So let’s say Superman decides to eliminate all the nukes on the planet during the cold war. I’m wondering if the nuclear powers would let him finish or if they’d decide to launch before he could finish off their missiles. If he did get rid of them does the cold war go hot? Russia would suddenly be a an extreme disadvantage, would NATO decide to attack before the USSR could rearm?
Supes could completely disarm the Russians and the Chinese before they could even get their PALs hot. Since they would be the only ones who would launch preemptively, the rest could be disposed of at Kal’s pleasure.
The Cold War would never go hot, because heat vision and invulnerability trumps T-72s.
Superman unilaterally disarming the world is effectively the death of democracy. Either the nations of the Earth turn against him and get smacked down, or they tacitly admit that he has a veto over all of their legislation, and are careful to only pass laws they think he’ll approve of. Either way, we’ve replaced the rule of law with the reign of Superman, either explicitly or implicitly.
I question that one side or the other was more likely to order a nuclear first strike during the Cold War. I also question the idea that, if the Cold War went hot, it would necessarily be Russian tanks facing off against Superman. If Supes took out all the nukes in the Eastern Bloc, I’m pretty sure the first thing the west would do is roll tanks into Berlin. Heat vision and invulnerability also trump M160As. What do we do if Superman turns his heat vision on invading American forces? Worse, what do we do if he doesn’t?
“Truth, Justice and the American Way.” 
On a level, you don’t need Superman, when the Manhattan Project began to produce the first bombs, some scientists got cold feet. They suggested not producing any, and that no nation ever would, or should, or could. They truly suggested we stop all research along these lines. Forever.
Perhaps I’m remembering wrong, because it sounds utterly stupid. You can’t stop the human race from thinking certain thoughts or pursuing certain studies. But I really do remember the topic being vetted in just that way.
You’ve got to realize something about Kryptonians … they’re aloof to the point of misanthropy. Brando really nailed Jor-el, by doing, well, what he always does … not memorizing lines so his delivery is always distant and casual. He sent Zod et al to the Phantom Zone, and discussed the imminent destruction of Krypton with same detached interest. All Krypotonians are perfectly happy to sit, alone, at home studying whatever science takes their fancy for a few centuries. Clark has been made to care by having been brought up human, but he’d never take over our lives, he can’t care so much that he would do that.
Well, according to “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace,” Luthor immediately set up a ferocious black market and made zillions off bomb sales. 
I have no explanation for Nuclear Man. Or why the producers didn’t even bother to edit the cables out of the print when somebody was flying.
You know what? Forget I was here.
This thread seems like a Skald hypothetical.
And Miller pretty much has it right: if Superman decides that there’ll be no more nukes, he’d pretty much have to take over the world in order to enforce that decision.
I don’t think so. He could just decree that weapons of mass destruction are a big Bozo No-no and that he’ll pave any nation/group that uses them. All other methods are fine. I think people would get used to the idea rather quickly and the only group that would bitch would be the war-mongers and nutjobs in power.
And what if he then decrees sarcasm to be illegal? What then? Huh?
Then we all learn what life is like in the Phantom Zone.
Firestorm did it once—going around transmuting the fissionable material in missiles into, er, lemon curry I think it was.
The general world reaction was to go nuclear on Firestorm himself. He survived, but ended up backing down.
I’d object. I’d object a lot. I never voted for Superman. Why does he get to decide international policy for the rest of the planet? Who gave him that authority? Nobody: he’s imposing his will on us through raw physical force. That’s the definition of a dictator. Even if his only dictum is, “No more nukes.”
And what are the odds that he’d stop at that? Superman in the comics is not terrifying because of his strong moral code against (among other things) becoming a tyrant. If he’s willing to bend his code for nukes, who can say what else he might bend it for?
So is he going to start disposing of chemical and biological weapons, too?
Or, hell—if this is a DC universe, even aside from comic-book superscience and alien technology, magic is known to exist, occasionally by very broad swaths of the population. What if someone gets the idea, lacking other options, to start studying and weaponizing that? Now you’ve potentially got a family of WMDs that Superman is specifically vulnerable to.
If Superman isn’t willing to rid the world of WMD, then what good is he? Either de-nuke the planet and keep it that way or piss off to somewhere else.
Would he get Super fat…?
Super stupid…?
Get a Super bad hair-do and a super small weenus…?
“Fortress of Solitude is Best Fortress!”
Nukes were more the semi-guarantee of the West that the Soviets and Chinese wouldn’t start WWIII since the Soviets had a fairly large numerical and tank advantage in Europe. Since even Supes wouldn’t likely be able to disable or destroy thousands of nukes at once, once he started, I would imagine the Soviets (and Chinese) would see it as a pre-emptive American attack and just start launching the rest to try and overwhelm him and prevent the West from utilizing Supes as their own game-changing wonder weapon.
So Supes would probably be the architect of the doomsday he was trying to prevent. But it might be a good parallel to the comic’s version of Kryptonians’ arrogance causing the destruction of Krypton.
This is what I take exception to. Kal would absolutely be able to take out every Chinese and Soviet launcher within minutes. We’re talking about someone who can give Barry Allen a run for his money. No need for finesse - just sheer kinetic destruction as he plows through every silo, sub and mobile launcher. If he starts with the Chinese, he could take them out and rip through the Russians by the time anybody knows what is happening. If he really wants to be sure, he then parks himself above the planet and vaporizes any ballistic track he spots. Easy-peasy.
The Authority is one example of a group of super humans who are not “evil” but aren’t really all that nice either and will kill you as soon as look at you if you get in their way, deciding that they really should be running things for the betterment of all. Writing is all over the place in the series, but in the end this benevolent dictatorship is pretty problematic.
Yet he couldn’t be there in time to stop two nukes and had to use time travel. He doesn’t seem as fast in the movies.
He had to slow down so he would show up on film.