Honestly, if you ask a casual fan about Superman III, they’ll probably just make a joke about Richard Pryor in a pink tablecloth. Or they’ll talk about how the franchise took a massive nose dive after the masterpiece of the first two films. And look, I get it. The movie is weird. It’s got a tonal identity crisis that makes you wonder if the producers even liked the source material.
But here’s the thing: hidden inside this 1983 mess is one of the most incredible sequences in superhero history. I’m talking about the junkyard fight. Even Christopher Reeve, who famously regretted how the movie turned out, admitted that the "Evil Superman" subplot was the one part he actually enjoyed filming.
If you grew up with the Donner films, Superman III feels like a slap in the face. Richard Donner, the guy who gave the first movie its "verisimilitude," was long gone. In his place was Richard Lester, a director known for A Hard Day's Night and a very "British" sense of slapstick. The result is a movie that starts with a ten-minute Rube Goldberg-style comedy sequence and ends with a giant supercomputer trying to turn a woman into a robot.
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It’s bizarre. But it’s also kind of fascinating.
What Really Happened Behind the Scenes?
The production of this movie was a bit of a circus. It all started when Richard Pryor went on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and mentioned offhand how much he loved Superman. The producers, the Salkinds, saw dollar signs. They didn't care if a high-energy comedian fit the mythic tone they’d built; they just wanted a hit.
They paid Richard Pryor $5 million to play Gus Gorman. To put that in perspective, Christopher Reeve—the actual star and the man carrying the franchise—was paid roughly $1 million.
Think about that for a second.
The guy playing the "computer genius" who barely knows what he's doing made five times more than the Man of Steel. This pay gap wasn't just a fun trivia fact; it shifted the entire focus of the script. Suddenly, the writers (David and Leslie Newman) were churning out a Richard Pryor vehicle that just happened to feature Superman as a guest star.
Reeve was frustrated. He felt the movie was becoming too "cartoony." He missed Donner's serious approach. He hated scenes like the one where Pryor skis off a skyscraper wearing a pink cape. To Reeve, that wasn't Superman; it was a parody. And yet, he stayed professional, delivering a performance that—despite the script—remains one of his most nuanced takes on the character.
The Evil Superman and the Junkyard Masterclass
If you haven't seen it in a while, do yourself a favor and skip to the middle. Because of some "synthetic Kryptonite" laced with cigarette tar (yes, really), Superman doesn't die. He just becomes a jerk.
He stops shaving. He drinks. He straightens the Leaning Tower of Pisa just to be annoying. He’s essentially "Bizarro" before the movies knew how to handle that concept.
This leads to the junkyard scene.
It’s a literal battle between the corrupted, "Dark" Superman and the mild-mannered, "Good" Clark Kent. It’s psychological, it’s gritty, and it’s genuinely uncomfortable to watch. Reeve plays both roles with such distinct body language that you actually forget it’s the same actor.
- Dark Superman: Slumped, cynical, and heavy-footed.
- Clark Kent: Scared but fundamentally unshakeable.
When Clark finally "strangles" the darkness out of himself and stands up, revealing the bright, clean suit underneath, it’s a pure "hero" moment that rivals anything in the 1978 original. It's the only part of the movie that feels like it has real stakes.
Why Lana Lang Was a Better Fit Than Lois Lane
Another thing people overlook? Annette O'Toole as Lana Lang. Margot Kidder’s Lois Lane was famously sidelined in this movie, reportedly because she spoke out against the firing of Richard Donner. She gets about five minutes of screen time at the beginning and end.
But honestly? The Clark and Lana relationship is sweet.
It grounds the character in Smallville. We see Clark attending his high school reunion, dealing with a bully (Brad Wilson), and showing a more human, vulnerable side. It’s a nice break from the Metropolis "god among men" vibe. Fun fact for the nerds: Annette O'Toole went on to play Martha Kent in the Smallville TV series decades later. Talk about a full-circle moment.
The Legacy of the "Supercomputer"
We have to talk about the ending. Robert Vaughn plays Ross Webster, a generic billionaire villain who builds a supercomputer to... control the world's coffee supply? Or oil? It changes depending on which scene you're watching.
The finale is basically a proto-Matrix fever dream. The computer becomes sentient, starts shooting "lasers" that look like Atari graphics, and eventually grabs Webster’s sister, Vera, and pulls her into the machinery.
That transformation scene is nightmare fuel.
Even today, fans of a certain age cite the "Vera Robot" as one of their earliest cinematic traumas. It’s body horror in a PG-rated movie. The machine literally fuses metal to her skin and turns her eyes into glowing robotic orbs. It’s wildly out of place for a "comedy," but it’s the kind of practical-effects weirdness you just don't see in modern CGI-heavy blockbusters.
Why You Should Give it Another Chance
Is Superman III a "good" movie in the traditional sense? Probably not. It's tonally messy and spends way too much time on Richard Pryor’s bumbling antics.
However, it’s also a capsule of a very specific era of filmmaking. It’s a movie where the star was trying to protect the dignity of a character while the producers were trying to turn it into a circus. That tension is visible in every frame.
More importantly, it’s the movie that proved Christopher Reeve was more than just a guy in a suit. He carried a failing script on his back and still managed to give us a definitive look at the internal struggle of being a hero.
If you’re planning a rewatch, here is how to actually enjoy it:
- Lower your expectations for the plot. The computer logic makes zero sense. Just accept it.
- Watch the Clark vs. Superman fight as a standalone short film. It’s the peak of the movie.
- Appreciate the Smallville scenes. They add a lot of heart to Reeve’s Clark Kent.
- Look for the Alberta locations. Most of the "Metropolis" and "Smallville" scenes were filmed in Calgary and High River, Canada. The scenery is gorgeous.
The movie grossed about $80 million—a huge drop from the $190 million of the second film. It almost killed the franchise before Superman IV: The Quest for Peace finished the job. But in a world of sanitized, predictable superhero movies, there’s something refreshing about how truly bizarre Superman III is. It’s a mess, but it’s a human mess.
Next time you're scrolling for something to watch, give the junkyard fight another look. You might find that Reeve’s performance is even better than you remembered.
Actionable Insight: If you're a fan of Christopher Reeve's portrayal, seek out the 2024 documentary Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story. It provides a deep, emotional look at his life and his commitment to the role, which puts his work in the later, more troubled sequels into a whole new perspective.