Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
Directed by Sidney J. Furie
With global superpowers engaged in an increasingly hostile arms race, Superman leads a crusade to rid the world of nuclear weapons. But Lex Luthor, recently sprung from jail, is declaring war on the Man of Steel and his quest to save the planet. Using a strand of Superman's hair, Luthor synthesizes a powerful ally known as Nuclear Man and ignites an epic battle spanning Earth and space. From TMDB
205 reactions from 3 sources (Bluesky, TMDB reviews, Mastodon) · newest Oct 15, 2026 · last updated Oct 16, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
Sentiment labels for these sources are still being hand-checked; no score yet.
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bluesky * | 25 | 22 | 73 |
| TMDB reviews * | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
80 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
49 archived X posts (Mar–Apr 2026) are kept for the record and not used.
What viewers are saying
AI summary of the public posts linked below. Not a review by Rotten Tweets.
Counted from the reviewers’ own 0–10 ratings on the 5 rated TMDB user reviews we collected (7–10 positive, 5–6 mixed, 0–4 negative), not by the AI.
Many viewers find the film poorly executed with cheap effects and a weak villain. [1][2][3] Some appreciate its earnest message and Christopher Reeve's performance. [4][5][6] A few consider it the worst Superman film, while others find it fun. [3][7][8]
- [4]
Better than the tedious Superman Returns/Man Of Steel Bad effects aside, this one is definitely more fun than the tedious and dull Superman Returns and Man Of Steel stuff - an overload of special effects does not make an engaging film. The performances here are all top notch as usual and the plot moved swiftly without taking itself too seriously. The franchise has always been silly - stupid even - especially when we …
- [3]
Filled with cheap gags, really horrible visual effects, a lazy story, a very bad musical score by Alexander Courage, a terrible villain (Nuclear Man), and some tiresome performances by the cast (except for Christopher Reeve), Superman IV: The Quest For Peace is one of the worst films ever made, the one of the worst movie sequels of all time, and the worst Superman film of all time. It is the kryptonite nail in the …
- [7]
Mostly for nostalgic reasons, though I have to admit for not really wanting to be there Reeve gave a good performance, I *like* Superman IV. And I hope @vinsonlovescomics.bsky.social is still enjoying his vacation and the jet lag isn't too bad. #TopShelfFriday
- [5]
What's a movie you genuinely enjoy that's known for being bad? Superman IV. It’s extremely, laughably cheap-looking, granted. But it’s fun to watch Christopher Reeve have a comic book-style brawl with a supervillain, and his speech to the UN is one of my favorite Superman moments in any medium.
- [6]
Just watched Superman IV: The Quest for Peace for the first time in more than 20 years and tbh, while corny at times, Inthink it holds up. It’s such an earnest film that remembers superheroes aren’t money machine, they’re aspirational figures - to more than just comic book fans but to children. 1/?
How this was made: an AI model (deepseek-v4-flash) read 34 of the 180 public posts we collected about this film and wrote the summary, likes and dislikes, citing the posts behind each point ([n] opens the post). A second AI pass checked every statement against the posts it cites; anything it could not match was removed, and code removed any statement with quotation marks, numbers that are not in the posts, or unattributed claims about people. The split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Generated Oct 13, 2026. Method
Critics, per Wikipedia
It was released on July 24, 1987, in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada. In the US and Canada, it opened in 1,511 theatres and grossed $5.6 million during its opening weekend, ranking fourth at the box office. In the UK, it opened on 234 screens and grossed £508,468 ($800,000) for the weekend becoming the number one film in the UK for the weekend. It failed to retain number one spot for the week, grossing £987,495 compared to The Living Daylights' £1,108,256. It was the eighth-highest-grossing film in the UK for the year with a gross of £3,457,959 ($5.5 million). The movie grossed $15.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $14.6 million internationally, for a…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 205 · most liked firstWatching Superman IV, for some inexplicable reason. Definitely the Temu Superman movie. Even the orchestra at beginning playing the John Williams theme sounds smaller, and part of the brass section is kind of off-key. I know the production history but damn.
negative · AI labelView post →So I think I noticed about the deepest of deep cuts in the new Superman film: Did you ever see Superman IV, The Quest for Peace? The one where Luthor made a clone of Superman? Remember that weird ass roaring croak it made as it died? Okay. Keep that in mind going in to watch the new Superman.
