple, Clark Kent learns that his abilities must be used for good.

The adult Clark travels to Metropolis, where he becomes a mild-mannered reporter for the Daily Planet...and a caped wonder whose amazing feats stun the city: Superman! Meanwhile, Lex Luthor, the world's greatest criminal mind, is plotting the greatest real estate swindle of all time. Can't even the Man of Steel stop this nefarious scheme? Written by Gregory A. Sheets {m-sheets2@onu.edu}

This movie begins on Krypton, where Superman's father sends him off to Earth as a young child. He grows up to be a perfectly normal newspaper reporter named Clark Kent. At least, he appears perfectly normal, until he transforms into Superman - flying around with his underpants over his tights, saving the day.

When the evil Lex Luthor plans to take over the world, Superman is the only one who can stop him. Written by Colin Tinto {cst@imdb.com}

The planet Krypton is doomed. Only one man, Jor-El, knows it, and rockets his infant son to refuge on a distant world called Earth. As Jor-El's son grows to manhood, he learns he possesses super-powers he must hide from the ordinary mortals around him. And so, he disguishes himself as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter. Written by Robert Lynch {docrlynch@yahoo.com}

March 1938 - while a child reads a comic book about the largest newspaper in the city of Metropolis, in a distant galaxy an advanced race of humans reside on the planet Krypton. Three traitors who have attempted to overthrow Krypton's ruling council are sentenced by the planet's greatest scientist, Jor-El, to an enclosed extra-dimensional prison drifting through space. However, Jor-El's more pressing concern lies in the orbital shift of Krypton, which is sending it into the fatal gravitational pull of its crimson central star, a fact blithely ignored by the ruling council. Effectively placed under house arrest by the council, Jor-El and his wife Lara consent to sending their infant son, Kal-El, to a primitive planet six galaxies distant, known as Earth, where a yellow sun will fuse with his irradiated molecular density to make him strong, fast, and virtually invulnerable. The tiny starship bearing Kal-El escapes Krypton's gravity just before the planet is sucked into its red sun and both bodies are obliterated. Years later the starship reaches Earth and crashlands on a vast wheatfield near Smallville, Kansas, before local farmers Martha and Jonathan Kent. Deciding to adopt the child within the strange craft, the Kents name him Clark and he loves them as his true parents.

Many years pass and he is now a high schooler shunned by many of his peers. But following a tragic incident, he learns the truth about his genesis, and a personal exodus to the very summit of the North Pole leads to the creation of a vast crystaline fortress within which Kal-El learns the full truth of his existence from the spirit of his true father, Jor-El.

He now becomes a fully matured man, clad in a red and blue costume bearing the S-shaped crest of the House Of El, with the mission of protecting his newly adopted home planet in the memory of his true homeworld, and in such capacity he disguises himself as a meek newswriter in which guise he can learn of threats to his adopted homeworld - one of which occurs in an act of trachery by an arrogant criminal mastermind living in a vast headquarters 200 feet beneath the surface of Metropolis, an act of treachery that sends nuclear missiles flying off course and detonates a gigantic earthquake that threatens to destroy California. Written by Michael Daly

The infant Kal-El, of the planet Krypton, makes his journey to Earth in a ship constructed by his father, Jor-El, just as the planet explodes. Crashing down in the midwest United States, the boy is adopted by farmers Jonathan and Martha Kent. After Jonathan's death several years later, Kal-El - now known as Clark Kent - learns of his true identity from the ghost of Jor-El.

He has great powers - he can fly, outrun a train, and lift up a 1-ton truck. But it isn't until he gains a job at Metropolis' Daily Planet newspaper that things begin to come together. One night, after leaving work, he sees a helicopter crash on the building's roof.

