Brandon Routh Won't Return for 'The Man of Steel,' Source Says

by Ryan Stewart Jan 3rd 2008 // 9:32PM

Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, Deals, Warner Brothers, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, Summer Movies

Can such a large project as the Superman sequel unravel in a single day? Certainly seems that way, doesn't it? First there was the Anne Thompson blog post which made the rounds earlier in the day (see our post on it here), in which she speculated -- and it seems a given that she wouldn't make such a speculation unless she had some info to back it up -- that Bryan Singer was likely to throw off the long-in-doubt sequel to the mediocre-performing Superman Returns in favor of concentrating on his other upcoming projects. I personally don't see the logic in this, since Valkyrie is already in the can and the Harvey Milk film will be a small thing that need not trample on a huge payday like the Supes sequel. However, Thompson also made a sideways reference to what may be the real issue -- Warner Bros.' increasingly obvious intention of using the upcoming Justice League of America as a way of rebooting said underperfoming Superman film by tossing Brandon Routh.

Now comes Latino Review, exploding a story that they claim to have been sitting on "for weeks and weeks" out of deference to sources at DC Comics. "Kelvin knew about Brandon not being the new Superman for weeks and weeks now, but made a promise to the DC people that he wouldn't break the story. Variety has now confirmed what we've secretly known for a while and Brandon Routh will be replaced in the stand-alone sequel by whomever is cast as Superman in the upcoming Justice League of America movie." Funny, since Variety doesn't say that at all -- this is clearly LR's attempt at a 'whoops, I thought it was safe to leak that info since Variety reported.' Anyway, if LR's source is legit the move on Warner and DC's part does make sense -- Routh didn't connect with audiences, for whatever reason, and in the age of instant reboots there are no second chances.

10 Comments

Tags: brandon routh, BrandonRouth, bryan singer, BryanSinger, superman returns, SupermanReturns, the man of steel, TheManOfSteel

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

1-03-2008 @ 10:48PM

eugene said...

meh. I really enjoyed Superman Returns, but they really wrote themselves into a hole with the whole super kid thing. Any sequel based off of it would have to spend time exploring that and that would really get in the way of any sort of action heavy plot as demanded by fanboys.

1-04-2008 @ 8:57AM

Haunt said...

God I hate Hollywood...

1-04-2008 @ 10:14AM

Patrick said...

It's almost kind of too bad for Routh. I mean, Superman Returns had far bigger problems than his casting, such as the lame plot.

1-04-2008 @ 9:15AM

DAVID F said...

This is just stupid. Audiences didn't connect with Routh? No, Routh was fine. Bosworth was miscast and the script sucked. Luthor remained a one-dimensional real estate mogul instead of a pompous genuis. In the end, Superman was a deadbeat baby daddy! Ugh. Singer should really make an announcement about where he stand on all this cuz he was touting himself as a huge Donner/Superman fan and now what? The Justice League movie is gonna suck. DC/Warner needs to look at what Marvel is doing (hopefully) with the possible Avengers movie where all the main players will have their own movie and THEN a group movie liek The Avengers would be made. What's the reason for jumping the gun on a Justice League movie anyway? It would be wiser to sit on it, release a Wonder Woman, Flash & Green Lantern movie and then, maybe a Justice League movie. But, it's all about the cash flow.

1-04-2008 @ 10:25AM

Brian Kirchhoff said...

Wow... Sad day for Supes. I thought Routh was perfect, the bright spot in an otherwise so-so film, and an amazing contiuation in the vein of Christopher Reeve who WAS Superman from my childhood.

If Superman Returns was trimmed/distilled down to the 8 minute segment of Superman rescuing Lois (and others) from the crashing plane, it would have been a far better movie. I watch that scene alone and all of sudden it demands a sequel.

Is it me... or is Hollywood REALLY good at making trailers nowadays.. and not so good at the whole movie thing. Or are we as an audience all about the concentrated content with short attention spans... maybe a little of both.

1-04-2008 @ 10:27AM

Sean said...

If anyone should be dropped, it should be Bosworth. Routh was fine.

1-04-2008 @ 12:48PM

kevjohn said...

I know the year is young, but this gets my nomination for dumbest movie news of '08. Unless he wrote the script, Routh is not to blame for the first lackluster film.

My other $.02: get rid of Lois Lane. Lane is and always has been an unlikable character.

1-04-2008 @ 2:52PM

Jonathan said...

Well, for a moment I thought there was hope for the Blue Boyscout. I am in FULL support of a Nolan-esque reboot of Superman. But the news that they will possibly go even younger with a Justice League Superman (or would that be more of a "Legion of Superheroes type Superboy?") is dismal.
For my money, I would cast Jon Hamm (Mad Men) as Superman and with an edgy action director and solid writer who understands this iconic character. You have your pick of incredible story lines - just pick one. Go for Doomsday and that's money. But this "OC" version of the Justice League is a b-a-a-a-d idea.
What I'd really LOVE to see (stop me if you've read this post before) is the REAL "Dark Knight Returns" with Bruce Willis as Batman and Jon Hamm as Superman. Get Frank Miller to write the screenplay and direct it and you could have the first superhero movie to win an Oscar for Best Picture. Hey - the graphic novel won a Pulitzer...

1-04-2008 @ 3:38PM

Brandon Barbin said...

Just reboot Superman and forget about JLA for now Routh should be retained in his role but the rest of cast should be recast except Jimmy Olson. If they do reboot go the Nolan route and find someone who has passion for the character and the material and don"t just start off with someone like doomsday to put people in seats but you do need a physical threat for Superman

1-05-2008 @ 10:14PM

donny said...

I'll concur with everybody else...Routh was *the* bright spot in Superman Returns.

The problems were the rest of the movie - Spacey was alright as Luther, but should have been more geniusy. None of the other characters were in any way interesting. Any why bring in the superkid? Was that for the spin off series of family movies for kids?
The other problem was that it was likely too soon after all that happened with the Reeve family. Brandon Routh channeled Reeve's superman - perhaps they really needed a superman that was completely different.