neutral · AI labelView post →Was reminded of DC's SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE comic, cover by Byrne & Ordway, interior art by Swan and Heck. It's better than the film, but it would almost have to be. If I recall correctly, the comic includes the deleted scenes, but correct me if I'm wrong. (Been a while since I read it.)
negative · AI labelView post →Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) movie poster
neutral · AI labelView post →The only modern (i.e. post-1970) Superman movie I did not see in the theater was SUPERMAN III, which in retrospect was a mistake. (I would happily trade it with SUPERMAN IV, an all-around depressing endeavor.)
negative · AI labelView post →Every other line of dialogue is an accidental double entendre. It's glorious. The portrayal of geopolitics is exactly as naive as you would expect in a 1980s teen movie. It is written and directed by Sidney Furie, who helmed both THE IPCRESS FILE and SUPERMAN IV. Yes, I have seen all the sequels
positive · AI labelView post →Film Criticism Rule #2,883: Every unpopular superhero movie will get reevaluated and become a cult favorite eventually - except Superman IV (no matter how hard William Bibbiani tries).
neutral · AI labelView post →Okay, thanks to @thielavision.bsky.social it appears the button here: bsky.app/profile/mike... is *not* a bootleg but a promo for SUPERMAN IV. Here's a another promo button for the same film, but with nothing relating to the plot.
neutral · AI labelView post →NOTE: *possibly* a promo for the SUPERMAN IV film, but contains no copyright or trademark information. Thus, by Internet Copyright Justice, I now own Superman.
neutral · AI labelView post →Mostly for nostalgic reasons, though I have to admit for not really wanting to be there Reeve gave a good performance, I *like* Superman IV. And I hope @vinsonlovescomics.bsky.social is still enjoying his vacation and the jet lag isn't too bad. #TopShelfFriday
positive · AI labelView post →#MovieMadness #MovieChallenge Day 14 : A movie I love that everyone hates Superman III (1983) Although not as hated as Superman IV, this has a lot less fans than the 1st two. But I don’t mind the comedy and it has the iconic fight between evil Superman and Clark Kent. youtu.be/tb9Hm56rbDM?...
neutral · AI labelView post →What if America just made tonight a movie night and we all watched Superman IV: The Quest for Peace?
neutral · AI labelView post →🚨NEW EPISODE🚨 In this episode, we go all in on #Superman. Why he's lasted so long, how the new film understands the character, and that Superman IV is great, actually. Listen here 🎧 player.captivate.fm/episode/9043...
neutral · AI labelView post →petition to force these knuckleknobs to watch Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, which is 99% bad movie, 1% banger line about how "if you teach the world to believe in one man, even if that man is Superman, you are only teaching them to be betrayed"
negative · AI labelView post →Implement a 100% tariff and ruin a movie. Superman IV
neutral · AI labelView post →Good morning, it’s Sunday July 28th. Hurrah! May its hours be kind. (Released this very day in 1987, according to Mike’s Newsstand, the Superman IV Movie Special #1 featuring a cover by John Byrne & Jerry Ordway.)
neutral · AI labelView post →One the one hand Superman IV is a terrible, terrible film. On the other hand it’s a terrible, terrible film but I think its heart is in the right place. Pity about its brain
neutral · AI labelView post →As someone who watched Superman IV WAY too many times as a kid because it was the only one where Superman gets to fight an actual supervillain, I appreciated the fact the film really embraced the comic book of it all, including the sci-fi bent of Superman's stories. 5/9
positive · AI labelView post →What's a movie you genuinely enjoy that's known for being bad? Superman IV. It’s extremely, laughably cheap-looking, granted. But it’s fun to watch Christopher Reeve have a comic book-style brawl with a supervillain, and his speech to the UN is one of my favorite Superman moments in any medium.
positive · AI labelView post →James Gunn has finally broken the Lex Luthor and Zod cycle! Superman: The Movie: Luthor Superman II: Luthor and Zod Superman III: the plot of Office Space Superman IV: Luthor Superman Returns: Luthor Man of Steel: Zod Superman: Luthor Man of Tomorrow: Brainiac #superman #nerd #comics #dcuniverse
neutral · AI labelView post →I always thought SUPERMAN IV was a great idea for a movie poorly executed. But the great PETER DAVID summed it up best here. www.peterdavid.net/2003/02/03/t...
