Superman Retrospective: Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)
Starring: Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder
Directed by: Sidney J. Furie


We got another bad one here, but this one is considered the absolute worst of the Superman movies. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is one of the biggest failures in film history. It was a critical and financial flop and was the final nail in the coffin of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies. The Man of Steel wouldn't be seen on the big screen again for nearly 20 years, and we have this movie to blame. So what was so bad about it? Well, with a preachy message, a cheesy script, mediocre acting, atrocious effects, and an overall film experience that feels as far removed from the original movie as possible, how would you expect a movie like that to be a success? That being said, this movie is a huge guilty pleasure to sit through. I won't in any way say that it's a good movie, in fact it's awful, but I can't deny that I had a really fun time watching it. It was unintentionally hilarious, one of the worst comic book movies I've ever seen, and a film that shows all the things we'd like to forget about the '80s. So let's see why Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is terrible, but has a certain campy charm to it.

The last main character of the original movies that I've neglected to talk about yet is Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor. I'm aware that Hackman is one of the great actors of his era, but I never really took to this depiction of Lex. Maybe it's an accurate depiction based on the golden age of comics, but based on the versions that have come out since I've been born, Hackman's version was way too cheesy for me. Not to mention this film gave us his goofy nephew Lenny Luthor, played by Duckie himself Jon Cryer. I'm really surprised Hackman returned to the role of Lex Luthor considering his falling out with the producers over the firing of Richard Donner. I'm even more surprised he returned after he read the script.

Gene Hackman also voices the new supervillain Nuclear Man, who is played by Mark Pillow. What else needs to be said? He has a ridiculous look, costume, powers, and isn't from the comic books. Comic fans and movie fans can easily see Nuclear Man as one of the most laughable villains in movie history. The man has super scratchy nails for crying out loud. My goodness.

The Superman movies used to be regarded and praised for their attention to detail in state of the art special effects. All that is completely flushed down the toilet when you watch Superman IV. The amount of poorly used green screen effects and recycled shots of Superman flying create some of the most poorly conceived action sequences in comic book movie history. Look at the awful, slow motion sissy fights between Superman and Nuclear Man. Watch some poor stop-motion that is used with the random "rebuilding the Great Wall of China" powers. Pay attention to how staged it looks when someone breaks through a wall or flies through the ceiling. And speaking of flying, cringe at the amount of wires you can see in this film. The first film in the series proved to the world a man could fly, but Superman IV proves to the world that a studio can cut as many corners in the effects department to save money.

One positive with Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is that I think they know it would be a bit of a schlockfest, so they decided to cut it to an hour and a half runtime. With that in mind, that makes this a little easier to power through if you want to just get it over with, but this is still not the way Christopher Reeve should've gone out as Superman on the big screen. There's an overly preachy anti-nuclear missile message, horrible special effects, a million subplots that don't go anywhere, and is probably the film entry in the franchise that shows the time period it was made in the most. You can tell that a movie like this is a product of the '80s and not in a good way. This is the kind of Superman movie that you would expect to be made specifically for TV or straight to VHS. This shouldn't have been a theatrical release and it shouldn't have borrowed the actors and continuity of the original movies.


Rating: 0.5 out of 5 stars

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is one of those movies that are just so bad, but so much fun to watch. If you can go 90 minutes without taking Superman too seriously, I'm sure you'll have a good laugh at the performances, the effects, and the cheesy message that belongs in a Captain Planet episode. If you love the Son of Krypton with your heart and soul, you need to avoid this film at all costs.

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and movie images are copyrighted by Warner Bros.