Posted in: Avengers, Comic Spoilers, Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: Avengers: Armageddon, superman IV

Is Avengers: Armageddon 'Superman IV: The Quest For Peace' Done Right?

Is Avengers: Armageddon actually 'Superman IV: The Quest For Peace' done right? (Spoilers)

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, released in 1987, was the fifth and final film in the original Superman series (counting Supergirl) and is widely regarded as the weakest entry in the franchise. It saw Superman intervene in Cold War nuclear tensions after reading a schoolboy's letter and address the United Nations, promising to rid the world of nuclear weapons. He collects the world's missiles in a giant net and hurls them into the Sun.

Which apparently would have been fine if Lex Luthor hadn't escaped prison (again), stolen a strand of Superman's hair from a museum exhibit, created a genetic matrix and attached it to a nuclear missile. When Superman throws the missile into the Sun, it creates Nuclear Man, a solar-powered being as strong as Superman. Because that's the real threat of nuclear disarmament, apparently, supervillains being created as a side-effect.

And so in Ultimate Impact: Reborn #4 by Chris Condon and Stefano Caselli, Steve Rogers, Captain America, asks the big questions about humanity…

In today's Avengers Armageddon #3 by Chip Zdarsky, Delio Diaz and Frank Alpizar, the 911 Captain America, David Colton, given new powers by an Origin Box, has decided to do something about it, just without the acquiescence of nuclear powers.

Just like Superman, gathering them, all up in a big net….

….and throwing them into the heart of the Sun. It does feel like a very deliberate parallel.

And as the rest of the Marvel Universe take in the implications…

And Wolverine tries to go for the big overall picture with a Rob Liefeld wrinkled frown…

..Winter Soldier takes the other side of this particular Civil War for its twentieth anniversary…

… and gives even more nuclear weapons for David Colton to find, from the American side of the equation.

While also grabbing something rather similar to what they all fought Civil War II over….

And while the details of nuclear armageddon and Doctor Doom are debated (at least he never launched a nuclear strike during One World Under Doom)…

It looks like the Russians also had a secret stash of nukes that neither the Winter Soldier nor David Colton knew about, either… and a USA without nukes makes a tempting opportunity, it seems.

Back to Captain America's questions… and answers.

• Avengers Armageddon #3 by Chip Zdarsky, Delio Diaz, Frank Alpizar
  CIVILIANS RIOT, VILLAINS RISE AND HEROES FALL! The entire globe is thrown into chaos as the Armageddon rages on!!! With the rest of the world turning against the Avengers, what will they choose? Stand down or fight against Red Hulk, even as he seems more and more unbeatable? And when an unstable new power takes center stage…the Avengers – and the world – will need all the help they can get! Wolverine sends out the call: AVENGERS ASSEMBLE! $4.99 Aug 19, 2026
• Ultimate Impact: Reborn #4 by Chris Condon, Stefano Caselli
  CAPTAIN AMERICA JOINS THE FIGHT! MILES MORALES and IRON MAN recruit CAPTAIN AMERICA to defend against the scourge of the Ultimate Negative Zone – HOSTILICUS! What side is the newly born WONDER MAN really on? Will reality-bending SIGHTSEER master her frightening power before it's too late? Even if Hostilicus is defeated, the Ultimate Gem of Cyttorak-powered MOGUL's scheme grows in the shadows — to what end? $4.99 Aug 19, 2026

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