neutral · AI labelView post →Just watched Superman IV: The Quest for Peace for the first time in more than 20 years and tbh, while corny at times, Inthink it holds up. It’s such an earnest film that remembers superheroes aren’t money machine, they’re aspirational figures - to more than just comic book fans but to children. 1/?
positive · AI labelView post →Say what you will about #Superman IV: The Quest For Peace, but the damned, flawed film was ambitious with a message we needed then and need now more than ever. Especially this cut scene from the film's end.
positive · AI labelView post →After watching it three times, Superman (2025) is my favorite Superman movie. My personal rankings: 1. Superman (2025) 2. Man of Steel 3. Superman II 4. Superman: The Movie 5. Superman III 6. Superman Returns 7. Superman IV
negative · AI labelView post →Superman IV was a pretty bad movie, but Mariel Hemingway as Lacy Warfield might have helped give me a fetish for leggy boss women wearing pantyhose seducing nerdy awkward guys
neutral · AI labelView post →This is currently one of the best film podcasts running. Check out their Shamedown episodes and the latest one discussing Superman IV.
neutral · AI labelView post →Superman IV: The Quest For Peace director Sidney J. Furie & Christopher Reeve during the movie’s production c.1986. However good the movie might or might not be, this is such a gorgeous pic.
neutral · AI labelView post →This is terrible, and also the subplot of 1988’s “Superman IV: The Quest For Peace”, which nobody realizes is the second-best Superman movie ever made.
positive · AI labelView post →Superman IV: The Quest For Peace director Sidney J. Furie & Christopher Reeve during production c.1986. Whatever the movie might or might not be, this is a gorgeous pic.
neutral · AI labelView post →That's Scott Leva, he made appearances as Spidey, and was cast as Spider-Man in the unmade film at Cannon in the 80s. YMMV, but considering these were the same people behind Superman IV, Masters of the Universe, and Captain America, he may well have dodged a bullet.
neutral · AI labelView post →SUPERMAN IV, STAR TREK VI, the 1993 BEVERLY HILLBILLIES film, and the Tim Burton PLANET OF THE APES were all co-written by the same dudes. Wild careers.
neutral · AI labelView post →"Worst movie you ever watched in a theater?" I think it has to be Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. The “hero cake” speech alone! And I saw Wolverine Origins in the theater. And Superman IV. And Xanadu. Not even close
negative · AI labelView post →Big #MathsJam -ers who took the train home today and are also movie fans might have recognised the railway station building from 1987's Superman IV. Various other buildings in CMK were used as locations for bits of Metropolis in the movie. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-engl...
neutral · AI labelView post →Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (2025 Movie Thread, #396) #filmsky
neutral · AI labelView post →I'm my quest to find a Superman movie I enjoyed more than Superman IV, I really liked Man of Steel.
positive · AI labelView post →My sister and I went to the theater to see Superman IV. After it was over, I was confused on how to feel. I was just a small kid. She looked at me and said, “God that sucked.” I agreed, but replied “I liked Lex Luther, tho.” First bad movie I saw. First Gene Hackman movie I saw. Legend. #RIP
negative · AI labelView post →What movie did you watch over and over as a kid? ‘Robot Jox’ (1989) …As well as, ‘Three Amigos’ (1986); ‘Superman IV: The Quest for Peace’ (1987); ‘Innerspace’ (1987); and ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ (1989). 💁♂️
positive · AI labelView post →Born in San Bernardino, California, on January 30, 1930, two-time Academy Award winner Gene Hackman, who brought criminal mastermind Lex Luthor to life in 'Superman: The Movie' (1978), 'Superman II' (1980), and 'Superman IV: The Quest for Peace' (1987). #LexLuthor #filmsky
neutral · AI labelView post →#MovieSky Top 10 Worst Movies I've Seen #9- Superman IV: The Quest For Peace (1987) For a film that was part of a big budget franchise, the quality is beyond abysmal. Christopher Reeves' Superman deserved a much better send-off than this.
