Editing Superman Returns (section)

==Plot==
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[[Superman (1978 film series character)#Superman Returns|Superman]] has been missing for five years, ever since he traveled to the location where astronomers believed they discovered the remains of [[Krypton (comics)|Krypton]]. His arch-nemesis, [[Lex Luthor (1978 film series character)#Superman Returns|Lex Luthor]], has been recently released from prison and married a rich widow to obtain her fortune upon her death. Having failed to find any surviving [[Kryptonian|Kryptonians]], Superman returns to Earth and resumes his job at the ''[[Daily Planet]]'' in [[Metropolis (comics)|Metropolis]] as his alter-ego [[Clark Kent]]. There, he learns that the woman he loves, [[Lois Lane (1978 film series character)#Superman Returns|Lois Lane]], is engaged to Perry White's nephew Richard, with whom she has a 5-year-old son named Jason. She has won the [[Pulitzer Prize]] for her article "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." Luthor travels to the [[Fortress of Solitude]] and steals Kryptonian crystals, which he uses for an experiment that causes a power outage on the East Coast. The power loss interferes with the flight test of a [[Space Shuttle]] to be [[Air-launch-to-orbit|launched into space from its piggy-back mounting on an airliner]] occupied by Lois Lane, who is covering the story. Clark flies into action as Superman, launching the shuttle into the sky and stopping the plane from crashing.

The world rejoices at Superman's return, though he has difficulty coping with the fact that those he was once close to have moved on from him. When Superman gets distracted by an out-of-control vehicle, a diversion involving Luthor's henchwoman Kitty Kowalski, Luthor steals [[Kryptonite]] from the Metropolis Museum of Natural History. Perry assigns Lois to interview Superman, while Clark investigates the blackout. Lois and Jason inadvertently board Luthor's yacht and are captured after Lois decides to hold interest in the blackout story, which she connects to Luthor's experiment. He reveals to them his plan to use one of the stolen Kryptonian crystals, which he has combined with the Kryptonite, to grow a new landmass in the Atlantic Ocean that will supplant the United States and kill billions of people.

Seeing young Jason seemingly have a reaction to Kryptonite, Luthor asks Lois who his father is; Lois asserts that the father is Richard. The crystal begins to create Luthor's landmass while Lois attempts to escape but is attacked by one of Luthor's henchmen. However, she is saved by Jason, who throws a piano at the man and kills him, confirming that Superman is his father. Meanwhile, Superman attempts to minimize the destruction in Metropolis caused by the new landmass's growth, and Richard pilots a sea plane to rescue Lois and Jason.

Confronting Luthor, Superman is weakened by the landmass since it is filled with Kryptonite, allowing Luthor and his henchmen to torture and brutalize him. Superman is stabbed with a shard of Kryptonite, falls into the ocean, and is left to drown, but he is rescued by Lois and Richard. After Lois removes the Kryptonite shard from his body, Superman regains his strength and lifts the landmass after putting layers of earth between him and the Kryptonite. Luthor's henchmen are killed but Luthor and Kitty escape in their helicopter. Unwilling to let billions of people die, Kitty tosses away the crystals that Lex stole from the Fortress of Solitude before their helicopter runs out of fuel, leaving them stranded on a deserted island.

Superman pushes the landmass with the crystals into space. Weakened by the Kryptonite, he crashes back to Earth. At the hospital, after removing another shard of Kryptonite from Superman's body, doctors learn that they cannot penetrate his skin with their surgical tools, and he remains in a coma. While visiting Superman, Lois whispers something into his ear and kisses him. Superman awakens and visits the sleeping Jason, to whom he recites the last speech from his late biological father [[Jor-El]]. As Lois starts writing an article entitled "Why the World Needs Superman", Superman reassures her that he is back to stay and flies off to low orbit, where he gazes down at the world.