Superman gets shot... IN THE EYE

Funny how there's a superhero out there named Captain America, yet it's Superman we treat like American pop culture royalty. In honor of the June 30 release of Superman Returns, here's a shot-for-shot breakdown of SUPERMAN GETTING SHOT POINT-BLANK IN THE EYE from the latest theatrical trailer.

It all starts with an unflinching Superman staring down the barrel of one obviously misinformed street hustler's gun. And then, with a slow-motion orange flash and bang, the bullet explodes out of the gun and moves (still in slo-mo) toward Superman's face. Number of times Superman has blinked so far: 0

It's perfectly okay to be alarmed by this second screencap of THE BULLET HITTING SUPERMAN IN THE EYEBALL. This happens after a few more excruciating seconds of Matrix-style bullet-traveling. If you look closely, though, you can see that the bullet isn't impacting his eye. It's actually crushing into itself because it can't penetrate the surface of Superman's cornea. It's almost as if the bullet just hit... steel. Get it? Get it?

Here, you see the mangled bullet (that black and grey speck in the center) moving in slow motion on its post-ricochet path to the floor. So, to refresh: Shoulda burst through his eyeball and exploded in his cranium, but bounced off his cornea instead. Number of times Superman has blinked so far: 0


This last frame shows an angry and shadow-covered Superman immediately after the bullet has failed to (1) kill him or (2) make him flinch. What the bullet has done, apparently, is made Superman pretty angry. Though the trailer doesn't show how this scene ends, I do suspect a significant ass-kicking occurs.

Total number of times Superman blinks: 0

After years of telling us he's the "man of steel," I think this clip of a bullet bouncing off his eyeball like it's, uh, steel finally gets that point across. Here's hoping the rest of the movie is as good as these 15 seconds were.