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
Superman (1940s cartoons) collected Fleischer / Famous cartoons were included in the box sets "The Christopher Reeve Superman Collection" and "Superman Ultimate Collector's Edition", where both sets also included a 13-minute short documentary on the history of these cartoons, entitled "First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series". This documentary (which was included on the "Superman II" two-disc special edition DVD) features interviews with surviving members, relatives and biographers of the animation and production team, also contemporary animators such as Bruce Timm (""), Paul Dini and Dan Riba ("") who detail the influence these cartoons have had on their own works. Upon this release though,