Synopsis for
Superman Returns (2006) More at IMDbPro »

For five years, Superman (Brandon Routh) has been away from Earth, coaxed into space by a belief that Krypton may still exist. In the time he's been away, the world has changed--not only has terrorism become rampant, but Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has been living with Perry White's nephew (James Marsden), started a family, and won a Pulitzer Prize for her piece "Why the World Doesnt Need Superman."

Also during this time, Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey), has conned a wealthy widow named Gertrude Vanderworth (Noel Neill) out of her fortune, with the assumption that he has changed his ways after being in prison. After inheriting her money, Lex, his assistant Kitty Kowalski (Parker Posey), and some henchmen take Gertrude's private yacht, and head for Antarctica. Lex carefully guides them to Superman's 'Fortress of Solitude,' where he finds several crystals, and the holographic image of Superman's father, Jor-El (Marlon Brando). After listening to the hologram, Lex and his crew take the crystals and return to Metropolis.

Meanwhile, Superman returns to Earth, crashing near the Kent Farm in Kansas where his Mother (Eva Marie Saint) currently resides. After spending some time with her, Superman re-adopts his Clark Kent persona, and returns to Metropolis. Reporter Jimmy Olsen (Sam Huntington) and Daily Planet Editor Perry White (Frank Langella) are there to greet Clark. However, his reunion with Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) is put on hold, as she is aboard a jetliner, that is launching a shuttle into space. However, the shuttle fails to disengage, and rockets the jetliner in orbit, the flames from the shuttle's engines burning the plane's tail section.

Superman flies into action, and manages to disengage the shuttle, but the jet ends up plummeting to Earth, with it's tail section burned up. Chasing it into the Earth's atmosphere, Superman manages to stop the jet before it plummets into a baseball stadium. After greeting the press and the public in the cheering stands, Superman takes off.

Unknown to Superman and the rest of the public, the shuttle's error was due to a slight power outage that affected much of the country. This was due to Lex Luthor, who, after taking a sliver from a crystal, placed it into some water in a model train layout, in the basement of Gertrude Vanderworth's mansion. This triggered a reaction that cut off local power, but results in a large crystal growth to blossom from the sliver, that ends up demolishing the model, and growing up through the basement.

Back at the Daily Planet, Lois wants to find out more about the power outage, but Perry White wants the entire staff to focus on getting as much information on Superman as possible. It is during this time that Clark reintroduces himself to Lois, and meets her long-term fiance Richard White (James Marsden), and their child, Jason (Tristan Lake Leabu). After their encounter, Superman later meets Lois on the roof, where they have a heart-to-heart talk, and Lois explains to him that she has moved on.

Trying to distance himself from his emotions over Lois, Superman returns to fighting crime, not just in Metropolis, but all over the world. in one instance, he manages to save Kitty Kowalski from a runaway Ford Mustang. However, this was all a ruse to keep Superman occupied, as Lex and some associates break into a Metropolis Museum, and steal some Kryptonite...which is known to weaken Superman. Shortly afterward, Superman returns to the 'Fortress of Solitude,' where he finds the crystals containing the information regarding Krypton, are now missing.

Lois continues to investigate the power outage, which leads her to the Vanderworth mansion, with her son in tow. Finding the mansion locked, she finds the Vanderworth Yacht floating nearby, and goes aboard. Before she can react, the yacht has pulled away, and Lois finds herself face-to-face with Lex Luthor.

While aboard the Yacht, Luthor begins to explain to Lois his plan. Using the crystals that he took from Superman's 'Fortress of Solitude,' he intends to sink them into the ocean, creating brand new continents, with enough land mass to overtake the US, and cause the oceans to rise, burying much of the North American land mass, killing billions of people. With Luthor having a monopoly on land, he intends to charge exhorbitant prices for people to live on his new continent.

Lex then leaves Lois and her son under the watchful eye of one of his associates, before going to the main deck of the ship. A special gun then launches one of the crystals, encased in a tube made of Kryptonite. As it falls into the ocean, it crates a reaction, that starts the growth of a new landmass, though riddled with Kryptonite.

Lois tries to distract their captor, and attempts to send a fax to the Daily Planet, but not before she's found out. However, before their captor can inflict more damage, a piano flies across the room, crushing him. It appears to have been thrown by Lois' son...who it appears was actually fathered by Superman.

When Lex hears of this, he has Lois and her son locked in the ship's pantry, before the rest of them take off in a helicopter on deck to the newly-grown continent.

Back at the Daily Planet, the fax has partially come through, and Richard heads off to find Lois. Superman attempts to follow, but becomes pre-occupied when the newly-growing landmass causes a tremor that causes the entire city to quake. Superman has his hands full saving people, and averting catastrophes. Once it seems the tremors have stopped, he heads back out to sea. At the exact coordinates, he finds Richard's seaplane, but also the Vanderworth Yacht, skewered by a spikey growth from the new continent. Superman rescues Richard, Lois and Jason, before the Yacht cleaves in two, and disappears below the water.

As the family takes off, Superman heads to the 'New Krypton' continent to confront Luthor. Luthor greets Superman, who with the environment teeming with Kryptonite, has grown weaker. Luthor and his thugs beat and pummel Superman, before Luthor stabs him with a Kryptonite shard, and sends him plummeting off a cliff to the waters below.

Superman is saved when Lois convinces Richard to go back, telling him of how the new continent is laced with Kryptonite. Richard saves Superman, and gets him aboard the plane. Lois notices the Kryptonite shard, and removes part of it, but not all. Superman thanks them for the rescue, but decides to go back to stop Lex. Superman first breaks through the clouds above, to absorb as much energy as he can from the Earth's son. Flying down, he burrows below the new landmass, and then lifts it out of the water.

Lex and Kitty manage to flee the ascending continent, but not before Kitty dumps the other Kryptonian crystals onto the continent. With no time to retrieve them, Lex pilots the helicopter away. Superman, growing weaker and weaker due to the Kryptonite-laced continent, manages to hurl it into space, before plummeting to Earth, landing in a park in Metropolis.

Superman is then rushed to a hospital, where the remaining Kryptonite shard is removed, and the doctors attempt to revive him. However, after several days, he has not regained consciousness. A vigil is held outside the hospital by hundred of people, and even Martha Kent is among them. Lois and Jason manage to get in, and see Superman, though he does not wake. Shortly after ward, as a nurse checks on the room, the bed is found to be empty, and the costume gone!

Later that evening, Superman flies to Lois and Richard's house. Superman has come to know that Jason is his son, and repeats the same words his father spoke to him, before saying goodbye to Lois, and flying off.