Superman has always been a difficult superhero to deal with. How does one handle a virtually indestructible man? A 'super' man, so to speak?
Other than by giving his girlfriend bizarre powers to kill him every week?
It may seem slow and talky nowadays, but in 1978 Superman was a revelation. Audiences *DID* believe a man could fly.
By 1983, however, the franchise was running on fumes. How else would they possibly think this was a good idea?
Even Richard "The Phynx" Pryor can't believe he's in a Superman film.
Despite the lows of the third film, Warner Brothers was still interested in making a fourth. This time, things would go even lower. Eager to bring the film in under budget for once, the studio brought in low budget schlockmeisters Golan and Globus to produce the film for them.
Never a good sign...
Warner Brothers gave Golan and Globus millions to make the film with the idea that they would put in money of their own to make a film that had the same production values of the previous three films at a savings to Warner Brothers.
Unfortunately, that's not what happened. Golan and Globus took Warner Brothers' money and used it to finance a slate of films including Superman IV. The poor results were obvious. Insert shots were constantly reused. Implausibly fake looking scenes made it to the final film.
The poor special effects aren't even the biggest problem with this film.
The script was even worse. Lex Luthor is broken out of jail by his valley boy nephew "Lenny Luthor" who is essentially Ducky from Pretty in Pink as a super villain.
Like, I'm gonna kill that Superman dude!
Yeah, we don't know what's going on either, Lex.
The most 1980's scene you'll see all week.
In the end, the damage done to the franchise was too great to recover from. Superman wouldn't get back to the big screen for almost 20 years- and it would be a tortuous return. Nobody left this project with their dignity intact, not even the studio itself, which quietly came to a financial settlement with Golan and Globus Productions after getting swindled.
Even the Lee Press-On Nails cross-promotional deal was disastrous.
The embarrassment wouldn't last long, however. Warner Brothers would enlist Tim Burton to revitalize Batman, which would bring about a new golden age of comic book films. It would eventually flame out in a pun-filled travesty itself, but that would be years in the future. In 1989, Batman was still the new king of the comic book film.
