Brandon Routh Returns as Superman for The CW’s Crossover

Brandon Routh, who starred as Superman in the 2006 film “Superman Returns,” will return as the Man of Steel once more for The CW’s upcoming “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover event.

Routh and Tyler Hoechlin will both appear as Superman, with rumors circulating that Routh could be playing a “Kingdom Come” Superman for the multiverse spanning crossover.

Titled “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” the upcoming mega-crossover will unite the entire Arrowverse series franchise – Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and Batwoman – in a five-episode epic that will span two quarters, with three episodes airing in December and the two concluding installments debuting in January, reports Deadline.

Routh and Hoechlin both took to Twitter to comment on the revelation.

While “Krypton” star Cameron Cuffe also caught up with Routh at Comic-Con.

Further details are expected to be revealed at Comic-Con.

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NeoRanger
NeoRanger
July 19, 2019 5:15 pm

Nice, now Kara will have two Supermen to undermine.
It was about time they did something like this. I’ve been pitching it ever since Cain showed up in Smallville.

sundevil82
sundevil82
July 19, 2019 8:35 pm
Reply to  NeoRanger

It would be cool if Cain comes back unannounced just as a little surprise.

Superman2878
July 19, 2019 8:47 pm
Reply to  sundevil82

It might happen. There’s still plenty of time between now and December to get Cain in there as well. I’m hoping for multiple actors who have played Superman for this event. Maybe four or five actors? Ok I know that I might be getting greedy, but who can blame me? This is exciting news right?

redcape
redcape
July 19, 2019 9:16 pm
Reply to  Superman2878

I just saw Dean last night on FOX news. He looked remarkably better than I’ve seen him look in a long time.

redcape
redcape
July 20, 2019 1:14 am
Reply to  sundevil82

Well, doesn’t he actually play Kara’s father??

NeoRanger
NeoRanger
July 20, 2019 2:39 am
Reply to  sundevil82

“Into the Superverse”, only it’s live-action and it also includes the animated versions in their full hand-drawn glory.
Make it happen, WB!

Superman2878
July 20, 2019 8:45 am
Reply to  NeoRanger

The Superverse! Nice! I like it!

GodzillaofSteel
GodzillaofSteel
July 19, 2019 10:35 pm
Reply to  NeoRanger

– Honestly, “Kara undermining two Supermen” is actually the first thing I thought of too. Personally, I don’t want to think negatively. And I’m VERY excited that we’ll see Brandon Routh return as Superman for this crossover event. However, similar to you, I am worried about both Supermen being undermined and thrown under the bus.

NeoRanger
NeoRanger
July 20, 2019 2:38 am

Yeah, sadly this has become a bit of a staple of DCTV. It kind of blows my mind, really, because considering how careful WB is about hurting the Superman brand on film, television is a good outlet for the character with tried and true success and they’re allowing the CW to hurt Superman’s standing, effectively minimizing interest in a future Superman show (and the movies, once the teenage audience grows up a little). It’s baffling.

Superman2878
July 19, 2019 6:59 pm

YES!!!!!!!!! I knew it!!!! I knew that this was possible! Thank you CW!!!! Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!! Thank you for bringing back Brandon Routh to the role of Superman! You’ve made this Superman fan very, very, very happy! This is news worth celebrating. I’m so excited and happy that we will see Brandon Routh’s Superman again. This is joyful news!!! I so missed this version. Welcome Back to Superman Brandon! I definitely missed your version of Superman and I look forward to seeing to seeing your Superman fly again! “You will belive a man can fly!” I’m ready… Read more »

Superman2878
July 19, 2019 7:55 pm
Reply to  Superman2878

I know that in my previous comment I got very excited about this news, it’s just that I wanted to see this Superman again and I’ve been waiting for this version of Superman to return for a long time. A very long time. And right now, for me, it’s the best news that I’ve read about Superman in a long time. Now don’t get me wrong, I like Tyler’s Superman, I really do,but I missed Routh’s Superman. I look forward to seeing Brandon’s Superman again. And I look forward to seeing them both team up. So to Brandon Routh and… Read more »

Kal-Ed
July 19, 2019 11:58 pm
Reply to  Superman2878

Hehe hehe. Looks like your wish has been granted despite my reservations about it how mind-boggling it would be. Do you know something else we don’t 😛

Brandon has finally has his due at a second Superman outing. And I couldn’t be happier for him. Now I am actually looking forward to this.

Superman2878
July 20, 2019 12:04 am
Reply to  Kal-Ed

Ha ha! Yeah! Looks like someone at CW heard what I wanted for Superman. This is so cool!

