Unwilling to sell the family farm to a mall developer, Clark Kent (Christopher Reeve) leaves Smallville Kansas and returns to Metropolis. Upon arriving at the Daily Planet, he learns that the newspaper has been taken over by David Warfield (Sam Wanamaker), a tabloid tycoon who fires Chief Editor, Perry White (Jackie Cooper) and hires his own daughter Lacy (Mariel Hemingway) as his replacement.
Following the news that the United States and the Soviet Union may engage in nuclear war, Superman (Christopher Reeve) is conflicted about how much he should intervene. After receiving a letter written by a concerned schoolboy, Superman travels to the Fortress of Solitude to seek advice from the spirits of his Kryptonian ancestors. They recommend he should leave Earth and find a new home, unwilling to turn his back on humanity he seeks advice from Lois Lane(Margot Kidder). After some reassuring word from Lois, Superman attends a meeting of the United Nations, announcing to the assembly that he will rid the Earth of nuclear weapons. Superman collects most of the world's nuclear stockpile in a gigantic net which he then hurls into the sun.
Meanwhile, a teenager named Lenny Luthor (Jon Cryer) breaks his uncle Lex Luthor(Gene Hackman) out of prison. Returning to Metropolis, the pair steal a strand of Superman's hair from a museum, and create a genetic matrix which Lex attaches to a nuclear missile. After the missile is test launched, Superman intercepts it and dispatches it into the sun. A glowing ball of energy is discharged from the sun, which develops into a super-human (played by Mark Pillow and voiced by Gene Hackman). This "Nuclear Man" makes his way back to Earth to find his 'father' Luthor, who wastes little time before using his creation to "destroy Superman!" Thus a battle ensues, in the sky above Metropolis, and up, up and away onto the moon.
The always entertaining, Gene Hackman returns as Lex Luthor and Margot Kidder delivers another tenacious performance as Lois Lane. Christopher Reeve was legendary as Superman/Clark Kent, and always took the role very serious, and continued to have great chemistry with co-star Margot Kidder. Reeve shines in the physical comedy portion of the film, while balancing duel identities on a double date with Lois and Lacey as both Superman and Clark. New-comers to the Superman franchise, Mariel Hemingway (Lacey Warfield) and Sam Wanamaker (David Warfield) both give solid performances, and Jon Cryer (Lenny Luthor) is effective comedy relief, it's disappointing the direction and production of the film weren't as competent as it's well rounded cast. .
Though this is a superhero film, The Quest for Peace is set-up by it's predecessors (at least the first two movies) to be somewhat grounded in reality, so the idea of hurling nuclear missiles into the sun without causing irreparable damage to the Earth (not to mention the galaxy) is absolutely ridiculous. Granted the same could be said for the original Superman film, when Superman reverses the Earth's rotation to revert time in order to save Lois Lane's life, but as ridiculous as the scene may be, it's forgivable, because by the time the third act rolls around and the scene plays-out you're already engaged with the films groundbreaking visuals, compelling characters and engaging story which affords you the suspension of disbelief, such is not the case with The Quest for Peace, It's terrible editing, abysmal visual effects and compromised script, favoring cartoonish action over dramatic story telling, prevent the film from accomplishing the desired effect. Thus sealing the fate of the Superman franchise, the Man of Steel would not appear on the silver screen until almost 20 years later. Director Bryan Singer's lack luster Superman Returns debuted in 2006 also failing to recapture or re-imagine the magic of the original.
Since his 1979 theatrical debut and during his subsequent sequels, Superman hadn't really grown much as a character on film, so the idea of him intervening in the nuclear arms race, ridding the world of nuclear power could have been a socially relevant way of re-introducing the Man of Steel in a modern context during the 1980's. The idea of a corporate take-over of the Daily Planet and retail development in Smallville were also socially relevant of the time. Christopher Reeve who had a hand in writing the script for Superman IV, had high hopes of returning Superman to his former glory cinematically. In an attempt to restore the standard of integrity of the original Richard Donner directed Superman the movie, Reeve rallied the troops and his fellow thespians brought their A-game (with the exception of Mark Pillow's terrible over acting as the Nuclear Man) to a project which had potential but was rapidly diminished by Cannon producers interference, such as budget cuts (resulting in cheep looking special effects), script re-writes and re-edits (leaving much of the film on the cutting-room-floor). Though director Sidney J. Furie's Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, is an interesting concept, unfortunately it's executed very poorly. Though the film provides some very entertaining, unintentional-laugh-out-loud moments, it fails to soar above a rating of 1 out of 5 stars. However, don't let a low rating or tons of bad reviews diminish your impulse to watch Superman IV if you haven't seen it, The Quest for Peace is definitely one of the rare cases of a film being so bad it's good, it's flaws are what's fun about it.
Also check-out my MAN OF STEEL review: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/superman_movies/news/?a=81663