My pitch:
Superman opens the movie with a bit of narration by basically saying "I guess you could say I was always meant to be a symbol of hope." Then, you get through the part of Superman's origin that everyone knows in a quick, yet touching way which by seeing baby Kal-El's pod land in Kansas, and with no audible dialogue (just piano music), cut back and forth between his birth parents saying goodbye to him on Krypton and his adoptive parents meeting him for the first time, ending the opening sequence with a shot of the pod flying away from an exploding Krypton followed by the Kents and their new baby driving away from the crash site with the pod in their truck. Then, (ala "American Alien") we spend time with Clark growing up, discovering his powers, trying to hide them from everyone but his parents who don't quite know how to handle it, but they make him feel safe and grounded. One day, while 8-year-old Clark is running faster than the eye can see from city to city, having fun exploring with his top speed, his enhanced hearing picks up the sound of a kid being beaten up. He races over to the slums of Metropolis and pushes the teenager's drunken father down, accidentally knocking him out and injuring him. Clark jokingly introduces himself as "Superboy" and the teenager introduces himself as Alex Luthor. Clark then runs off at a normal human speed leaving behind a baffled young Luthor who would later tell his father that he had been hit by a car rather than a small child. However, with both boys possessing photographic memories, neither of them would ever forget what had happened. As Clark grows up, he tries to be normal, but he can't help trying to help people when he can. After his high school sweetheart, Lana Lang (who Clark revealed his powers to when they were kids), breaks up with him to go to college, and encourages Clark to get out of Kansas as well (ala "Superman For All Seasons", I believe), Clark dives into secretly stopping crimes in Metropolis to help himself forget about Lana. While preparing to stop a car crash, he suddenly hears his mother scream back at home. He rushes home to find his father dying of a heart attack. Clark wants to run his father to the hospital, but he doesn't know if that would hurt him or not, and the farm is too far away to drive there in time, so Jonathan accepts his fate and imparts his final wisdom to his powerful son and basically tells him to fight for truth, justice, and the American way before passing away in Clark's arms. Devastated, Clark flies to the barren arctic and vents his rage by pounding miles of ice and land. He then flies into space where he can scream as loud as he can without causing any damage or raising suspicion. He goes back home to check on his mother who reminds him that he can be a symbol of hope. He eventually dons his Superman suit which is the actually that of a kryptonian ambassador that was placed in his ship for when he became an adult, and becomes the first superhero. As Clark Kent, he takes up various jobs in Metropolis to support his mother who he still lives with on the farm, and to save up for college. As Superman, he saves the day and protects the innocent. One of his jobs is in the mail room at the Daily Planet, and as he goes to school and gets a journalism degree, he begins rising in the ranks. Just as he's acquired a good life of balancing being a hero, and an up-and-coming reporter, another alien suddenly arrives on Earth... an alien named Abin Sur. Clark confronts Abin Sur as Superman. The green clad alien seems dismayed, but not surprised. He tells Superman that he needs to leave the Earth. After Superman retorts by telling Abin Sur to leave instead, they battle throughout the skies and outside of Earth's atmosphere. After Superman sends Abin Sur flying into space with a powerful blow, the alien soon returns with a meteor shower of kryptonite rocks. After trying to stop the mysterious meteor shower, Superman is severely weakened and damaged. Abin Sur is convinced of Superman's heroism and takes him away from the kryptonite. At the behest of Superman, Abin Sur brings him home to his mother. As Clark slowly recuperates back home, the two aliens bond as they share information with each other. Abin Sur tells Clark about the Green Lantern Corps and the galaxies. He also explains why he confronted Clark in the first place: Superman was not the only survivor of Krypton. General Zod and his group of militants had escaped the dying world and began searching for worlds that orbited yellow suns to conquer. The Green Lantern had been waging war with them throughout the galaxies for years trying to keep them away from yellow suns. Abin Sur eventually learned that irradiated pieces of Krypton were highly poisonous to Kryptonians, so he began stockpiling it. When he came to Earth looking for some he noticed Superman and feared that the Kryptonian invasion of Earth had already begun. After learning what gives him his power, Clark shows Abin Sur the pod he had arrived in as a baby. The two of them find a crystal inside it. After telling Clark what he thinks it is they go to the most secluded, spacious area Clark can think of: the arctic. Clark activates the crystal, creating the Fortress of Solitude. Inside, the Fortress informs Superman and Abin Sur that the last remaining Kryptonian ships in the universe are approaching a yellow sun in a far off galaxy. The two heroes rush there to stop the rogue Kryptonians and barely manage to hold their own against their Kryptonian weapons when suddenly a massive creature the likes of which Clark has never seen appears: the sun-eater. As the sun-eater devours the yellow sun, gravity sucks in everything around it, including Zod, the kryptonian militants, and their ships. Superman and Abin Sur barely escape in time. As Superman returns to Earth and speaks with the program of his birth father, Jor-El, he learns more about Zod. Meanwhile, while still alive inside of the digesting stomach of the sun-eater in a distant galaxy, Zod, Ursa, and Non, the only surviving militants, can actually hear Clark and Jor-El as they had unknowingly absorbed enough of yellow sun radiation within the sun-eater itself. Thirsting for revenge, they burst out of the sun-eater and fly straight for Earth. When they arrive, an epic battle ensues resulting in Zod fatally injuring Abin Sur. Having learned of the Phantom Zone from Jor-El, Superman realizes that he has to use the Fortress to send the three Kryptonians there. After a three-on-one struggle in the Fortress, Zod overpowers Superman and throws the crystal to activate the Phantom Zone out into the distance. Superman thinks all hope is lost when Abin Sur suddenly arrives with the Phantom Zone crystal. Superman uses the crystal to lock the Kryptonian villains away, and says goodbye to his friend as he succumbs to his injuries. Before dying, Abin Sur tells Clark to protect ALL people. As the movie ends with Clark Kent and Superman settling into the roles we know them for, Superman gives a final narration saying "My father, mother, and mentor taught me to be a symbol of hope." And just as he says that, we see Abin Sur's Green Lantern ring that Superman had put on a pedestal in the Fortress as it suddenly begins to float away...
In the mid-credits scene we see that billionaire Lex Luthor has gotten a hold of kryptonite.
In
the post-credit scene we see that billionaire Bruce Wayne has gotten a hold of
kryptonite.
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