Hands down the best of Christopher Reeve’s “Superman” sequels, “Superman II” pushes our hero to his absolute limits as three super-powered criminals from the Phantom Zone escape and set their sights on Earth. That’s where that opening scene of ‘Superman: The Movie’ pays off, as General Zod (Terence Stamp), Ursa (Sarah Douglas) and Non (Jack O’Halloran) arrive to bring the planet to its knees. . Literally. But if it’s so good then why does it only have one 6.8 on IMDb? Well, honestly, because they kicked director Richard Donner out of the production, replaced him with Richard Lester, and made the ending a little more cartoonish than it should have been, with an uneven tone and middling endgame choices that just make you wish for a sequel.

While “The Richard Donner Cut” is infinitely better (and we’ll get to that in a bit), “Superman II” is still a pretty solid movie that gives us the best parts of Superman, the Clark Kent/Lois Lane romance, and the General Zod and Lex Luthor. Honestly, it holds up pretty well compared to the first movie. But while it’s certainly better than subsequent sequels, there are plenty of fans who still despise Lester’s vision for “Superman II.” As Mike Massie from Gone with the Twins writes, “It’s a corresponding, if uninspired, continuation whose outdated direction hasn’t been dismissed in later years…prompting the fired director Donner to release his own cut.”