From this night on, he will be known by a new name...SUPERMAN! His mission: "To fight for truth, justice and the American Way". Lex Luthor, however, has other ideas - to sabotage a pair of nuclear missiles and use them to create an earthquake that will wipe out the California coastline. Superman must race against time and stop a sinister plan by Luthor to eliminate him before millions of innocent people are killed. Written by Derek O'Cain

Superman : Powers and Weapons

Powers and Weapons
Since Superman is a native of Krypton, a planet that had a red sun, under a yellow sun (like that of Earth's his Kryptonian cells act as living solar batteries, absorbing solar energy and giving him superhuman powers. He possesses tremendous strength; while Superman's strength is not infinite, its full extent is so grea that it has never been accurately measured. His body is virtually indesrtuctible.

Superman's sharp senses enable him to hear souns too faint to be detected by the normal human ear. His "telescopic vision" enables him to focus his sight on distant objects far beyond the range of normal human sight. His "microscopic vision" allows him to observe an object in microscopic detail. Superman's so called "x-ray vision" enables him to see clearly through solid objects. Certain dense materials, notably lead, obstruct this ability. His power to generate heat within objects manifests itself as a red glow within his eyes, and is therefore known as "heat vision."

Superman can move, react, and think at superhuman speeds greater than that of sound. He can defy gravity and fly through force of will. Superman's irradiated cells generate a force field that extends for a fraction of an inch around his body, rendering any material within the field nearly indestructible, such as his skin tight costume. (Because his cape extends beyond the field, it is easily damaged.)

Superman is vulnerable to the radiation of Kryptonite, a substance from his native planet. Kryptonite radiation will kill Superman within minutes. He is also vulnerable to magic, and to the psionic powers of some beings, such as Braniac.

Superman must fill his lungs with air before flying through outer space. He can thus survive without breathing for several hours, but ulitmately he must replenish his oxygen supply to remain alive.

Superman : History

Superman is the sole survivor of the planet Krypton. His father, Jor-El, discovered that a nuclear chain reaction was building inside Krypton that would soon shatter the entire world.

Jor-El therefore had his unborn son Kal-El removed from the Kryptonian Gestation Chambers and affixed the life matrix containing Kal-El to an experimental vessel for travel through hyperspace. Jor-El launched the starcraft toward Earth just before Krypton exploded.

Superman was, in effect, born on Earth when the starcraft landed there. Jonathan and Martha Kent found the infant inside the vessel and brought him to their farm in Smallville, Kansas. Since he appeared entirely human, the Kents assumed that the baby was a victim of a cruel experiment. At this time the baby had no super powers. The Kents named the infant Clark and raised him as their own son.

As clark grew older his Kryptonian body began developing superhuman abilities. When Clark was eighteen, took him to the field where his starcraft still lay hidden and explained how he and Martha had found him. Clark resolved to use his powers from then on only for the good of mankind. After revealing his secret to his childhood friend, Lana Lang, Clark left Smallville to study at Metropolis University.

Clark initially used his powers covertly to help people and prevent or thwart disasters. Ultimately, he was forced to use his powers in public to prev ent the crash of a NASA space-plane.

Thereafter he and his foster parents devised a new costumed secret identity he would adopt when using his abilities in public. They called his new persona "Superman," the name given him by Lois Lane, a reporter for the Metropolis Daily Planet who had been aboard the space-plane.

Shortly afterward, Clark obtained a job as a reporter for the Daily Planet by turning in his first detailed story about Superman. He currently enjoys a freelance status with the Planet.

Some time ago Superman journeyed to an otherdimensional "pocket universe" that had its own Krypton and Earth. After defeating three Kryptonians native to that universe who had murdered the entire population of its Earth, Superman executed the trio, believing there was no other way to stop them. The tremendous guilt Superman felt over this act combined by the psychic manipulation by his foe Braniac, caused him to develop a temporary split personality.

Believing himself to be potentially dangerous to humanity, Superman exiled himself to space, eventually taken prisoner by the forces of the alien tyrant Mongul. During this time Superman resolved never to kill again...."

Superman lives by the traditional moral values instilled in him by his foster parents. Superman is an idealist, devoted to promoting "truth, justice, and the American way," and has proved over and over that he is a true hero, capable of whatever bravery and self-sacrifice is necessary to right a wrong or save a life.