“Superman 5-Film Collection: 1978 – 1987” 4K UHD Review

Superman 5-Film Collection: 1978 – 1987 synopsis:

As part of the year-long centennial celebration for the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros. Studio, five films featuring the iconic DC Super Hero Superman – Superman: The Movie, Superman II, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, Superman III, and Superman IV – will be available in a five-film collection on 4K Ultra HD Disc + Blu-ray + Digital. (adapted from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment)

To celebrate 100 years of Warner Bros. Studio, we have this new 4K UHD box set of the 4 Christopher Reeve Superman movies in 4K and Blu-Ray, as well as the special 2006 “Richard Donner Cut” of Superman II. The five films come in their own standard 4K cases and slip into a simple cardboard box that has its own binding on one side, and an open slot on the other side where you can see the 5 cases’ individual bindings. The movie that started it all, Superman: The Movie, was released in 4K in 2018, and this set includes that release. Rumor has it Warner recently re-scanned the original film for a new 4K release, but that isn’t this version here. Also, oddly enough, the paper cover slip (in the plastic case) for the movie is a little fuzzy and out of focus, as if it had been made with a color copier. The sleeves for all four of the other cases appear clear in comparison. Overall, the packaging feels really lazy. Where Warner’s 4-Film Rocky collection came in a really nice box set, there’s something really cheap about how this is assembled. Even the image on the back of the Superman III case is just an image from the 1978 original film, not the movie in its case. How do you goof that up? Finally, this release does not include the 3-hour Extended Edition of the original movie, so if you’re hoping to find it here, you won’t.

Now on to the films themselves…

Superman: The Movie (1978) 2 hrs, 23 min. / rated PG (for peril, some mild sensuality and language) – Superman: The Movie is special for several reasons. It’s one of the first real big-budget Hollywood superhero movies, it debuted Christopher Reeve as Superman, and it gave us another truly iconic John Williams theme and score. While drama would end up surrounding this franchise that caused its three sequels to struggle in many ways, Superman: The Movie kicked off the series to a pretty good start. Reeve is fantastic as the Man of Steel, and he does an incredible job embodying Clark Kent and Superman. I don’t think Margot Kidder is a good choice for Lois Lane, but she played the part well. (Can we all agree, though, that her inner monlogue during her flight with Superman is painfully cheesy?) And Gene Hackman is an inspired choice for the mastermind Lex Luthor.

The film’s 2-hour-and-20-minute runtime feels excessive with Richard Donner’s sluggish pacing. The film has some great moments – pretty much anytime Superman is on screen – but the opening sequence on the doomed planet of Krypton, and the overlong sequence of destruction during the climax are a few examples of when the movie tends to drag. I’m not one who needs my movies to be fast-paced and action-packed the whole time, but there’s something about Donner’s treatment here that fails to be truly engrossing. Thankfully, Donner’s vision for Superman II was restored in the 2006 Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, because I feel like that movie is an all-around more entertaining endeavor. Superman: The Movie was a classic for its time, and it helped pave the way for more good things down the road, but it wouldn’t be my go-to choice for best Superman movie. 4/5 stars

Superman II (1980) 2 hrs, 7 min. / rated PG (or sequences of action violence, some language and brief mild sensuality) – Superman: The Movie and Superman II were filmed at the same time, with Richard Donner behind the camera. The opening scene of Superman: The Movie shows three supervillains – led by General Zod – being sentenced to The Phantom Zone and rocketed into space. Ironically, Krypton and all of its inhabitants are destroyed, but these villains are virtually safe floating in space. For the sequel, an explosion in space frees them, and they head to Earth to use their Superman-like powers to take over. During the production of the sequel, director Richard Donner was fired (due to ongoing conflict with producers) and replaced by Richard Lester. Reportedly, about 75% of Superman II was already completed, but Lester ended up reshooting some scenes and adding a slightly goofier tone to the movie. The end result wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t the movie’s original vision.

