With the recent announcement that the four Christopher Reeve “Superman” films are coming out in 4K format next year, much speculation has been made about what will be included with the films. Will the extended TV versions of the first film be included? Will we see the original 134-minute version of “Superman IV”? Which version of the Richard Donner Cut of “Superman II” will be included, the original 122-minute streaming version (also known as the Vudu cut) or the final 116-minute cut? Will the color balance on “Superman: The Movie” be corrected? Will there be more extras than what has been previously released in the 2006 Ultimate Collector’s Edition DVD set or the 2011 anthology Blu-ray set?

And the answer to all of these questions and more is this: it’s too early in the game to know what will be included. But when official word comes out, I will post that announcement on the blog page.

So let’s turn our attention to the extended version of “Superman II”. I’ve studied and analyzed this film in all of its forms for nearly twenty-five years, and every time I do, I learn something new. Take the first prison scene involving Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) and his henchman Otis (Ned Beatty), for example. This is more than what we saw in the theatrical version of the movie. Rather, it is a combination of theatrical footage, extended footage, alternate takes, and clips that would later appear in the Richard Donner Cut. The Salkinds, having control of the TV edits, inserted more footage throughout the film as their way of getting more money in their pockets. The extended version of “Superman II” contains approximately 20-25 minutes of footage not seen in the theatrical version, including a number of unreleased and alternate clips shot by Donner in 1977.

So let’s deep dive into the scene…

Right at the start we see an extended bit of Luthor saying, “Your brain defies every known scientific law in its infinite capacity to deteriorate.” This line is only seen in the TV cut and nowhere else.

This is followed up by his line, “Every man has his vulnerable point…”, and here we have the footage of Gene Hackman saying that line. In the theatrical version and the Donner Cut, that footage is not seen, though we hear the line in every version (theatrical, TV, Donner Cut).

This then jumps to the close-up of Otis. In the TV cut it is inserted over the line of Luthor saying, “Some, like you, Otis, have more than one.” Whereas in the theatrical version and the Donner Cut the close-up is inserted over the line, “Every man has his vulnerable point…”

Pausing for a moment, the footage of Luthor saying, “Some, like you, Otis, have more than one…” is seen in the theatrical and Donner cuts. The editing of this dialogue from these shots is particularly awkward given the added clip and the placement of the Otis close-up in all three versions. 

The scene then continues with Luthor mentioning the black box, the same across all three cuts.

What comes next is an alternate version of Luthor describing how the black box works. There are two keys here. First, pay attention to this line and how it differs across all three cuts:

Theatrical: “That little black box goes beyond any conventional radar…”

TV: “That little black box goes beyond any KNOWN (capitalized here for emphasis) conventional radar…”

Donner Cut: “That little black box goes beyond any NORMAL (capitalized for emphasis) conventional radar…”

This line delivery alone confirms that Donner shot that take no less than three separate times.

Second, this alternate TV take first references, “I could have said it tracked pasta e fagoli, couldn’t I?” The Donner Cut uses an alternate version not only because of Hackman’s black box line but also because of Ned Beatty’s delivery of the line, “With garlic, Mr. Luthor, and butter. Oh, it’s so good…” The line is much faster in the TV cut but in the Donner Cut it’s a little slower. For some reason the theatrical version does not include the pasta e fagoli reference. Whether Donner shot it that way or not is unknown.

Finally, we have the alternate shot of Luthor saying, “Those alpha waves will take me north to his secret. And when I have his secret, I’ll have Superman.” This alternate take also includes the Slasher Fogelstein reference and is the same take that is used in the Donner Cut.

The theatrical cut used an alternate take which has a different delivery of the line, “And his secret will give me Superman.” It also does not include the Slasher Fogelstein bit at the end.

So the question now is, when will we see this in an official Blu-ray release? Warner Bros. and the Warner Archive have commented that a complete print of the “Superman II” extended TV cut exists, and, based off the added clips in both versions of the Donner Cut, we know that there is indeed a widescreen version in their vaults. As the extended KCOP version of the first “Superman” film did extremely well for the Warner Archive, it makes sense that they should release the extended versions of the sequels on Blu-ray also. Time will tell, so stay tuned!

Finally, while it’s not related to the “Superman” films, I want to acknowledge the passing of Kevin Conroy at the age of 66. For three decades he was the iconic voice of Batman in the wonderful animated series, spin-off films, and many of the Batman video games over the years. His loss is huge, and I would like to offer my condolences to his family, friends, and many fans.