Christopher Reeve Is Not The Best Superman
It’s generally accepted among both film lovers and DC Comics fans that Christopher Reeve was the best Superman actor to ever put on the cape. Obviously, we’re huge fans of the actor who made us believe a man can fly, but here’s a fact that might hurt you like Kryptonite hurts Supes: Reeve was not actually the best Man of Steel. Instead, that honor goes to Brandon Routh, someone who might just be the most underrated actor to ever fill those big, red boots.
How could Brandon Routh be better than Christopher Reeve, though, when it comes to playing Superman? For one thing, Routh basically gets to have his cake and eat it, too: Superman Returns essentially functioned as a sequel to the original Richard Donner Superman films, and this meant that Routh spent much of the movie doing his own imitation of Reeves.
Routh adds just the right pinch of winking humor to the role, and this serves to simultaneously humanize the inhuman character while letting the audience know the movie is all in on the campy silliness of the superhero premise.
At the same time, he added some fun quirks to the character that left us very disappointed when we didn’t get a follow-up film.
For example, Routh is a very comedic actor (something that Legends of Tomorrow fans know all too well), and he adds some welcome bits of humor and warmth. Christopher Reeve’s Superman could also be funny, of course, but this was usually in service of selling Clark Kent as a goofy everyman who could never secretly be the Man of Steel.
Routh’s Superman, like Routh as an actor, just seems happy to be there, and his enthusiasm gives every scene an injection of infectious fun.
Routh adds just the right pinch of winking humor to the role, and this serves to simultaneously humanize the inhuman character while letting the audience know the movie is all in on the campy silliness of the superhero premise.
While Routh being in on the joke made his performance great when Superman Returns first came out, it’s something that feels like a much-needed breath of fresh air when you rewatch the movie in a post-DCEU age.
For example, many think that Henry Cavill is the best Man of Steel actor after Christopher Reeve, but bad writing and endless studio interference meant that his Superman was a grim force who seemed like he hated every moment of being a superhero. Routh’s Superman, like Routh as an actor, just seems happy to be there, and his enthusiasm gives every scene an injection of infectious fun.
Of course, a purely goofy Kryptonian could never be better than Christopher Reeve, and part of what we loved about Brandon Routh’s Superman is that he also clearly had a mournful sadness behind his eyes, especially when dealing with regrets from his past.
This includes the fact that after he left Earth (and accidentally left behind an unborn super-son), Lois Lane ended up getting engaged to someone else. This is a Superman who can save the world but struggles to save his own relationship or even find happiness, and Routh is perfect as a superhero who perfectly embodied this internal struggle while never losing a step in his never ending battle.
Ultimately, while we don’t think this is one of the superpowers granted to him by Earth’s yellow sun, Brandon Routh’s biggest strength as an actor in this role is that he has a sense of personality and compassion as big as his chest.
Hindsight is always 20/20 (even if you don’t have X-ray vision), but we think Routh could have been embraced by most of the fandom as Christoper Reeve’s proper legitimate successor if Superman Returns wasn’t trying so hard to be a modern version of the original Donner films.
Later movies like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World as well as shows like Legends of Tomorrow showed us that Routh has a ton of range and can play smirking evil as well as quirky good.
We loved the spin that he added to Christopher Reeve’s original performance, but a performance that wasn’t saddled with the Reeves impersonation would have been even stronger. And it would have made the film itself feel a lot more original.
Ultimately, while we don’t think this is one of the superpowers granted to him by Earth’s yellow sun, Brandon Routh’s biggest strength as an actor in this role is that he has a sense of personality and compassion as big as his chest.
Christopher Reeve as Superman may be somebody that made us believe that a man could fly, but Routh is someone who made us believe that a flying man could be down-to-Earth.
So down-to-earth, in fact, that we know he’d never stop trying to fight for us. And since Cavill’s Superman reminded us that the “S” means “hope,” our biggest hope is that Cavill’s Superman successor is even half as good as Routh in the role.
