Less than a week from Christopher Reeves tragic death word has come down that the new Bryan Singer helmed Superman film has been cast. Quoting an "anonymous" source that also supplied accurate casting rumors for Fantastic Four and Batman Begins, Latino Review is officially naming the new Supes as....




Brandon Routh!!!

Er... If you are like me, you have no idea who Brandon is or why Singer thinks he might make a good man of steel. Singer told The Site That Shall No Longer Be Mentioned last week that he was commited to casting an unknown, and boy, he wasn't kidding! Brandon's IMDB resume doesn't reveal any immediate insight. Obviously Singer sees something more in Routh than his filmography. Also rumored (and equally confirmed) to be involved with the film is That 70's Show funnyman Topher Grace as Olsen and The O.C.'s Mischa Barton as the lovely Lois Lane.

In other Superman news, Dark Horizons has revealed a few juicy tidbits concerning the opening minutes of the film:

"The source who informed me of Routh's casting a few hours ago (yes I was asleep, these are the days I want to kick myself), also has passed on some more juicy information exclusive here. The film starts off with Superman having been missing for six years. Also, the Kryptonian production design element will be almost identical to the first film - so expect Krypton and the Fortress of Solitude to be very much the slanted ice crystal motif we've all been used to.
Very cool. And what a young cast! Considering what Singer has done for the X-Men, I'm really excited at the prospects of a watchable Superman movie. What do you think?"

I was expecting them to go the Smallville route-or hoping at least, there'd be more of a continuity and could be a nice way to have built in fans.

is still Christopher Reeve in my opinion-always will be.

I'm more interested in if they'd ever make Frank Miller's Dark Night Returns/Strikes Again graphic novels-and how they'd work in the / battle.

Amazing stuff by the way-check it out if there's anyone who hasn't

Agreed. I think they should have waited and just moved the cast into the films, but WB wants to hurry up and cash in on their characters. Still, Singer has said that he's writing this film in such a way that it could be in the Smallville continuity, or the original films. In other words, it won't dwell too heavily on the backstories, other than the basic origin.



I'm afraid they'd royally screw-up The Dark Knight Returns. Its a classic, and I just don't think all the complexities of the storyline could be translated into film.

The Dark Knight Strikes Again was one of the worst things I've ever read. Truly horrible. I still have a hard time believing that piece of shit was done by Frank Miller . I'm firmly convinced he took that 2 million DC paid him and chuckled to himself "suckers". Definitely wouldn't want to see that steaming pile translated to film. In fact, its best to just pretend it never happened.

JediMaster said:

Strikes Again was definitely weaker-but to me it's better than a lot of the ideas you hear for superhero films lately-remember Kevin Smith's Superman Lives story about Jon Peters on Evening With Kevin Smith?

I loved the first one, the second was harder to get into-but if we're talking comic book characters that should be made into film.

There's one that should be made as is and I think it could be really well done:

Kevin Smith's Quiver (Green Arrow)

Oh, I heard Kevin tell that story in Austin. Jon Peter's is an idiot, and should go back to doing hair!!

I really hated DKSA (as if I hadn't made that clear enough!). To me, the first issue was good, but it just went downhill from there. Miller showed that, as well as he got Batman, he knew shit-all about many of the other characters (most especially Dick Grayson). Add in the fact that he RIPPED OFF the Batman Begins: Return Of The Joker movie (all he did was change Tim Drake to Dick Grayson), and it sealed it for me as a total crap-fest.

As for Quiver, that is a truly brilliant story. I don't know that it would translate to film, since very few folks would know who Green Arrow is (I think an origin story would have to be done first), and it relies so much on DC continuity. Some serious changes would have to be made to bring it to cellulloid, and I don't want ANYTHING to be changed in that storyline! I DO think they should hire Smith to write a GA film.

I'm hearing rumours that Brainiac is the villian in the new Supes film. Whatcha think about that???

JediMaster said:

Brainiac-



Hollywood really loves to regurgitate, don't they?

That's the bad thing about having access to all the info we do about the behind the scenes-we know what to expect, and know how badly things work.

I'd love to see Quiver-as is, I've got a mental file of stuff that I think could translate well-but you've gotta keep something like that with all the references in tact-without watering it down to please the public.

Kevin is a fan first and foremost-and it shows.

noepie said:

HOLY WOW!!!!

I'll def'ly be checkin this film out!!!

Posted on www.toonzone.net Saturday. I don't know why I didn't think of posting it. I'm glad the Jedi Master thought of it.

I don't know who this guy is, or what he can do, but he must've impressed someone. After what Bryan did with the first 2 X-Men, I shouldn't be dissappointed...

(unlike Batman Begins, but let's not go there).

Christopher Reeve was a great actor, human being and Superman. No one will ever fill his shoes as the Man Of Steel, but all good things, they say... never last. He was the Superman for our generation, and now they will move on.

I can't compare the new guy to Mr. Reeve, but hopefully he will do a good job in his own right.

They messed up the Batman name with cheesy movies, almost did it with Superman IV as well. But since Marvel has set the bar so high with Spider-Man, hopefully DC will raise it... if they're smart, anyway. We'll see.

endorphin74 said:

I'm a fan of the Superman series, and when I read this this morning at latinoreview.com, it piqued my interest. And yeah...I thought the exact same thing. I hope Singer is better with this film than he was withe the 2 X Men films. I liked them, but I wanna love this film.

Disagree. Batman Begins is going to be the first live action Batman film to be faithful to the comic through and through. The script is fantastic, and the cast is damn-near perfect.

Unfortunately, DC has no power whatsoever with this. WB owns DC, and thus owns the characters. They have carte-blanche to do ANYTHING they want to the DC heroes, and the folks at DC just have to grin and bear it (WB has even put a gag on the DC staff talking about the films in the past. Word was, everyone at DC was pissed over Batman & Robin and Catwoman, but couldn't say a damn thing if they wanted to keep their jobs).

I hope Singer is better with this film than he was withe the 2 X Men films. I liked them, but I wanna love this film.

Hey, I wouldn't want to be blamed for Catwoman!!

JediMaster said:

You got that right!

Hopefully... (but because of B&R my expectations are extemely low), hopefully they will make a Batman movie powerful enough to wipe out all those other ones.

Except "Forever," Kilmer was harsh!

Alright, I'm going to be controversial here at the risk of pissing a few people off.

Note: This is just in respect of the original Superman films.

I keep reading how people describe Christopher Reeve as a good actor and heap praise on the original Superman movie. I beg to differ. Whilst Reeve certainly looked the part he couldn't act worth a damn. He displayed absolutely no believable emotion in his role at any stage, even when Lois died. The movie was really bad and cheesey also. I found it embarrassing to watch now that I am not a child (1 week ago).

I know we all love Christopher Reeve and he has only recently departed this earth, but he was no great actor and this was no great film.

Therefore, the upcoming Superman film has nothing to lose imho.

Quick question. I checked out the theforce.net and there were some links to some short films "Batman and Superman" and "Grayson". Whats the story behind the two films. "Grayson" looks very interesting.