Brandon Routh Opens Up About His Post Superman Returns “Trauma”

Fans of the Arrowverse were thrilled when DC’s Legends of Tomorrow star Brandon Routh suited up as Superman once again in “Crisis on Infinite Earths”, offering both Routh and fans to somewhat revisit the Man of Steel he brought to life in 2006’s Superman Returns. While it was a triumphant moment — and one of the highlights of “Crisis” — the path to being at peace with his run as Superman is one that took Routh some time. In a recent episode of Michael Rosenbaum‘s Inside of You podcast, Routh opened up about the “trauma” of his post-Superman Returns experience as well as how he worked through that time in his life.

Back in 2006, Routh stared in Superman Returns, a film that was an extension of the original superman series which starred Christopher Reeve — it’s technically the sixth and final film in the series though it’s story disregards Superman III, Supergirl, and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. While the film was well-received and did well at the box office, Warner Bros. ultimately cancelled plans for a sequel. For Rough, that was a difficult thing to deal with and something he had to come to terms with over a period of time.

“I would say that the end of my run as Superman in Superman Returns that did not pan out the way I thought it was going to, the way everyone around me thought it was going to. I had to really come to terms with a lot of that,” Routh said. “There was no sequel, the movie was widely well-reviewed, people liked the movie, but it, you know, made almost $400 million worldwide but that wasn’t enough. And it was a very slow fizzle out of the possibility of a sequel over the next two, three years and I did everything that I could do, that I thought, in my world to help make it happen.”

When it didn’t work out, Routh explained that he turned to video games as a coping mechanism, but that his wife, Courtney Ford, was a big element of him overcoming the loss of Superman and moving forward.

“She knew me best then, she knows me best now and so going through that whole trauma of Superman Returns, the end of Superman Returns was a long drawn out process of me in denial for much of it and thankfully, I guess, I didn’t lean on drugs or alcohol, partying. I played World of Warcraft endlessly … it wasn’t helping me,” Routh explained. “It was a coping mechanism but it wasn’t teaching me things until I finally came, you know, had several experiences where I had to come to terms with that and she was part of that.”

Coming to terms with his time as Superman is something that ultimately allowed Routh to be able to suit up one more time for “Crisis”, an opportunity he approached with reverence and gratitude.

“I approached it as if it was the final time. It was important for me,” Routh told Den of Geek last year. “That’s one of the things I had to get off the phone with Marc [Guggenheim] and consider and think about. Because if I continued to leave the door open and keep wanting more, then I was never going to be fulfilled, and that wasn’t a place where I wanted to leave things. So I approached this as, no matter how much screen time I had or whatever story this ends up being, I’m grateful to have had this opportunity and I’m going to be okay with whatever this is.”

“That’s how I approached it,” Routh continued. “Just being grateful for the opportunity. Putting it all out there and being okay with hanging up the cape after that. And I’m grateful for that because that’s how I feel about it. I feel that the door that was open, the unresolved stuff after Superman Returns, is resolved and the door is closed, but…. if the door opened again, I’m open to it. I’m good, I’m at peace with it, but I am still excited to play the character if another opportunity that is right presents itself.”

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