Superman Returns
2006 film directed by Bryan Singer
Superman Returns is a 2006 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character Superman. The film was directed by Bryan Singer, and written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris from a story by Singer, Dougherty, and Harris. 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.
After a series of unsuccessful projects to resurrect Superman following the critical and financial failure of The Quest for Peace, Warner Bros. Pictures hired Singer to direct Superman Returns in July 2004. The majority of principal photography took place at Fox Studios Australia, Sydney while the visual effects sequences were handled by several studios, including Sony Pictures Imageworks, Rhythm & Hues Studios (R&H), Framestore CFC, Rising Sun Pictures and The Orphanage; filming began in March 2005 and ended in November. The film was the first film produced by Legendary Pictures.
The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its visual effects, storyline, and Singer's direction, but criticized its screenplay and runtime.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Superman Returns” is 2006 film directed by Bryan Singer. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Superman, Returns and film, not as a finished interpretation.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q328695. VIAF identifies the subject as 202977888. 6 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 4 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2006, 1978, 1980 and 1983.
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This entry incorporates text from “Superman Returns” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.