What is Super Hero

Film sequels are often produced to get more out of a successful movie. However, the Superman movies, which were designed as a sequel project from the beginning, stand apart from other film sequels because the production of the first two films started simultaneously. Besides, sequels were announced to the audience in the closing credits of the first two Superman movies. This study argues that the same narrative elements utilized in the first Superman movie made in 1978 were reused in the first two Superman sequels, forming a recycled story formula. Thus, the audience essentially watched the same story with some alterations over and over again. The purpose of this study is to reveal this recycled story formula, which is used in the first two Superman sequels. In this framework, the dramatic structures of the three Superman movies made between 1978 and 1983 will be analyzed by identifying repeated narrative elements and alterations, to reveal the recycled story formula used in the sequels.