Christopher Reeve later made even higher gains for "Superman III" (1983), though for "" (1987), he decided it would be healthier to focus more on cardiovascular workouts. One of the reasons Reeve could not work out as much for "" was an emergency appendectomy he had in June 1986. Reeve was never a Superman or comic book fan, though he had watched "Adventures of Superman" starring George Reeves. Reeve found the role offered a suitable challenge because it was a dual role. He said, "there must be some difference stylistically between Clark and Superman. Otherwise, you just have a pair of glasses
Superman II initially unavailable as he had accepted to star in the romantic fantasy film, "Somewhere in Time", five months into the production shutdown by which his contract to shoot both "Superman" films back-to-back had expired. Reeve had claimed that twelve hours after his casting was announced, he received a letter from the producers to be available for "Superman II" on July 16, which was only five days after he was to finish filming "Somewhere in Time". In March 1979, the Salkinds filed suit against Reeve alleging he had breached his contract by walking off the sequel. Furthermore, Reeve had held reservations