I did enjoy Superman II when I rewatched it, but some of the story choices definitely aren’t as strong as what Donner intended. Still, the ending works much better (than Donner’s version), and there are still some good moments. The fact that Supes chooses to be mortal to spend the rest of his life with Lois is an interesting twist, but obviously he needs to return to being the Man of Steel to defeat Zod. How that happens is much, much stronger in Donner’s cut than in Lester’s. Overall, Superman II is arguably more entertaining than the first film, and moves at a much brisker pace, but Lester’s touches definitely affect the overall tone. While certain aspects of it are just a hair better than Donner’s cut (specifically the ending), I have to say his original vision wins out in the end. 3.5/5 stars

Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (1980/2006) 1 hr, 56 min. / rated PG (for sequences of action violence, some language and brief mild sensuality) – In 2006, director Richard Donner was given the rare opportunity to present the world, and longtime Superman fans, with his original vision for Superman II. Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut gives us a version of the movie that is the closest to the originally intended version of the movie as possible, using some of Lester’s footage and some screen test footage to fill in for scenes that were never filmed by Donner to complete the movie. So while Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut may be viewed by some as a Frankenstein kind of stitched-together effort, it is probably the most streamlined version of the movie. Donner drops a few silly bits that Lester had added (mostly involving Zod’s trio, like the bar scene and some of Non trying to use his heat vision), which helps keep Zod’s gang more menacing and serious. I honestly don’t think I missed a single shot of Lester’s that Donner removed. I also LOVE how Supes gets his powers back. It has greater consequence and is far more emotional and impactful than Lester’s all-too-convenient version. It also restores footage Donner had filmed featuring Marlon Brando’s Jor-El, which was omitted from the original cut. The screen test footage, which is mostly from when Clark and Lois are posing as honeymooners, is certainly rough, but it works well enough — especially when we consider the limitations Donner had in finishing his movie a good 25 years later.

The 4K transfer looks quite good, honestly. I wasn’t too impressed with how The Movie looked, but I think both versions of Superman II look good in 4K for as old as they are. As you can probably imagine, the 4K transfers do improve as the movie production years creep closer to more modern filmmaking technology, but I did think Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut looked especially good for its age. 4/5 stars

Superman III (1983) 2 hrs, 5 min. / rated PG (for peril, some mild sensuality and language) – This brings us to the first of two post-Donner sequels, Superman III. For some bizarre reason, comedian Richard Pryor was given a starring role alongside Superman as a struggling blue collar worker who decides to get into computer programming because he just so happens to have a natural knack for it – and there’s good money in it. At the same time, Superman III sidelines Lois Lane because Margot Kidder wanted to largely sit this one out, and a new love interest for Clark is introduced in Annette O’Toole as Lana Lang. She’s sweet, and I actually enjoyed her character a little more than Margot as Lane. Robert Vaughn plays the central villain this time around, a wealthy business man who works with Pryor’s character Gus to try to recreate Kryptonite to stop Superman. When the synthetic Kryptonite doesn’t work, it makes Superman evil, and eventually Supes has a showdown with his alter ego, Clark Kent – to the death. It’s kind of dark for a Superman movie (at least, one that isn’t from today’s brooding superhero movie age), but it admittedly makes for a decent action scene. Sadly, while Pryor is a talented comedian, he fails to bring any humor to his role, and ultimately feels completely lost and out of place in this movie.

The 4K transfer, again, is pretty good for this 1983 feature. It’s certainly not mind-blowing but you’ve certainly never seen this movie looking this good before. 2.5/5 stars

