Superman Fans: Question about Superman 2 (SPOILERS)

[Frank Cannon]

How the hell did he get his powers back? One minute he's looking at the green crystal and the next he's flying over Metropolis! WTF?! I thought the power-loss thing was permanent, which made it such a big deal.

[cleofus1]

1. if it's green krytonite

it does not take away his powers...it kills him thru prolonged exposure...or thru a lighter exposure makes his sick and weak...

[Frank Cannon]

2. No, this was that green quartz crystal that he used to build...

the Fortress of Solitude in the first movie.

[cleofus1]

3. oh that thing

that's a good question...actually that movie made no sense at all...really...

[Frank Cannon]

4. It had some good moments in it

But also a lot of stuff that had me saying WTF?

[long_green]

5. There is no explanation

the writers couldn't come up with one so they did what you describe.

[Frank Cannon]

7. I figured there was probably something that got edited out

But that is just completely lame.

[long_green]

9. they used to show a longer version of this movie

on the networks with all kinds of horrible stuff they had the sense to eliminate from the theatrical release. I don't remember if they showed "an explanation" but I'm sure it was awful.

[WeRQ4U]

6. I always wondered that too.

Plot flaw. Why doesn't he just be superman on the weekends if it's so easy to go back and forth. Be a normal human Mon. - Thursday and pursue Truth, Justice and the American Way from Fri.-Sun.

[AllegroRondo]

8. The green crystal

was the one he originally used to build the fortress of solitude.

Remember, after he gave up his powers - had them 'erased' by that chamber - the fortress destroyed itself. But the crystal he used to build it had been misplaced by lois and avoided destruction. Presumably, he used the crystal to rebuild the fortess and un-erase his powers in the chamber.

[TheBaldyMan]

10. if thats the one with richard prior it wasn't real kryptonite

in the chemical analysis of real kryptonite there was 1% unknown, Mr Pryor looks around for inspiration and sees 10 mg Tar as one of the bad sustances listed on a packet of cigarettes and edits the analysis file replacing '1% unknown' with '1% tar', could it be that the film has been edited to have the tobacco reference excised?

[Frank Cannon]

11. Ahh, but that was Superman III

which I actually found to be more logical than Superman II

[TheBaldyMan]

13. have you tried iMdb?

they some times have plot inconsistences and bloopers documented.

internet movie database

the readers review is very uncomplimentary

late edit: i found this at iMdb on plot holes

People keep complaining that the film doesn't explain how Superman got his powers restored. Well, I have an old copy of an ABC Sunday night showing of "Superman II" and, mind you I still haven't bought the DVD, the TV showing implied that Superman used the green crystal - the same one that started off his awakening in the first movie and built the Fortress of Solitude - to restore his powers. And according to an interview I read with Richard Donner, the whole idea was that Superman restored his powers by draining all the crystals in his Fortress of Solitude and lost the ability to contact the ghosts of his parents in the process.

[Frank Cannon]

14. All right, now THAT makes (sorta) sense...

and would be a nice, dramatic reason. Although I always thought Superman got his powers from his Kryptonian body's reaction to our yellow sun. Oh, well.

I checked out IMDB. That part must have never gotten filmed because I understand both Donner and Gene Hackman walked off in disgust. This second film was a mishmash because it had two directors (Richard Lester was the second) who filmed things at two very different times. Now I know why that movie seems so strange.

[EstimatedProphet]

12. He got them back through a poorly-constructed plot.

He can only use the green crystal once to build the FOS, and then it's gone. And he lost his powers totally inside the booth for good. So Superman rebuilt the FOS with the same green crystal, rebuilding the booth and making it new so that it could reverse the original action taking away his powers.

[Frank Cannon]

15. He should just keep throwing that green crystal around...

and make a few more FOSs. That's what I'd do, if I had a magically regenerating green crystal that could manufacture a giant quartz palace with a talk-to-your-dead-parents projector and a permanent-power-removal/power-restoration booth. You never know when you'll need spares.