Superman II: Theatrical Cut Vs. The Richard Donner Cut

Since the Richard Donner cut came out in November 2006, Superman fans have been debating what the best cut of Superman II is. The Richard Lester Theatrical cut or the newly constructed Richard Donner cut? Each fan has their own favorite and this is the point of my article. As a big Superman fan I'm going to go into both cuts, talk about both the positive and negative aspects of both cuts and then choose who I consider the winner.

Any Superman fan should know the history of Superman II. Both Superman: The Movie and Superman II were to be shot together. Midway through production, producers told Director Richard Donner to stop filming footage for Superman II and focus on finishing up Superman: The Movie. Fast forward, Superman: The Movie is released and the producers decide to fire Richard Donner and hire their friend, Director Richard Lester. Lester is brought in to not only finish up the film but to re-shoot a good amount of Richard Donner's footage so he can be given solo credit on Superman II. Gene Hackman refused to do re-shoots and in order to save money, replaced Marlon Brando's footage with that of Susannah York. In the summer of 1981, we were finally treated to Superman II. Over 25 years later, fans got to see what Richard Donner mostly intended his cut would be. Using all the footage Donner shot (except those that ended up in the deleted scenes), very little Richard Lester footage, screen-tests, new visual effects and John William's music, The Richard Donner cut was born. But is it better then Richard Lester's theatrical cut? Let me explore.