What The Original Superman 3 Looked Like (And Why It Didn’t Happen)

The original pitch for 1983’s Superman 3 was made available online in 2007, and provided a look into what the sequel was originally supposed to be like. Dated from November 7, 1980, executive producer Ilya Salkind wrote his story outline at the height of Superman’s cinematic success, which he shared with his mogul father Alexander Salkind. Their first Superman movie in 1978 had received both critical and financial success, and its sequel had just survived production troubles to secure a summer 1981 release date.

Despite weathering budget inflation, scheduling delays, and a dramatic exit for director Richard Donner, the two producers were unanimously keen to draw out the future of their hit franchise. Donner’s replacement, Richard Lester, and star Christopher Reeve were both in tow for an inevitable third Superman movie, which Salkind prepped to top its predecessors in every way. Lavish, strange, quirky, and action-packed, Superman 3’s initial treatment aimed to extend the Superman mythology in both loyal and bizarre ways.

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Brainiac, Mr Mxyzptlk, and Supergirl were all planned to make their cinematic debuts, in an epic, weird yarn that involved Superman solving puzzles, falling in love, turning evil, and travelling through time. Similar ideas would find their way into the slapstick, Richard Pryor-driven Superman 3. Yet Salkind’s bombastic vision retains a unique appeal, particularly for offering a detailed window into how a filmmaker’s large ambition can dwindle in the grip of a studio.

Superman 3 Initially Changed A Lot From The Comics

Superman and Superman 2 laid the foundation for the DC superhero on-screen, and both took a share of material from DC’s early comic books, although this approach dwindled as the series progressed (see: Superman 4). Salkind’s treatment for Superman 3 admirably sought to continue in this vein, acquiring an unprecedented amount of legacy characters, yet not without some jarring contrivances.

Salkind described Superman 3 as a “cosmic picture” which, mirroring the first film, would begin in Kryptonian space after the title sequence. Supergirl’s origin would be seen as Kara Zor-El escapes Argo City and, according to Salkind, this would be executed “in accordance with the comics legend.” But DC fans would be thrown a quick curveball as Kara is jettisoned not to Earth, but to an unnamed “black and sinister” planet inhibited by a young Brainiac. Salkind describes the villainous alien only by his attire (dressed head-to-toe in black) and neglects to mention if he resembles his green-skinned comic counterpart.

The story features some of Brainiac’s typical talents from the comics (including telepathy, genius intellect and arsenal of technology) but his wants differ entirely. He merely acts as an overly attached stepfather to Supergirl, pursuing his wayward daughter across the galaxy before Superman becomes the object of his aggression on Earth. Once there, more deviations from the comics take place, as Salkind stresses that Supergirl is in fact not Superman’s cousin or relation, which enables the two a much more intimate relationship in the film.

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Superman 3 Continued The First Two Movies’ Traditions

The first two Superman films are notable for their emotional core. Director Richard Donner and writer Tom Mankiewicz shrewdly realized that, if their story delivered convincing emotional hooks and a stable verisimilitude, it would lead to the audience’s desire to invest in the film’s comic book universe, no matter how outlandish it initially seemed. Superman 2, for example, developed (and aborted) Clark’s romance with Lois Lane, which fans and critics praised as the story’s heartbreaking highlight.

Naturally, Ilya Salkind took notes for his sequel, incorporating another conflicted love story. Like Superman 2, much of the film would have been devoted to Superman’s blossoming romance, this time with Supergirl. Salkind outlines a story where the two “magically” fall in love upon first sight of each other, before “climbing up to 7th heaven” and sharing a moment across the Milky Way, in what reads like the sequel’s answer to the first Superman film’s “Can you read my mind?” sequence.

An interesting dilemma for Supergirl occurs after Brainiac disrupts the romance and takes control of Clark Kent, turning the hero evil with a “personality machine”. Kara grows confused and conflicted after the world demands that she destroy the evil Superman, given that she is the only one with enough strength to do so. She is forced to deal with this pressure while trying to reverse Brainiac’s malevolent influence, and to also escape his clutches after the villain intends to marry her – which is weird since she’s essentially his adopted daughter.

