For years, “lost footage” from Superman IV: The Quest for Peace sounded like one of those comic book movie myths fans argue about at 2 a.m. on Reddit. Turns out, at least one of those stories was real. A Price Production has now pieced together the deleted Metro Club sequence that reportedly featured the first public appearance of Nuclear Man 1, and honestly, it feels like somebody opened a dusty vault at Cannon Films and found a VHS tape hiding behind old tax paperwork.
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace Had Everything — Then Threw It Away
On the surface of it, so many things about Superman IV should have worked. With the global superpowers of the world threatening nuclear war, a young boy begs Superman for help to dismantle the weapons of mass destruction – theoretically bringing about world peace. Meanwhile, the Daily Planet is bought out by a soulless media mogul who immediately turns the newspaper into a sensationalist tabloid which peddles fake news. Clark Kent also has to deal with the loss of the Kent family farm and struggles to keep the balance between his public and private identity. And Lex Luthor escapes from prison and clones the Man of Steel, whilst exploiting the nuclear arms race for his own devious ends.
There are plenty of interesting themes there, one of the most fascinating being the potential for Superman to question how much of a role he should play in humanity’s future. Despite it being forbidden for Superman to interfere in history by Jor-El, he dismantles the worlds’ nuclear arsenal with little opposition… but does he have the right to? And would removing the weapons actually bring about peace amongst those who would use them?
Sadly, almost none of those issues are touched on. The film was never that smart, nor that good. In fact, legendary Superman actor Christopher Reeve described Superman IV as “a catastrophe from start to finish… that failure was a huge blow to my career”.
How Cannon Films Destroyed Superman IV With Budget Cuts
Superman IV was made on the cheap by action B-picture studio Cannon Films for a paltry $17 million, its weak script made worse by constant budget slashing and dismal effects. Flying shots for Superman were recycled repeatedly throughout, while some poor, unconvincing location work.
Actor Jon Cryer, who played Lenny Luthor in Superman IV and who later appeared as Lex Luthor in CW’s Supergirl, has claimed that Cannon ran out of money while filming, resulting in the release of an unfinished film – and about 45 minutes was apparently hastily chopped from its running time following poor test screenings.
Superman IV Is One of the Worst Superhero Movies Ever Made — The Numbers Prove It
A box office bomb, Superman IV barely turned a profit and flopped with both critics and audiences alike. At present, Superman IV holds a dismal 11%/16% on Rotten Tomatoes, while on IMDb, it has a slightly more generous 3.7 out of 10. Hailed by Empire as one of the 50 worst movies ever made, it was nominated for two Golden Raspberries – exposing how far the franchise had fallen from the brilliance of the original Richard Donner Superman film.
The 45 Minutes Cut From Superman IV: What Was Actually Lost
Most notable are Superman’s fight against an earlier, Bizarro-like prototype of Nuclear Man, an expanded fight against the actual Nuclear Man, more focus being put on the relationship between Clark Kent and Lacy Warfield, the business takeover of the Daily Planet, and an alternate ending which reinforces Superman’s message of unifying the people of the world in global peace.
In the time since, Superman IV has seen new – but still unpopular – life on DVD. In this format, it’s also been featured alongside some of the deleted scenes (although sadly not all of them) as bonus features. From those, along with still photos of other cut scenes (and the comic book and novel adaptations of the film), it’s able to understand their placement and what the original film was meant to be.
A Fan Restored the Lost Superman IV Footage — and It’s Better Than It Has Any Right to Be
The scene follows Clark Kent and Lacy Warfield on their date before Nuclear Man crashes the party. Aaron Price, who re-edited the footage with Martin Lakin and music by Paul Fishman, cleaned up the material as much as possible from the rough VHS source. “I had to remove the music from the dialogue as best as I could with the material,” Price explained.
This isn’t just a straight upload either. New visual effects give Nuclear Man 1 a blue electrical aura that sparks during emotional moments. It’s a small touch, but it adds personality to a character who originally had the emotional range of a microwave oven.
Price also altered Clark’s transformation into Superman. Instead of awkwardly entering one door and exiting another as Superman, the new cut adds a superspeed transition, a custom shirt-rip shot filmed on green screen, and a 3D speed-trail effect. Somewhere, Richard Donner fans probably just sighed very loudly.
The YouTube description credits Philip Hawkins for helping locate the footage, while Paul Fishman supplied the tape itself. Fans can also track down an unedited version uploaded by Jim Bowers.
The Superman IV Furie Cut: Could Warner Bros. Actually Release It?
Thanks to the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, a handful of fans out there are calling for the release of a special “Furie Cut” of Superman IV, which could restore those missing 45 minutes of footage.
Based on some of the cut scenes, it’s hard to say that adding more to Superman IV would make it any better. The low budget, bad writing and general cheesiness of them match the poor quality of the existing released version, and odds are that even a Furie Cut wouldn’t do anything to improve the general quality; however, at least it would allow audiences to see what the full plan was for the movie.
YouTuber APRICEPRODUCTION has already gone ahead and remastered scenes from Superman IV, and the work is quite impressive:
ReleaseTheFurieCut: Why Now Is the Right Time
Whether the people calling for the Furie Cut of Superman IV are serious about it or if it’s meant to be a parody of the Snyder Cut outcries, it’s clear that the released version of Superman IV wasn’t the full story which was intended. It’s always possible that an alternate version similar to Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut may come out in the future, which could allow Superman IV to be seen in a new light. Everything is right there – probably in a vault somewhere. Someone just needs to put it all together.
Given that we just recently got Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, now might be a good time to release the Furie Cut of Superman IV.
“What we have to really do is just make him a hero to believe in rather than a hero to make fun of.” – Christopher Reeve on Superman IV
