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Film (1987). Cannon. Directed by Sidney J Furie. Written by Lawrence Kohner, Mark Rosenthal, based on a story by Reeve, Kohner. Cast includes Gene Hackman, Mariel Hemingway, Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeve. 93 minutes. Colour.
Superman's death knell, at the box office anyway, was tolled by Cannon's attempt to get more mileage from his exploits after he had been jettisoned by Alexander and Ilya Salkind. Reeve agreed to play the part again only in exchange for co-authoring the original story, hence the anti-nuclear, anti-tabloid-journalism message. He meant well politically, but his disjointed story, which makes sense neither scientifically nor metaphorically (Superman throws nuclear missiles into Sun; evil Nuclear Man is Cloned by Lex Luthor from a Superman hair; Superman defeats him by causing eclipse of the Sun and then anticlimactically throws him down chimney), is intensely feeble, as are the special effects.
The novelization is Superman IV (1987) by B B Hiller. [PN]
see also: Superman; Superman II; Superman III.
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Entry from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2011-current) edited by John Clute and David Langford.
Accessed 00:51 am on 13 April 2026.
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