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 (Salkind films) where once again he comes face to face with Luthor and his new creation from Superman's DNA called Nuclear Man. A spin-off film called "Supergirl", based on the comics character Supergirl, starred Helen Slater as the cousin of Superman. Christopher Reeve was originally planned to have a cameo appearance in it but bowed out early on. The development process behind the creation of DC Comics character Superman in the "Superman" film by Mario Puzo, David Newman, Leslie Newman and Robert Benton was conceived when Ilya Salkind bought the rights for Superman in film. Many A-list directors and actors were sought