Superman The Movie question

[Crewman47]

In the first Christopher Reeve Superman movie how did Superman know that by going really, really fast opposite to Earths rotation would cause Earth to backtrack through time? I mean he was in a bit of a rage at just discovering Lois dead and there on the spot he decides to fly into orbit and fly around Earth in the opposite direction to turn back time.

I'm assuming here that instead of turning back time, the worst he could've done, assuming he does emit some sort of gravitational effect when flying fast, would've been to simply reverse the rotation of the planet itself and possibly end up destroying the planet due to gravitational stress?

Is there actually a technical explanation on how this was achieved and did Superman know he could do this?

 

[Christopher]

Ohh, you'd have been better off not opening that can of worms.

The technical explanation is "It was in the script." That's about how much thought went into it.

 

[Trekker4747]

Quick explanation?

Moving FTL causes you go back in time. Superman in his incredible rage pushed his powers beyond their limits (an adrenaline-rush, if you will) and he moved FTL to go back in time. He, er, overshot his temportal destiantion a bit so he had to go forward again for a bit to get where he wanted to be.

 

[3D Master]

Except that that requires there to be a second Superman.

How he knew: he read the script.

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

I thought he was travelling back in time and the rotation thing was just a visual representation of him flying back in time?

 

[Garth Rockett]

I won't attempt to explain why it worked the way it did, but as for how Superman knew it would work? I always assumed that's one of the bits of Kryptonian science he learned either from Jor-El's recordings en route to Earth or during the 12 years he spent learning about himself and the galaxy in between building the Fortress and arriving in Metropolis.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Except that that requires there to be a second Superman.

Not to mentiont that if he can go fast enough to travel back in time why couldn't he stop both missles in the first place.

 

[3D Master]

Except that that requires there to be a second Superman.

Not to mentiont that if he can go fast enough to travel back in time why couldn't he stop both missles in the first place.

Which brings us to the obligatory posting of how Superman should have ended:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yavK0mnE3wI

 

[Mysterion]

The thing about Superman - The Movie, and why it works so well IMO, is that it is a purely Silver Age story. From Luthor's diabolical plot to Supes turning back time the way he does, Silver Age all the way. Look at the Superman comics from the 1960's and you see this sort of wacky-yet-cool-if-you-don't-think-too-hard-about-it kind of stuff all the time. Lots of fun.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I'm assuming that Clark knew how to reverse Earth's poles fast enough to create time travel is through his twelve years of training under Jor-El's program. They discussed a multitude of topics and I'm sure quantum and temporal mechanics were among them.

 

[Brikar99]

The thing about Superman - The Movie, and why it works so well IMO, is that it is a purely Silver Age story. From Luthor's diabolical plot to Supes turning back time the way he does, Silver Age all the way. Look at the Superman comics from the 1960's and you see this sort of wacky-yet-cool-if-you-don't-think-too-hard-about-it kind of stuff all the time. Lots of fun.

I agree. I don't really WANT an explanation for stuff in this movie. I just accept the fantasy world as presented to me, and I love it.

 

[Bri]

Except that that requires there to be a second Superman.

Not to mentiont that if he can go fast enough to travel back in time why couldn't he stop both missles in the first place.

Which brings us to the obligatory posting of how Superman should have ended:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yavK0mnE3wI

LMAO!!! I wasn't laughing till Batman showed up. That was great.

Bri

 

[ManOnTheWave]

Is there actually a technical explanation on how this was achieved and did Superman know he could do this?

For the first question, I seriously doubt it. For the second, this is a bit nebulous. Either Supes was intructed by Jor-El's crystals as to the extent of his power and how to use it (or not to as the case may be), or he has an intuitive understanding of his abilities and just wills things to happen. How did he know for example that he could shoot heat beams from his eyes, or see through solid objects? We see him running at incredible speeds, jumping great heights, and kicking a football past the edge of sight before creating the Fortress of Solitude, but that's about it. He does mention "having all these powers" at his adoptive father's funeral. But it isn't until he has full use of Jor-El's instruction that we see him fly.

If Supe's powers are there because Jor-El instucted him in their use, one wonders what else he can do that he's sworn not to. (Perhaps he could simply release his solar power and effectively be a nuclear weapon.) If his powers are more intuitive, arising as he feels a need for them, one wonders how god like he really is.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I'm inclined to think that in the DonnerVerse at least...that Clark discovered most of his powers when he was growing up in Smallville. We know that when the Kent's first discover him he already has super-strength when he lifts the truck saving Jonathon's life. Later all during his training under Jor-El and seclusion inside the Fortress Clark probably asked his father about his abilities and the potential of them. Jor-El already knowing of these abilities instructed him on how to use them...

 

[blockaderunner]

The thing about Superman - The Movie, and why it works so well IMO, is that it is a purely Silver Age story. From Luthor's diabolical plot to Supes turning back time the way he does, Silver Age all the way. Look at the Superman comics from the 1960's and you see this sort of wacky-yet-cool-if-you-don't-think-too-hard-about-it kind of stuff all the time. Lots of fun.

Yeah It's pre-Crisis. That was the problem with Superman Returns. It was portraying a pre-Crisis world so much that it failed to neglect that there had been about 20 years worth of Superman stories with a Superman who wasn't so Super in the powers department.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

^I don't think Supes' powers were so out of line in Superman Returns. But its depiction of Lex Luthor was certainly way too pre-Crisis for most people's tastes. (I wonder if they might not have gotten away with it a bit more had they persuaded Gene Hackman to come out of retirement to reprise the role.)

 

[Cmndr J Crichton]

One possible answer: He's Superman.

 

[dkehler]

I think it was implied that Superman could turn back time when Jor El told him that it was forbidden for him to interfere with Earth's history. I can't remember if he said it during his years of "education" in the Fortress of Solitude as well, but I know he said it as Superman flew up in a rage after Lois Lane's death.

 

[DWF]

I don't see why Jor-el wouldn't told him about time and space and how to use his powers in the years they spent together in the Fortress.

Jor-El: My son, you do not remember me. I am Jor-El. I am ... your father. By now you will have reached your eighteenth year of time as it is measured on earth. By that same reckoning I will have been dead for many thousands of your years. The knowledge that I have of, matters physical and historic I have given to you fully on your voyage to your new home. These are important matters, to be, sure, but still matters of mere fact. There are questions to be asked and it is time for you to do so. Here in this Fortress of Solitude we shall try to find

 

[T'Baio]

Jor-El does tell him, during the journey, I believe, not to interfere in Earth's history. You can take that as Jor-El knowing Kal-El would have have the ability to turn back time, or you could take that as he shouldn't run for president. It's up to you. Movie makes more sense if you believe it to be the former.