A Deleted Superman II Scene Had Lois Lane Pulling A Gun On Clark Kent
"Superman II" is pretty entertaining, but no matter which version you watch, it feels like you're watching an incomplete movie. This can't be blamed on director Richard Donner, whose tribulations with making the movie are almost as infamous as the Christopher Reeve Superman era itself. It's just that a painful domino effect spearheaded by corporate bigwigs essentially doomed the project, even if the final products aren't necessarily bad. It's just that it could have been so much more.
For his part, Donner recognized this. While he sadly passed away in 2021, he had been quite open about the "Superman II" that could have been if his 2006 "Donner Cut" actually embodied his full vision. There were scenes that he couldn't include in that so-called definitive edition because Warner Bros. had destroyed them, but thankfully, he didn't forget about them. In an IGN interview leading up to the release of "Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut," he detailed one such scene that never made it past the screen test stage, but would have changed the movie in a drastic way.
You can bet on it
When we say drastic, we mean it. The scene would have centered around the goody-two-shoes Clark Kent (Reeve) and his human lover Lois (Margot Kidder) and took place after the Niagara Falls scene in the original where Clark saved a falling child. In both iterations, Lois grew suspicious of her boyfriend after realizing that he wasn't around when Superman saved the day once more. While the "official" version had his identity revealed through a fireplace, Donner wanted it to be revealed via a gun.
Okay, we know that this sounds crazy. Just let him explain, because a summary wouldn't do it justice:
"The way I did it was, she sees him at Niagara Falls and the kid falls in, he appears and saves her. That night at her hotel room, he comes into her apartment [and says], 'Are you ready to go Lois, ready to go out?' She says, 'Yeah,' and she says, they get into a discussion, and she says, 'You're Superman,' and he says, 'For gosh sakes, Lois, don't be stupid.' [And she says], 'It's too much of a coincidence. You're always here,' and he says, 'Life is a coincidence, Lois.' And she says, "I don't know, I think I made a mistake, last time I bet my life..." When she jumps out the window and into the fruit cart [in 1978's first film]. 'So this time, I'm gonna bet your life,' and she pulls a gun out. 'I'm betting you're Superman."
One close call
There is no official reason as to why this scene never made it to the actual production stage, but it's not hard to put two and two together. Considering "Superman" was ultimately a family movie with adult themes, having Lois Lane look like she's about to kill Superman wouldn't, well, fly. This is especially true when you read how the rest of the scene played out because guess what? Lois would have actually pulled the trigger.
"She fires the gun and he goes, he straightens up, the glasses come off and he says, 'Do you realize how stupid you were Lois?'" Donner recalled the character saying, "'if I wasn't [Superman], Clark Kent would be lying there dead right now.'"
If you think you'd know where this scene would go, you'd probably be wrong. As it turns out, Lois would have fired a blank, and Clark would have essentially outed himself. Donner called the scene cute, which is a fascinating way to describe it considering it was full of attempted violence and gaslighting. But hey, maybe he can have a bizarre love and identity confession after all he had to endure, as a little treat.