Superman 3 Had Time Travel & Parallel Universes

Salkind wanted endless opportunities for humor and adventure, but Superman 3 could have potentially been mind-boggling had the film been made according to his vision. On top of the love triangle, Superman 3 would have crisscrossed between continents, temporal spaces, and even dimensional planes before the credits rolled. After overcoming his evil side, Superman spends the movie outside of Metropolis, battling Brainiac in Europe at his castle-bound headquarters where Supergirl is trapped.

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After a “tremendous confrontation” between the two, Brainiac traps Superman in an energy cage before the movie randomly morphs into a whimsical sci-fi fantasy yarn (at two-thirds into its running time). Brainiac hops into a conveniently introduced time machine and hurtles back to medieval times. There, with Supergirl, he’s content to become a ruthless tyrant over the serfs. Meanwhile, after an unfortunate bout with Mister Mxyzptlk, the Daily Planet’s own Jimmy Olsen and newbie Lana Lang investigate Clark Kent’s disappearance. They are instead led to Superman in Europe by his “super-voice” and all characters eventually end up in the Middle Ages. A jealous and lovesick Brainiac is now hell-bent on destroying Superman for his constant interference.

Rather than using their might, it is the “love between Superman and Supergirl” that somehow overcomes Brainiac’s deadly personality machine. With Brainiac temporarily weakened, Superman is able to break through a time lapse, pull Mxyzptlk out of the future for some assistance, and allow for the movie’s exciting, confusing, inter-dimensional climax to finally happen. Mxyzptlk’s shenanigans render a reality where Superman and Brainiac are powerless. They fight the old-fashioned way as knights (with armor and lances, no less) and Superman wins, leaving a forever-helpless Brainiac in the past as a serf himself. This version of Superman 3 ends on an even stranger note – Superman marries Supergirl.

Why Salkind’s Superman 3 Didn’t Happen 

Although the Salkinds worked as independent producers, Ilya made note in his treatment that everything had to be approved by DC and Warner Bros. In subsequent interviews, Salkind admits that WB discarded his story, preferring a safer approach to Superman 3. The Salkinds complied and ultimately commissioned writers David and Leslie Newman for a much more earth-bound effort, one that could also incorporate comedian Richard Pryor to push the Superman series into comedy. Lester, having integrated slapstick gags into Superman 2, unsurprisingly favored this approach.

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It’s reasonable to assume that the scale of Salkind’s vision put investors off. Utilizing Brainiac and Mxyzptlk, who were largely unknown to casual audiences, was a gamble for the studio. Additionally, the Superman 3 treatment reads like Salkind intended to shoot the most expensive film ever, topping the first movie’s price at $55 million. Scenes involving space, different planets, and period settings would have no doubt toppled the budget overboard, not to mention the film’s preference for elaborate special effects.

The dastardly Mister Mxyzptlk presented the biggest challenge with regards to effects. In many scenes, he challenges Superman to solve deadly traps and puzzles, at one point fragmenting the entirety of Metropolis and threatening to banish its inhabitants to Mercury. The most talented screenwriter and careful director would have had trouble materializing such a complex scenario, being confined to the in-camera effects of the day.

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Although the Superman 3 that released in theaters has highlights, it pales in comparison to Salkind’s wild vision, although there are similarities between the two. Firstly, the absence of Lois Lane and Lex Luthor. Margot Kidder ultimately appeared as a glorified cameo in Superman 3 but was interestingly featured nowhere in the treatment. She’s explained away early on as having jetted off to Hong Kong, just as Clark reads a goodbye note from her.

Gene Hackman was busy filming another project, plus there was a desire to showcase other villains for Superman. Lana Lang eventually replaced Supergirl as Clark’s love interest and had a much larger role compared to how Salkind envisaged her (as Brainiac’s drone). Supergirl herself was ousted for her own movie in 1984, which used a love triangle story and even a “love at first sight” gimmick.

Most glaringly is the concept of a corrupted Superman, which remains the most successful and memorable element of Superman 3. Fortunately the “personality machine” was severed, and instead, red Kryptonite was intended to “split” the Man of Steel in half; in the final film, though, it takes the form of “Synthetic Kryptonite”. Like Tim Burton’s Superman Lives and George Miller’s Justice League: Mortal, Ilya Salkind’s Superman 3 is jumbled and crazy, but still piques curiosity and equally deserves to materialize one day as a graphic novel or other visual medium.

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