ROTTEN TOMATOES: Hey, Maybe Brandon Routh Is Still Superman After All

Hey, Maybe Brandon Routh Is Still Superman After All

Round and round the rumor mill goes.

by Jeff Giles | January 07, 2008

On Friday, the latest scoop on the inevitable Superman Returns sequel was that both Bryan Singer and Brandon Routh were out. Less than 24 hours later, however, rumors of Routh's demise were being dismissed as greatly exaggerated. You've gotta love the world of movie gossip, don't you?

Leading the new rumor brigade? Ain't It Cool News, where tipster Moriarty cautions readers, "Don't believe this one, kids," stating explicitly that "Routh's still the Man of Steel." According to AICN, "a very high-ranking mole" has let them know that talk of a no-Routh sequel is "absolutely false":

The only thing that has been determined is that Justice League will not feature the actors from the other films. That's it.

Right now, Routh is still Warners' choice to return if they make another stand-alone Superman film, and that's based on conversations as recently as a few weeks ago.

See? We told you on Friday that a new rumor would eventually come along. And given the back-and-forth nature of the gossip surrounding this film, we're bound to hear more opposing information soon.

Source: Ain't It Cool News

Related Items

Movie:	Superman Returns
	Justice League of America
Celeb:	Bryan Singer
	Brandon Routh

(1-20 of 29 posts) | Reply

Sora Freak writes:
on Jan 07 2008 06:45 AM

Great News!

As much as I loved Superman Returns, I could have standed losing Singer, but not Routh.

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Shatter24 writes:
on Jan 07 2008 06:47 AM

Agreed Routh may grow into the role, with the proper directorial guidance, a decent story, an interesting foil, and a better Lois Lane to act against (please dump the current girl, she is so wrong for the role).

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onepiece226 writes:
on Jan 07 2008 06:51 AM

Well that maybe true, but the already a faliure of a film Justic League of America is still on. I'd rather have a new hopefully more actiony Superman than a team of heores

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chaoss3 writes:
on Jan 07 2008 07:36 AM

I think the key phrase to focus on here is, "...if they make another stand-alone Superman film..." which, in my opinion, they have no intention of doing. Routh isn't safe yet. And you know what? That doesn't bother me too much.

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luvincharity writes:
on Jan 07 2008 07:51 AM

I wish he wasnt comming back if they make another one. Now they dont have to start from scratch and I wish they would, The super kid plot was the horrible and unfortunatley as long as they continue that story line I think Superman franchise will be too tied down to return to glory.

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citizenjames writes:
on Jan 07 2008 08:26 AM

there were so many things wrong with SUPERMAN RETURNS but i think it was all done with the best intentions. there are no bad stories, just bad ways to tell them. richard donner and geoff johns did the "superman gets a kid" idea in ACTION COMICS and it was so good it was a kick in the teeth to singer.

you can't make a sequel and pick what you like and what you don't. you can make SUPERMAN RETURNS and not reference III & IV but you don't ignore them. lois forgets who superman in II but we're just going to ignore that. and adding a son takes away what makes superman special is that he's alone and born out of a tragedy. you can't kill the kid in a sequel (nobody needs a depressed lois and a morbid superman) and now that he's here you have to address it.

it's simple. black kryptonite or your jam him into that chamber from SUPERMAN II and he's human. then send him to smallville to be raised by his grandma (which is what happens with baby's mommas and get on to the movie.

oh yeah, warners, can superman PUNCH MORE CRAP this time. the last time i was expecting him to show up with a boom box outside the daily planet playing peter gabriel songs.

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Uradik Smoke writes:
on Jan 07 2008 08:35 AM

I agree with most of the posts already ...

I am more than happy that Singer is rumored off the sequel as i feel his vision and plot of Returns was way off the mark and focused way to much on the non "Superman" issues , but if they lost Routh in favour of a younger Superman this movie could have turned into another travesty . I think given a real plot and some real action/fight sequences that Routh could do much better then he did in SR ...