RobertAnthony
RobertAnthony
July 19, 2019 8:43 pm

To this news I say…GREAT KRYPTON!

redcape
redcape
July 19, 2019 9:14 pm

I find this shocking!! But the CW has if anything taught me not to get too excited with these cross overs. I was when they brought John Wesley, the original Flash on board,.. only to have him do nothing.

How they’re going to have both Supermen on is going to be weird. My personal opinion is that Brandon deserves way better than this if he’s going to reprise this role.

Hopefully we won’t have a hokey plot where Supergirl beats them both up at once. Wouldn’t surprise me.

Superman2878
July 19, 2019 9:29 pm
Reply to  redcape

Please don’t jinx it.

Superman2878
July 19, 2019 10:31 pm
Reply to  Superman2878

I admit. I’m a little superstitious. So don’t take what I said about jinxing it the wrong way redcape. I just want to see this Routh Superman reprisal succeed. Let’s just hope that it will be a successful Superman event that will make us Superman fans proud.

redcape
redcape
July 20, 2019 1:10 am
Reply to  Superman2878

I don’t 2878…….I’m sure that most of us thinking about Brandon’s reprisal, he will look, act and be like the Superman in SR. Maybe he will but knowing the CW he may portray a version of Superman we’ve never seen. I think that’s more probable.

Superman2878
July 20, 2019 1:16 am
Reply to  redcape

You do bring up a good point redcape. I admit that, and I do admit that that’s possible as well.

Superman2878
July 20, 2019 1:42 am
Reply to  Superman2878

We only know what’s been recently revealed. The Superman suit, how it looks. Where Routh’s Superman fits into the story. Time will only tell what the rest of this story is about. So far we only know that it is based on the crises story line. How much of it they use from the comic is unknown at this point. For all we know Brandon will only be playing a similar Superman to the one he previously played. Being the multiverse and all, he could be playing the Superman of Earth 10 instead of Earth 5 or whatever number it… Read more »

Superman2878
July 20, 2019 10:05 am
Reply to  Superman2878

I do want to make a correction to what I said at the beginning of my previous post. My fingers got ahead of me last time. I meant to say that the way that Routh’s Superman suit looks, and how he will look in it, and what part will his Superman play in this story
is unknown at this time.

robojac
robojac
July 19, 2019 10:46 pm
Reply to  redcape

I agree with everything you said. I’m happy that Routh will return as Supes but I don’t trust the Arrowverse writers to do his Superman or the COIE storyline justice. The writers have wasted him as Ray Palmer/The Atom on LOT and made him into a joke. I’ve waited 13 years for him to reprise the role of Superman and I hope they don’t screw it up. In addition, that’s disappointing if the rumor of him playing Kingdom Come Superman is true. I’m holding my excitement until I know for sure he’s playing a continuation of the version he’d played… Read more »

Superman2878
July 19, 2019 11:29 pm
Reply to  robojac

I didn’t know that they are planning on doing the Kingdom come Superman. Where did get this info? I’d like to read more about it. It could be that he might be playing an older version of his Superman Returns Superman.

robojac
robojac
July 20, 2019 2:04 pm
Reply to  Superman2878

It’s in the second sentence of the article we’re replying on. This is the quote:

Routh and Tyler Hoechlin will both appear as Superman, with rumors circulating that Routh could be playing a “Kingdom Come” Superman for the multiverse spanning crossover.

Superman2878
July 20, 2019 3:25 pm
Reply to  robojac

That’s interesting. Thanks for the info. Well whether if he’s playing his Superman Returns version, a Kingdom come version, future version, or a version from another universe, I’ll take it. I’m just glad that he’s coming back.

afriend
afriend
July 19, 2019 10:10 pm

They couldn’t write a big enough check for Tom Welling? (JK)

Superman2878
July 20, 2019 12:26 am
Reply to  afriend

If they do manage to bring back Welling for his version of Clark , then they have to bring back Rosenbaum for Lex and Durance for Lois. I can’t see them picking other actors for the Smallville universe’s Lex and Lois.

redcape
redcape
July 21, 2019 12:00 am
Reply to  afriend

Welling for all intents and purposes was Clark Kent.

Superman2878
July 21, 2019 12:46 pm
Reply to  redcape

I didn’t say he wasn’t.

