I should admit this going in: I am not a big fan of Superman. Not even sure I completely understand the character's massive appeal. I get that people love heroes. I do too, but Superman is rather bland, a predictable do-gooder accurately teased as "the big blue Boy Scout." Also, he is so powerful there's never a doubt he's going to triumph, so the stories aren't very exciting. When he first appeared in comics, he was better than a human being in terms of strength and quickness, but then other abilities were added making him almost invincible. Yet, there's no denying his decades-long popularity. If there's a medium, Superman is there. Though how successful is debatable. This eight-disc Blu-ray set is the high definition version of the 14-disc DVD set Superman: Ultimate Collector's Edition, presenting all five movies since 1978 along with a super amount of extras about the character and the making of the movies.
Disc 1 is Superman: The Movie. For those who don't know the character's origin, no one in charge of Krypton listens to Jor-El's (Marlon Brando) claim about the planet's impending demise, so he sends his only son, Kal-El, to Earth in an odd-looking spaceship that resembles a star. Three years later, the ship lands in the farm town of Smallville where he is discovered by John (Glenn Ford) and Martha Kent (Phyllis Thaxter), who raise the child as their own and name him Clark. At 30, Clark (Christopher Reeve) heads to the big city of Metropolis and gets a job at the Daily Planet newspaper, working alongside fellow reporter Lois Lane (Margot Kidder). A love triangle of sorts forms as Clark develops a crush on Lois who develops a crush on Superman.
Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) is supposed to be a criminal genius though the screenwriters haven't made him too bright as his science knowledge is a bit off. He plans to become an owner of a great deal of beachfront property after triggering the San Andreas fault to dump part of California into the ocean. His brain is supposed to be a counter to Superman's brawn and he inexplicably figures out kryptonite would be on Earth and could be used against Superman, revealed through an exposition dump on the audience. Lex is a lightweight character and not very menacing, more suitable for the comedic Batman TV series. Also, the relationship with his girlfriend Miss Teschmacher (Valerie Perrine) is nonsensical since neither likes the other one.
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