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) 1 hr, 30 min. / rated PG – Finally, we have the last appearance of Christopher Reeve as Superman in the quite terrible Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Now, to be fair, I think there are some decent moments in Superman IV, with most of it involving Reeve and Kidder together again. There’s a cute scene where Clark and Superman are on a double date with Lois and newcomer Lacy Warfield (played by Mariel Hemingway). Obviously, this means Supes has to constantly duck out on the girls to appear as Clark, and vice versa. Granted, it’s silly, but it’s one of the better moments in an otherwise ridiculous movie. Gene Hackman is back as Lex Luthor, and this time he creates a super villain using some of Superman’s DNA and sending it into the sun on a nuclear missile. Nuclear Man (*cue the groans*) is played by Mark Pillow, and he basically looks like a reject from an 80’s arena rock band. To make things worse, he painfully overacts, and pretty much anytime he’s on screen, it’s fodder for the Mystery Science Theater 3000 crew. There’s also little logic applied to the action, as Lacy is kidnapped into space but easily survives breathing in space with no protection (and apparently space has wind, according to this movie). Then we have Jon Cryer playing Luthor’s nephew as a braindead 80’s teen, which just adds insult to injury.

At the end of the day, it’s nice to have one last outing with Reeve suited up as Superman, but that also doesn’t change the fact that it’s quite a terrible movie. Of course, since it’s a late-80’s movie, it looks pretty decent in 4K, which is nice considering a movie this widely panned probably wouldn’t be otherwise given such care if it weren’t Reeve’s Superman or part of a larger set. 2/5 stars

The Verdict:
Christopher Reeve Superman fans, rejoice. To this date, this is the best collection of these movies visually we’ve ever seen. Granted, the packaging is really lazy and it feels entirely phoned-in, but if you’ve been itching for all of these movies in 4K, and available in one place, you’re in luck. The fact that Superman: The Movie supposedly has a new 4K UHD scan floating around somewhere, and the extended / Director’s Cut of the movie is NOT included here, makes one wonder if yet another box set is on the way soon, but until then, we have a pretty decent set here with the Superman 5-Film Collection: 1978 – 1987.

– John DiBiase (5/14/23)

 

Superman: The Movie (1978)

 Sex/Nudity: Baby Kal-el is seen naked in a spaceship cockpit. We see some of his butt and genitals from a distance; We see Kal-el emerge nude from the alien ship wreck and we see full frontal nudity of the toddler; Lois mentions an article has sex and violence; Miss Teschmacher shows a lot of cleavage in the top she wears; an article about a “sex maniac” is briefly mentioned; We see Miss Teschmacher in a bikini; Lois asks Superman “How big are you? I mean, how tall are you?” She asks if the rest of his bodily functions are normal. Knowing he can see through things, she then asks him what color panties she’s wearing. He then says she’s standing behind something lead because he can’t see through lead. As soon as she steps away, talking about something else, he looks down and says “pink!”; We see Miss Teschmacher in a low cut red dress lying on the street. One man is flustered when he sees her and offers to give her mouth-to-mouth; Miss Teschmacher’s shirt becomes a little bit seethrough when she emerges from a pool of water, rescuing Superman.
