Superman Page #13

Air Force One glides safely to a landing, taxis up in front of them. SUPERMAN does a backflip, stands on the wing, looks in at the pilot, gives him the 'high sign' then looks off at the PRESS.

181 ANGLE ON PRESS

The REPORTERS watch in stunned silence. LOIS elbows her way to the front,

waving.

LOIS:

Hey! It's me! Remember? Lois Lane!

The girl from the roof?

SUPERMAN spots her, grins, waves, then takes off again, disappearing into the night sky. The amazed REPORTERS crowd around LOIS.

REPORTER:

Hey, Lois. You know that guy?

LOIS:

(sly puss)

Oh, nothing ...intimate.

181CONTINUED

LOIS smiles privately, heads off, the mob of REPORTERS trailing behind her, yelling "who is he?" "C'mon, Lois, what's the story?", etc. CAMERA PANS to the doorway of Air Force One: the PRESIDENT'S ENTOURAGE appears to clear the way. No one notices - there is no longer a way to clear.

181AINT. FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE - DAY

The SCREEN is filled by the giant head of JOR-EL. He looks down INTO CAMERA, his expression a blend of slight displeasure and parental understanding.

JOR-EL

You...enjoyed it.

SUPERMAN:

I don't know what to say.

(awkwardly)

I guess I just got...carried away.

JOR-EL

I anticipated this, my son. I...

SUPERMAN:

You couldn't have! You couldn't have

Imagined...

JOR-EL

(gently)

How good it felt!

SUPERMAN:

How good it felt...

SUPERMAN falls silent again, ashamed. JOR-EL can't resist a small smile.

JOR-EL

You are revealed to the world. Very well.

So be it. But still you must keep your

secret identity.

SUPERMAN:

Why?

181A CONTINUED

JOR-EL

The reasons are two: First, even you cannot

serve humanity twenty-eight hours a day...

SUPERMAN:

Twenty-four.

JOR-EL

Or twenty-four as it is in Earth time. Your

help would be called for endlessly, even for

those tasks which human beings could solve

for themselves. It is their habit to abuse their

resources in such a way.

SUPERMAN:

And secondly?

JOR-EL

Second:
Your enemies will discover their only

way to hurt you - by hurting the people you care

for.

SUPERMAN:

Thank you, Father...

JOR-EL

Lastly- do not punish yourself for your feelings

of vanity. Simply learn to control them. It is an

affliction common to all, even here on Krypton...

(expression changes)

Our destruction could have been avoided but for

the vanity of some who considered us indestructible.

Were it not for vanity...why...at this very moment...

I could embrace you in my arms

(barely audible)

...my son...

182EXT. METROPOLIS STREET- NIGHT - CLOSE ON STORE WINDOW

The face of a TV NEWSCASTER looks INTO CAMERA through the window of a store

which sells television sets

NEWSCASTER:

Good evening. And what sort of night has it

been so far? A night that has seen what many

believe to be the most extraordinary phenomenon

of our times ...

CAMERA PULLS BACK: the storewindow is filled with a myriad of TVsets, all three

networks simultaneously broadcasting the same story, although only one NEWCASTER'S

voice is audible. A CROWD has formed in front of the Window, hanging on to every word with a bemused expression on his face - CLARK KENT.

NEWSCASTER:

Our newsfilm confirm eyewitness's reports of a

caped figure, resembling a man, who appeared

flying in the sky over Metropolis. Yes, I said flying . . .

A CROWD MEMBER turns to CLARK.

CROWD MEMBER:

That'll be the day, huh?

CLARK:

You said it.

NEWSCATER:

White House comments are guarded at present,

although the F. B. I . is said to be investigating the

matter. As further accounts pour in, speculation has

arisen that this whole thing may be some sort of

fantastic hoax ...

CLARK frowns. He hadn't counted on this reaction.

162CONTINUED

NEWSCASTER:

The Mayor of Chicago commented that it all

seemed too be a publicity stunt designed to

draw attention to Metropolis...

CLARK turns, walks off CAMERA PANNING with him.

NEWSCASTER:

....a city that has been having its share of

financial problems of late.

183INT. LUTHOR'S LAIR - NIGHT

The highest level of the underground complex is an improvised swimming pool area. The

domed ceiling hangs low over what once was a massive staircase down into the station and

now serves as the entrance steps to the pool. A projection of an idyllic Caribbean island

setting and seascene shimmers against one wall. LUTHOR sits in the shallow end of the pool

in a roped-off, bubbling Jacuzzi bath section. EVE, looking fetching in a bikini, lies on a mat

nearby, black goggles over her eyes, absorbing rays from a sunlamp. OTIS sits in an armchair, watches the NEWSCASTER on a television in front of him.

NE\WSCASTER

...His question is everybody's: True or false? Miracle

or fraud?

184CLOSE ON LUTHOR

LUTHOR is deeply troubled. He glowers pensively as the NEWSCASTER finishes.

LUTHOR:

Turn it off...

NEWSCASTER:

The answer is up to you. Man or myth?

OTIS switches off the set, turns.

OTIS:

What's a myth?

LUTHOR:

(mind elsewhere)

Something unreal....something.... not quite human.

Something like you, Otis

184CONTINUED

OTIS beams, settles back in his chair.

OTIS:

I'm a myth....

LUTHOR frowns, his mind working double-time. EVE stares up at the sunlamp, her eyes still covered by goggles.

EVE:

So what's the story, Lex? You think this

guy's the genuine article?

LUTHOR:

If he is - he's from another world...

EVE:

Why?

LUTHOR:

Because if any human being could have perpetrated

such a fantastic hoax, it would have been for me and

I would have thought of it by now.

EVE:

Oh.

LUTHOR snaps his fingers. OTIS rises, crosses to him with an elegant bathrobe.

LUTHOR:

(musing- resigned)

It all fits somehow His coming here to Metropolis -

and at this particular time. There's a kind of ... cruel

justice about it. I mean, to commit the Crime of the

Century, a man would just naturally have to face - the

Challenge of the Century.

CAMERA PUSHES IN as LUTHOR rises, lost in the philosophical justification of it all.

OTIS starts to wrap the bathrobe around him.

EVE (O. S.)

Maybe he'll leave you alone, Lex. Maybe he's just

passing through.

LUTHOR:

(bitter smile)

184CONTINUED

LUTHOR (CONTD)

Just . . . passing through, Miss Teschmacher? Not on your life...something I would gladly sacrifice by the way -

for the one chance to destroy everything he represents.

(pause - blinks)

Oh, and Otis...

OTIS:

Yes, Mr. Luthor?

LUTHOR:

Next time, put the robe on after I get out of the pool.

CAMERA PULLS BACK: the bottom section of LUTHOR'S robe is submerged below the waterline.

OTIS:

I'm sorry, Mr. Luthor.

LUTHOR:

I know that, Otis.

185INT. LOIS LANE'S APARTMENT - DAY

A lovely apartment in a high-rise building with a balcony-terrace off the living room. Books,

modern art posters, desk with typewriter, etc. CLARK sits at one end of the sofa. LOIS paces

next to him.

LOIS:

(outraged)

It wasn't a trick!

CLARK:

Oh sure. A man flies in the sky like a pigeon

and it wasn't a trick. It was probably done with

wires. They must have rigged him up like Peter Pan.

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