In Theaters 39 Years Ago, Superman’s Time on the Big Screen Ended for Decades (And Fans Barely Noticed)

While the Superman franchise has a long history on the big screen, the DC icon’s first foray into cinematic adventures ended in ignominy some 39 years ago. Superman’s big-screen career started strong with the release of 1978’s original Superman, a star vehicle for Christopher Reeve that was one of the most expensive movies ever made at the time of its release. Superman more than justified this investment, earning a staggering $300 million on a budget of only $55 million and spawning three sequels.

Although 1978’s Superman II was similarly well received by critics and is now viewed as a classic of the superhero genre, the sequel did fail to match the original movie’s success. Superman II’s $216 million earnings ensured it was far from a box office bomb, but the shine started to come off the franchise in earnest with the arrival of 1983’s second sequel, Superman III. Co-starring  a miscast Richard Pryor, this misjudged third outing cost only $39 million but fell far short of its predecessors at the box office by earning only $80 million. Still, the worst, 1987’s Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, was yet to come.

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace Was A Box Office Let Down

If Superman III’s underwhelming reception was bad news, the failure of 1984’s spinoff movie Supergirl was another nail in the coffin of the once-promising series. Like 2026’s more recent Supergirl, this spinoff’s underperformance was seen as evidence of the franchise’s limited appeal outside of its title character, and Superman III proved that even Reeves’ iconic Clark Kent wasn’t the bankable box office mainstay he once appeared to be, either.

With a budget of only $17 million, 1987’s Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was clearly an attempt to cut down on the cost of the franchise’s fourth outing in case the sequel underperformed. Underperform it did, with Superman IV: The Quest for Peace earning a mere $36 million upon release, just over 10% of what the original movie managed less than a decade earlier. To make matters worse, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was savaged by critics who mocked its cheap special effects and goofy plotting.

Although Superman IV: The Quest for Peace killed the franchise, the sequel wasn’t entirely devoid of redeeming factors. Margot Kidder is reliably great as Lois Lane and Gene Hackman has a blast as always as the campy villain Lex Luthor, but a turgid script and unbearably self-serious story mean this sequel feels far longer than its trim 90-minute runtime. Most infamously, the constant budget slashing by The Cannon Group effectively meant the movie was released unfinished.

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace’s Failure Highlighted A Weird Franchise Problem

While Warner Brothers did try to reboot the character plenty of times before 2006’s Superman Returns, the sheer stink of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace meant that none of these efforts ever made it off the ground. It wasn’t until after Christian Bale’s Batman dominated the 2000s box office that viewers finally received Zack Snyder’s dark reinvention of the superhero.

This grittier reimagining of Superman was, in turn, replaced by James Gunn’s lighter, more playful take on the character in 2025’s Superman, but neither reinvention has lasted long enough to come face to face with the biggest issue Superman IV: The Quest for Peace highlighted. In a franchise where the title character is a near-perfect hero, it can be hard to keep DC’s Superman interesting, something this 1987 sequel ran into face-first in the franchise’s most misguided outing to date.