 Vulgarity/Language: 1 “d*mn,” 3 “h*ll,” 2 “*ss,” 1 “Oh My G-d,” 1 “Oh L-rd”
 Alcohol/Drugs: Lois lights a cigarette to smoke, but Superman tells her she shouldn’t; Perry and Lex both smoke cigars.
 Blood/Gore: We see Otis with a black eye.
 Violence: A 2D plane of glass traps Zod and his team in another dimension; The planet Krypton begins exploding. Large crystals emerge from the ground and crush people or knock them off their feet. Debris and dust fly as people flee in terror. Lots of people fall to their deaths as the ground breaks. Then the planet explodes completely, killing everyone on it; A truck blows a tire; An alien ship crash-lands on Earth in a corn field; While Jonathan is changed his truck’s tire, the tire jack falls out from under the wheel and Kal-el catches it; Teenage Clark angrily hits some pom-poms off a bench at school. He then kicks a football which soars super far into the distance; Clark runs in front of a train, narrowly missing getting hit by it; Jonathan grabs his arm and collapses, dying of a heart attack; A crystal sinks into the ground and makes a large crystal structure rise from the ground; A mugger holds Lois and Clark at gun point. Lois kicks him in the face and his gun goes off. Clark catches the bullet in his hand as the mugger runs off; Lex presses a button that pushes a wall in a train tunnel out, knocking a man onto the train tracks right in front of a moving train, killing him; A cable snaps on a landing platform and catches onto a helicopter as it is taking off. It spins out of control and the tail goes through a small building. The helicopter then smokes and flames and catches on the edge of the top of the building as it slowly slides off; Lois falls from a tall building and Superman catches her. After he leaves, she faints; A burglar climbing a building falls when he sees Superman. Superman then catches him; We see a car chase with lots of gunfire. The shootout blows out some car windows, cars crash into things, and the gunfire continues. A man hits Superman with a crowbar and it bounces off of him; Lightning hits Air Force One’s engine and it explodes. Superman rescues the plane; While testing an effect, Lex flips and crashes a car remotely; Lex climbs into the back of a car to attack Otis; We see Otis with a black eye; Superman lifts Lex up and puts him down. He then tosses Lex onto a couch; Lex has Superman open a box that has Kryptonite inside. It weakens Superman and Lex wraps a chain necklace with the Kryptonite around him and pushes him into a pool to drown; Miss Teschmacher rescues Superman from the water; A rocket crashes in a desert causing an earthquake. A gas station explodes in flames. Telephone lines fall in the street near Lois. The Golden Gate Bridge starts falling, causing car wrecks and a bus to hang off the side; A dam breaks. We see Jimmy hanging off of it. A nearby power station sparks. Superman then rescues Jimmy; The earthquake causes Lois’ car to sink into the ground. She struggles and screams as dirt and rocks pour in. (It’s pretty intense); Water from the dam rushes towards homes, consuming some, but Superman builds a new makeshift dam to stop the water; Superman pulls Lois’ dead body from her car and screams in agony at her loss. He then flies around the Earth to reverse time. We then see rocks falling and the dam breaking in reverse.

Superman II (1980)

 Sex/Nudity: At the beginning, we see a recap of events of the first movie and see toddler Kal-El’s genitals as he climbs out of the crashed spaceship; A male astronaut makes a joke about being engaged to another male astronaut; At a honeymoon hotel, the bellhop recommends the bed in the honeymoon suite; Clark asks Lois about sleeping arrangements and Lois suggests the couch. He sits on the bed and it vibrates, surprising Clark; We see Lois in a bathrobe; We see Superman holding Lois under the covers (he’s without a shirt) presumably after having sex.
 Vulgarity/Language: 1 “J-sus H. Chr-st,” 1 “S.O.B,” 5 “h*ll,” 1 “-ss,” 1 “d*mn,” 3 “Oh G-d,” 2 “Oh My G-d,” 2 “G-d”
 Alcohol/Drugs: We see Lois with a cigarette; Zod and his team go inside a saloon; Superman pours champagne for himself and Lois and they drink it.
 Blood/Gore: We see some creepy views of Suoerman’s face as a skull and different layers of muscle and skin as he turns mortal; A man in a diner punches Clark in the back of the head. Clark falls into a glass wall. He has blood on his mouth and hand and by his eye. Clark gets up and goes back over to the man to fight him. The man then elbows him in the stomach and punches him in the face. Clark falls backwards onto the floor. We see blood all over Clark’s face.
 Violence: At the beginning, we see a recap of Zod and his gang’s sentencing. We then see a recap of the first movie with the destruction of Krypton, the helicopter accident with Lois, and the missile destruction in the finale; An explosion on the Eiffel Tower causes an elevator to drop. Lois is hanging on to it underneath and it almost crashes. Superman saves her and then rockets the elevator with a bomb on it into space. The bomb shockwave frees Zod, Non and Ursa from the Phantom Zone; A taxi hits Clark. He doesn’t budge but we see the front of the car is smashed in; Ursa rips a patch off an astronaut and as he struggles, she kicks him into space. Zod pulls the line of another astronaut. He picks him up and pushes him into space. Non pulls on a rover and crushes it killing the guy inside; A mother smacks her child for misbehaving; A kid playing with the railing at Niagra Falls falls down the Falls, but Superman catches him; Lois jumps into a raging river to see if Clark will save her as Superman; A snake bites Ursa so she fries it with her eyes; Clark trips and falls, putting his hand out to stop himself and his hand goes into the fire in the fireplace. (Obviously, he’s fine); Ursa rips a police officer’s badge off. Zod heats up the cop’s sawed-off shotgun and fires it on himself, which does no harm; Non lifts the car and rips off the red siren light on top; Non practices using his laser eyes to burn wood on the side of a truck; Ursa arm wrestles a guy in a saloon and puts his fist through the table, splitting the table in half; Zod throws a man through a wall into the street; Zod lifts a man in the air and drops him; Zod, Ursa and Non fire on a Jeep with their lasers. Its tires pop and the vehicle crashes; Zod sets the saloon on fire; Non catches a rocket and bends it; Helicopters fire on them. Ursa blows air that pushes the helicopter out of control. It crashes behind a barn and explodes; Zod rips a general’s rank off his jacket and tosses it; We see news footage of Zod’s team destroying Mt. Rushmore; Zod, Ursa and Non break into the U.S. capital as soldiers fire on them. They throw a man through the sky light. They kick and punch people and break weapons. A chandelier falls on a man; A man in a diner punches Clark in the back of the head. Clark falls into a glass wall. He has blood on his mouth and hand and by his eye. Clark gets up and goes back over to the man to fight him. The man then elbows him in the stomach and punches him in the face. Clark falls backwards onto the floor. Lois jumps on the man’s back and tries to stop him; Ursa crunches Lex’s hand and he reacts in pain; Zod and his team bust through the Daily Planet office, knocking people around and trashing the place, destroying desks and throwing things. Perry hits Non in the head with a metal globe, but it just bounces off of him. Non knocks out Perry by lifting his head into a ceiling tile. Lois tries to punch Ursa and hurts her hand instead; Zod, Ursa and Non bust through the building to outside, chasing Superman. Zod a throws concrete wall at Supes who blows it up with his eyes; Non punches Supes into a building. Ursa accidentally hits Non into a tower. The antennae falls and Supes catches it. Zod blows up several cars in the street to draw Superman away. Zod heats up a fuel tanker. Supes reflects his heat ray back at Zod, frying a billboard behind him. Supes then puts out a fire; Non crushes Supes through the ground into the sewer. After much destruction, Non goes flying out of the ground and through a building. Ursa hits Supes with a manhole cover, throwing him into a truck. Supes throws Zod into a large neon sign, which explodes. The other two lift a bus. They throw the bus and Supes tries to stop it. It slides him into a truck and building; A mob mounts up against them and people are blown back as the evil trio blows air on them. Cars and debris go flying and flipping through the air; Zod and his gang fight Supes in his crystal palace. Supes projects himself and they attack it. They then pull on Lois’s arms and threaten to pull her apart; Supes crushes Zod’s hand. He then picks him up and throws him across the cave against a wall and he slides down into an abyss; Non tries to fly and falls off a cliff into an abyss; Lois punches Ursa off a cliff into an abyss; A man punches Clark in the stomach and hurts his hand. Clark then spins him on his stool and slides him across the bar into a pinball machine.

Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (1980 / 2006)

