The Man of Steel returns

Brandon Routh as Superman

Donner, however, insisted on casting a cinema virgin--and picked relatively unknown stage actor Christopher Reeve to wear the cape. Contemplating the dilemma facing his successor, director Bryan Singer, today, Donner explains the rationale: "Whoever plays Superman has to bring reality and purity to the character. If in any way he is tainted with past references, that would be a major mistake. To make a man fly and to make you believe he can, it had to be an unknown then, and I think today it is even more true."

The daunting task of bringing the 'Man of Steel' back on the big screen after almost two decades made the proverbial line from DC comics echo in Singer's head: "Where are you Superman?"

Months after the search began in US, Britain, Canada and Australia, someone stumbled on an audition tape of a virtually unknown actor from Iowa and Singer saw what he was looking for.

Brandon Routh became an overnight sensation since it was announced that he was to wear the 'red and blue' iconic costume in Superman Returns.

Excerpts from an interview with the actor:

How did it feel the first time you got into costume?
The first time I was in the suit, versus the first time I did some work in it, was different -- it was a fitting, and there were people standing around and, I felt, judging me. That felt very awkward because, at that point, I hadn't really done any training for the role itself. I felt a lot more comfortable wearing the suit for the first time for actual filming, because by then I had a sense of who I was inside it.

Most superheroes have different facets to their characters, whereas with Superman, what you see is what you get. Does that make it harder to perform the role?
Superman does have a character arc--which, I trust, is present in the film. He may not have vices or be a dark character, but he is not uni-dimensional either. He has to learn things for himself; he has to grow. There are certain things you can only learn by hands on experience and that is his growth and that is what we see in the film.

Was Christopher Reeve on your mind while playing this part?
Yes, he was on my mind. It is difficult to forget him, to forget the character he played so brilliantly.

Do you believe the Superman curse, that bad things happen to the people who play the part (Christopher Reeve had an accident that paralysed him, George Reeves who played him on television shot himself)?
I don't really believe in the curse, I think it is a media construct. There are certainly worse things in life than getting to play this character, in a film of this size.

What does Superman mean to you?
He is inspirational, positive and open. He doesn't care who you are or what you believe, he will help you out anyway. The fact that the whole world is united under Superman, that the character has transcended America, where he was created by the children of immigrants, I think that's great -- Superman is really the ultimate immigrant.

The film follows the return of the superhero after a mysterious absence of several years. While he was gone, crime has risen in the city of Metropolis and beyond. Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth), star reporter for the Daily Planet and the love of Superman's life, has apparently moved on. She has even won a Pulitzer Prize for her essay, "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman."

Lois has other issues to contend with--she is now in a relationship and has a young son. But is she really over Superman? Meanwhile arch-enemy Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) plots to render Superman powerless once and for all. In an attempt to protect the world he loves from cataclysmic destruction, Superman embarks on an epic journey of redemption that takes him from the depths of the ocean to the far reaches of outer space.

Set for its big screen release worldwide, the movie already seems to have cast a spell on movie critics.

Newsweek said Singer, who left the popular X-Men franchise to make Superman Returns, did the right thing from the start of "this gorgeously crafted epic" by showing respect for the most foursquare comic superhero of them all.

The magazine added, "Routh may or may not be a real actor, but he effortlessly lays claim to the iconic role, just as Reeve did."

Compiled by Cultural Correspondent.