1. SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE

Released: 1987
The superhero: Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent aka Superman.
The villains: Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor and Mark Pillow as Nuclear Man.
The love interest: Mariel Hemmingway as Lacy Warfield.

The greatest superhero in the worst superhero movie

Of all the lame-brain Superman offerings over the years, this is by far the worst of them - even worse than the ridiculous Superman III (1983) with Richard Pryor, and even worse than Bryan Singer’s sappy, sentimental Superman Returns (2006). This offering served as the death-knell for the Christopher Reeve-era Man of Steel.

It was directed by Sidney J. Furie, whose best effort over almost 50 years behind the camera was probably The Young Ones (1961) with Cliff Richard, or The Entity (1981) about the horny ghost. This Superman story though was co-written by the star, the late Reeve, so sadly we've got him to blame as well.

As the title suggests its full of morals about building peace throughout the world, particularly through nuclear disarmament, with the population still in the grip of the Cold War between the US and the former USSR.

Lex Luthor is back after missing out on the third film and creates Nuclear Man in a bid to finally defeat the guy in the red undies and gain world domination. But, why the great Gene Hackman would return though is beyond me. He even provided the voice of Nuclear Man (who was played by the aptly-named Mark Pillow).

It is a wonder the producers could afford him. Apparently the budget for the film was cut from $36 million to just $17 million. What results is a production as cheap and as tacky as you will find. Just watch what is supposed to be an epic battle around the world between 'Supes' and 'Nuces', but ends up an hilarious romp. Spot the wires. And spot the black curtains on the moon.

A fifth film in the franchise had been planned but since this one bombed so badly the idea was scrapped. It's failure at the box-office did have one positive flow-on effect in that B-movie specialists Cannon Pictures cancelled its Spider-Man movie. Phew. Now that could've been another disaster.

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