I Forgot How Bad Those Final 2 Christopher Reeve Superman Films Are

After watching and rewatching James Gunner superman Trailer In recent weeks, I’ve been on a Superman high. To continue it, I decided that time Building a Lego over the Christmas holidaysI’m going to rewatch everything Christopher Reeve superman Movies I’ve seen before—I’m old enough to watch IV in theaters—but not revisited in sequence for decades. What I got was one of the fastest declining franchises I can think of, although I believe two films in history have been the opposite.

Everyone would agree that Richard Donner’s 1978 film superman is a classic. It is filled with so many epic and memorable scenes that it still stands as one of the best superhero movies of all time. Clearly, this is the best of the bunch. Superman 2 It’s definitely a step down but it completes the story of that movie nicely, giving us a full circle with Clark Kent and Lois Lane’s characters and wrapping up the whole General Zod thing.

Then I pop on Superman III And immediately I knew it was a bad decision. It begins with Richard Pryor’s character in an unemployment office. He then magically becomes the world’s greatest computer hacker. Clark Kent returns to Smallville and becomes strangely close to an old classmate. Pryor and his evil boss create fake kryptonite which is basically a cigarette and it inexplicably turns Superman into a hole. Then we need him to be an ass for a long time. Eventually, Superman fights himself, becomes normal again, and fights the computer hackers and inexplicably forgives Pryor’s character. It is, to put it bluntly, a huge piece of shit.

Superman III Actually pissed me off. If I wanted to watch a Richard Pryor movie, I would. This was apparently the only one starring Richard Pryor superman Movies, not the other way around. It misunderstands the characters, never develops a dramatic plot, is filled with all sorts of out-of-place gags, and works better as an anti-smoking ad than anything else. It worried me a lot because when I saw superman And Superman 2 A few times in recent years, I don’t remember III or IV Besides, I just remembered, I thought, IV was the worst of the bunch. So when I started it, I was a little hesitant.

For those going with low expectations, I actually found out Superman IV: The Quest for Peace to be vastly superior to Superman III. It’s still terrible—let’s not forget—but at least it’s trying to be one superman Film He is back in love with Lois Lane, reuniting with Margot Kidder for the entire film. Lex Luthor has a new scheme and Gene Hackman is back for the entire film. Superman has to fight an otherworldly supervillain in Nuclear Man. And the character is working for the betterment of the whole world. These are all things that one finds important to one’s DNA in one way or another superman movie

Of course, all of this could easily happen, and none of the actors – except for the always exceptional Reeve – seem to care one bit about what they’re doing. Superman IV Events from other movies are forgettable, look bad, feel somehow too small for the franchise, and the action set pieces are terrible. It’s a bad, bad movie. But it is a step up from the abomination of the former.

As the film ends (Superman IV About 45 minutes shorter than the previous three, though please There are many reasons for this), I was feeling pretty confident in my ranking. One is one, two is two, four is three and three is four. It honestly felt like an almost unbelievable list. So, that’s when I looked at Wikipedia and Rotten Tomatoes to see Superman III Considered better—though not more—than IVI was a little surprised. Obviously I had the narrative in my head but after watching two bad movies back to back, the great first and the good second, I felt like history was wrong. Superman III While terrifying in every sense of the word Quest for Peace Terrible, at least when trying to be a Superman movie. And that put it on top.

Thankfully, Warner Bros. has the perfect palate cleanser for both of these atrocities. No, not an unofficial sequel Superman Returns Since 2006. we mean Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, A fantastic documentary about people and characters. that Might actually be the best Superman movie ever.

All these movies are currently streaming on Max.

Want more io9 news? See when the latest is expected Marvel, Star WarsAnd Star Trek What’s next for the release? The DC Universe in Film and TVAnd everything you need to know about its future Who is the doctor?.