Plot

Superman returns to Earth after spending five years in space examining his homeworld Krypton. But he finds things have changed while he was gone, and he must once again prove himself important to the world.

Following a mysterious absence of several years, the Man of Steel comes back to Earth in the epic action-adventure Superman Returns, a soaring new chapter in the saga of one of the world's most beloved superheroes. While an old enemy plots to render him powerless once and for all, Superman faces the heartbreaking realization that the woman he loves, Lois Lane, has moved on with her life. Or has she? Superman's bittersweet return challenges him to bridge the distance between them while finding a place in a society that has learned to survive without him. In an attempt to protect the world he loves from cataclysmic destruction, Superman embarks on an epic journey of redemption that takes him from the depths of the ocean to the far reaches of outer space.—Anonymous

After eliminating General Zod & the other Kryptonian arch-villains, Ursa & Non, Superman leaves Earth to try to find his former home world of Krypton after astronomers have supposedly found it. When he finds nothing but remnants, he returns home to Earth - to find out that Lois Lane is engaged to a relative of his boss, and that Lex Luthor is at it again - after swindling an elderly, terminally ill woman. The psychopathic Luthor, whose plans to destroy California failed because of Superman's heroics, vows vengeance against the Man of Steel and contrives a new sinister plot - using the crystals of Krypton to build a continent that will wipe out most of North America! Embedded in the continent's structure is Kryptonite - the lethal substance that is Superman's only weakness. Upon learning of Luthor's sinister scheme, Superman must again race against time to stop the psychopathic Luthor before millions - possibly billions - are killed.—Derek O'Cain

The latest installment of the Man of Steel; the story presented as a Christian parable. After leaving Earth for 5 years to visit his home planet, Superman returns to find that Earth has lost hope in him as its savior. We are reminded that Jor-El has sent his only son to Earth because people are basically good. We get to see Superman rekindle his relationship with Lois Lane, who now has a son of questionable paternity; could it be Superman's son being raised by another man. Superman fights the evil in the form of Lex Luther. Can Superman save humanity? Does humanity have faith in him?—anonymous

Plotting against his demise Lex Luthor, once more wants to take over the world by creating his very own, and in the process wiping out the lives of billions. After a five-year absence, looking for remnants of his home planet long gone his return finds Lois as a new mother and a new world that has become unrecognisable, his return could not be better timed. With the world once again at the mercy of a madman, it is up to Superman to once again safe us all. Can he too return the world around and defeat his evil adversary and the peril that hangs over us forever?—Cinema_Fan

Superman (Brandon Routh) has been missing for five years, since traveling to the location where astronomers believed they had discovered the remains of Krypton, coaxed by a belief that Krypton may still exist.

During his absence, Superman's nemesis Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) was released from prison and married a rich old widow Gertrude Vanderworth (Noel Neill) to obtain her fortune upon her death.

Superman, having failed in his quest to find surviving Kryptonians, returns to Earth, landing near the Kent Farm in Kansas where his mother, Martha Kent (Eva Marie Saint), currently resides. As Clark Kent, resumes his job at the Daily Planet in Metropolis. There, he learns that the woman he loves, Lois Lane, is engaged to Perry White's nephew Richard, with whom she has a 5-year-old son named Jason. He subsequently learns that Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has won the Pulitzer Prize for her article "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman."

After inheriting her money, Lex, his assistant Kitty Kowalski (Parker Posey), and some henchmen take Gertrude's private yacht, and head North toward Superman's Fortress of Solitude. Lex carefully guides them to the location, where he finds several crystals in the fortress' control panel, and the holographic image of Superman's father, Jor-El (Marlon Brando).

Luthor steals Kryptonian crystals, which he uses for an experiment that causes a power outage on the East Coast. Lex Luthor took a sliver from a crystal, placed it into some water in a model train layout in the basement of Gertrude Vanderworth's mansion. The reaction triggered an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) that cut off local power but resulted in a large crystal growth to blossom from the sliver, that ends up demolishing the model, and growing up through the basement ceiling.

The power loss interferes with the flight test of a space shuttle to be 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 and stops the plane from crashing onto a baseball stadium.

The world rejoices at Superman's return, but he has difficulty coping with Lois' fiance, Richard White (James Marsden), nephew of Daily Planet editor-in-chief Perry White (Frank Langella), and their 5-year-old son, Jason (Tristan Lake Leabu). After their encounter, Superman later meets Lois on the roof, where she is mildly hostile toward him for leaving her and the people of Earth. They continue their heart-to-heart talk, and Lois explains to him that she has moved on. Superman takes Lois into the upper atmosphere, telling her that he can hear the whole world pleading for a savior despite what Lois wrote in her article.

