‘Superman II’ at 40: The Sexual Tension Between Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder Eclipses Anything The MCU Has Ever Produced

In 1978, Superman: The Movie promised, right there on the poster, that “you’ll believe a man can fly.” In 1981, Superman II showed us how a man could go into a de-superman-izing molecule chamber but actually reverse the mechanism so it neuters the powers of the three malevolent beings outside the … oh, hell, don’t think about it too hard. Superman II, 40 years old today and streaming on HBO Max, may lack the soaring clarity of the first film, but it’s still terrific.

The sequel shows our hero once again fighting for truth, justice, and the American way, but this time against a troika of baddies from his home planet with the same abilities he has. Also, he and Lois Lane quit it with the glances, and finally admit they have feelings for one another. After Lois finally puts it together why Superman and Clark Kent are never in the same place at the same time, that is. (Luckily she does this at Niagara Falls, which is already a cheesily romantic setting.) 

To love a mortal, though, Superman must become mortal, and renounce his heroic speed and strength. But like a dunce he does this before Lois ever gets a chance to go to bed with him. Sure, she loves him for him, but when a gal gets this close to spending the night with the literal Man of Steel, why not hit snooze on that operation for a weekend, huh?

Visually, the grandeur of the first film, those widescreen vistas with apple pie sheen balanced by gritty ‘70s New York City locations, are not present in this second movie. Honestly, the whole section in Idaho looks slapped together, the surface of the moon looks not much better than Space: 1999, and the interior of the White House looks cheap. What Superman II does have — and maybe has it better than the first film — is characters.

Christopher Reeve, aka one and true Superman (no diss to Henry Cavill, Brandon Routh, George Reeves, and any of the TV Kal-Els), and Margot Kidder’s Lois Lane are the true magic of these movies, more so than any of the special effects. The two of them batting it around are so freaking cute, and the sexual tension is absolutely off the charts for what is, let’s face it, supposed to be a kiddie picture.

Clark Kent pretends to be clumsy to throw off the scent of his superhero identity (he gets his thumb caught in the orange juicer!), but when he’s tongue-tied around Lois Lane, is it part of the act? Or does this god from a distant star get all fluttery around a coworker he’s crushin’ on just like us? We will never know.

Reeve’s performance is legendary for a reason. Beyond being insanely handsome, his transformation from broad-shouldered Supes into the squid-like Kent is more than just dorky glasses or a hair style. Simply put, it’s damn good acting. The way he see-saws between the two personas in scenes with Lois, and when he finally lets her in on his secret, really grabs you by the throat. I don’t care how dumb you think comic book movies are, these scenes are packed with legitimate human drama. 

The other big win are the villains. No diss to Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor — who is great — but he can’t hold a candle to Terence Stamp’s General Zod. Indeed, if the Superman pictures could be said to have a singular catchphrase, it is the stentorian Stamp bellowing “kneeeeeeel before Zod!” so loudly that the sound mix is a little bit off. Blessedly, no one has ever corrected it. 

The Kryptonian dissident, sprung from the Phantom Zone due to the aftershocks of a terrorist H-bomb’s detonation in what’s thought to be the safety of outer space, is a callback to the prologue of the first movie. And here’s something funny: for 40 years I always kinda figured that Zod, his gal pal Ursa, and their grunting henchman Non had caused the destruction of their home planet with their Jan 6-ish scheme. But after a close read of the text, I realize that was just tiny me filling in the spaces. Their insurgent actions and Kal-El’s homeworld going boom are just a coincidence. (If I’m wrong, please direct me to a Reddit thread that says otherwise.)

For a production with far higher-than-usual chaos behind the scenes, it’s a miracle Superman II works as well as it does. It was originally intended that the two movies would be shot at once. Producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind previously did this with Richard Lester’s The Three Musketeers and (you guessed it) The Four Musketeer, even though some of the performers had no idea they were making two films until the premiere. But at some point along the way the producers and director Richard Donner hit pause to focus on the post-production and the release of the first picture, and during that process the relationship fractured. 

Richard Donner exited the project and Richard Lester was hired in his place. Marlon Brando disallowed his likeness to appear in any context, and composer John Williams stood down in loyalty to Donner. (His themes — as good as any from Star Wars or Indiana Jones in my book — were incorporated into an original score by Ken Thorne.) Gene Hackman, as Lex Luthor, refused to do any reshoots, so they had to get creative with stand-ins and dialogue replacement. Some of the old footage stayed and if you’ve got a good eye you can catch physical differences in the performers from scene to scene.

Suffice to say I knew none of this when I saw it at the Music Makers Cinema on Route 9 in New Jersey as an extremely small child. All I knew was this was the coolest thing in the world because a bad guy stuck out his index finger, a white laser beam shot out, and he could lift a guy 15 feet in the air. I immediately ran home and tried this on my dog in the backyard. (I was unsuccessful.)

The other big takeaway, and you didn’t ask about this but here it comes, was the mesmerizing hold Sarah Douglas’s Ursa had on my fragile, eggshell mind. I was just a wee lad, and had no way to put my feelings into words, but watching this foxy Joan Jett-looking space alien in a kimono laugh as she asphyxiated astronauts really did a number on me.

In the extremely early days of the internet, Douglas was one of the first Comic-Con-friendly stars to have a website (note: she still has it!) and I wrote to her and told her I loved her in what I swear was a not-creepy way. She sent a cheery reply. Hooray!

Looking back at it all now, I realize I saw Superman II before I ever saw Superman: The Movie. (An extended version of the first film showed over two nights on ABC in 1982, and this was very much appointment television.) Luckily the opening credits of the sequel are salted with “previously on”-type footage to get you up to speed, and Zod’s capture, trial, and sentencing to the Phantom Zone (or the “space square” as my older sister and I called it) is replayed, just with Brando cut out. 

Watching it 40 years later certainly makes me feel old, but I am not going to make any grand statements about the classics being better than today’s movies. If you stack Superman II up against the 900 pictures in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I think it fits somewhere in the middle as far as overall quality as concerned. There’s my diplomatic sentiment. It may seem a paltry comparison in terms of visual razzle-dazzle, but hanging out in Metropolis with these characters remains extremely welcoming. Just so long as we don’t get into the unwatchable disaster that is Superman III.

Jordan Hoffman is a writer and critic in New York City. His work also appears in Vanity Fair, The Guardian, and the Times of Israel. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle, and tweets about Phish and Star Trek at @JHoffman.

Watch Superman II on HBO Max