Scene Anatomy 101: Superman III
Posted by George H. Sirois on 06.06.2006
The Man of Steel vs. His Alter-Ego! Scrapyard Match! This is Extreme!
We've all had those moments, where we've had to fight the great inner struggle between doing what we have to do and doing what we want to do. One of the beautiful things about larger than life stories is that we get to see a struggle like that up close and personal. Obviously, the classic tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde comes to mind.
But in 1983, there was another struggle between the light and dark sides of a man's soul. Unfortunately, it was stuck in the middle of a film that took forever to get going. That film is Richard Lester's Superman III.
Starring Christopher Reeve and Richard Pryor, Superman III introduces us to billionaire Ross Webster (Robert Vaughn), a Lex Luthor-wannabe that uses computer expert Gus Gorman (Pryor) to hack into the Vulcan Weather Satellite and program it to create enough turbulent weather to turn all of Colombia into ruins. When Superman interferes and reverses the weather – even turning a tornado upside down – he becomes a target for elimination by Webster.
To get rid of Superman and continue his business, Webster tries to create some of his own Kryptonite, but he doesn't get the formula quite right. Instead of killing him, the component allows the darker side of Superman – the one that he safely kept hidden away – to come out and play.
You're not surprised that there's a dark side of Superman, are you? Everyone has one, and considering the powers that the Man of Steel has been given, if he wanted to show off by causing havoc in Metropolis and beyond, who would be able to stop him? And just look at how he carries himself when he is disguised as Clark Kent. Why would he voluntarily act like that? I think the answer can be found in Bill's comic book monologue at the end of Kill Bill, Volume 2. Bill, take it away…
BILL: Superman stands alone. Superman did not become Superman, Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he is Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red S is the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears, the glasses the business suit, that's the costume. That's the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent? He's weak, unsure of himself... he's a coward. Clark Kent is Superman's critique on the whole human race.
Now that the pseudo-Kryptonite has broken down the barrier that Superman has built up for his darker side, he gives himself permission to basically act like an ass around the world. He straightens the Leaning Tower of Pisa. He blows out the Olympic Torch. He makes a pass at Lana Lang (Annette O'Toole) when he knew about an accident on a nearby bridge. He even does Webster a favor by tearing open an oil tanker just so he could get laid. And the people of Metropolis get an up-close and personal look at their "savior" sitting at a bar, drunk and breaking bottles with peanuts.
As Superman staggers out of the bar and flies away, he can hear Lana Lang's son Ricky yelling at him. He's telling him how his hero's just in a slump, that he'll be great again. The voice continues in Superman's head long after he's left everyone else on the ground. It starts to penetrate the part in Superman's psyche that has been dormant for days now, and it causes him to lose his concentration and land in a scrapyard.
Once Superman lands, he lets out a gut-wrenching scream that scares the workers away. Now that he's all alone, a bright light appears on his forehead. And suddenly, a man steps out of Superman's body – Clark Kent, complete with slicked-down hair, suit and glasses. He even hunches over a bit in his scared position, doing everything possible to divert people from thinking that he's really Superman.
The two halves that make up the man we've known for so long look at each other. Clark looks worried and unsure of what's going to happen. That only makes Superman mad as he is disgusted with the weakling that's in front of him. His face twists into a look of rage as he belts Clark across the jaw.
Once Clark rights himself, Superman hits him again. This time, he goes flying into a pile of scrap. He even flies back up to him just so he can hit him again. Once he sees Clark down again, Superman starts laughing at him. We see that Clark can't fly, he can't use any heat vision or any other powers that Superman has apparently claimed for himself. But he does have Superman's endurance, and that is confirmed when Clark looks up at Superman standing near him.
CLARK: I can give as good as I get.
This amuses Superman, and he decides to call Clark's bluff.
SUPERMAN: Oh yeah? Well, come on! Bring it on! COME ON! COME ON!! COME ON!!!
