Shared with you
- Co Pilot: [Superman supports Air Force One's damaged wing] What the hell happened, we got our engine back? What the hell is going on out there?
- Air Force One Pilot: Fly. Don't look, just fly. We got... something. I ain't saying what it is. Just... trust me.
- Miss Teschmacher: It's too good to be true. He's 6' 4", has black hair, blue eyes, doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, and tells the truth.
- Lex Luthor: Miss Teschmacher, some people can read "War and Peace" and come away thinking it's a simple adventure story. Others can read the ingredients on a chewing gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe.
- Miss Teschmacher: Lex, what has chewing gum got to do with the secrets of the universe?
- Jor-El: [bidding his son farewell, as Lara looks on] You will travel far, my little Kal-El. But we will never leave you... even in the face of our death. The richness of our lives shall be yours. All that I have, all that I've learned, everything I feel... all this, and more, I... I bequeath you, my son. You will carry me inside you, all the days of your life. You will make my strength your own, and see my life through your eyes, as your life will be seen through mine. The son becomes the father, and the father the son. This is all I... all I can send you, Kal-El.
- [as Clark discovers his heritage, this is his father's final message to him]
- Jor-El: Live as one of them, Kal-El, to discover where your strength and your power are needed. But always hold in your heart the pride of your special heritage. They can be a great people, Kal-El, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you... my only son.
- Lois Lane: Can you read my mind? Do you know what it is that you do to me? I don't know who you are. Just a friend from another star. Here I am, like a kid out of school. Holding hands with a god. I'm a fool. Will you look at me? Quivering. Like a little girl, shivering. You can see right through me. Can you read my mind? Can you picture the things I'm thinking of? Wondering why you are... all the wonderful things you are. You can fly. You belong in the sky. You and I... could belong to each other. If you need a friend... I'm the one to fly to. If you need to be loved... here I am. Read my mind.
- [Superman and Lois are standing on opposite sides of a large planter]
- Lois Lane: What color underwear am I wearing?
- Superman: [looking] Hmmm...
- Lois Lane: Oh, I'm sorry, I embarrassed you, didn't I?
- Superman: Oh, no, no, no, not at all, Miss Lane, it's just that this planter must be made of lead.
- Lois Lane: Uh, yes it is. So?
- Superman: Well, you see, I, uh, I sort of have a problem seeing through lead.
- Lois Lane: Oh, that's interesting.
- Lois Lane: [Writing] Problem seeing through lead. Hmmm. Uh, d-do you have a first name?
- Superman: What do you mean, like, uh, Ralph or something?
- Lois Lane: No, no, I mean like...
- [walks away from the planter]
- Superman: Pink.
- Lois Lane: Huh?
- Superman: Pink.
- [Lois walks back to the planter]
- Superman: Um, sorry, Miss Lane, I didn't mean to embarrass you.
- Perry White: Now listen to me, I tell you boys and girls - whichever one of you gets it out... is going to wind up with the single most important interview since... God talked to Moses!
- Perry White: Lois, Clark Kent may seem like just a mild-mannered reporter, but listen, not only does he know how to treat his editor-in-chief with the proper respect, not only does he have a snappy, punchy prose style, but he is, in my forty years in this business, the fastest typist I've ever seen.
- Lex Luthor: [to Otis] Do you know why the number two hundred is so vitally descriptive to both you and me? It's your weight and my I.Q.
- Co Pilot: [Superman supports Air Force One's damaged wing] What the hell happened, we got our engine back? What the hell is going on out there?
- Air Force One Pilot: Fly. Don't look, just fly. We got... something. I ain't saying what it is. Just... trust me.
- Clark Kent: Really, Lois, supposing that man had shot you? Is it worth risking your life over ten dollars, two credit cards, a hairbrush, and a lipstick?
- Lois Lane: How did you know that?
- Clark Kent: Know what?
- Lois Lane: You just described the exact contents of my purse.
- [Clark peeks in her purse]
- Clark Kent: Hmm. Uh, wild guess.
- Superman: Is that how a warped brain like yours gets its kicks? By planning the death of innocent people?
- Lex Luthor: No, by causing the death of innocent people.
