The fact that Superman‘s worst live-action movie uses an idea that had some real potential to be genuinely interesting and engaging makes what actually happened with the film seem even more of a shame looking back. Superman’s movie catalog contains some of what are arguably DC’s best films, and what are arguably some of the franchise’s worst.

As a truly iconic comicbook character, there are many aspects of Superman that seem hard to get right, especially depending on the story at hand. With that said, though, the film that is widely regarded as the Man of Steel’s worst had a story that, realistically, seems like it could have been something special if things had only gone a little differently.

Superman IV: The Quest For Peace Lives In DC Movie Infamy For A Few Reasons

In the live-action realm, Superman IV: The Quest For Peace holds a complicated legacy as the least popular and least appreciated Superman movie to date. With a 10% Tomatometer score and an 11% Popcornmeter score respectively on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s clear this legacy lives on, and for a few reasons.

Given the original Superman movie in the series comparatively holds 93% and 83% scores with its Rotten Tomatoes results, it’s clear a major factor behind the fourth film’s unpopularity is how it compares to the 1978 classic. Since Superman: The Movie holds up so well, the fact its 1987 successor doesn’t to the same degree helps explain its reputation somewhat.

This makes sense, given Superman IV: The Quest For Peace is a movie with some notable flaws. Perhaps the most commonly cited is how the film executes the various intertwining stories that make up its plot in a way that gives it a convoluted feeling, despite the potential that can be glimpsed in parts of the movie.

Similarly, the effects for the film are notably awkward and jarring at points, including some flying sH๏τs of Superman being reused, and the effects on certain scenes being somewhat lackluster. This is especially striking given the previous effort gone to with Superman itself, which once again makes the fourth installment feel more dated despite being the newer film.

Superman 4’s Story Premise Is One That Had So Much Promise

The execution of and reception to Superman IV: The Quest For Peace is all the more fascinating given the core concept of the movie is, to me, one that held a lot of promise. As it stands, it seems there was real tangible potential for the film to be much more than it was, especially with Lex Luthor and Lois Lane returning to once again play central roles here.

The concept of Superman confronting the idea of nuclear weapons and war – which would be an issue he couldn’t simply defeat the same way as Lex Luthor or Zod – seems an inherently interesting one overall. It’s also one that offers the opportunity to show how Superman exists as a symbol of hope even in scenarios he can’t single-handedly sort out.

The concept of nuclear war was something that was very much a concern back in the 70s and 80s – but it’s also one that is relevant on some levels now, and likely will remain as such in the future. As such, the opportunity for this to have been a Superman movie that remained relevant decades later is also striking.

While the heart of the movie would have likely always been Superman fighting Nuclear Man – and this is something that was always arguably bound to be hard to pull off – it doesn’t seem impossible that this could have been executed in a way that allowed for a more poignant and lastingly hopeful version of the film. That said, this isn’t quite what we got.

Why Superman 4 Doesn’t Live Up To The Full Promise Of The Movie

Rather than exploring the complexity of the Man of Steel dwelling over whether he is capable of helping deal with the world’s nuclear weapons – given that getting rid of them wouldn’t prevent more from being made – Superman 4 takes a different approach. Instead, Superman is simply able to get rid of seemingly almost every last nuclear bomb in the world pretty early on in the movie.

This perhaps isn’t helped by the fact that Superman’s nuanced and delicate way of dealing with the matter is just collecting the world’s nuclear weapons in a big net, and throwing them into the sun. While this has a classic era Superman comics charm to it, it underlines just how much Superman IV oversimplifies the core conflict and concerns of its story.

Similarly, the way the movie sets up Nuclear Man – who is made from Superman’s cloned DNA, and born via a nuclear missile Superman throws into the sun – means we can’t symbolically have this struggle via their conflict fully either. As such, the movie instead delves into all these topics without really seeming to engage with them.

This is because one of Nuclear Man’s first scenes shows he has an easily exploitable weakness, being neutralized fully by simply not being in the sun. Though a fun concept, this prevents Nuclear Man from truly seeming like a fully threatening enemy, since we know how Superman can defeat him from early on thanks to Lex explaining this detail.

Superman IV Explains A DC Movie Trend For The Hero

Superman movies have mainly featured a notably small roster of comic villains in their stories – largely focusing on Lex Luthor and General Zod in some capacity. While there are other factors to consider, it’s easy to see how Superman IV delving into a unique villain and premise, and garnering a less-than-stellar response, helped Luthor and Zod remain central movie fixtures.

Indeed, since most Superman movies have served as some form of origin story – or otherwise an expansion on that story that delves into Kal-El’s Kryptonian history – Superman 4 was one of the few chances the franchise got to delve a little further outside of these boundaries. The fact it wasn’t well-received can be seen to have hampered future stories that could have gone in this direction.

With Lex Luthor looking to be the focal villain of 2025’s Superman, this would mean that the 1978 Superman movie’s results had an almost 40-year-long impact. That said, the direction the DC Universe is taking suggests things could change for the franchise going forward – though it’s unlikely it’ll ever delve close to Superman IV: The Quest For Peace‘s story.