Nuclear Man

Nuclear Man (portrayed by Mark Pillow but voiced by Gene Hackman) is the supervillain from the film Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. He was created by Lex Luthor with the DNA of Superman. Despite his name, he is actually solar powered. He and Bizarro succeeded Evil Superman as the evil movie clone of Superman.

Not to be confused with Firestorm whose nickname was "The Nuclear Man" prior to the release of Superman IV.

There was a very limited run of action figures of Nuclear Man.

Character history

First Nuclear Man

The first Nuclear Man.

Superman IV was approximately 134 minutes long in an earlier form. Around 45 minutes of footage was deleted prior to the theatrical release. Deleted scenes from the film show Lex Luthor creating a prototype Nuclear Man (played by British actor Clive Mantle), who was quickly defeated by Superman. This Nuclear Man also seemed to resemble the comic book character Bizarro in his speech and mannerisms. He is very tall, wears black clothing, and has spiky black hair. This Nuclear Man was created in Lex Luthor's laboratory. While Clark Kent and Lacy Warfield were dancing at the Metro Club in Metropolis, the first Nuclear Man entered the club with the intention of killing Superman. Before he could get to Superman, a woman began to flirt with him. She unbuttoned his shirt and touched his chest, but was burned by the intense heat his body gives off. She screamed, getting Clark's attention. Clark emerged as Superman from the back door of club, finding the Nuclear Man. The two battled using cars, garbage cans, and other objects against each other. Ultimately, Superman kicked the Nuclear Man into a power transformer which destroyed him. Lex Luthor's nephew, Lenny, collected the remains of the first Nuclear Man and returned them to Luthor's lair.

Second Nuclear Man

The powerful second Nuclear Man.

The stolen DNA (or, in the original cut, the remains of the first Nuclear Man) were placed into a small box along with a computer and some material which would be made into clothing. Following assembly, Lex Luthor put the case onto the side of a nuclear missile which Superman threw into the sun. The second Nuclear Man was born. Immediately, the Nuclear Man made his way to Lex Luthor's building, where he showed that he had the power to generate heat and electricity by touch, had heat vision hotter than Superman's, could levitate objects using hand beams, could shoot fire and heat flares, and had even greater super strength than Superman. His only weakness was that he had to remain in direct sunlight to function. His apperence is that of a 6 ft powerful man, wears black gauntlets, a sleeveless black costume with yellow-goldish-orange stripes, a "N" for nuclear logo on the back of his long black cape, long silver nails/talons, and long blonde mullet like hair.

Superman and this Nuclear Man fought in various locations around the world. Nuclear Man destroyed a portion of the Great Wall of China which Superman quickly rebuilt. Then Nuclear Man activated a nuclear missile in Moscow which Superman disarmed. In Kansas, Nuclear Man created a tornado which picked up a young girl, who Superman managed to save. In Italy, Nuclear Man activated a volcano, forcing Superman to plug it with the top of a nearby mountain. Nuclear Man and Superman returned to Metropolis, where Nuclear Man dropped the Statue of Liberty toward a crowded street below. While Superman flew the Statue back to its original position, Nuclear Man dug his claws into Superman's neck, poisoning him with radiation. Before Superman could fall to his death, Nuclear Man kicked the Man of Steel into the air, and his cape luckily caught on Lady Liberty's flame. This is one of the very few Superman villains to successfully defeat Superman.

The following day, Luthor unveiled Nuclear Man to the nuclear arms dealers who were working with him. Nuclear Man demonstrated his power to them, and, scared for their lives, they left Luthor's building, leaving all of their nuclear arms profits in Luthor's possession. Afterwards, Nuclear Man saw a picture of Lacy Warfield on the front page of the Daily Planet and developed a crush on her. He flew to Metropolis square where he started attacking people and vehicles until Superman would take him to "the woman". However, Nuclear Man's aggression got the better of him and he was tricked into entering an elevator which Superman took to the moon. The sun eventually shone onto the elevator room, and Superman and Nuclear Man had another battle. Nuclear Man threw, zapped, jumped on, and threw rocks at Superman until he finally got Superman where he wanted him: hammered into the moon's surface. Nuclear Man flew back to the Daily Planet newsroom, where he abducted Lacy Warfield and took her into space with him. Superman, recovered from his fight on the moon, pushes the moon in front of the sun, causing a solar eclipse and robbing Nuclear Man of his powers. Superman saves Lacy and drops the Nuclear Man into a nuclear reactor where he is destroyed.

In the deleted scenes from Superman IV, Nuclear Man takes Lacy to Lex's lair when he first abducts her. He flies off like a human nuclear missile, attempting to start a nuclear war by convincing the major world powers that their enemies have launched a nuclear missile at them. Nuclear Man and Lacy will be the only ones left. Superman takes Lacy from Luthor's lair and flies off with her, using her as bait for Nuclear Man. This gets Nuclear Man's attention and Superman returns Lacy to Luthor's lair. This leads into Nuclear Man arriving at Metropolis square and confronting Superman. In another deleted scene, Nuclear Man abducts Lacy again, this time from Luthor's lair, where he announces that he wants her by his side. This leads into Nuclear Man flying Lacy into space.

See also

• Firestorm the Nuclear Man.
• Bizarro
• Evil Superman
• Ultraman