- [first scene: General Zod and his minions are on trial. Jor-El states the accusations]
- Jor-El: This is no fantasy, no careless product of wild imagination. No, my good friends. These indictments I have brought you today, specific charges listed herein against the individuals - their acts of treason, their ultimate aim of sedition... These are matters of undeniable fact. I ask you now to pronounce judgement on those accused...
- [Jor-El approaches the accused and indicates Non]
- Jor-El: On this... this mindless aberration, whose only means of expression are wanton violence and destruction.
- [Jor-El indicates Ursa]
- Jor-El: On the woman Ursa, whose perversions and unreasoning hatred of all mankind have threatened even the children of the planet Krypton.
- [Jor-El indicates Zod]
- Jor-El: Finally, General Zod - once trusted by this council, charged with maintaining the defense of the planet Krypton itself. Chief architect of this intended revolution, and author of this insidious plot to establish a new order amongst us - with himself as absolute ruler.
- [pause]
- Jor-El: You have heard the evidence. The decision of the council will now be made.
- [all members of the Council announce "Guilty!"]
- General Zod: The vote must be unanimous, Jor-El. It has therefore now become your decision. You alone will condemn us, if you wish, and you alone will be held responsible by me.
- [pause]
- General Zod: Join us.
- [wordlessly, Jor-El turns and walks off]
- General Zod: You have been known to disagree with the council before. Yours could become an important voice in the new order, second only to my own! I offer you a chance for greatness, Jor-El! Take it! Join us!
- [Jor-El doesn't even look back]
- Jor-El: [DELETED LINE, mostly to himself] I've seen the likes of your new order, too many times before. And I know only too much about what you call "greatness".
- General Zod: You *will* bow down before me, Jor-El! I swear it! No matter if it takes an eternity,
- [voice rising to a shout]
- General Zod: you *will* bow down before me! Both you and, one day, *your heirs!*
- Ursa: [All three criminals are imprisoned within the Phantom Zone] Forgive me...!
- General Zod: I shall return...!
- Clark Kent: Excuse me, Mr. White. I was wondering if, if, uh, perhaps you could arrange for half my salary to be sent to this address on a weekly basis.
- Lois Lane: Your bookie, right?
- Clark Kent: My what?
- Lois Lane: Don't tell me: he sends a check every week to his sweet, grey-haired old mother.
- Clark Kent: Actually, she's silver-haired.
- Military Officer: The energy input to Jor-El's quarters is now in excess. Our data indicates the loss is due to a mis-use of power.
- First Elder: Investigate.
- 2nd Elder: And if our suspicions prove correct?
- First Elder: He knew the penalty he faced, even as a member of this Council. The law will be upheld.
- [a thug strikes Superman from behind with a crowbar, it vibrates his hands]
- Superman: Bad vibrations?
- [Watching Otis approaching the hideout]
- Lex Luthor: It's amazing that brain can generate enough power to keep those legs moving.
- Lex Luthor: [to Otis] You were followed again.
- [Otis spins around, knocking over a lamp]
- Lex Luthor: ...in spite of those catlike reflexes.
- [first lines]
- Boy: In the decade of the 1930s, even the great city of Metropolis was not spared the ravages of the worldwide depression. In the times of fear and confusion, the job of informing the public was the responsibility of the Daily Planet, a great metropolitan newspaper whose reputation for clarity and truth had become a symbol of hope for the city of Metropolis...
- Jor-El: [in the Fortress of Solitude] You... enjoyed it.
- Superman: I don't know what to say, Father. I'm afraid I just got carried away.
- Jor-El: I anticipated this, my son. I...
- Superman: [surprised] You couldn't have! You couldn't have imagined...
- Jor-El: ...How good it felt.
- [Clark nods]
- Jor-El: You are revealed to the world. Very well, so be it. But you must still keep your secret identity.
- Superman: But why?
- Jor-El: The reasons are two. First, you cannot serve humanity twenty-eight hours a day.
- Superman: Twenty-four.
- Jor-El: Or twenty-four, as it is in Earth time. Your help would be called for endlessly, even for those problems which human beings could solve themselves. It is their habit to abuse their resources in such a way.
