Christopher Reeve publicly regretted his involvement in the film. He wrote in his memoir, "Superman IV was a catastrophe from start to finish. That failure was a huge blow to my career."
Wes Craven was set to direct, but was replaced after creative differences with star Christopher Reeve.
In Christopher Reeve's autobiography, Still Me, Reeve only refers to Superman IV in this one sentence: "The less said about Superman IV the better."
Christopher Reeve agreed to play Superman for the fourth time if the studio financed his project, Street Smart (1987).
When Nuclear Man was being developed, Christopher Reeve was approached to play that part as Superman's polar opposite, or a darker version of Bizarro.