Superman Returns is a 2006 American superhero film directed by Bryan Singer, and written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris from a story by Singer, Dougherty and Harris, based on the DC Comics character Superman. It serves as an homage sequel to Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980), ignoring the events of Superman III (1983), Supergirl (1984), and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). The film stars Brandon Routh as Superman, Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor, with James Marsden, Frank Langella, Eva Marie Saint and Parker Posey in supporting roles. In the film, Superman returns to Earth after five years and discovers that his love interest Lois Lane has moved on from him and that his archenemy Lex Luthor is planning to kill him and reshape North America.

Plot

Superman has been missing for five years, ever since he traveled to the location where astronomers believed they discovered the remains of Krypton. His arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor, has recently been released from prison and married a wealthy widow to inherit her fortune upon her death. Having failed to find any surviving Kryptonians, Superman returns to Earth and resumes his job at the Daily Planet in Metropolis as his alter-ego Clark Kent. 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, 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 launched into space from its piggy-back mounting on an airliner occupied by Lois, who is covering the story. Clark flies into action as Superman, launching the shuttle into the sky and stopping the plane from crashing.