Clark quickly shoves some scrap aside and runs up to Superman. He slams into him and pushes him into a vat of acid. There's plenty of bubbling as it seems that Superman could melt away in the acid, but he simply stands right up and blows some of the acid onto Clark, which eats away at his suit.
This makes Superman laugh even more as Clark throws off his steaming suit jacket. As Clark backs away from his attacker, Superman picks up an entire car bumper as he taunts Clark even more.
SUPERMAN: What's the matter, Kent? Too warm for ya, huh? HUH?! HUH!!
BAM! The fender slams down on Clark's back.
SUPERMAN: That's right, COME ON, CHICKEN!
BAM! He hits him with it again, and then Superman throws out a very interesting line that verifies Bill's theory about the hero from Kill Bill, Volume 2.
SUPERMAN: Been wanting to do this for a long time!
BAM! Superman hits him again, but then he drops the bumper. He starts losing his focus and his balance, which allows Clark to try and run off. Clark runs up a conveyor belt, and Superman chases him down and grabs him by his shirt. He can see a car crusher a short distance away.
SUPERMAN: You always wanted to fly, Kent! Now's your chance!
With a fraction of all his might, Superman tosses Clark into the car crusher and then walks to the controller. He turns it on, starting the crusher. Clark struggles to get out, but the crusher closes up before he can.
Superman walks away from the controller, content with the knowledge that he has stamped out any semblance of his responsibilities that he felt imprisoned to for all these years. But Clark is able to push open the crusher and get out safely. He's a little cut up, and his clothes have definitely seen better days, but he's still very much alive.
As soon as Clark is out, Superman turns around and wonders what he has to do to keep his enemy down for good. Clark grabs some tires and tosses them, one after the other, so they drop around Superman, trapping him.
Or so he thinks. Superman smirks at him before breaking out of the tires, and then aims his heat vision at a large magnet dangling over Clark. Once the chain breaks, the magnet comes crashing down on Clark, pushing him into the ground.
Superman walks up to Clark as he slowly pushes the magnet off of him and tries to get himself out of the hole that's been made for him. And once his chin is in range, Superman kicks Clark right in the jaw, knocking him out.
Laying his unconscious body on the conveyor belt to a larger car crusher, Superman activates the crusher and sends Clark off to die… again. Just to drive the point home, Superman obliterates Clark's glasses in the palm of his hand.
Suddenly, he can hear the crusher doing its job. There's a lot of shaking as the gears mash up their intended victim. There's even some screaming from Clark, music to Superman's ears. But when he walks to the conveyor belt on the other side of the crusher, Superman can't see any remains. Something's wrong.
This is confirmed when Clark smashes his way out of the crusher, and his eyes are definitely filled with some serious rage. Now it's Superman's turn to be scared as Clark grabs him, pushes him to the ground, and wraps his hands around his throat. Clark holds his grip tight, not letting Superman breathe for a single bit, trying his best to crush his throat.
And then, suddenly, Superman – the man that took it upon himself to be an ass to everyone around him, including himself – vanishes, never to be seen again.
Clark takes a moment to literally collect himself. He can feel his powers returning. He can feel himself becoming whole again, and to show that to the audience, he stands up and opens his shirt, revealing the symbol of his father. It's perfectly clean, just like new, and he transforms himself back into the Superman we all know and love.
As the John Williams theme (arranged and conducted by Ken Thorne) blasts off, Superman takes flight once again to fix what he had allowed himself to destroy. He takes full responsibility for what he had let happen, and he's more than prepared to put it all behind him. As he says later, "I'm sorry but that wasn't me. That guy's gone."
But he's wrong. That was him, and that guy isn't gone; he's just been tucked away like he was before. Both Superman and Clark Kent got lucky this time by being able to endure a multitude of punishment and still keep himself from quieting the good in him forever. Now it's up to him to make sure that other guy never surfaces again.