With Superman distracted by an out-of-control vehicle (a diversion involving Luthor's henchman, Kitty Kowalski (Parker Posey)), Luthor enters the Metropolis Museum of Natural History. He and his goons steal the Addis Ababa meteorite, a chunk of Kryptonite. Shortly afterward, Superman returns to the Fortress of Solitude, where he finds the crystals containing the information regarding Krypton are now missing.

Perry then assigns Lois to interview Superman while Clark investigates the blackout. Lois continues to investigate the power outage, which leads her to the Vanderworth mansion, with her son in tow. Finding the mansion locked, she finds the Vanderworth yacht floating nearby and goes aboard. Before she can react, the yacht has pulled away. Lois and Jason are captured after Lois decides to hold interest in the blackout story, which she connects to Luthor's experiment.

Lex reveals to them his grand scheme of using one of the stolen Kryptonian crystals, which he has combined with the Kryptonite, to grow a new continental landmass in the Northern Atlantic Ocean that will cause sea levels to rise drastically, killing billions of people. With Luthor having a monopoly on land, he intends to charge exorbitant prices for people to live on his new continents. Lois suggests that the governments of the world will stop him but Lex brags that with the power contained in the stolen crystals, he'll have all the defense he needs. When Lois suggests, at Lex' goading, that Superman will stop him, Les shows her the chunk of Kryptonite he stole, machined into a tube.

Seeing Jason seemingly have a slight reaction to Kryptonite, Luthor asks who Jason's father really is; Lois asserts that the father is Richard. One of the crystals is inserted into the tube of kryptonite and placed inside a stolen Russian missile. As it is fired into the ocean, it creates a reaction that starts the growth of a new landmass, albeit riddled with Kryptonite. The sudden growth of the landmass creates a power outage that affects Metropolis.

Lois tries to distract their captor and attempts to send a fax with their coordinates to the Daily Planet, but not before she's found out. Lois attempts to escape but is attacked by a henchman. Jason throws a piano at the henchman, killing him and showing that he is actually Superman's son. When Lex hears of this, he has Lois, and her son locked in the ship's pantry before the rest of them take off in a helicopter on deck to the newly grown continent.

Back at the Daily Planet, the fax has partially come through, and Richard heads off in his small plane to find Lois. Superman attempts to follow but becomes side-tracked when the newly-growing landmass causes a tremor that threatens the entire city. Superman has his hands full, saving people and averting catastrophes. Once it seems the tremors have stopped, he heads back out to sea.

Richard arrives in a sea plane to rescue Lois and Jason. Superman soon arrives to help and then flies off to find Luthor. Superman rescues Richard, Lois and Jason, before the yacht cleaves in two, and disappears below the water.

As the family takes off, Superman heads to the 'New Krypton' continent to confront Luthor. Meeting Luthor, Superman discovers the landmass is filled with Kryptonite, which weakens him to the point that Luthor and his henchmen are able to beat him. Superman is stabbed by Luthor with a shard of Kryptonite and falls into the ocean. Lois makes Richard turn back to rescue Superman. Jason spots Superman in the ocean with his developing enhanced sight, Lois dives in and manages to catch hold of Superman's cape and haul him to the surface, while Richard gets him aboard the plane. Lois pulls out the Kryptonite shard but is unable to remove it all. Superman, after regaining his strength from the sun, lifts the landmass after putting layers of earth between him and the Kryptonite.

Luthor and Kitty escape in their helicopter; Kitty, unwilling to let billions of people die, tosses away the crystals that Lex stole from the Fortress of Solitude. She and Luthor are stranded on a desert island when their helicopter runs out of fuel. Superman pushes the landmass into space with the crystals trapped on the landmass but is weakened by the Kryptonite and crashes back to Earth.

Doctors remove more Kryptonite from Superman's wound, but after it is removed, they cannot penetrate his skin with their surgical tools. While Superman remains in a coma, Lois and Jason visit him at the hospital where Lois whispers a secret into Superman's ear and then kisses him. Superman later awakens and flies to visit Jason, reciting his father Jor-El's (Marlon Brando) last speech to Jason as he sleeps.

Lois starts writing another article, titled "Why the World Needs Superman". Superman reassures her that he is now back to stay, and flies off to low orbit, where he gazes down at the world once again.