We believed a man could fly (rogerebert.com)
The first time we see Superman in his red, blue and yellow uniform is nearly an hour into “Superman.” Perhaps the filmmakers agreed with Spielberg’s famous statement that “Jaws” would work better the longer he kept the shark off the screen. That means the film doesn’t open like most superhero movies or James Bonds with a sensational pre-title sequence. To be sure, it opens on the planet Krypton with his father Jor-El preparing him to be launched into space. But those aren’t action scenes; they provide weight to the origin story every superhero requires.