Past Superman Actor Brandon Routh Offers Advice To New Superman Actor David Corenswet
Courtesy of DC/WB.
Brandon Routh reprised his Superman role in recent years on CW’s ‘The Flash’ and the 5-episode CW/DC crossover event ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths.’ He garnered more fan acclaim from his recent performances, but his natural Superman and Clark Kent persona was overlooked and under appreciated in his Superman debut in ‘Superman Returns’ (2006) — a direct continuation of Christopher Reeve’s Superman (a sequel to Superman II, ignoring films 3 and 4).
Since Routh’s iteration of the character, we’ve had Henry Cavill step into the role — which had its own challenges behind the scenes, but was loved by a majority of fans.
Now, writer/director James Gunn is launching us into a new DC Universe with his upcoming Superman film (2025), and Brandon Routh has some touching advice when it comes to latest Superman actor David Corenswet tackling the character.
"I think the biggest thing for me about Superman is always recognizing the non-physical superpowers that he has. It can be cheesy to relate it to the 'teach a man to fish' story, but quite literally, that is how I see it, and it's very apropos to being the thing. If you save people all the time, everywhere, maybe they never learn how to save themselves. That doesn't mean that you don't save them, but it just means that the teaching, the personality, the aspect, the human communication, the understanding Superman can give us of inclusion," Routh shared during ACE Superhero Comic Con 2024.
He continued: "To me, Superman is pure love; he doesn't judge. He has to make some hard choices and stop people from doing bad things, but my goal for Superman is that he's the guy that everyone can be in their person… maybe without all the flying and all the other stuff. But he's an example, the best of humanity, and he could teach us to do it, not just by his actions, but by calling out the truth."
First reveal of David Corenswet as Superman, Courtesy of James Gunn.
The first reveal of David Corenswet as Superman didn’t track well with a majority of DC fans, stating the suit and background looks “cheap” and “lazy.” Some have even pointed out how the photo looks like it was rendered with the help of AI.
Since then, set images have leaked which show David Corenswet in action — and very Superman-like.
Going back to Routh; he had a tough time digesting the fact that he only played the Man Of Steel in one feature film, but was grateful to reprise his role in the ‘Arrowverse.’
Brandon Routh in ‘Superman Returns,’ Courtesy of DC/WB.
“It’s an opportunity for me to kind of say hello and goodbye to the character in a way I didn’t get to the first time,” Routh told Entertainment Weekly at Cinema-Con 2019. “Being a young individual of 24, 25, I thought, ‘Oh, I’m going to do this for years and make multiple movies.’ And that of course didn’t happen. I’m just very honored to be able to do this one last time.”
Bryan Singer’s 2006 ‘Superman Returns’ also included a cast of Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor.
Warner Bros. had dated a ‘Superman Returns’ sequel for 2009 before the film opened. Routh had signed up for a multi-picture deal, while Singer was expected to return as writer/director. The studio canceled the sequel after being underwhelmed by the box office for ‘Superman Returns’ (struggling to crack $400 million worldwide) and decided to reboot the Superman character once more with Zack Snyder’s ‘Man of Steel’ — which grossed nearly $670 million globally, and launched the DC Extended Universe.
Routh reprising his Superman role in ‘Crisis On Infinite Earths’ (2019), Courtesy of CW/DC.
Watch a clip from CW’s ‘Crisis On Infinite Earths’ below:
