SDCC 2019: Here’s When Brandon Routh Will Play Superman Again

The CW will drop a bombshell on DC Comics and Arrowverse fans at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday. According to a report from Deadline, Brandon Routh is set to reprise his other DC superhero after over a decade: Superman.

Routh will don the cape once more alongside "Supergirl" actor Tyler Hoechlin as the already established Arrowverse Man of Steel in a major crossover later this year, known as “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” Routh also portrays Ray Palmer, aka “The Atom,” on The CW’s “DC's Legends of Tomorrow.”

Deadline’s report offers little information on the context of two Supermen sharing the screen. Given the universe-hopping nature of the event comic the crossover borrows its name from, it is possible that Routh will be portraying a Superman from a parallel universe. Whether or not this will be the same version of the character Routh played in 2006’s “Superman Returns” is unclear.

The five-episode arc will play out across all of the current Arrowverse series: “Arrow,” “The Flash,” “Supergirl,” “Legends of Tomorrow,” and the upcoming “Batwoman” with Ruby Rose. The first three episodes will air in December, followed by the last two airing in January 2020. No other details about the event are currently known.

“Superman Returns,” directed by Bryan Singer, was meant to be a direct sequel to the Christopher Reeve “Superman” films of the 70s and 80s. It was released to mixed reviews and a lukewarm box office in 2006. While a direct sequel with Routh was planned, the disappointment of the first film stalled any movement on the follow-up. Routh was eventually replaced by Henry Cavill in the 2013 reboot, “Man of Steel.”