# Brandon Routh to return to his "Superman" role in CW's Arrow-verse **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 20, 2019, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365 "2019-07-20T20:38:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365/1 "2019-07-20T20:38:42Z")
It’s been revealed that Routh, who starred in 2006’s _Superman Returns_, will once again be donning the familiar blue and red outfit for the CW’s upcoming _Crisis on Infinite Earths_ crossover. He and Tyler Hoechlin, the Arrow-verse’s reigning Man of Steel, will play Superman in two different timelines. Routh also plays Ray Palmer/The Atom on _DC’s Legends of Tomorrow_ on the CW. > [@](#): > > Titled “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” the upcoming mega-crossover will unite the entire Arrowverse series franchise – Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman – in a five-episode epic that will span two quarters, with three episodes airing in December and the two concluding installments debuting in January. > **[Tyler Hoechlin & Brandon Routh To Suit Up As Superman For Arrowverse...](https://deadline.com/2019/07/tyler-hoechlin-brandon-routh-superman-arrowverse-crossover-the-cw-1202649053/)** > > Tyler Hoechlin and Brandon Routh will both suit up as Superman for the upcoming Arrowverse crossover on the CW. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365/2 "2019-08-01T05:55:17Z")
Bumping this for another cast addition: It has been announced that Burt Ward will appear in the _Crisis on Infinite Earths_ crossover. It hasn’t been announced which character Ward, who played Dick Grayson/Robin the Boy Wonder in the 1966 Batman TV series, movie, and assorted spinoffs will play. It’s been speculated he could simply play a retired Robin in his 70s. Or he could play loyal butler Alfred Pennyworth. It’s also likely he could play Gotham City police commissioner James Gordon. [https://www.google.com/amp/s/io9.gizmodo.com/holy-cavalcade-of-cameos-batman-burt-ward-joins-cws-c-1836562094/amp](https://www.google.com/amp/s/io9.gizmodo.com/holy-cavalcade-of-cameos-batman-burt-ward-joins-cws-c-1836562094/amp) ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365/3 "2019-08-01T13:41:41Z")
There’s a rumor that Tom Welling is going to appear as well as Linda Carter. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365/4 "2019-08-01T14:10:24Z")
God, I generally dislike television - and hate the way DC has continued to recycle Crisis - but the simple fact is that Legends of Tomorrow is one of the best, most bonkers things ever to appear on television. And Routh was actually very good as Superman. It’s not his fault that Singer didn’t have a real handle on the character and script. Routh did his job and did it well. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365/5 "2019-08-01T14:19:02Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > There’s a rumor that Tom Welling is going to appear as well as Linda Carter. I’d first read this as “Tom Welling is going to appear as Lynda Carter.” ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365/6 "2019-08-01T14:26:06Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > I’d first read this as “Tom Welling is going to appear as Lynda Carter.” You’re not the only one. Hey, it’s early. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365/7 "2019-08-01T14:36:09Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > There’s a rumor that Tom Welling is going to appear as well as Linda Carter. Lynda Carter has already been a reoccurring guest on Supergirl so that wouldn’t be much of a story. It gets interesting if she plays Wonder Woman ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365/8 "2019-08-02T04:05:35Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > God, I generally dislike television - and hate the way DC has continued to recycle Crisis - but the simple fact is that Legends of Tomorrow is one of the best, most bonkers things ever to appear on television. > > And Routh was actually very good as Superman. It’s not his fault that Singer didn’t have a real handle on the character and script. Routh did his job and did it well. I mostly blame Kate Bosworth, who was particularly unconvincing as Lois Lane, especially as she was supposed to be following the Margot Kidder version. All the other recent Loises - Amy Adams, Elizabeth Tulloch - have had great chemistry with their co-leads. Kate Bosworth, not so much. ETA: Agreed on _Legends_. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365/9 "2019-08-02T06:37:35Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > I mostly blame Kate Bosworth, who was particularly unconvincing as Lois Lane, especially as she was supposed to be following the Margot Kidder version. All the other recent Loises - Amy Adams, Elizabeth Tulloch - have had great chemistry with their co-leads. Kate Bosworth, not so much. Wasn’t that partly intentional - she was supposed to have moved on, and made a new life with Cyclops. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365/10 "2019-08-02T12:52:30Z")
