Superman III is remembered—when it’s remembered at all—as a mess. Richard Lester’s comic-book slapstick was mashed together with Richard Pryor’s fish-out-of-water comedy, and the result was tonally inconsistent at best, embarrassing at worst. Fans wanted Donner’s gravitas, not pratfalls and skiing gags.
But buried in that wreck is one sequence that deserves a second look: Clark Kent versus Evil Superman.
Yes… I’m going to do the unimaginable; I’m going to defend Superman III — or at least one scene from it. Fight me.
A Fight in the Junkyard
The scene unfolds in a grimy junkyard, far from Metropolis’ gleaming skyline. Evil Superman — corrupted by synthetic kryptonite — confronts Clark Kent, and what follows isn’t a standard fistfight. It’s a metaphor made literal: Superman battling himself.
Lester’s direction here dials down the comedy, amazingly. The music darkens, the setting becomes industrial and oppressive. Suddenly the movie feels serious, even mythic. It’s Clark versus his worst instincts, his corrupted alter ego: a Jungian shadow given form.
This is almost something Donner might have given us, with his lean towards the mythical image of Superman. It’s amazing that we got this from Lester.
It works much better than you would think.
Why?
- Visual metaphor: Instead of a purely internal struggle, we get the physical manifestation of Superman’s conscience tearing itself apart. Clark straining against Superman is Clark straining against the temptation to give up on morality.
- Christopher Reeve’s performance: Reeve gives everything here. As Evil Superman, he’s cocky, smirking, and menacing. As Clark, he’s desperate, earnest, and quietly determined. It’s a mini acting showcase that proves he wasn’t just a man in tights — he understood the psychology of the character.
- Christopher Reeve’s performance!: Yes, again. Seriously. The man was never given enough credit. I mean, he visually showed us why people would never confuse Clark Kent for Superman in the first film when he was tempting himself to reveal his identity to Lois and he, as Clark, removed his glasses, straightened his posture, dropped his voice an octave, then stood up even straighter and became Superman before our eyes. (See here) Now that is acting. He showed his acting chops again with this Clark vs evil Superman scene.
- Psychological stakes: No villain has kryptonite, no bomb threatens the city. It’s more personal: can Superman even trust himself?
Just in case we don’t remember, here is the scene:
Misunderstood Genius
The irony is that this moment shines precisely because the rest of the movie falters. The goofy tone surrounding it makes the junkyard battle stand out even more. It’s raw, stripped of camp, and in some ways closer to what fans craved from a “serious” Superman film.
Of course, the movie undercuts its own power soon after. Still, that single fight sequence remains iconic. It lingers in pop-culture memory, showing what Superman III could have been if it had trusted its darker impulses.
Legacy
When people rank the Superman films, this one usually sits near the bottom. Yet even bad movies can contain brilliant scenes, and the Clark vs Evil Superman fight is proof. It distilled the eternal struggle of the character — godlike power versus humble humanity! — into a visceral showdown in a scrapyard.
It wasn’t just Superman punching himself. It was Superman confronting the fear that he might not always be Superman.
So, what do you think? Was this scene an overlooked gem, or do you find it just another odd beat in a flawed movie?
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| David is an American teacher and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Bluesky. |
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