Goofs

When Superman takes Lois flying for the last time, scenes from Superman (1978) are used. She is wearing the blue outfit she wore in that movie, not the clothes she wore during the ordeal with the three Krypton villains at the Fortress of Solitude.

The film begins with a reprise of the trial of Zod, Ursa, and Non from Superman (1978). Jor-El's dialogue is completely different. The error is rectified in the Richard Donner cut, which restored Marlon Brando's original footage and dialogue.

When the county sheriff and his deputy first encounter Zod, Ursa, and Non, after discharging the shotgun Zod throws it and it lands in front of the passenger side rear wheel. When Non lifts the patrol car to retrieve the weapon, it has moved behind the wheel.

When Superman stops the Eiffel Tower elevator from falling, Lois jumps straight down, as though onto some kind of platform. However, Superman flew straight up through the tower. She should have had to jump over to the side at least a couple of feet in order to find anything solid to stand on.

Ursa's boots repeatedly change between having flat heels and high heels.

Superman, Zod, Ursa, and Non's clothes flap about as they fly in space. There is no wind or air in space to make clothes flutter.

When the astronaut tries to escape by jumping into the lunar module, Non grabs the leg of the descent stage to stop him. In reality, the descent stage is left behind and the ascent stage detaches in order to leave the Moon's orbit; holding the legs would do nothing.

When Non uses his heat vision to blow out two of the army jeeps' tires, there is a fiery explosion. A tire blow-out wouldn't produce such an explosion even if heat were used to pop the tire because there would be nothing to burn.

In one scene, Zod uses his telekinetic heat vision to get a shotgun from a deputy's hands into his own. The heat would cause the shotgun bullets in the gun (as it's then shown that it has it) to explode inside.

During the White House scenes, the Oval Office appears to be in the Residence Villa (the main and largest of the three buildings). It's actually in the West Wing.

When Superman finds out about Zod, he goes back to the Fortress of Solitude to recover his powers. How he does it is never shown, though it is implied that the green crystal Lois accidentally dropped earlier somehow recovered and reactivated the Fortress and its systems.

In the Richard Donner cut, Jor-El gives his remaining energy to Superman so he can recover his powers.

Superman and Lois change clothes at the Fortress of Solitude, despite the fact that they brought no luggage.

Superman is also seen flying around the world gathering various items for his dinner date with Lois, he could easily have also retrieved a change of clothing for them both.

Superman and Lois fly to the Fortress of Solitude (which is at the North Pole). After Superman gives up his powers, they have no way to return to civilization. Somehow, they got to a diner safely which doesn't appear to be close by. It's even shown that Lex Luthor, who's human, used a snowmobile to get to the Fortress of Solitude and back.

Superman could have made arrangements to return safely back to civilization prior to surrendering his powers.

It is well documented that Lois loves Superman, and has no interest in Clark. But as soon as his identity is revealed to her, Clark decides to give up being Superman, to permanently become Clark.

This is because the version of Clark Kent we are used to seeing is a manufactured persona designed to draw suspicion away from him being Superman; once he decides to give us his powers, Clark is now able to resume using his normal persona which is largely the same as that of his Superman persona.

There is no way to steer a balloon, so Lex Luthor couldn't go "due north." He is also dressed very lightly for a trip to the Arctic.

It's possible that Luthor, being the genius that he is, designed a hot air balloon that can be steered.

When Lois and Clark are driving from the Fortress of Solitude after Superman gives up his powers, the car is actually from Superman (1978). It's from the scene when Lex Luthor flips the car by remote control so he can stop one of the missile convoys, and steal the missile. Note the blacked-out windshield, to give the illusion of no one at the wheel.

When Zod flings the cosmonaut up and then yanks his airline down, the line falls at normal "Earth gravity" speed.

In East Houston, when Zod lifts the man into the air, the crash mat below him is clearly visible when he drops back down.

Willie, the small boy in the remote Idaho town where Zod and co land ("Please mister general, please let my daddy down") is very audibly English.

When Lex Luthor and Otis talk in prison, Lex Luthor's bald head is obviously a bald cap. The flaps meant to cover Gene Hackman's sideburns are visible, and when he faces the prison wall during his escape, the back part on his neck wrinkles like a plastic cap would.

The Sheriff takes his hat off the dashboard and in the next shot when they see the super villains blocking the road , he picks it up off the dashboard again.

At the prison laundry, Lex Luthor tells another prisoner he wants his Liberace record back "tonight". The prisoner responds with "There's a scratch on it." However his lip movements do not match the words spoken. In Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (2006), it is revealed the prisoner actually responded with "Tonight?"

As Superman flies from Lois's penthouse apartment, crew members are visible inside her apartment.

When Non knocks Perry out by lifting him up into the ceiling, a crew member in the lower right corner of the screen is holding Perry's hand.

When Zod, Ursa, and Non land on Earth for the first time, Zod walks on water. In the wide-angle shot, when he walks from the middle of the lake to the shore, the outline of a board or platform is visible just under the water.

During the fight in Metropolis, Ursa throws a manhole cover into Superman's chest. As he flies backwards, something is holding the manhole cover to his stomach as he bounces off the hood of a car.

When the army enters the small town to destroy Zod, Ursa, and Non, a helicopter comes in to fire missiles at General Zod. At one point, a motion picture camera and crew members appear in the foreground, covering the action from another angle.

Clark is able to survive walking all the way back to the Fortress Of Solitude with only a lightweight jacket, slacks, and wing-tipped shoes.

Lois is able to change her clothes at the Fortress when there was no evidence of her bringing any luggage with her.

Lois and Supes eat dinner at the Fortress, and they have some nice china to and utensils to use. Prior to this, Superman mentions that he usually does not do much about dinner, which would imply he doesn't keep a china cabinet there.

When Zod kills the second astronaut, he first kicks him away and while doing do, he nearly falls backwards before recovering his balance.

All the Frenchmen speak French with each other except French Special forces who speak English with each other and with the other Frenchmen.

Ursa reacts as if she is in pain when the snake bites her, which does not make sense. It's stated the three villains have the same powers as Superman, at other times they are hit with weapons, like Zod with the shotgun, and they do not seem to even notice.

The terrorists in Paris state that their hydrogen bomb will go off in 60 seconds (exactly a minute) when it is triggered. However, once the bomb gets triggered, it took a bit over 60 seconds till the explosion happened (and the scene is also played in real time).

It's a tradition in Superman that Kryptonians can harm fellow ones if they physically hit them. But when Ursa throws a manhole cover at Superman it makes him go flying across, unless if the cover had kryptonite it should not move him at all or just bounce off him.

Superman and the villains are supposed to be impervious to pain. Yet when Zod throws the concrete wall at Superman and he destroys it with his heat vision, you can see his face squints with pain.