Superman III (1983): Cast, Plot and Ending Explained

Superman III (1983) follows a struggling programmer, Gus Gorman, who is pulled into the tycoon Ross Webster's scheme to control world markets, while Clark Kent returns to Smallville for a reunion.

Gus Gorman is a down on his luck man who discovers he has a real talent for computer programming. He uses it to skim money from his employer, Webscoe Industries, and the company's boss, Ross Webster, catches him. Rather than turning Gus over, Webster blackmails him into working on his schemes.

The first of those schemes has Gus hijack a weather satellite in order to ruin the Colombian coffee crop. Superman steps in to stop it, which puts him on Webster's radar. Meanwhile, Clark Kent travels back to Smallville for a reunion and meets his old friend Lana Lang again, a thread that gives the film a quieter, small town counterweight to the corporate plotting.

In Superman III (1983), Ross Webster forces the programmer Gus Gorman to rig markets and build synthetic Kryptonite, which turns Superman evil until Clark Kent defeats him and Superman destroys Webster's supercomputer. Spoilers follow.

Webster forces Gus Gorman to use computers to help him corner the world's coffee and oil markets. When Superman foils the coffee plot, Webster orders Gus to make a synthetic form of Kryptonite. Gus does not know one key ingredient, so he substitutes tar. The fake Kryptonite does not hurt Superman, but it corrupts him, turning him mean and careless.

The corrupted Superman starts pulling pranks, such as straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa. After Webster's associate Lorelei Ambrosia seduces him, he causes an oil spill. His struggle with his own conscience then splits him into an evil Superman and a good Clark Kent, and the two settle it in a junkyard fight. Clark defeats the corrupted Superman and restores himself.

Meanwhile, Webster has built a huge supercomputer in a hidden base, and it turns his sister Vera Webster into a cyborg, the so-called robot lady of the film. Superman goes to the base and destroys the computer with acid, and Webster and his allies are arrested. Gus, having had a change of heart, helps in the fight against the machine and then leaves for a new start in West Virginia.

The closing beats tidy up the supporting cast. Lana Lang becomes Perry White's secretary, Lois Lane returns with a news story, and Superman repairs the Leaning Tower before flying into space.

Superman III (1983) premiered in New York on June 14, 1983, three days before its US theatrical release on June 17, 1983. No venue for the New York premiere has been published.

The UK release followed on July 19, 1983, and Australia on December 26, 1983. The Numbers confirms the US date. TMDB's release listings report the UK and Australian dates, and Wikipedia reports the premiere date.

The film is rated PG in the US, UK and Australia, and runs 125 minutes. Commercially, it grossed about $59.95 million domestic and about $20.25 million international on a $39 million budget. Those figures add up to $80.2 million worldwide, according to The Numbers, which is about 2.1 times its budget.

At the end of Superman III (1983), Clark Kent defeats his evil self in a junkyard fight, Superman destroys Ross Webster's supercomputer with acid and Webster and his allies are arrested. Spoilers follow.

After the junkyard fight, Superman becomes whole again. He then travels to Webster's base and destroys the supercomputer. Gus Gorman heads off to start over in West Virginia, Lana Lang becomes Perry White's secretary, Lois Lane comes back to Metropolis with her own news story, and Superman repairs the Leaning Tower of Pisa before flying off into space.

Opinion: In my opinion, the junkyard fight is the real climax, because it is the moment the film pays off its central idea. The fake Kryptonite does not weaken Superman, it strips out his conscience, so the only opponent that can beat him is the part of himself he lost. The supercomputer sequence, with Vera Webster turned into a cyborg, is the louder set piece, but it works more as a mop up of the villain plot than as the emotional finish.

The Pisa gag is a neat bookend. The tower is straightened as a careless prank, then repaired once Superman has recovered, and that small act carries the film's moral arc without anyone saying it aloud. Gus's change of heart does similar work for the human story, since the man who built the dangerous machinery is the one who helps stop it. So, is it a good movie? Perhaps the fairest answer is that it is uneven, but the junkyard fight and the Pisa bookend give it a spine that its busier scenes do not always match.

Superman III (1983) was filmed mainly in Calgary, Canada, with interior sets built at Pinewood Studios in England. Principal photography began on June 21, 1982.

Most exteriors were shot in Calgary, reportedly for tax reasons. Pinewood Studios supplied the interior sets, including the supercomputer set, which was built on Pinewood's 007 Stage. Glen Canyon, Utah, stood in for the supercomputer's exteriors, and Battersea Power Station in London was used for the coal mine scene.

Superman III (1983) was originally titled Superman vs. Superman, changed after the producers of Kramer vs. Kramer threatened a lawsuit.

• Richard Pryor reportedly earned a $5 million salary.
• The missile sequence used video game style computer animation made by Atari's special projects department, costing about $120,000 for roughly 27 seconds of screen time.
• Ilya Salkind's 1980 treatment, which featured Brainiac and Supergirl, was rejected as too costly.

The Atari detail stands out because a film about a programmer bending computers to his boss's will bought its own computer graphics from a games company.