- Superman: And, secondly?
- Jor-El: Secondly, your enemies will discover their only way to hurt you: by hurting the people you care for.
- Superman: Thank you, Father.
- Jor-El: Lastly... Do not punish yourself for your feelings of vanity. Simply learn to control them. It is an affliction common to all, even on Krypton. Our destruction could have been avoided had it not been for the vanity of some who considered us indestructible. Were it not for vanity, why... at this very moment...
- [sadly]
- Jor-El: I could embrace you in my arms. My son.
- [Kal-El reaches yearningly toward his father's image; Jor-El fades, leaving Kal-El alone]
- [after Luthor has explained his master plan to Superman]
- Lex Luthor, Superman: Well. What do you think, "Supe", baby? Interesting?
- Superman: Well, your theory's quite impressive, Luthor.
- Lex Luthor: [to Otis] Otis, would you go to the viewing room, please?
- [Otis departs]
- Superman: But as for the rest, it's nothing but a sick fantasy.
- Lex Luthor: [chuckles] Fantasy? No, no. It's *history*. It's *happening*, Superman.
- [screams]
- Lex Luthor: Miss Teschmacher!
- [She enters]
- Miss Teschmacher: Yes, Lex?
- Lex Luthor: [without turning to look at her] Where's the rocket now?
- Miss Teschmacher: It's going like a bat over the Grand Canyon! So's the other one.
- Superman: [concerned] The other one? There's two of them?
- [Luthor snaps his fingers at Eve, and she departs as well as he sits on a lead-lined trunk]
- Lex Luthor: Yes, Superman. Double jeopardy. Even you with your great speed couldn't stop both of them. While I, on the other hand, could stop them with my detonator.
- [Superman crosses to Luthor, grabs him by the shirt and coat, lifts him up high]
- Superman: Alright, Luthor, where is it? Where's that detonator?
- [Superman drops Luthor and begins scanning the room with his X-Ray vision. He checks out the safe and the desk but finds nothing. He then turns and sees the lead-lined trunk Luthor is sitting on]
- Superman: You diseased maniac! Did you really think you could hide it from me by encasing it in lead?
- [He tosses Luthor off the trunk and onto the couch behind him]
- Superman: I'll mold this box into your prison bars!
- Lex Luthor: [faux warning] Don't touch that!
- [Superman dismisses the warning, opens the trunk and finds a glowing, green rock with a chain attached around it. He then looks pale and weak]
- Lex Luthor: [smiling victoriously; chuckling] I told ya. It's kryptonite, Superman. A little piece of the rock you were born on. I've spared no expense to make you feel right at home.
- [Luthor gets up, pulls the rock out of the box by the chain, Superman desperately tries to raise his arm to shield himself from the rays]
- Lex Luthor: You were great in your day, Superman. But it just stands to reason. When it came time to cash in your chips, this old... diseased maniac... would be your banker. Mind over muscle.
- [Superman is trying to slide himself along the wall when Luthor finally places the chain around Superman's neck]
- Superman: [weakly] You... don't even care... where the other missile's headed, do you?
- Lex Luthor: Certainly, I do! I know exactly where it's headed. Hackensack, New Jersey.
- [Luthor pushes Superman over the crumbled railing bordering the office portion of his complex. He falls into the pool below]
- Lex Luthor: [gleeful] I have to leave you now. No hard feelings. We all have our little faults. Mine's in California.
- Jor-El: [at the Fortress of Solitude] So, my son. Speak.
- Young Clark Kent: Who am I?
- Jor-El: Your name is Kal-El. You are the only survivor of the planet Krypton. Even though you've been raised as a human, you are not one of them. You have great powers, only some of which you have as yet discovered.
- [Miss Teschmacher is posing as the victim of a car wreck]
- Sergeant Hayley: She's having trouble breathing sir. What do you think?
- Major: Well, I suggest a vigorous chest massage, and if that doesn't work, uh, mouth-to-mouth.
- Sergeant Hayley: [enthusiastically] Yes, sir!
- [bends to the task]
- Major: [the Major pulls him to his feet] Sergeant, I won't have one of my men doing anything I wouldn't be prepared to do myself.
