I Watched Christopher Reeve's Superman For The First Time, And There's One Scene That's Driving Me Crazy

I've always known Superman: The Movie to be considered an absolute classic, and while there are lessons every superhero movie can learn from it, it is not without its own issues. I recently watched Christopher Reeve's movie for the first time, and found one scene that bugged me that I guarantee would not happen in any upcoming DC movie or upcoming Marvel movie.

Clark sets off to the Arctic Circle in search of answers to his origin, and ends up creating the Fortress of Solitude. He meets his biological father, and begins his training to become the protector of Earth. After that weird space sequence, we cut back to find the Kent boy has become a grown-ass man?

I was wondering what the hell I missed, and was stunned when I learned the wild amount of time he spent in that fortress, which makes absolutely zero sense to me.

Clark Spent Twelve Years Training In The Fortress Of Solitude, Which Is Complete Nonsense To Me

I understand Clark Kent didn't just become Superman overnight, and that paternal guidance from Jor-El was required to understand his Kryptonian physiology and fine-tune some of his in-development powers. His super strength and speed were established before his arrival, so it's assumed he's learning the other tricks of the trade such as his vision powers and various breath-related talents.

Even combined with additional weight-training and such, I'd think he'd take a year, three tops, maybe with some part-time training between his other social responsibilities back in middle America. Nah, how about twelve years of constant training in relative seclusion?

Twelve years! Considering we don't learn about anything else from that time period, no contact with the outside world, it's assumed he's going through a daily cycle of listening to the ghost of his father talk and training, day in and day out. It's cool looking from the outside, but this weirdly built structure doesn't look like it has a bedroom, kitchen, or bathroom. Hell, it doesn't even have windows!

Now, the new Fortress in the upcoming Superman movie appears to have some modern comforts and even robot servants, but that's not present in Superman: The Movie. It's just one alien boy from Kansas living in isolation with nothing but an A.I. version of his father to keep him company? I don't think anyone can do that without going krypto-nutty, not even Superman.

And let's talk about just how remote the area he's in is. I'm sure he couldn't even find a Walmart to go grocery shopping when he's in the Arctic Circle. We don't have answers to how Clark survived while living there, but if I were to speculate, he probably hunted wildlife, melted down glaciers for water, and lived without the modern comforts he had back in Smallville. (Like Oregon Trail, perhaps.) It couldn't have been easy, though he seemed to get on the other side of it, doing alright enough.

Clark Left His Mother Shortly After His Father's Death...And Didn't Return For Over A Decade?

I think what's just as wild to me that Clark set off to find himself so soon after Jonathan Kent passed away. Granted, everyone processes grief differently, and I think maybe with his father gone, he felt a need to reconnect with the family he never knew. At the same time, his mother is back at home, hurting, and while she has help to still run the farm, I think it would've benefited her to see her son.

Superman: The Movie doesn't really zero in on Mama Kent too much, but I couldn't help but think about how she spent twelve years without seeing her son. Not only that, he went straight from there to the bustling city of Metropolis, so that's even more time he's not going to see her. Are we supposed to believe Clark Kent left his mother high and dry?

Listen, I think as fans of Superman, we can reasonably assume he took some breaks to travel back to Kansas in between this training. The fact of the matter is, however, that Superman: The Movie does nothing to imply or show that it ever happened.

It drives me up a wall that we get a couple of minutes of Marlon Brando just talking while we zoom through space, when we could've seen him dropping in on his mom, secretly helping people in need, and learning all the ways he can better help others as Superman proper. So maybe it's because he didn't actually do that, and just stood in one spot listening for twelve solid years.

How Did Clark Transition So Quickly From Solitary Living Back To Normal Society?

Somehow, after twelve years of monologues by Jor-El and non-stop training, Superman is able to come out of it with a full costume and immediately integrate himself back into society in the bustling city of Metropolis. Not only that, he's able to slide into a job at the Daily Planet despite having no formalized training in Journalism, and work alongside one of the most famous reporters in the DC Universe, Lois Lane. Even Rachel Brosnahan, who will play Lois in the upcoming Superman movie, needed to work with actual journalists to learn how to act like one. Am I to believe Clark was able to slide into his gig without anyone suspecting a thing?

It's at this point I'm sure if they haven't already, the reader of this article goes, "C'mon man, it's a movie." Totally valid, and I understand that perspective and any headcanon that people have used to justify this glaring issue in Superman: The Movie. I ultimately think it's ok to assume that a lot occurred during Clark's years in the fortress, and there was probably a few times where he took breaks to go see his mother, attend schooling, and other stuff so that he wouldn't be a social pariah when he made his way back into civilization.

My issue is not that the latter isn't believable, but that the movie didn't show that in montage-form instead of an overly long star sequence. Without it, we (or maybe just me) are left to assume he sat in the cold and white fortress for about as long as someone attends traditional schooling, and wasn't some sort of psychopath at the end of it all. For as much as I loved watching the movie, it's a hard thing to overlook, and I wish there was more time taken in that specific bit.

For those who haven't seen Superman: The Movie in a while, it's currently available to stream on Max. Aside from my criticisms, I truly think it's still a great movie, and it withstands the test of time much better than other superhero movies that came after it.