Brandon Routh’s Superman took flight again in DC’s multiverse crossover event Crisis On Infinite Earths, and a follow-up series with his Man of Steel makes all the sense in the world. Brandon Routh first donned the Last Son of Krypton’s cape for 2006’s reboot-sequel hybrid Superman Returns.
The movie’s middling box office seemingly marked the end of Routh’s Superman tenure, with Routh subsequently joining the Arrowverse as Ray Palmer, a.k.a. The Atom, but he got the chance to soar again in the 2019-2020 CW mini-series Crisis On Infinite Earths, which helped canonize all DC movies and TV shows into a co-existing multiverse. While this gave Routh’s Superman a belated and welcome comeback story, it might also not be the last the world has seen of him.
In a recent exchange on Twitter/X, Crisis On Infinite Earths’ showrunner Marc Guggenheim responded to a fan’s comment expressing hope for a continuation series with Routh’s Man of Steel by saying, “Brandon and I have talked about a sequel series. We have some really exciting ideas…” Guggenheim’s tweet went viral, with the showrunner subsequently clarifying on Substack that the talks have only been between himself and Routh while expressing gratitude for the continued fan interest in Routh’s Superman again returning (via CBR). While discussions of a Brandon Routh-led Superman series might not currently be actively happening at the studio level within Warner Bros. Discovery, there are multiple reasons why they should be.
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The underperformance of Superman Returns can arguably be attributed to the film being so heavily enamoured with the first two Christopher Reeve Superman movies. In portraying the same Superman as Reeve, Routh was effectively anchored to capturing the magic of Reeve’s performance, no easy task for any actor and certainly not for one wearing the S-shield.
By contrast, Routh’s Superman was one of the highlight characters of Crisis On Infinite Earths, with his extended time away from the role setting up genuine anticipation for his comeback. In portraying a Kingdom Come-inspired version of Superman in a multiverse story with Tom Welling and Tyler Hoechlin’s Supermen also appearing, Routh also finally had the canvas to truly make the role of the Man of Tomorrow his own.
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In all, Crisis On Infinite Earths truly showed what Routh could do as Superman, and the prospect of his Kal-El continuing in further adventures can deepen the Superman mythos cinematically and on television with his own distinct version of the character co-existing alongside all others.
To be sure, there may be an uphill battle in a Brandon Routh Superman sequel series, in light of the recent news of Superman & Lois ending with its fourth season, in order for the upcoming Superman: Legacy not to have competing versions of Superman on the market (via CBR). However, such reasoning is highly flawed with respect to DC Comics adaptations. When it comes to comic book storytelling, DC and the multiverse are absolutely inseparable.
Warner Bros. themselves seemed to finally be recognizing this with how much the studio has emphasized the multiverse as its new movie and TV template through Crisis On Infinite Earths, 2020’s inaugural DC Fandome, and The Flash movie. Even DC Studios seemed to recognize the importance of the multiverse to DC early on, with the studio’s co-CEO James Gunn establishing an Elseworlds label for movies and TV shows outside of the mainline DCU franchise, such as The Batman and Joker films. Clearly, the ship has already sailed on all things DC co-existing (and being able to be revisited and revived at any time) in a vast multiverse.
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With the importance of the multiverse to DC, nothing should or ever really can be off the table in an absolute sense, and that extends to Superman above all else. Brandon Routh’s Superman not only made an admirable comeback in Crisis On Infinite Earths but, in doing so, proved his importance in DC’s multiversal pantheon alongside Christoper Reeve, Dean Cain, Tom Welling, Henry Cavill, and Tyler Hoechlin. With the impressive return Brandon Routh’s Man of Steel made in Crisis On Infinite Earths and an entire DC multiverse to play with, Routh’s Superman headlining a post-Crisis continuation series is simply a no-brainer.
Superman Returns |
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Superman returns to Earth after spending five years in space examining his homeworld Krypton. But he finds things have changed while he was gone, and he must once again prove himself important to the world. |
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| Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures, DC Entertainment, Peters Entertainment, Bad Hat Harry Productions, Outback Pictures Inc. |
| Running Time: 2h 34m |
| Release Date: June 21, 2006 (Los Angeles); June 28, 2006 (United States) |
| Cast: Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, James Marsden, Frank Langella, Eva Marie Saint, Parker Posey, Kal Penn, Sam Huntington, Kevin Spacey |
| Director: Bryan Singer |
| Writers: Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris |
| Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi |
| Box Office: $391.1 million |