I enjoyed elements of Superman Returns but overall i found it to be to focused on The Lois/Superman/Other guy love triangle and not focused ehough on Superman being a hero or explaining why he is to the new generation of fans.

Routh can and will grow into th role of Superman , especially with out Singer directing the next film ...

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Gimy writes:
on Jan 07 2008 08:39 AM

this is basically a "hey hey hey...we're keeping our options open!" deal. they'd be stupid to say "routh is our man!" and mean it. they're waiting for the JL movie to come out and see what vibe the new guy gets. if he blows the character away...its his role for good, no doubt. if it tanks(like it looks like it will)...they have Routh to fall back on without coming out publicly and saying he's NOT the man of steel anymore. very simple.

i'm half half on Routh. to switch superman actors again would end the series for years nless somebody BIG came along, and that won't happen. he was decent but lets face it, he wasn't exactly a scene stealer in this either though. i know you comic nerds would hate this idea but...sh3t, just give me Bale as superman and Jason Stathom as Lex Luther and i'd be completely happy with that. give it more action, more villians...SOMETHING other than what it was: a SLOOW movie about a superhuman dude taken down by a weak george costanza clone. it took this franchise AGES just to make one movie, you take away the lead actor and you're basically calling it quits already though. bosworth, as much as i loves her, needs to go FOR SURE...

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jimtrots writes:
on Jan 07 2008 09:54 AM

Even though I thought Routh was good, it is more important to have Singer back. Look what happened to X-Men after he left. And the way Singer handled X-Men is a good example of how he is progressing on Superman. Both X-Men1 and Superman Returns dealt with the character more than action, but part 2 of X-Men had some incredible action sequences(Nightcrawler's opening scene, Wolverine massecuring a military strike team, Storm's tornado storm). Maybe the action will arrive in part 2 of Superman and knock us off our feet.

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Warheart1188 writes:
on Jan 07 2008 10:29 AM

Why are they still doing a JLA movie?? WHY?!

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dylan21484nj writes:
on Jan 07 2008 10:38 AM

Routh was not the problem with Superman Returns, the script was the problem - it stunk. it tried too hard to link the movie with the first two Superman movies that it just felt like a retread of the first film with the same story beats.

Kal-El crashes to Earth? check.
Superman saves Lois in a thrilling mid-air rescue? check.
Superman and Lois have a romantic flight together? check.
Lex Luthor hatches a crazy land-grab scheme? check.
Lex Luthor has a girlfriend who has a soft spot for Superman? check.

Superman Returns was just "Superman: The Movie Redux, now with better special effects!" they need to take the series in a different direction. give us a villain that doesn't need Kryptonite to kick Superman's butt, like Darkseid or Brainiac (how cool would it be to have Darkseid invade Earth and kick the crap outta Supes?) and they could modernize Lex Luthor by making him the CEO of a major company and be a more underlying threat than coming up with yet another mad-scientist scheme. have him use that money he inherited in Returns to buy up a floundering company and turn it into LexCorp. and please, recast Lois and kill off the kid. Kate Beluga Whale Forehead Bosworth was a dull, stale Lois that had no fire or chemistry with Superman and the kid is just a dead-end storyline. Parker Posey would have made a great Lois, she and Routh had more chemistry together in their two minutes together on screen than Bosworth and Routh did in the entire film. too bad Singer relegated her to being Luthor's new girlfriend.

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LordVapor writes:
on Jan 07 2008 11:11 AM

Routh wasn't the problem with Returns. It was that it was more or less a tribute/reboot/sequel, that didnt real do any of the things mentioned. Routh was good. Made it feel like a midwest boy, just like with Reeve.

They need to have supes beating some crap up yo. :)

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quigonjim1 writes:
on Jan 07 2008 11:59 AM

Thank U at least somebody has wised up a little. I think Singer should stay and finish his vision. If not you get sequels like Xmen3. By Brett the hack Ratner. Braniac would be nice. If he showed up and tried to kill his kid or something and kills Richard White as well. Making Supes all kinds of angry and have some good action scenes. Leaving still plenty of room for character development.

