Superman IV : The Quest for Peace (1987)




Director : Sidney J. Furie


Superman: And there will be peace. There will be peace when the people of the world, want it so badly, that their governments will have no choice but to give it to them. I just wish you could all see the Earth the way that I see it. Because when you really look at it, it's just one world.

U.S. and Russian had a summit on nuclear disarmament and it failed. The arms race is now on. A student asks Superman to settle the dispute and The Daily Planet headline says that "SUPERMAN SAYS 'DROP DEAD' TO KID". Superman visits Fortress of Solitude, and gets advice from the Krypton elders. He is not supposed to get involved in earth affairs. Superman then goes to the Peace Summit and says he is not a visitor anymore. Earth is home. He says that he is going to rid the planet of all nuclear weapons. He takes the nuclear missles and burns them up in the sun.

Meanwhile Lex Luther has stolen a sample of Superman's hair from a museum so that he can get the DNA and develop some kind of weapon. He goes to some arms merchants and says that he is going to create a nuclear man, that will destroy Superman, for a price. Lex has Superman hurdle a missle towards the sun, and Nuclear Nan is born (worst origin story ever?).

Lex brings Nuclear Man to destroy Superman. The fight is on. Nuclear Man's nails come out and sparks come off of them. Some really bad special effects during the fight sequence. At this point I just wanted the movie to end.

Mariel Hemingway and John Cryer were totally wasted. Writing was bad, directing was worse. How could a Superman movie be boring? Probably the worst of all the superhero movies.