Editing Superman II (section)

== Cast ==
* [[Gene Hackman]] as [[Lex Luthor (1978 film series character)|Lex Luthor]]: Criminal genius and Superman's archnemesis. Armed with vast resources and scientific brilliance, Luthor's contempt for mankind is only surpassed by his hatred for Superman. Luthor strikes a bargain with the three Kryptonian criminals in an effort to destroy Superman.<ref name="Superman 2 credits">{{cite news|title=Superman II (1980) – Cast, Credits and Awards|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/47870/Superman-II/details|access-date=May 15, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080201173003/https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/47870/Superman-II/details|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=[[Baseline (database)|Baseline]] & [[All Movie Guide]]|via=[[The New York Times]]|date=2008|archive-date=2008-02-01}}</ref>
* [[Christopher Reeve]] as [[Superman (1978 film series character)|Clark Kent / Superman]]: Born on Krypton and raised on Earth, Superman is a being of immense strength, speed, and power. Morally upstanding and instilled with a strong sense of duty, Superman tirelessly uses his formidable powers, which he gets from the Earth's yellow Sun, to protect the people of his adoptive homeworld. His alter ego is mild-mannered ''[[Daily Planet]]'' reporter Clark Kent. Superman's abilities include: X-ray and [[Heat vision (fiction)|heat vision]], vast strength, speed and invulnerability, super-intelligence and flight.<ref name="Superman 2 credits" />
* [[Ned Beatty]] as Otis: Luthor's incompetent henchman.
* [[Jackie Cooper]] as [[Perry White]]: Mercurial editor-in-chief of the ''Daily Planet'' newspaper and Lois and Clark's boss.
* [[Sarah Douglas (actress)|Sarah Douglas]] as [[Ursa (comics)|Ursa]]: Zod's second-in-command and consort. Ursa's evil will and power-lust are equal to and sometimes surpass those of General Zod. Her contempt and utter disregard for humans, [[Misandry|men in particular]], make her a very deadly adversary. She has an inclination to collect insignia and heraldry from people she defeats or dominates, such as the NASA patch from the [[EVA suit]] of an astronaut she kills.
* [[Margot Kidder]] as [[Lois Lane (1978 film series character)|Lois Lane]]: The ace reporter for the ''Daily Planet'' and Superman's love interest. Lois is a driven career journalist, who lets nothing stand in the way of breaking the next big story and scooping rival reporters while ignoring the potential consequences that sometimes put her in peril. She finds out that Clark is Superman, but her memory is erased when Clark kisses her.
* [[Jack O'Halloran]] as [[Non (comics)|Non]]: The third of the Kryptonian criminals, Non is "as without thought as he is without voice." At {{convert|7|ft|m|abbr=on}} tall, Non is a formidable hulking [[muteness|mute]] who easily matches Superman's strength, but has the intelligence and sometimes curiosity of a child, and communicates only with guttural grunts and growls. Though he lacks the mental ability to use his powers effectively, he does however possess the same taste for destruction as his Kryptonian companions and his physical strength is even greater than Zod and Ursa's.
* [[Valerie Perrine]] as [[Eve Teschmacher]]: Lex Luthor's beautiful assistant and girlfriend who helps him escape from prison.
* [[Susannah York]] as [[Lara (comics)|Lara]]: Jor-El's wife and Superman's biological mother.
* [[Clifton James]] as Sheriff.
* [[E.G. Marshall]] as the [[President of the United States]].
* [[Marc McClure]] as [[Jimmy Olsen]]: Young photographer at the ''Daily Planet''.
* [[Terence Stamp]] as [[General Zod (1978 film series character)|General Zod]]: The ruthless, arrogant and [[wikt:megalomania|megalomaniacal]] leader of three Kryptonian criminals banished to the [[Phantom Zone]] and unwittingly set free by Superman. Zod, upon landing on Earth and gaining the same superpowers as Superman, immediately views humans as a weak and insignificant sub-species and imposes his evil will for world dominance. However, his arrogance causes him to quickly become bored with his powers and he is almost disappointed at how little of a challenge humans are. His insatiable lust for power is replaced however by revenge when he learns that the son of Jor-El stands in the way of his absolute rule of the planet.

According to the 2006 documentary ''You Will Believe: The Cinematic Saga of Superman'', Sarah Douglas was the only cast member to do extensive around-the-world press tours in support of the film and was one of the few actors who held a neutral point of view in the [[Superman_II:_The_Richard_Donner_Cut|Donner–Lester controversy]].

Richard Donner briefly appears in a "walking cameo" in the film. In the sequence where the de-powered Clark and Lois are seen approaching the truck-stop diner by car, Donner appears walking "camera left" past the driver's side. He is wearing a light tan jacket and appears to be smoking a pipe. In his commentary for ''Superman II'', [[Ilya Salkind]] states that the inclusion of his cameo in that scene is proof that the Salkinds held no animosity towards Donner, because if there were, then surely they would have cut it out.<ref>{{cite AV media|people=Ilya Salkind, Pierre Spengler|title=Superman II|section=Audio commentary|type=DVD|publisher=Warners Bros. Home Video|location=Burbank, California|year=2006}}</ref> Conversely, Donner used his cameo to debunk praise heaped on Lester around the release of the film where Lester took credit for the intense nature of the "bully" scene in the diner, pointing out that he (Donner) filmed the scene and not Lester.<ref>{{cite AV media|people=Richard Donner, Tom Mankiewicz|title=Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut|section=Audio commentary|type=DVD|publisher=Warner Bros. Home Video|location=Burbank, California|year=2006}}</ref>