 Sex/Nudity: At the beginning, we see a recap of events of the first movie and see toddler Kal-El’s genitals as he climbs out of the crashed spaceship; A male astronaut makes a joke about being engaged to another male astronaut; Clark runs so fast through the Daily Planet office that it blows a woman’s dress up and we see her underwear; We see Lois in a towel in her hotel room; We see Superman holding Lois under the covers (he’s without a shirt) presumably after having sex; We see Lois wearing Superman’s shirt and it goes past her butt, with the rest of her bare legs showing.
 Vulgarity/Language: 1 “J-sus H. Chr-st,” 1 “S.O.B,” 1 “-ss,” 5 “h*ll,” 1 “d*mn,” 3 “Oh G-d,” 1 “Oh My G-d,” 1 “G-d,” 1 incomplete “Son of a…”
 Alcohol/Drugs: Superman pours champagne for himself and Lois and they drink it.
 Blood/Gore: A man in a diner punches Clark in the back of the head. Clark falls into a glass wall. He has blood on his mouth and hand and by his eye. Clark gets up and goes back over to the man to fight him. The man then elbows him in the stomach and punches him in the face. Clark falls backwards onto the floor. We see blood all over Clark’s face; We see blood from Clark’s nose and bruising around his eyes;
 Violence: We see a recap of Zod, Ursa and Non being sentenced to the Phantom Zone. We also briefly see the planet Krypton exploding. We also see a recap of Supes with the Kryptonite chained around his neck and falling into the pool of water. Tess rescues him and he flies through the ceiling. He catches one of the missiles and throws it into space. It explodes and frees Zod, Ursa and Non; Lois jumps out the office window and Clark zips outside to blow air that slows her speed of falling. He then uses laser vision to cut free an awning. Lois bounces off it and lands in a fruit stand; Ursa rips a patch off an astronaut and as he struggles, she kicks him into space. Zod pulls the line of another astronaut. He picks him up and pushes him into space. Non pulls on a rover and crushes it killing the guy inside; Lex steps on Otis’s hand and we hear a crunching sound; A mother smacks her child for misbehaving; A kid playing with the railing at Niagra Falls falls down the Falls, but Superman catches him; Lois pulls out a gun and shoots Clark, revealing him to be Superman, but we find out it’s a blank that she fired; A snake bites Ursa so she fries it with her eyes; Ursa rips a police officer’s badge off. Zod heats up the cop’s sawed-off shotgun and fires it on himself, which does no harm; Zod, Ursa and Non fire on a Jeep with their lasers. Its tires pop and the vehicle crashes; Zod sets a saloon on fire; Non catches a rocket and bends it. Helicopters fire on them. Ursa blows air that pushes the helicopter out of control. It crashes behind a barn and it explodes; Zod rips a general’s rank off his jacket and tosses it; We see news footage of them destroying the Washington Monument; The console in the Fortress of Solitude explodes and sparks; Zod, Ursa and Non break into the nation’s capital as soldiers fire on them. They throw a man through the sky light. They kick and punch people and break weapons. A chandelier falls on a man. Rockets are shot at them and do no damage. They toss around guys. Non caves in the ceiling and breaks a machine gun. Ursa kicks a guy in the face; Ursa rips a general’s ranking off his jacket; A man in a diner punches Clark in the back of the head. He falls into a glass wall. Blood on his mouth and yehand and by eye. A man in a diner punches Clark in the back of the head. Clark falls into a glass wall. He has blood on his mouth and hand and by his eye. Clark gets up and goes back over to the man to fight him. The man then elbows him in the stomach and punches him in the face. Clark falls backwards onto the floor. Lois jumps on the man’s back and tries to stop him; Ursa crunches Lex’s hand; Zod, Ursa and Non bust into the Daily Planet, knocking people around and trashing the place, destroying glass and desks and throwing a file cabinet. Perry hits Non in the head with a metal globe but it bounces off of him. He knocks out Perry by lifting his head into a ceiling tile. Lois tries to punch Ursa and hurts her hand. Lois tends to Perry who is passed out on the floor and accidentally drops his head (while cradling it) on the floor; Non breaks Jimmy’s camera in his hand; Zod, Ursa and Non bust through the building to outside, chasing Superman. Zod a throws concrete wall at Supes who blows it up with his eyes; Zod kicks Superman into the Statue of Liberty’s torch, blowing it up. Superman punches Non into a skyscraper. The antennae falls and Supes catches it and traps Non underneath. Zod blows up several cars in the street to draw him away. Zod heats up a fuel tanker. Supes reflects his heat ray back at him, frying a billboard behind him. Supes puts out a fire. Non crushes Supes through the street into the sewer. After much destruction, Non goes flying out of the ground and through a building; Ursa hits Supes with a manhole cover, throwing him into a truck. Supes throws Zod into a large neon sign and it explodes. The other two lift a bus. They throw the bus and Superman tries to stop it. It slides him into a truck and building; A mob mounts up against them and people are blown back as the evil trio blows air on them. Cars and debris go flying and flipping through the air; Ursa holds Lois’s throat and threatens to kill her; Supes crushes Zod’s hand; He then picks him up and throws him across the cave against a wall and he slides down into an abyss; Non tries to fly and falls off a cliff into an abyss; Lois punches Ursa off a cliff into an abyss; Superman uses his heat vision to blow up the Fortress of Solitude; We see some destruction from previous scenes happen in reverse; A man punches Clark in the stomach and hurts his hand. Clark then spins him on his stool and slides him across the bar into a pinball machine.