Superman2878
July 21, 2019 2:24 pm
Reply to  Superman2878

But if he were to join the crossover, I’d happily welcome that news. Same goes for Cain and other previous Superman actors for this crossover. The more the merrier.
Ha ha ha,I might be getting a little bit greedy, but can anyone blame me? This is great news about Routh.

elvisdo
elvisdo
July 19, 2019 10:48 pm

When Man of Steel first came out, I said it back then that the best way DC could distinguish itself from the MCU is to utilize the Multiverse. I even suggested the different iterations of Superman that could come together in a Crisis. I guess this is the closest thing to date to that idea. I’m actually looking forward to it.

Kal-Ed
July 20, 2019 12:03 am

In the words of the great Keanu:

WHOOOOAAAAA. That’s totally mind boggling dude!!!!

That actually caught me off guard and really gotta admit that I didn’t see this coming. Brandon Routh finally has his due and a second shot at playing Superman. Now I’m really excited for this.

Ummm…does that mean Kate Bosworth will also return as Lois Lane!? 😛

Superman2878
July 20, 2019 12:18 am
Reply to  Kal-Ed

Umm Kate??? No offense to her, but they can recast her. Or Bitsie Tulloch could reprise the role of Lois Lane. I think she could play two different versions of the same character. I thought that she did a good job last season playing Lois.

Superman2878
July 20, 2019 1:11 am
Reply to  Superman2878

Hey Kal-Ed, regarding the news about Routh’s return to Superman, I have to quote the words of the most excellent time traveling duo Bill and Ted,“Excellent!” Ha Ha Ha!

Superman2878
July 20, 2019 12:09 am

I hope that they will make a Routh Superman multiverse action figure based off of this event in the near future. That and a Hoechlin Superman figure as well. I guess I’m just going to have to wait and see. Fingers crossed that it happens,

Superman2878
July 20, 2019 12:52 am

Now I was just thinking. There are rumors that Tom Holland’s Spider-Man will team up with Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man in a live action multiverse movie. Now even though I am a fan of Spider-Man and would love to see that happen, I’m even more thrilled that Superman will do it first for a live action multiverse event. Even though I’m a fan of Spider-Man, I’m a Superman fan first before all other superheroes. Because Superman is my favorite superhero.

Superman2878
July 20, 2019 8:17 am

Does anyone know which crisis story this crossover will be based on? There is the crisis story where Supergirl died, and then there’s the crisis story where the Earth One Superman and the Earth Two Superman fought the evil Superboy prime. Which one is it?

I believe one was called Crisis on infinite earths, and the other is just called Crisis, or infinite Crisis. I’m just not sure which one it is.

robojac
robojac
July 20, 2019 2:11 pm
Reply to  Superman2878

It’s based on the 1980s Crisis On Infinite Earths comic book series. It was confirmed at the end of the three-part Elseworlds crossover last season.

Superman2878
July 20, 2019 3:28 pm
Reply to  robojac

Thanks for clarifying that up for me. I wasn’t sure on which story that they were going for. Now I know. Thanks.

fantasyva
fantasyva
July 20, 2019 1:30 pm

Sure hope that like the comic series did this event will finally unite our heroes in the same dimension?

Superman2878
July 20, 2019 3:52 pm
Reply to  fantasyva

I don’t know. One the one hand it would be more convenient for their shows to combine their universes. On the other hand, the various versions of the Wells character from the Flash series might be lost and the other universes if the outcome of this crisis crossover means that there is only one universe left. I like the idea that there’s more than one version of these characters. And as much as I like Hoechlin’s Superman, the multiverse means that there could and most likely be more than one version of Superman. Like Routh’s and Reeve’s Superman from Superman… Read more »

Superman2878
July 20, 2019 1:35 pm

I hope that we will get to see a proper Routh’s Superman vs Lex Luthor fight. I’m talking about a big fight where Lex is in his green battle armor and Superman fights and defeats him. Unlike the horrible scene that happened to Superman that Lex and his henchmen caused towards the end of Superman Returns. I want to see a fair fight where Superman triumphs. I have no doubt that there won’t be any other villains in this crossover. It’s going to be the biggest crossover after all. So there’s bound to be more Supervillians for the rest of… Read more »

redcape
redcape
July 20, 2019 11:57 pm

First off this is an important topic and it should never have rolled off the initial home page as it did. I think these kinds of important topics should not roll of the main page until it’s obvious the topic is done.

NeoRanger
NeoRanger
July 21, 2019 5:05 am
Reply to  redcape

Not to drift off-topic too much, but I agree with this. A “pinned news story”, based on popularity (by comments) on a timer would be helpful. Because of SDCC, news pieces have been flying way too fast and this got buried in minutes.

Superman2878
July 21, 2019 12:48 pm
Reply to  redcape

I thought that we were still on topic. Did it change?