- Sergeant Hayley: [disappointed] Yeah, but, sir!
- Major: Get an ambulance. All right, men. Gather around. About face!
- [as Jor-El is preparing to send his son to Earth before the destruction of Krypton, Lara enters the room with the infant, Kal-El]
- Lara: Have you finished?
- Jor-El: Nearly. It's the only answer, Lara. If he remains here with us... he will die as surely as we will.
- Lara: But why Earth, Jor-El? They're primitives, thousands of years behind us.
- Jor-El: He will need that advantage to survive. Their atmosphere will... sustain him.
- [He looks at his son and walks over to the area where the ship that will carry Kal-El lies. There are information crystals placed in slots on the edges]
- Lara: He will defy their gravity.
- Jor-El: He will look like one of them.
- Lara: He won't *be* one of them.
- Jor-El: No. His dense molecular structure will make him strong.
- Lara: He'll be odd. Different.
- Jor-El: He'll be fast. Virtually invulnerable.
- Lara: Isolated. Alone.
- Jor-El: He will not be alone.
- [He holds up a clear crystal and takes a long look at it]
- Jor-El: He will never be alone.
- [He places it in one of the slots along with the other crystals in the ship]
- Jor-El: It is forbidden for you to interfere with human history. Rather, let your leadership stir others to.
- Young Lois Lane: Golly! I saw a boy out there run as fast as the train! Faster, even!
- Ella Lane: [laughing] Oh, Lois Lane. You have a writer's gift for invention; I'll say that for you.
- Young Lois Lane: But... but...
- General Sam Lane: Uh, Lois, please read your book.
- Young Lois Lane: [going back to her book, sulky] No one ever believes me.
- Lex Luthor: Look at that overgrown boy scout, Miss Teschmacher. Tell me what you see.
- Miss Teschmacher: Cuteness... Dimples.
- Lex Luthor: You like cuteness, huh? You like dimples? I'll give you dimples.
- [He turns machine guns on Superman, who isn't even fazed]
- Lex Luthor: The pressure is still on you, Superman. You know what they say - "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the tunnel".
- [He turns flamethrowers on Superman, who still isn't fazed]
- Lex Luthor: This is your last chance, Superman. Why don't you do yourself a favor, and take a chill pill?
- [He freezes Superman solid, but the Man of Steel breaks free]
- Lex Luthor: Miss Teschmacher, when I was six years old my father said to me...
- Miss Teschmacher: "Get out!"
- Lex Luthor: [laughing] Before that. He said, "Son, stocks may rise and fall, utilities and transportation systems may collapse. People are no damn good, but they will always need land and they will pay through the nose to get it! Remember," my father said...
- Otis: "... land."
- Lex Luthor: Right. It's a pity he couldn't see from such humble beginnings how I've created this empire.
- Miss Teschmacher: An empire? This?
- Lex Luthor: Miss Teschmacher, how many girls do you know who have a Park Avenue address like this one?
- Miss Teschmacher: [sarcastically] A Park Avenue address? Two hundred feet below?
- Lex Luthor: Do you realize what people are shelling out up there, for a few miserable rooms off a common elevator?
- Lex Luthor, Otis: What more could anyone ask?
- Miss Teschmacher: Sunshine? A night on the town instead of under it?
- [Martha Kent sees her son Clark standing outside in the wheat field, and she approaches him]
- Young Clark Kent: I have to leave.
- Ma Kent: I knew this time would come. We both knew it from the day we found you.
- Young Clark Kent: I talked to Ben Hubbard yesterday. He said that... that he'd be happy to help out from now on.
- [Clark's composure is rapidly breaking down]
- Young Clark Kent: Mother...
- Ma Kent: I know, son. I know. Do you... know where you're headed?
- Young Clark Kent: [nods] North.
- [pause]
- Ma Kent: Remember us, son. Always remember us.
- [they embrace, and watch the sun rise over the wheat field]
- [Lex stands on his library sliding ladder searching for a book]
- Lex Luthor: n... n... n...
- Otis: 'M'! You want 'M' Mr. Luthor?
