[2] As Clark Kent discusses his future as a reporter at the Daily Planet with his boss, Perry White, Metropolis is suddenly attacked by a robot from outer space, which begins wreaking havoc on the streets while scanning the people and environment.

Clark suits up as Superman and manages to destroy the robot, but not before it identifies him as a Kryptonian and informs its creator, Brainiac (modeled after actor and musician David Bowie), an extraterrestrial cyborg from the planet Colu who is the last of his kind and obsessed with preserving life and cultures.

After taking him into his ship, Brainiac shrinks Clark and places him in the bottle city of Kandor, the last remains of Krypton that was preserved before the planet's destruction, where he discovers that a portion of Kryptonians survived, including his birth parents, Jor-El and Lara.

Evers captures her and destroys her recording before sending her in a boat to crash into a nearby barge, but Superman manages to save her in time and repair the ship.

He reveals to the young captain that the Soviet Union came into possession of kryptonite in the early 1950s shortly after Krypton's destruction and have recently acquired an enhanced armor to harness its power.

After helping Highball to safety, Superman is attacked by Metallo, who uses his kryptonite armor to sap his strength and brutally beat him down before leaving him to die in the sea.

Learning of the threat the Soviets pose with Metallo, Lane encourages Superman to stay out of the conflict as the Man of Steel returns to the Fortress to bring Lois back to Metropolis.

Perry assigns Lois to cover Metallo's attack on the spy plane after she claims she has Superman as a source, but secretly contacts her father before publishing the story.

Morosov believes they can use this opportunity to sacrifice soldiers against him to push their narrative further, but Nikolaev, now more prone to anger due to the kryptonite's effects on his body, disobeys his orders and dons the Metallo armor.

As the Man of Steel goes out of his way to save the citizens during the fight, the people begin to realize the propaganda against him is wrong and help Superman convince Metallo to stand down.

Though Morosov is determined not to let anyone remember Nikolaev as a hero, Superman reminds him that the Moscow citizens who witnessed his death will and threatens to take action if he attempts to stop them.