negative · AI labelView post →Kinda wish someone would take the concept of Superman IV and write a more thoughtful and serious story around it. The film is terrible but the idea had potential
neutral · AI labelView post →happy #letterboxdfriday! time to post your #lastfourwatched Superman IV: The Quest For Peace precluded this and they really were a pallet cleanser. They did Christopher Reeve so dirty with that film.
negative · AI labelView post →I am just super sad covid ended my streak of seeing every superman film on opening night that started with Superman IV A Quest For Peace I am fucking old
neutral · AI labelView post →Latest Superman movie is exceptional. Casting is spot on, every lead playing it to perfection esp, David, Rachel and Nicholas. Story, music, SFX 💯👌 I'd say: Superman II Superman (2025) Superman: the Movie Man of Steel Superman Returns Superman III Superman IV Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
neutral · AI labelView post →Begging folks to revisit Superman IV instead of "Returns" if you feel like giving a poorly received Superman film another try.
positive · AI labelView post →as we all bask in the glow of Superman 2025, I think everybody needs to go back and rewatch Superman IV, a film about Lex Luthor war-profiteering and Superman fighting an equally powerful villain of Luthor’s design. no seriously, Superman IV kicks ass
positive · AI labelView post →Superman II is excellent, and Superman III is a great Silver Age Superman film. Superman IV and Superman Returns, though - not good (even if Brandon Routh does Christopher Reeve Superman amazingly).
negative · AI labelView post →The same poster designer also added a lot of cool production value to Superman IV, none of which is in the movie.
neutral · AI labelView post →The most popular YouTube video is Baby Shark with 15.6B views, resulting in the video receiving an estimated $37M+ in ad revenue. Thus making Baby Shark more successful than films such as Disaster Movie (2008) and Superman IV (1987).
neutral · AI labelView post →On the latest episode of @cinemashame.bsky.social, "bad" movie expert @chuckxl.bsky.social flies into the Shamequarters (of Justice) to discuss SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE. Which one of our hosts snaps first? Who lives to see next week? Tune in! #SupermanIV podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
neutral · AI labelView post →SUPERMAN III isn't the best movie in the world, but at least it had a lot of fun energy to it, plus that iconic Bad Superman sequence culminating in a Clark Vs. Supes fight. SUPERMAN IV is just sad. Not "sad" just as in "this is a bad movie," but "sad" as in "it made me sad."
negative · AI labelView post →I realize it was Superman IV and not Supergirl (1984) that was a Cannon Films production, but still: between the new SG film and Masters of the Universe, it really does feel like the Summer of Cannon out there. So where the heck is the remake of Ninja III: The Domination?!
neutral · AI labelView post →Don’t listen to that guy. See it for yourself and make your own judgement. I liked it. I read the comics and loved the books. Is it a perfect movie, no. But I still thought it was great. I mean, it’s no Superman IV: Quest for Peace.
neutral · AI labelView post →Superman IV. Oh man it sucked. Makes Superman III look like an Ingmar Bergman film.
negative · AI labelView post →Interesting thread here, if you love great film music. You can hear the difference clearly. Weirdly, 3 years before Total Recall, Superman IV also began recording in Munich with the Graunke orchestra, and also ended up being moved to London and the National Philharmonic London.
neutral · AI labelView post →Another day, another timely Mike Nelson movie review: "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" (1987) is not a good movie, but more fun to watch than Superman III. It, at least, has its heart in the right place.
neutral · AI labelView post →Superman IV opened 38 years ago today. Four of my favourite images from the film, all of which are centred around Christopher Reeve's introspective performance as Kal-El.
positive · AI labelView post →Superman IV might genuinely have been my favourite film when I was seven.
positive · AI labelView post →It's a silly meme now that your fans hate each other. I'll watch every Superman movie that gets made. (Don't know if I will ever watch Superman IV again, though. But that's unrelated to your work.) I saw the first Christopher Reeve Superman movie at the cinema, and I'm still not tired of the genre.
negative · AI labelView post →This makes Baby Shark more successful than films such as Disaster Movie (2008) and Superman IV (1987).
neutral · AI labelView post →On July 24, 1987 Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was released in theater! I did not get to see it at the time. It was out of theaters so fast that I just didn’t have the chance. Sad 🐼 face. I had to wait for home video. I like this movie. Unironically. #superman
positive · AI labelView post →
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