When Does the Film "Superman II" (1980) Take Place?
"Superman II" is a superhero film written by Mario Puzo with David Newman and Leslie Newman [adapting "Adventure Comics" #283 (1961) by Robert Bernstein as well as "Action Comics" #297-#298 (1962-1963) by Leo Dorfman] and released December 4th, 1980.
It takes place on an alternate timeline of the fictional DC Films Universe in the year:
We know this because, late in the story, during the battle between the Kryptonians in Metropolis, Ursa and Non pick-up a bus full of innocent bystanders and the top of the bus features an advertisement for "EVITA" (1978) the musical on Broadway. That show debuted in London on June 21st, 1978 AD but first arrived in the United States of America in May of 1979 AD in the real world.
1979 AD
We know this because, late in the story, during the battle between the Kryptonians in Metropolis, Ursa and Non pick-up a bus full of innocent bystanders and the top of the bus features an advertisement for "EVITA" (1978) the musical on Broadway. That show debuted in London on June 21st, 1978 AD but first arrived in the United States of America in May of 1979 AD in the real world.
There's also tiny ads in the same scene for two real-world cigarette types Kent's Kent III and Viceroy’s Rich Lights, both introduced in early 1979 AD.
Any of this advertising would appear during that year at the earliest.
Much earlier in the movie, we can see an office for the real-world "Addressograph-Multigraph Corporation" with its name boldly visible at street-level across the street from The Daily Planet's headquarters. This company was formed by a merger of the Addressograph Company and the American Multigraph Company in the 1930s AD but changed its name to AM International in September of 1979 AD. It's unlikely a company would leave an old brand name up on a major street in a large city like Metropolis for more than a few months.
So it must be mid to late 1979 AD.
Additionally, the prologue repeats a key scene from the Krypton prologue of the previous film with some new material, that is stated to take place in 1948 AD.
It is a chronologically early film in the DC Films timeline (a second chronological film to feature Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman) and can be watched either at its timeline point or before "Justice League" (2017) as part of an extended flashback.
It takes place on an alternate timeline of the fictional DC Films Universe in the year:
A TV broadcast cut (1984) was made with twenty-four added minutes, which don't at all affect the time setting of the narrative.
There's also a director's cut which made massive changes to the story, including reestablishing it as an immediate continuation by mere days at most from the previous film, "Superman: The Movie" (1978). This version of the project, marketed as "Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut", released November 28th, 2006.
1978 AD
We know this because the first scene after the prologue is a replay of a sequence near the end of the previous film, "Superman: The Movie" (1978) and that movie's main action takes place entirely in 1978 AD.
It is a chronologically early film in the DC Films timeline (a DIFFERENT second chronological film to feature Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman) and can be watched either at its timeline point or before "Justice League" (2017) as part of an extended flashback.
