roBrandon Routh, who starred in Superman Returns, reprised the role of the Man of Steel in The CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths. Ever since, fans have wanted to see more from the actor, whose earnest performance and perfect look made his Superman in Crisis one of the best representations of the character ever put to screen. So, it’s no surprise that when Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow creator Marc Guggenheim made an offhand comment that he had talked with Routh about ideas for some kind of follow-up, the remarks got picked up by the entertainment press and went viral.
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Here’s the thing: Back in 2021, Routh had told ComicBook.com that he had “looked into” the idea of a follow-up, but nothing has come of it since. It seemed likely, both from Guggenheim’s initial remark and from a follow-up he posted on Substack, that these are one and the same “talks.”
In the post, Guggenheim elaborated on the earlier remarks. He also shared the poster below, and some computer renders of the costume textures.
Here’s how Guggenheim says it in his own words:
Like most people, I have a complicated relationship with Twitter/X. On the one hand, Elon Musk has turned what had been a terrible hellsite into an even worse hellsite. On the other hand, I truly enjoy interacting with many of the fans who are still on the platform. In recent weeks, I’ve made more of an effort to be responsive to the various questions and requests I occasionally get from followers.
One such follower asked if I had any promotional photos of Brand Routh as Superman from the Crisis on Infinite Earths event that I showran. Thinking nothing of it, I posted what I had on my Dropbox and casually mentioned — because I thought it was a fun little nugget — that Brandon and I had talked about some kind of “sequel series” for his version of Superman.
Well, that little comment kinda went viral. A friend of mine, a comic shop owner, texted me that suddenly his Facebook feed was nothing but articles about the comment — some of which exaggerated said comment into a “possibility” (there is none that I can reasonably conceive of) or even “talks” (which haven’t happened, unless you count Brandon’s and my little chats).
Anyways, you get the idea.
I share because it’s (a) an amusing anecdote that demonstrates how even the most innocuous of comments can, occasionally, go viral; and (b) a great example of how much love there still is for the Arrowverse. I don’t often write about the latter in this newsletter because I want it to be forward-facing as opposed to backwards-looking, but I really am humbled by and grateful for all the passion fans still have for our little endeavor. Accordingly, I may resume sharing some nuggets from the archives if there’s demand for them. Feel free to sound off in the comments.
Guggenheim’s Substack has been his most regular form of public communication over the last year or so, and also where he vented some frustrations about Warner Bros.’ handling of the DC Studios handoff. If you aren’t reading his blog, you’re likely to miss some of these bits of context.
