No, it’s not “The Movie Posters of Superman II”, although that would make for a great discussion in and of itself down the road. This one’s about the movie posters that are featured in the film itself. It’s one of those little details that lend a sense of believability and realism to the film. Even under the direction of Richard Lester, the Superman team worked hard to maintain that sense of verisimilitude that Richard Donner had begun in 1977, and that includes all of the little details like city mailboxes, set dressings, records in the record stores, and movie posters.

So which movie posters are represented in the film? Some are obvious, while others require a little digging.

In this first image from the film, during the Army’s attack on the villains from Krypton, we see five posters in the background. These first five are all easy to identify if you look long enough, and they definitely bring back the memories.

First off is Pretty Baby, the 1978 film from director Louis Malle which featured a young Brooke Shields as a teenage prostitute in New Orleans.

Next up is A Little Romance, the 1979 film from George Roy Hill about a teenage girl experiencing first love while living in Paris. This was Diane Lane’s feature film debut, and she would have a storied career in films such as The Outsiders, Under the Tuscan Sun, and her portrayal of Martha Kent in the DCEU films Man of Steel, Batman vs Superman, and Justice League.

Then there’s Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke, THE original stoner comedy. I’ve never laughed so hard during the first ten minutes of a movie ever! And that trailer… all I can say is that if you’re not into Cheech and Chong, it’ll be the longest three minutes of your life.

What can be said about Grease that hasn’t already been said? It’s the word that owned the movie theaters and became the highest grossing movie of 1978. The second highest grosser? Superman.

Finally, there’s Heaven Can Wait, the comic fantasy from Warren Beatty and Buck Henry about a football player who unexpectedly dies and returns to Earth as a millionaire. This is a funny and sometimes sweet story that I never missed on HBO during the 80s.

Now let’s turn our attention to some more movie posters that can be found in Superman II. During the battle in Metropolis, the villains use their super breath to literally blow a path through everything and everyone, even the hair off one couple’s heads. As they run into a newspaper stand, the stand collapses, and we can see several more movie posters on the sides of the stand. Some of these are easily visible, while others are a little harder to determine.

First there’s Devil’s Express. This 1976 movie featured Warhawk Tanzania (now there’s a marquee name!) as a martial artist police officer who fights street gangs and an evil demon that haunts the subways of New York City. Never heard of it? Neither did I. This mashup of blaxploitation, kung fu, and horror didn’t exactly do wonders at the box office.

Underneath it is a poster advertising Mikey and Nicky. This underrated 1976 crime drama from writer-director Elaine May featured Peter Falk and John Cassavettes spotlighted the friendship and tragedy between two men who are on the run from the mob.

Next up we can spot the poster for the French farce La Cage Aux Folles, about a gay couple who pretend to be straight for their children’s sake. This would spawn sequels and remakes over the years, including the 90s comedy The Birdcage.

This next one was a little harder to decipher at first, but after some digging I located it: King of the Gypsies. This drama from 1978 featured Eric Roberts in his film debut as Dave, the heir apparent to the gypsy throne in New York from his grandfather, much to the dismay of Dave’s own father. It also featured Annette O’Toole, who would go on to fan favorite fame in Superman III and Smallville.

The next one took some image lightening on the screenshot, but it revealed this poster for the 1979 movie Prophecy, directed by John Frankenheimer about a health inspector who investigates damage done to a local Native American community but discovers an even more terrifying find.

Under the posters for Prophecy and La Cage Aux Folles is another poster, but this one is so covered up, it’s hard to identify. It’s probably a more generic advertisement from the day, but if anyone can find this one and identify it, please let us know.

That brings the count to ten different movie posters. Were you able to identify them all from the screenshots alone?