Superman III (1983)

 Sex/Nudity: A blonde woman on the street shows lots of cleavage in her dress. A man’s gaze follows her walking by and he walks into a pole; We briefly see a painting with a nude bather covering herself up; We see photos of a pretty model. The camera focuses a on her cleavage then her face; Jimmy says “A photographer sleeps with his camera!” Lois responds, “I’m glad I’m a writer!”; Lois holds up a bikini top and says she’s going to Bermuda; Lana’s dress shows her nipple outlines at times; A comment is made about “Rapists and robbers and rapists rape robbers”; Webster throws snow at Lorelei and it gets in her cleavage; Lorelei shows cleavage in her swimsuit; Superman threatens to not rescue someone and stays to flirt with Lana; We see the Lorelei’s cleavage again; We see Lorelei in a red dress that shows lots of cleavage sitting on top of the Statue of Liberty. She flirts with Superman and glides her finger across his chest; Lorelei wears a white dress that shows lots of cleavage. She lies down and flirts with Supes. She offers him champagne and he kisses her. It’s actually implied they sleep together.
 Vulgarity/Language: 1 “J-sus Chr-st,” 1 “S.O.B,” 1 “Chr-st,” 10 “h*ll,” 2 “d*mn,” 1 “G-d,” 1 “Oh my G-d,” 1 “My G-d,” 1 “By G-d,” 1 “Good L-rd,” 1 “p*ss ant,” 1 “jack-ss”
 Alcohol/Drugs: People are drinking at a high school reunion; There is drinking in a bowling alley; Webster pours a drink for himself and Gus; Gus carries a briefcase of alcohol. He and security guard get drunk together; Lorelei offers champagne to Superman; Superman pours shots and drinks them.
 Blood/Gore: Jimmy falls from a ladder and lands amidst a fire, hurting his leg. We can see X-ray of a clean break of his bone when Superman scans his leg; We see blood on a rock and the side of Ricky’s head; The computer sucks in Vera and covers her with metal plates (which totally terrified me when I was little).
 Violence: A man walks into a pole. A roller skater loses control and plows into 3 telephone poles, knocking them over. A dog knocks over a lady with groceries. A blind guy grabs a line-painting machine. A mechanical penguin catches fire and walks down the street. Clark finds it and blows out the fire. The blind guy accidentally knocks a man into a hole and then steps on his head. A bank robber shoots a gun in the air as cops shoot at him. A car hits a fire hydrant and the car fills up with water inside. Superman comes to rescue him; Paint falls on a man’s head, then the can. He knocks a gumball machine over. A mime slips on them. The blind man walks through a painting. Clark accidentally hits a man in the face with a pie; We see a chemical plant on fire. The fire spreads and blows up a fuel tanker. Jimmy falls from a ladder and lands amidst the fire, hurting his leg. We can see X-ray of a clean break of his bone when Superman scans his leg; Superman stops a tractor so it doesn’t run over Ricky; A storm is created in Columbia that causes water to pound houses and cause some of the church ceiling to fall in; Webster’s chair collapses underneath him; Gus falls off the roof on skis, and is almost hit by a car; A truck falls off a bridge to the shallow water beneath; Superman straightens the Leaning Tower of Piza and a merch seller throws a statue in anger; Superman flies through the hull of a boat and rips it open; A car bumps into another one and the drivers yell at each other. One man picks a fight with the other and they hit and kick each other; Superman flicks nuts across the table in a bar into glass bottles. He then melts the mirror with his heat vision; Superman punches Clark into debris in the junkyard. Clark throws Superman into a vat of acid. He then emerges and blows it onto Clark. It burns his coat, so he throws it off. Supes beats him with a piece of metal, then throws him into a car compactor. It crushes him in and Clark pushes himself out. He throws tires that surround Superman and he rips through them. Supes uses his lasers to cut a large magnet free from a crane and it falls down. It pushes Clark through the ground. Supes kicks him in the face and picks him up. He then puts him on a conveyer that goes into a grinder. He then crushes his glasses in his hand. Clark emerges and chokes evil Superman. His face turns red and he disappears; SAMs fire missiles at Supes and he dodges them. One blasts him into a rock and he slides down; Supes is trapped in an airtight bubble but he uses heat vision to cut his way out; A green ray blasts Superman; Gus bites Webster’s finger and punches him; Supes is tortured again with a beam from the machine. Gus takes and ax to the machine to free Superman; The computer throws him against a rock wall with a beam; The computer sucks in Vera and covers her with metal plates. She then shoots Lorelei with a ray and pins her to the rock wall. Then she shoots Webster; Supes reflects Vera’s beam back at her and she falls into a pit. The computer tries to electrocute him and then wires grab him and pull him inside the computer. The computer explodes; Superman digs Gus out of rubble; A man tries to hit Clark and he falls onto a table with wheels. Then the guy goes out the door and into an elevator; The statue vendor smashes his own shelf of statues.

