Why doesn't Superman just close the box of kryptonite?
When Lex says "dont open it" and he opens it to see its kryptonite, why didn't he just close it and take Lex to prison? Seems daft!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE4-WkrRs6o
Superman has never encountered Kryptonite before. Probably never felt physical pain before. The shock of experiencing it for the first time in his life had to be an immense sensation. Staggering enough for him to instinctively think of retreating- away from the pain- rather than come closer- increasing the pain- to close the box. By the time he considered doing that, he was too weak to act.
shareThanks for that, makes sense now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE4-WkrRs6o
But you may ask why Luthor had to make a big song and dance about inviting Superman over and telling him his plan rather than letting the missiles do their work. And why Superman takes his time catching up with the East Coast missile when later we see he can fly so fast he can reverse time...
shareLex Luthor wanted everyone - especially Superman - to know that he is the greatest criminal mind of our time. Also, Superman didn't know the extent of his powers until he saw that flying too slow resulted in Lois Lane's death. Then he got serious.
shareThe opposite was also true. Lex didn't know the extent of Superman's powers and couldn't take the chance of leaving him loose. The song and dance was meant to keep him distracted so that he didn't guess his real intentions which was to get him near the Kryptonite.
shareBut you may ask why Luthor had to make a big song and dance about inviting Superman over and telling him his plan rather than letting the missiles do their work.He wanted to incapacitate Superman, so he needed him to come close to give him the Kryptonite. Superman was his biggest thread and this was the opportunity to catch and kill him. And besides he needed to do this before he sent off the nukes. Had he not, Superman would have likely stopped one or both of them... and even risking him stopping the west coast was not an option. Makes sense.
And why Superman takes his time catching up with the East Coast missile when later we see he can fly so fast he can reverse time...The death of Lois fueled superman with love and rage and pushed him to a level that even he did not know he could get to. So the short answer is that at the time Superman did not actually know the limit of his powers was that great. But still, he should have been strong enough as his normal self to give the two nukes a run for their money.... so another way to rationalize this is to remember that he lost much valuable time in the pool and also that he was yet weakened by the Kryptonite and so was not at his a-game.
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** I am normally not a praying man, but if you are up there, please save me Superman ** share