- [Otis moves the sliding ladder Lex is standing on, leaving Lex hanging from a shelf]
- Otis: So, there you go, 'M'.
- Lex Luthor: 'M' as in moron Otis? No, no, no, it's 'N'! 'N' as in neanderthal, nincompoop, nitwit and 'L' as in ladder!
- Lana Lang: [driving up with Brad] Hey look, there's Clark! Clark?
- Brad: How'd you get here so fast?
- Young Clark Kent: [shrugs] I ran.
- Brad: "Ran," huh? Told ya he's an oddball. Let's get outta here.
- [they drive away, Lana looking back at Clark]
- Jonathan Kent: Been showing off a bit, haven't you, son?
- Young Clark Kent: [going over to Jonathan] Um... I didn't mean to show off, Pop. It's just that, guys like that Brad, I just want to tear him apart.
- Jonathan Kent: Yeah, I know, I know.
- Young Clark Kent: And I know I shouldn't...
- Jonathan Kent: Yeah, I know, you can do all these amazing things and sometimes you feel like you will just go bust unless you can tell people about them.
- Young Clark Kent: Yeah. I mean every time I get the football I can make a touchdown. Every time! I mean, is it showing off if somebody's doing the things he's capable of doing? Is a bird showing off when it flies?
- Jonathan Kent: No, no. Now, you listen to me. When you first came to us, we thought people would come and take you away because, when they found out, you know, the things you could do... and that worried us a lot. But then a man gets older, and he starts thinking differently and things get very clear. And one thing I do know, son, and that is you are here for a *reason*. I don't know whose reason, or whatever the reason is... Maybe it's because... uh... I don't know. But I do know one thing. It's *not* to score touchdowns. Huh?
- [they laugh]
- Young Clark Kent: Thanks, Dad.
- Clark Kent: [in Superman's voice] Lois, there's something I have to tell you. I'm really...
- [In Clark's voice]
- Clark Kent: I-I mean I was, at first, really nervous about tonight, uh... but then I decided, darn it! I'm gonna show you the time of your life.
- Lois Lane: [still infatuated with Superman] That's Clark, nice.
- Perry White: Now look. The Post: "It Flies." The News: "Look, Ma, No Wires." The Times: "Blue Bomb Buzzes Metropolis." The Planet. "Caped Wonder Stuns City." We're sitting on top of the story of the century here! I want the name of this flying whatchamacallit to go with the Daily Planet like bacon and eggs, franks and beans, death and taxes, politics and corruption.
- Clark Kent: I don't think he would lend himself to any cheap promotion schemes though Mr. White.
- Perry White: Exactly how you would you know that, Kent?
- Clark Kent: Uhm... Just a first impression?
- Perry White: Well, anyway, who's talking cheap? I'll make him a partner, if that's what it takes!
- Lex Luthor: There's a strong streak of good in you, Superman. But then nobody's perfect... almost nobody.
- First Elder: [following the trial and sentencing of General Zod and Company] An unpleasant duty has been masterly performed, Jor-El. They have received the fate they deserve: isolation in the Phantom Zone, an eternal living death.
- Jor-El: A chance for survival, nonetheless... as opposed to us, if we continue to ignore these facts. It's suicide! No, it's worse. It's GENOCIDE!
- First Elder: Be warned, Jor-El. The Council has already evaluated this outlandish theory of yours.
- Jor-El: My friends, you know me to be neither rash nor impulsive. I'm not given to wild, unsupported statements. And I tell you that we must evacuate this planet immediately!
- First Elder: Jor-El, you are one of Krypton's greatest scientists.
- 2nd Elder: Ah, yes, but so is Vond-Ah.
- Vond-Ah: It isn't that we question your data. The facts are undeniable. It's your conclusions we find unsupportable.
- Jor-El: This planet, and its red sun with it, will destabilize and burst within thirty days... likely within seven.
- Vond-Ah: I tell you Krypton is simply shifting its orbit.
- 2nd Elder: Jor-El, be REASONABLE.
- Jor-El: My friend, I've never been otherwise. This madness is yours.
- [a cat burglar is climbing up the side of a building. He looks up and sees Superman standing there]
- Superman: Hi there. Something wrong with the elevator?