Superman (Salkind films) adopted a high protein diet. He added of muscle to his thin frame. He 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
Christopher Reeve nuclear disarmament plot was his idea. Cannon Films purchased the production rights to the character of Superman from Alexander Salkind and his son Ilya Salkind, the original producers of the film series, in the mid-1980s. Cannon Films were known for low-budget, poorly acted, poorly scripted action films. They cut the budget of "" in half to $17 million. The film was both a critical failure and a box office disappointment, becoming the lowest grossing Superman film to date. Reeve later said, "the less said about "Superman IV" the better." Both of Reeve's children from his relationship with Gae Exton had