SummaryThe Man of Steel crusades for nuclear disarmament and meets Lex Luthor's latest creation, Nuclear Man.
Directed By:Sidney J. Furie
Written By:Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Christopher Reeve, Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
24
User score
Generally Unfavorable
2.7
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
24
6% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
11% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
83% Negative
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
67
As the hero, Christopher Reeve oozes with sincerity in the world-peace scenes - he helped write the story of the film, and this may be why he overdoes it. But he's also funny when he gets back to being klutzy Clark Kent, so the movie doesn't completely drown in its own good intentions.
38
Director Sidney J. Furie, whose previous career high-point was either The Ipcress File or Lady Sings the Blues, fumbles the tone as badly as Richard Lester did in Superman III, veering drunkenly from action/adventure to comedy. Gone is the sense of naïve grandeur that made the original Superman such an endearing production.
User score
Generally Unfavorable
2.7
9% Positive
15 Ratings
15 Ratings
24% Mixed
41 Ratings
41 Ratings
68% Negative
118 Ratings
118 Ratings
Aug 6, 2014
10
Stunning. I've never seen anything like this. This is better than all of the other movies coming out these days. Probably my favoritest movie ever in the entire universe.
Mar 20, 2020
8
I'm going to be generous and give Superman IV: The Quest for Peace a 8 rating. My reasons are a few and quite unarguable really.... Firstly I didn't like Superman II much because it felt depressing even with the three villains fighting Superman it just didn't feel nice. Secondly I got to see actor Sam Wanamaker from Raw Deal (1986) and enjoyed his presence onscreen even though he didn't bring much to the actual movie itself. Thirdly actress Mariel Hemingway was always sexy and usually up to no good and she was the kind of woman I'd sleep with and finally I liked the villain and the idea he came from the sun and how Christopher Reeve's Superman character eventually ends up stopping him. Superman IV has many great scenes especially with Superman and Nuclear Man and Gene Hackman as Lex Luther was cool. Not the best movie but okay and certainly better than Superman II.
30
About as dreary as a summit conference in Belgium.
25
The first few films in this series are both amusing and produced with high technical values, but this fourth in the string is a poorly scripted, anemic production.
25
Superman IV is a pathetic appendage to the series, a dull, shoddy film that makes the minimal 1950s TV series seem rife with production values by comparison. [27 July 1987, p.10C]
20
Predictably awful fourth installment.
10
Sequels to big-budget popular hits usually end up super-slick, shallow and inflated. But this one isn't even super-slick; it's shallow and deflated...The overall effect is of a story atomized and dying before our eyes, collapsing into smashed pulp, ground down into big-budget Kryptonite ash. [27 July 1987, p.1]
Apr 24, 2023
5
For me, Superman 4 isn't as bad as I remember and it was VERY cheap, but was trying to show the love for the first 2 Superman movies
Jun 13, 2013
5
It came to a stage in these movie's were Christopher Reeve started carrying the movie's on his shoulder's they faded and this sequel is no different. The story dragged from start to finish it. It wasn't fair after Superman: The Movie the character got dragged through three director's and it went into a downward spiral. As a fan of the character you let certain thing's slip in the movie. The flying sequences were poor, the villain was poor and it wasn't a very good movie.
May 29, 2026
4
Not the complete disaster, reputed to be, But weaknesses outweigh a few strong elements, The strong : nice seeing Clark going back to Smallville to take over family farm, Nice seeing the Daily Planet crew back - Lois, Jimmy, Perry, and Margot Kidder, all get to do a lot more, And there's a nice romance between Mariel and Clark, And I teared up during Clark's dying sickness, and Superman's cape falling past the Statue of Liberty. All great, The weak - way too campy villian, Nuclear Man, Poorly staged battles, shoddy amatuerish fx, Movie seems to have gone thru heavy editing to cut down on running time, with abrupt scene changes, Jon Cryer is wasted, Gene Hackman seems to be having fun, but attempts to capture the magic of the first 2 movies fails, Finding out movie ran out of money, explains the jumps in plot, and whole scenes awkwardly missing,
Jul 9, 2025
3
This is by far the worst in the series story wise and humor wise its honestly just kind of boring the action is some of the best in the series but thats all it really has and it completely ignores the previous movie and while that would usually be fine in this series its not with this one due to the story its telling
Sep 24, 2023
3
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS NO SPOILERS:
This movie is so bad that it is a work of art, this is the next Mona Lisa of film. If you're in a **** mood, turn on Superman IV.
Production Company:
- Cannon Films
- Warner Bros.
- Golan-Globus Productions
- London-Cannon Films
Release Date:Jul 24, 1987
Duration:1 h 31 m
Rating:PG
Tagline:Nuclear Power. In the best hands, it is dangerous. In the hands of Lex Luthor, it is pure evil. This is Superman's greatest battle. And it is for all of us.
Awards
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
• 1 Win & 3 Nominations
Razzie Awards
• 2 Nominations
Satellite Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
