Donner's Superman 2

Superman II
The Richard Donner version

Scenes 466A - 466J - "Kryptonian prophecy fulifilled"

466A INT. FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE - NIGHT

The silence has a deathly quality about it as CAMERA pans the empty Fortress. The rows of smashed crystals lie scattered across the energy bank area. A noise is heard. As CAMERA PANS, CLARK comes into frame.

466B CLOSER ON CLARK

He shivers with the cold, his torn clothes soaked by the outside weather. His face is badly marked with bruises and dried blood from the fight outside the diner. He stares hard at the empty walls of the Fortress, feels the silence, then feverishly begins to pick his way through the crystal debris, desperately searching for one which is undamaged, a piece of one which will fit in the mechanism - anything which will enable him to contact JOR-EL. There is nothing. CLARK stops, rises, stands in the pile of broken crystal, arms by his side in utter defeat. Eyes glazing over, he speaks softly, almost trembling.

CLARK
Father - if you can hear me - I have failed. I have failed you, myself, and all humanity. I have traded my birthright for a life of submission in a world now ruled by your enemies. There is no one left to help them, father, the people of the world. Not since I...

466C HIGH ANGLE

CLARK stops, wheels, screams pleadingly.

CLARK
Father!

The sound echoes off the wall of the Fortress until, finally there is silence again.

466D BACK TO CLARK

CLARK turns, starts to walk away, suddenly stops, stares hard at the energy bank.

466E INSERT SHOT - GREEN CRYSTAL

The green crystal which was sent to Earth in the baby SUPERMAN'S rocket module - the crystal whose energy constructed the Fortress itself - still glows, embedded in the center of the energy bank.

466F BACK TO SCENE

CLARK moves to the energy bank, removes the crystal, looks down at it.

1

With a final last hope, he crosses to the bench, inserts it into the playing mechanism. It fits. He steps back, waits. Suddenly - the light in the Fortress flickers. Then - the face of JOR-EL appears, deeply lined with care.

JOR-EL
Listen carefully, my son, for we shall never speak again. If you hear me now, then you have made use of the only means left to you - the crystal source through which our communication was begun. The circle is now complete.

JOR-EL'S image grows brighter, his eyes more intense.

JOR-EL
You have made a dreadful mistake, Kal-El. You have abandoned the world for the sake of private ambition. You did this of your own free will, and in spite of all I could say to dissuade you.

CLARK
I...

JOR-EL
Now you have returned here to me for one last chance to redeem yourself. This too - finally - I have anticipated, my son.
(pause)
Look at me, Kal-El...

CLARK stares at him. JOR-EL'S eyes dance with light.

JOR-EL
Once before, when you were small, I died while giving you a chance for life. And now, even though it will exhaust the final energy left within me...

CLARK
(turns frightened)
Father, no!

JOR-EL
Look at me, Kal-El!

2

CLARK turns, stares back, JOR-EL'S face grows larger. Hand reaches out toward his son, the index finger extended, his expression almost mystical.

JOR-EL
The Kryptonian prophesy will be at last fulfilled. The son becomes the father - the father becomes the son. Goodbye forever, Kal-El. Remember me, my son...

CLARK starts to speak, but JOR-EL'S eyes suddenly come ablaze with energy, riveting him to the spot. Two dazzling white arcs of light shoot into CLARK [5], racking his body with involuntary vibrations. CAMERA PUSHES IN on JOR-EL'S face, straining to summon up the suicidal energy, until only his blinding eyes are in the frame.

466G ANGLE ON CLARK

His body distended with the transfer of energy. The force of it almost physically unbearable. CLARK'S own eyes suddenly seem to burst apart, as for a split second he sees:

466H ANGLE ON JOR-EL - CLARK'S POV

For an instant, JOR-EL actually stands before his son - a serene smile on his face, his arm extended in farewell. Just as suddenly - he disappears.

466I BACK TO CLARK

CLARK
(screams)
Father!...

CLARK'S hand comes back...
[rest of sentence obscured in original script]

466J WIDE ANGLE

6

Total silence. The only things visible: The throbbing green crystal in the mechanism and the lifeless body of CLARK on the floor, a strange aura pulsating out from within his body.

Additional info:

7	This image is among the only available visual evidence for this scene. Also, 466H seems to be the only scene when Marlon Brando and Christopher Reeve would have stood on a set simultaneously.

Sources:
1 - image source unknown; scan courtesy of Superman CINEMA.
2, 3, 4 - storyboard scans from Fleetwoodowen.com.
5, 6 - image source unknown; scan courtesy of Superman CINEMA.
7 - from Saturday Night Live, April 6, 1985; host: Christopher Reeve.

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