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)

 Sex/Nudity: We briefly see a newspaper with the image of a topless girl covering her chest on it; Lacy tries laying on her desk seductively for Clark; A woman dancing with Lex shows a lot of cleavage in her dress.
 Vulgarity/Language: 3 “h*ll,” 2 “Oh My G-d,” 1 “G-d awful”
 Alcohol/Drugs: None.
 Blood/Gore: Nuclear Man scratches Superman’s neck and we see bloody scratches; Superman gets sick from Nuclear Man’s scratches. We briefly see Superman with scaly skin and thinning hair.
 Violence: Space debris hits a satellite and knocks an astronaut into space as the station spins. Supes rescues them; Lenny locks two cops in a car and drives it off a cliff. It smokes and we see them with debits on their faces climb up the cliff (it’s silly); A train conductor has a heart attack and the train goes out of control; Lex smashes a glass case; Clark jumps off a rooftop with Lois and catches her; We see nuclear rockets fire. Superman catches them and puts them into a net, which he spins and throws into the sun; Nuclear Man lifts up Lenny and spins him around; Nuclear Man destroys part of a castle landmark. A person falls. Superman catches her; Nuclear Man freezes Superman in a block of ice; Nuclear Man causes a volcano to erupt. Lava flows into a town; Nuclear Man picks up the Statue of Liberty and drops it in the city. Supes picks up the Statue and returns her to where she is supposed to be; Nuclear Man scratches Superman’s neck and we see bloody scratches; A car crashes near Nuclear Man. A car hits that car. Then he causes fire hydrants to burst and other fires and explosions. He pushes back cars and they explode. Some storefronts explode and people run in terror. He flips a S.W.A.T. van and spins it on its head. He melts guns and raises people in the air; Superman busts through multiple floors and shatters windows along the way. He throws Nuclear Man into an elevator and punches the button. Then he rips out the elevator and drops it on the moon; Superman gets sick from Nuclear Man’s scratches. We briefly see Superman with scaly skin and thinning hair; They fight again. Nuclear Man tackles him. They exchange blows. Nuclear Man blasts him with power beams, then throws him into space. Nuclear Man beats Supes into the surface of the moon and buries him; Nuclear Man busts into the Daily Planet and takes Lacy and flies out; Supes moves the moon to block the sun, immobilzing Nuclear Man. Lacy dangles from his arm and Superman rescues her. He then comes back for Nuclear Man, takes him to Earth and drops him into a Nuclear power plant, where he helps fuel the area’s power; Superman carries away Lex and Lenny’s car.