Superman's Worst Live-Action Movie, According To Rotten Tomatoes

Not even the Man of Steel was strong enough to withstand the critical beating he received in 1987. In the same year of similarly despised sequels such as "Jaws: The Revenge," "House II: The Second Story," and "Teen Wolf Too," Christopher Reeves' beloved interpretation of the DC Comics character experienced a major dud in "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace," a film that holds an infamous place within the character's cinematic history.

The fourth and final of the original Superman films that began in 1978, "The Quest for Peace," sees Superman dispose of the world's nuclear warheads, only to have to do battle with Lex Luthor's (Gene Hackman) newest creation, Nuclear Man (Mark Pillow). The film's production was plagued by numerous problems, most notably when its production company, The Cannon Group, experienced financial difficulties and mercilessly slashed the budget. As a result, the special effects and overall production faltered significantly.

"Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" remains the franchise's ultimate low point. It currently ranks as the lowest-grossing Superman film and the worst scoring on Rotten Tomatoes, possessing a 10% Tomatometer rating, with "Superman III" and "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" coming closest to it at 29%. The site's consensus reads, "The Superman series bottoms out here: the action is boring, the special effects look cheaper, and none of the actors appear interested in where the plot's going." As if the damage wasn't bad enough, Cannon initially had ideas for a new follow-up to the two-time Razzie nominee.

As unbelievable as it sounds, plans were set in place to follow "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" with a new entry, potentially helmed by future 1990 "Captain America" director Albert Pyun. Thankfully, the production never got off the ground. Christopher Reeve refused to reprise the role, and Cannon Film Group eventually went bankrupt, reverting the Superman film rights back to Warner Brothers in the '90s. While it's probably for the best that we never got to see what atrocity would have followed "Superman IV," the project itself has some interesting parallels to a significant Superman project.

The story would have seen Reeves' Superman go up against his infamous adversary Brainiac, who was originally intended to appear in "Superman III." The two powerful forces go head-to-head, resulting in Superman's death. In earlier drafts, Superman's son was to avenge his father, while later rewrites saw Superman himself get resurrected. Either way, the concept of Superman dying at the hands of a powerful opponent eventually came to fruition in the infamous 1992-1993 comic storyline "The Death of Superman." However, it's unclear if any drafts for "Superman V" were written following the comic's release.

Eventually, this story saw its own cinematic adaptations in the form of the direct-to-video animated films "Superman: Doomsday" in 2007 and the two-parter "The Death of Superman" and "Reign of the Supermen" in 2018 and 2019, respectively.