The film begins with an air of cynicism. It has been five years since Superman left his post in Metropolis without even a proper goodbye. Lois Lane has won a Pulitzer Prize for an essay entitled, “Why the World Doesn’t Need Superman.” The myth of independence and self-sufficiency explodes though with the return of super-villain, Lex Luthor. Having violated Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, Luthor discovers the power residing in the tip of a crystal from Superman’s advanced (but now vanished) planet. The inter-connectedness of the city’s power, water, and transportation industries is approximated in a scale model. When one falls, we all fall, in a giant, cosmic ripple effect. It bears eerie similarity to the ability of a handful of rogues to undo the tether of an otherwise civil society.  

Lois Lane may claim, “The world doesn’t need a savior” but the headlines betray her. We understand Lois’s bitterness. We share her abandonment. How could something like 9/11 happen? Where was God when the buildings burned? It is easy to lose faith when the victims of terrorism tumble to their deaths. Yet amidst the gnawing doubt arise the pleas of the people. Lois says she doesn’t need a savior, but Superman’s finely-tuned ears confirm that “Everyday I hear them crying out for one.”

Much has been written about the Christ imagery soaring through Superman Returns. Director Bryan Singer connects this thrilling update to 1978’s esteemed Superman: The Movie by incorporating footage and voiceover of Marlon Brando as Jor-El. He advises his son, “Even though you’ve been raised as a human being, you’re not one of them. They can be a great people, Kal-El. They wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all—their capacity for good—I have sent them you…my only son.”

The parallels to the Christ story are striking. Singer and his crack screenwriting partners, Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris, push the analogies even further with Superman's physical suffering. A slight trace of the song, “He’s got the whole world in his hands,” becomes a lived reality. Superman carries much more than the Daily Planet on his back. As he summons all his strength to save humanity, Superman falls to earth, arms outstretched, a living sacrifice for us all.  

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