Superman Returns: Brandon Routh Talks Playing Christopher Reeve’s Clark

Brandon Routh, who played the titular hero in Superman Returns, talks about playing Christopher Reeve’s Clark Kent. Superman Returns was released in 2006 and received positive reviews; however, Warner Bros. pulled the plug on a sequel because they were not satisfied with the final box office results.

Thankfully, this was not Routh’s last role with DC; Routh later played Ray Palmer, aka The Atom, on CW’s DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. During the most recent installment of the annual Arrowverse crossover event, Crisis On Infinite Earths, Routh not only appeared as The Atom, but he also reprised his role as Superman. Routh was able to help give closure to the legacy first launched by Christopher Reeve’s Superman films, and revisit the part he had left nearly a decade and a half before.

Routh was recently a guest on the Inside of You podcast on YouTube, hosted by Michael Rosenbaum, who portrayed Lex Luthor on Smallville. During the interview, Rosenbaum reads questions sent in by fans. One of the questions was, “When preparing for a role like Superman, how do you make the role your own without crossing the line into imitating a previous incarnation?” Routh responded, “Essentially, I was tasked with kind of having this similar energy as Christopher Reeve in Superman Returns.”

Routh continues, saying, “So I did do that, and partially that just was in me — having watched the film so many times. And he [Reeve] was my Superman. So it was just innately there. I absorbed it to a degree. I played Clark differently — in some ways, my approach to him was slightly different than Chris’s. But there are similarities in there, things that are different.” Routh finishes his thought by sharing, “I’m not afraid to have walked in his footsteps because that’s what I was tasked with doing.”

Throughout the rest of the interview, Rosenbaum and Routh also discuss other topics, such as Routh’s World of Warcraft addiction that came after the disappointing aftermath of Superman Returns. He also shares that director Bryan Singer was difficult to work with on the set of Superman Returns.

Christopher Reeve was the Superman for those who grew up watching his movies, and Routh’s portrayal of the hero was a continuation of everything Reeve had set up in prior films. It seems that Routh got a lot of inspiration for Superman Returns from Reeve’s portrayal, but also wasn’t afraid to add his spin on the character. Routh demonstrated his ability to bring his unique take on popular characters throughout his run on Legends as well. Sadly, the current season of Legends will be Routh’s last, as it was recently announced his run with the series was over.

Source: Inside of You/YouTube

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