Before I launch into the next section of the first draft script, I want to point out that everything in the previous section pertaining to Lois Lane tricking Superman, and Superman giving up his powers, focus on just those two characters alone. There are no breaks in the sequence, as in both versions of Superman II, no focusing on other scenes with other characters to divide the action. This would have covered at least twenty nonstop minutes with Lois and Superman. That’s how Mario Puzo wrote it in this first draft. What do you think? Would it have worked without a break in their story?

Continuing where we left off, we’re now at page 132 of the script, after Superman has given up his powers all in the name of love. At this point Lois couldn’t be happier. This is completely different from what she says to him in the final film: “I was just thinking… I can’t believe you gave it all up for me.”

Superman then goes into a lengthy speech about how he couldn’t do things like other people around him, things such as playing cards or enjoying a game of tennis or golf, or never having a headache or getting sick or carrying on a normal conversation, or even making love. Puzo made an interesting side note before this speech, in which he wrote, “The actor should not read it as to gain sympathy, yet again not read it as to provoke derision.”

Lois takes advantage of the situation and leads Superman to the kitchen, where they drink so much champagne that by the next morning they are both three sheets to the wind drunk. And even drunk, Superman continues with his speech, at one point saying, “Another reason why I’m glad I’m not Superman is that I won’t be able to fix everyone’s problems….As Superman I could never refuse. Now they can all go to hell.”

After sleeping off their hangovers, Lois and Clark start to head back home to Metropolis, stopping at one point at a roadside diner. It’s there that a truck driver named Duggie attempts to force Lois and Clark out of his favorite booth. A powerless Clark lands the first punch, but Duggie eventually gets the better of Clark, with his two buddies leaving Clark bloodied and nearly unconscious. Sounds a bit familiar, doesn’t it?

After Lois tends to Clark’s injuries, she finds that he was brave in the face of three-to-one odds. Clark then tells her that it is still his responsibility to catch Luthor Lux once and for all.

Later on, in Metropolis, Clark Kent goes on television and reports that the police have launched an all-out search for the whereabouts of Luthor Lux. Luthor then announces to Eve and his henchmen that he intends to commit three great crimes that will ensure his legacy in infamy, the first of which will be a diversion to the two greater crimes.

Eve wants to know what that first crime will be, and after she begs and pleads that she wants to know, Luthor finally tells her that his first crime will be to travel to Rome and assassinate the new Pope.

I have to pause here and point out an inaccuracy in Puzo’s script. Luthor Lux says that he plans to assassinate the new pope. This could not be a reference to Pope Paul VI, who was clearly alive in July 1975 and would not pass away until August 1978. He would then be succeeded by Pope John Paul I. Being observant to real life events, this is something that Puzo should have kept in mind while writing out the script. A simple removal of the word “new” would have kept the script in step with then-current events in the Catholic Church.

The next day, Clark, Lois, Jimmy Olsen, and Steve Lombard arrive in Rome to cover a big story. Shortly after they arrive, a young boy steals Lois’ purse, which contains only a small amount of money and some cosmetics. This minor detail is one that will be slightly modified and appear in Superman: The Movie, when Clark accurately describes how Lois has “ten dollars, two credit cards, a hairbrush, and a lipstick”.

Clark gives chase but is unsuccessful in capturing the young thief and retrieving Lois’ purse. She’s not too worried about the loss. And even though only two days have passed since Superman gave up his powers for Lois, he’s not too concerned about the loss either.

We are then given another lengthy sequence of Steve Lombard attempting to hustle Clark by seeing whether or not he could throw a series of successful football passes. Clark is unable to beat Steve at his game, and in the end he loses five hundred dollars. This scene almost seems like a repetition of the scene in the first half of the script where he played a similar trick on Clark and lost. This entire sequence slows the story and contributes nothing worthwhile.

That night Lois receives a mysterious phone call from an unidentified source warning her to watch for the sign of the cross.

The next night at the Vatican, the four reporters witness an assassination attempt on the Pope at the hands of six masked monks, all of whom are wearing a cross on their robes. Clark manages to stop one of the monks from firing on the Pope, and the bullet hits one of the cardinals instead. It’s then that Clark unmasks the monk, who has now shot himself and is dying at Clark’s feet, and realizes that the monk is actually one of Luthor’s henchmen. And his last words to Clark are, “This is nothing… this is nothing…”

As they return to Metropolis, Lois reminds Clark that he now has five days to change his mind and get his powers back. Clark is adamant about not going back, but Lois tells him that she would rather he go back to being Superman than to lose him forever.

Which makes for a good ending point for now. Next time, we’ll examine more of Luthor’s schemes and how they affect our heroes, but as we end for now, let me leave you with these three words to ponder…

“Super ain’t happy.”