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lestatthevampire writes:
on Jan 07 2008 01:38 PM

Yo... whats up with this site? Its being stupid and leading me to a black page and not the articles

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tabascoman77 writes:
on Jan 07 2008 03:18 PM

And...I told everyone this story was a bunch of bull****.

I bet you, a few days (or weeks) from now that we will get another story from RT that says that Bryan Singer never left.

And I don't know why there are people who are still all over Singer for anything. The guy did "The Usual Suspects", two great "X-Men" movies and delivered a fairly entertaining (if not "safe") "Superman Returns".

I like Singer very much. Superman Returns reminded me a lot of the first X-Men: a lot of development, a lot of BS, and a neat action sequence...then the second one had it all.

I bet you Singer does the same with Superman...I can't wait.

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Orangecinema writes:
on Jan 07 2008 05:01 PM

Script, script, script! That will fix everything, and then all will see Singer and especially Routh completely knock us the **** out! Man of steel will be 1 of the best comic adaptations of all, if they keep the cast/crew - just fix the script.

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KGattise writes:
on Jan 07 2008 05:09 PM

I also think Brian Singer is a talented director. If you remember, when he made X-Men, it wasn't perfect, not to say that it was bad in any way. After Singer got a taste of what audiences and fans wanted to see in the movie, he took that to consideration in X2. And I have to say X2 blew me away. It is rare to see a sequel that can be 10x better than the 1st. I have to admit, even though Superman Returns was a fantastic movie, it does have its flaws and there would be a few things I would change. For example, a little more character detail, for people who haven't seen the original Superman 1 and 2. I felt he needed to introduce Superman again to younger audiences.

Also I would like to see a more emotional parts in the movie. I know Superman was almost killed, and that Lex Luthor wanted to create a massive piece of land that would wipe out most of the US, but I wanted to hate the villain more. I never really felt angry at the villain because of what he has done to say in my head, "Go get 'em Superman". I desperately wanted to say those words, but I couldn't.

So, I hope Brian Singer will return to make a true kickass sequel like X2. If given the chance, I know he would succeed. Also, make sure Brandon Routh comes back.

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tabascoman77 writes:
on Jan 07 2008 05:43 PM

I actually thought that Lex was more mean in this one.

I never thought I would say this but Spacey just put Hackman to sleep with his interpretation of Lex Luthor. Hackman's Lex was also chuckling and giddy and happy and smiley...

Spacey's Lex was like he is in the comics: ruthless, sadistic, mean.

Especially when he gritted his teeth and stated very, matter-of-factly: "a real person would SHARE their power with the world".

I'm also glad that Spacey ditched the damn "wig" thing that Hackman used. That was always cheesy to me. The bald head made Lex as iconic as it made him intimidating.

The thing they still need to do with Lex is make him rich and well-to-do and cut out the whole "he's hiding from the world" thing. Put him in LexCorp and be done with it. Part of Lex' attraction is that his power is equal to Superman's because he has the money to buy himself out of trouble and he's a smart, shrewd businessman with the resources to cut Superman down to size.

I did love the irony of the ending in SR: Lex wanted his own land in the form of an island...and he got his own island in the end...just one where he was stranded.

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HisNameIsFrank writes:
on Jan 07 2008 06:28 PM

Superman vs Freddy vs Jason vs Ash. Billion dollar money maker right there.

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chadoliver writes:
on Jan 07 2008 09:19 PM

Hello everyone,I'm new to this site. You know I'm a big Superman fan Reeve no one can replace, Routh is great, Singer attached to this project NO. I like singer The Usual Suspects, X-Men those were good movies. I never thought that we needed to be reintroduced to who Superman was in Superman returns we all know who he is where he came from. I would love to see a fresh take on this franchise just as the studios are doing with the Incredible Hulk, and Batman. Frankly I would love to see the whole Death of Superman played out on the big screen and stay true to the comics such as the Batman franchise is doing now. And for the Justice League movie the timeing is all wrong finish with the Superman and Batman sequels first. Note to Warner Bros--Patients Is A Virtue!

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