Mysteriously gone for five years, Superman returns to Metropolis to find Lois has a son with another man and Lex Luthor has another catastrophic real estate scheme.

I’m breaking down movies by their three-act structure. What is three-act structure? I explain it here.

Note: I break the story down into five-minute blocks to make it easier to see the length of each section. Rough time codes follow.

Prolog

Legend: Superman disappeared for five years (suggesting this is the late 1980s, after Superman 2, but it’s not clear, which causes problems with Lois’s character later, since in Superman 2, she slept with Superman but he wiped her memory at the end). 5

Act 1

A dying woman wills her fortune to Lex Luthor (the villain). Superman falls to earth on the Kent farm (the main hero). 10

Lex finds the Fortress of Solitude and learns the secrets of Krypton (the inciting incident). 15

In the morning, Clark reminisces about his childhood (which is where the call to adventure should come, but Clark doesn’t know about the Fortress of Solitude break-in, so they just have him watching the news?). 20

Clark and Martha talk. Clark returns to Daily Planet and finds that Lois has a son with a pilot named Richard White (which is shocking to Clark but not a conflict, because he wouldn’t dream of trying to break them up). 25

Jimmy says Lois might still love Superman (introducing a secondary conflict). Lex tests Kryptonian tech and causes an EMP. 30

The circumstance of Lois’ long relationship with Richard is the “villain” in the secondary conflict. Richard himself is not portrayed as a villain as he would be in most stories, allowing the writers to have Lois stay with him at the end.

Lex’s EMP endangers Lois’s flight. Clark sees it on the news (his motivation to take action, but it’s not like he was ignoring Lex before; so really this is his call to adventure). 35

Act 2

Superman rushes to aid Lois (thrusting Clark into the extraordinary world of… being a superhero [again]?). 40

Superman and Lois meet again. Perry declares Superman’s return the big story. 45

Clark meets Lois and Jason, her young son by? with? Richard White (it’s not spelled out; it’s Superweird, but the scene is what passes for Clark entering the wilderness). Lex prepares for an expedition. 50

Superman spies on Lois’s home life (which is Supercreepy) then stops bank robbers. 55

Lex steals some Kryptonite. 60

The Daily Planet team discusses the news. 65

Kitty rants at Lex. Lois and Clark work late. 70

Lois and Superman talk. He takes her for a romantic flight (which is Superawkward). 75

Lois says she’s with Richard now. Superman discovers his crystals have been stolen. (The crisis for the sub-plot and the crisis for the main plot simultaneously!) 80

Midpoint

Lois goes to Lex’s mansion and takes Jason onto his yacht (which is Superdumb), and she and Jason get kidnapped. 85

Lex reveals his plan and puts it into action (introducing a ticking clock, altho only Lois knows it). Clark and Richard search for Lois. 90

Lois faxes her coordinates but is caught and locked up after Jason protects her by killing a guy (which is Superdark), revealing he is Superman’s son (which Lois apparently knew, but how much Jason and Richard know remains a mystery). 95

Richard and Clark get Lois’s fax. Separately, they rush to save her and Jason (still unaware of Lex’s plan). 100

An earthquake rocks Metropolis as the new continent rises. Superman returns to save people in Metropolis. 105

Flying the Daily Planet seaplane, Richard almost rescues Lois and Jason, but all three are trapped (the defeat, for them, altho Superman is just getting started)….

Act 3, sort of

…Superman rescues them all. 110

Richard flies the seaplane. Superman confronts Lex but the Kryptonite makes him powerless. 115

Lex beats Superman and throws him into into the sea (which is his defeat, I suppose, quite late). Lois and Richard rescue him. 120

Richard just manages to take off in the choppy seas. Superman recovers. He flies to space to recharge from the sun (a secret key that lets him turn the tables on Lex?). 125

Lex flees as Superman flies the landmass into space (resolving the central conflict he just learned about; Kitty has heroically dumped the crystals Lex stole), but the Kryptonite in the landmass makes him powerless again (even tho he’s out in space, in the light of the sun, which recharged him just minutes ago). 130

Superman falls to earth and is hospitalized. A shard of Kryptonite is surgically removed. 135

Lois visits the unconscious(?) Clark and confesses Jason is his (which only vaguely resolves the sub-plot’s conflict, since the real conflict is that Superman and Lois still love each other and have a child together, but Lois is in a long-term, loving relationship with Richard). Lex and Kitty are stranded on an island without helicopter fuel. 140

Epilog

Later, Superman visits Jason and assures Lois he is “always around” (which is, again, Supercreepy as well as demonstrably untrue). 145