Fiction vs. Fiction: Superman Returns (2006)

 Another Book to Film comparison, but with a semi-modern twist.

This time it is Superman Returns, which has a big anniversary coming up later this year.

Instead of reading the Novelization, I *listened* to the Book on CD version.

This is...

****VS****

What's the Same?

As a Novelization, they didn't change the basic Story.
This one is just about what didn't make the cut in the Film (which was still nearly 3 hours).

Makes sense?

What's Different?

The Novelization- done by famed Writer Marv Wolfman- is not limited by Budget or mortality.

As such, we get a whole Flashback Sequence to them sending Superman away.  ON TOP OF THAT, we get a Flashback within a Flashback to how Jor-El and Lara met.

Alright!

We also get to see how Superman returned to Krypton in his ship and nearly died out there, since the kryptonite core was exposed.

This cost several million dollars and was then CUT from the Film.
It's also not on the Blu-Ray I own (unlike most of the stuff I'll mention later) but is online in 2026.

In Smallville, we briefly see him and Mom together for a bit before he goes to Metropolis and she's gone until the end.
The Book features more of her and her new beau (James Karen in a Deleted Scene).  This sets up the idea that lots has changed since his absence.

No major changes for a while, save the Book leaning into the idea that Jimmy was super drunk at the Bar before Superman's big reveal.  Not sure what that added.

When Lois and Lex meet, his suspicions about her son Jason being Superman's are much more amplified in the Film.

In the Book, the bad guy is crushed by a bookcase, making it vague if Jason did it or the rocking ship did.  Lex leaves a bomb with the duo on the ship.
In the Film, he seems to push a piano across the room at 80mph and then Lex flees without leaving a bomb.

The Book is also more explicit about Superman's accrued injuries on Lex's new Island.  I guess they did more since you don't get the proper visual...maybe?

In contrast, the Film really milks the whole drama of Did Superman Die way more than the Book does.  It feels like 5-10 minutes in the Film.

Thoughts

Both versions of the Story are good.  The Book has the habit- as Books tend to do- to stop and expand on random things all the time.

A quick shot of Perry White in the Film, for example, has a flashback that probably took up a page or two in the Book.
It's not a bad thing- it's just a thing.

The Film certainly paints a great visual, but feels like a weird mix of rushed and dragging.  It would make the Whiplash guy go mad!

Original Lois and Jimmy with new Clark and his Wife.

Which Is Better?
The Film

It's a closer match than I was expecting, but the Film's added visual/audio elevates the material.  That and it has less filler (as good as said filler is).