1978 Topps Superman Card # 3 Margot Kidder as Lois Lane (EX)

Superman: The Movie is a 1978 superhero film depicting the origin of Superman, including his infancy as Kal-El of Krypton, son of Jor-El and his youthful years in the rural town of Smallville. Disguised as reporter Clark Kent, he adopts a mild-mannered disposition in Metropolis and develops a romance with Lois Lane whilst battling the villainous Lex Luthor.

Superman is a superhero character who first appeared in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and first appeared in the comic book Action Comics #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and published April 18, 1938).

Movie Plot

On the planet Krypton, Jor-El of the Kryptonian high council discovers that the planet will be destroyed when it drifts out of its orbit towards its red supergiant sun. The other council members dismiss his claims. To save Kal-El, his infant son, Jor-El sends him in a spaceship to Earth, where his dense molecular structure will give him superhuman strength and other powers. Krypton, thereafter, is destroyed.

The ship lands near Smallville, Kansas. Kal-El, now three Earth years old, is found by Jonathan and Martha Kent, who are astonished when he lifts their truck. They decide to raise him as their own, naming him Clark after Martha's maiden name. Jonathan tells the boy that he must have been sent to Earth for "a reason".

After Jonathan's death from a heart attack, 18-year-old Clark hears a psychic "call" and discovers a glowing green crystal in the remains of his spacecraft. It compels him to travel to the Arctic where a Fortress of Solitude, resembling the architecture of Krypton, emerges from the ice. Inside, a hologram of Jor-El explains Clark's true origins, and after twelve years of educating him on his reason for being sent to Earth and his powers, he leaves the Fortress wearing a blue and red suit with a red cape and the House of El family crest emblazoned on his chest. Becoming a reporter at the Daily Planet in Metropolis, Clark meets and develops a romantic attraction to coworker Lois Lane.

Lois is involved in a helicopter mishap. Clark publicly uses his powers for the first time to save her, astonishing the crowd gathered below. He then thwarts a jewel thief attempting to scale the Solow Building, captures robbers fleeing police and depositing their getaway cabin cruiser on Wall Street, rescues a girl's cat from a tree, and saves Air Force One after a lightning strike destroys an engine. The "caped wonder", an instant celebrity, visits Lois at her penthouse apartment the next night and takes her for a flight, allowing her to interview him for an article in which she names him "Superman".

Meanwhile, criminal genius Lex Luthor learns of a joint U.S. Army and U.S. Navy nuclear missile test. He buys hundreds of acres of worthless desert land and reprograms one of the two missiles to detonate in the San Andreas Fault. Knowing Superman could stop his plan, Lex deduces that a recently discovered meteorite is from Krypton and is radioactive to Superman. After he and his accomplices Otis and Eve Teschmacher retrieve a piece of it, Luthor lures Superman to his underground lair and reveals his plan to cause everything west of the San Andreas Fault to sink into the Pacific Ocean, leaving Luthor's desert land as the new West Coast of the United States. Luthor then exposes him to the meteor piece's mineral, Kryptonite, which weakens Superman greatly as Luthor taunts him about the second missile, headed east towards the random target of Hackensack, New Jersey.

Teschmacher is horrified that Luthor does not care that her mother lives in Hackensack. Luthor leaves Superman to die. Knowing he always keeps his word, Teschmacher helps Superman on the condition he will stop the eastbound missile first. After being freed, Superman diverts the eastbound missile into outer space, consequently preventing him from reaching the westbound missile before it explodes in the San Andreas Fault. Massive earthquakes erupt across California, damaging the Golden Gate Bridge and breaching the Hoover Dam. Superman mitigates the effects of the explosion by sealing the fault line.

While Superman is busy saving others, Lois's car falls into a crevice from one of the aftershocks, trapping her as it fills with dirt and debris. She suffocates before Superman can reach her. Angered over failing to save her, Superman defies Jor-El's earlier warning not to manipulate human history, and instead heeds Jonathan's advice that he must be there for "a reason". He accelerates around Earth, traveling several minutes backward in time to prevent Lois's death while also undoing the damage caused by the missile and earthquake. After saving the West Coast, Superman delivers Luthor and Otis to prison before flying into the sunrise for further adventures.

Product Details

When it comes to superhero blockbusters, the original Superman starring Christopher Reeve should take a lot of the credit for launching the genre. The film also spawned on of the nicer trading card sets of the era. 1978 Topps Superman the Movie remains somewhat overlooked today, perhaps because collectors are more likely to be looking for Star Wars cards from the same era. Released in two series, 1978 Topps Superman the Movie also includes traditional stickers as well as foil stickers.

The base set consists of 165 total cards. Series 1 has the first 77 while Series 2 clocks in at 88 cards. The set mixes shots from the film as well as publicity shots focused on showcasing the characters and actors. Besides numbers, the two series are easy to tell apart. 1978 Topps Superman the Movie Series 1 base cards have a white border. Series 2 cards have a red border. Fronts are arranged both horizontally and vertically. Under the image is a caption and the card number.

Card backs are a mix of summaries and puzzle pieces. Written backs have the Superman the Movie header across the top with a large block of text underneath. The bottom of the card has a starry ribbon with the Superman shield in it. Text on Series 1 cards are in a red box with a blue ribbon along the bottom. It's a yellow box and green ribbon for Series 2 cards.

Every pack of 1978 Topps Superman the Movie comes with either a regular sticker or a foil sticker. Regular stickers carry the distinct Topps design from the era with a central die-cut image surrounded by thick borders. Series 1 stickers have a red border around the image and a blue outer border. These are reversed for Series 2. This is important because 1978 Topps Superman the Movie stickers don't have numbers, only captions.

Foil stickers are even tougher to sort as they don't have numbers or captions. Save for a couple that use the Superman logo, most foil stickers recycle images from the base set.

1978 Topps Superman the Movie sets and singles remain remarkably affordable today. Supply is also fairly decent, especially given the age of the set. It may take a little hunting to find top condition cards, though, as these were so widely collected when they first came out. Unopened packs and boxes still remain a solid option as well.

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