I'm gonna try to tackle some of these points. You're free to disagree with me if you want but allow me to make the case.
Damn, considering it like that just makes it more confusing.
It would take away all the value from the Superman Returns newspapers and BTS where they pretended that here Superman The Movie happened in 1996-1997.
Lex Luthor being arrested in 1997 doesn't necessarily refer to Superman: The Movie. Regardless, lots of those newspapers are actually inaccurate. Clark didn't leave Earth in early 2000 (he left in late 2001), nor did Lois write "why the world doesn't need Superman" in February 2005 (I've placed that in 2006).
I'm not very convinced about relating everything like that, counting Batman 89 and Superman 78.
It is quite annoying that, in Pre-Crisis, Batman '89 and Superman '78 are separate continuities, making it far more confusing and complicated. In my mind, Earth-789 is a live-action universe that exists within the comics multiverse, so it kinda just works out like this.
And everything that doesn't fit, consider it "a mistake that should be ignored" especially with the Lana thing, although I don't know.
Technically there's official word for that to be ignored since official statement for Earth-96 canon is that Superman Returns takes place chronologically after Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.
You know? Keeping Superman III after Superman Returns would still fit the 15-year class reunion premise since it would take place in 2007.
Let's go with that placement for a second, I'll get back to it.
I know that the dialogue is in reference to the movie but in no supplementary material of Superman Returns is there any reference to how many years Superman spent in the Fortress of Solitude or how old he was when he started being Superman.
Crisis on Infinite Earths places Superman Returns in the Donnerverse. You can't ignore him spending 12 years in the fortress, and then use information from Superman III. You can't make the argument that I'm ignoring contradictions by making more contradictions.
The only real mention is that he started being Superman approximately between 1996-1997 and that he was "over 21".
Which oddly fits perfectly with the easter egg of the kryptonite found in 1978.
The Kryptonite in the first film was implied to be a recent discovery. Crisis on Infinite Earths was written to be the same universe as Superman (1978-1987) and Superman Returns. In other words, we have to take what happens on screen very literally. Arguably, by placing the films in 1997, 2001, 2007 and 2012, we are creating even more contradictions due to the on-screen dates presented within them.
Which in the visual guide mentions that it arrived with Clark's ship to Earth 3 years after the destruction of Krypton.
So, exactly like 1978.
Assuming that they found it the same year it arrived, it would mean that Superman was born in 1975.
Assuming, certainly. We don't know that the meteorite landed on Earth the same year as Clark.
And that in 1996 (the year that they intended Superman the movie to take place in this continuity of Superman Returns) exactly Superman is 21 years old and fits with the age that he mentions to be in the prequel comic.
It is more consistent to consider this complementary material of Returns than to assume that everything started in 1978 and everything that does not fit is an error and everything is canon including Catwoman although here I do not see any relation, since in the case of Catwoman it is supposed to be a photo of someone who was Catwoman, while here, it is a re-cast.
idk, these are my thoughts.
Catwoman wasn't intended to be part of the Donnerverse at all, I certainly agree with you there! But... it's part of Batman 1989 canon, so it gets thrown in regardless. Yeah, it's weird but oh well.
Yes, Catwoman was showing a previous Catwoman (from Batman Returns).
Superman Returns is showing previous actors as being canon (meaning they were recast, yes), which means that the films that those actors were in is canon.
I think a clean way of looking at it if you really don't want to acknowledge Superman Returns, despite the intention of the writers and the in-universe references, is that Superman Returns takes place in the Kingdom Come pre-crisis universe while Superman I-IV take place in the post-crisis universe.
If Superman Returns' Earth/timeline merged with the Donnerverse after DCEU's Flashpoint or whatever, I think the history will shift around and alter elements to adhere to them working together in a single timeline.
But that's how it went in various Crisis event comic storylines and mostly the timeline alterations were left to the imagination.
Possible. My argument is that Superman Returns was intended to be after Superman IV for the purposes of Earth-96/Crisis on Infinite Earths mainly. At least, Pre-Crisis Earth-96 appears to go Superman I-IV and then Returns.
I think it did a bunch of multiversal reconstruction/reconfiguring.
The DCU was I think a result of removing the Snyderverse Justice League characters plus their history out of Earth-1 and into their own separate Earth with the Schumacherverse merged with it (giving Schumacher Batman some of Batfleck's history I guess).
Yeah, The Flash movie does allow that wiggle room for those who want it.