Yeah but she didn’t have any chemistry with the other guy either nor with the kid who was supposed to be her son. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365/11 "2019-08-04T19:16:08Z")
More casting news: Kevin Conroy has been added to the star-studded cast. Conroy, who is best known as the voice of Bruce Wayne/Batman in the animated Batman series will play a future version of Bruce Wayne. Also, Black Lightning, who had his own CW show, but is not part of the Arrowverse, has been confirmed to appear in the crossover. > **[Best onscreen Batman to play future Bruce Wayne in The CW’s next superhero...](https://www.avclub.com/best-onscreen-batman-to-play-future-bruce-wayne-in-the-1836951086)** > > The next CW superhero crossover will sound very familiar: The network announced at the Television Critics Association summer press tour that Kevin Conroy will appear as Bruce Wayne in this winter’s Crisis On Infinite Earths. The actor, who has voiced... ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2019, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365/12 "2019-08-04T19:52:07Z")
Quick, who’s not in this crossover? Waiting to hear that Mark Hamill is playing a retired Joker (he’s “sane”, but then The Trickster starts showing up…) Also watching for Louie Anderson as Bouncing Boy, Justin Bieber (and Kate McKinnon playing Justin Bieber) as the Wonder Twins, and Danny DeVito as Bat-Mite. Which of course leads to _“The Dark Mite Returns”,_ directed by Tim Burton. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2019, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365/13 "2019-08-04T20:13:42Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Quick, who’s not in this crossover? > > Waiting to hear that Mark Hamill is playing a retired Joker (he’s “sane”, but then The Trickster starts showing up…) > > Also watching for Louie Anderson as Bouncing Boy, Justin Bieber (and Kate McKinnon playing Justin Bieber) as the Wonder Twins, and Danny DeVito as Bat-Mite. Which of course leads to _“The Dark Mite Returns”,_ directed by Tim Burton. Hamill’s already appeared in _The Flash_ as the original Trickster, serving life in prison (having been caught in the first _Flash_ series from twenty years ago). Certain aspects of _The Flash_’s timeline don’t bear much thinking about. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2019, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365/14 "2019-08-04T21:29:05Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Hamill’s already appeared in _The Flash_ as the original Trickster, serving life in prison (having been caught in the first _Flash_ series from twenty years ago). Certain aspects of _The Flash_’s timeline don’t bear much thinking about. Not quite. In the Flash (1990) universe Mark Hamill played a young-ish Trickster who battles the 1990 Flash and is eventually defeated by him. In the 2015 Flash, Mark Hamill plays an old-ish Trickster who committed crimes in the 1990s and was caught by the police, who then escapes prison in the 2015 time frame and battles the Flash. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365/15 "2019-08-06T00:20:45Z")
With Kevin Conroy playing an older Bruce Wayne/ Batman, I wonder if there is also going to be a Terry McGinnis Batman? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365/16 "2019-08-06T19:18:57Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > There’s a rumor that Tom Welling is going to appear as well as Linda Carter. No Lynda Carter, alas, but the producers are looking to cast a _Smallville_ actor. > [@](#): > > Producers would have liked also Lynda Carter to once again play the role of Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, but (Marc) Guggenheim confessed that she won’t likely reprise. > > "I had conversations with DC and Warner Bros. and based on those conversations, I don’t think it’s going to be able to happen,” the Arrowverse producer stated. > **[Crisis on Infinite Earths: No Lynda Carter, Seeks Smallville Character](https://www.superherohype.com/comics/461349-crisis-on-infinite-earths-lynda-carter-looking-for-a-smallville-character)** > > Arrowverse producers are currently searching for at least one Smallville character, but have mostly ruled out Lynda Carter appearing as Wonder Woman. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365/17 "2019-08-06T20:12:01Z")
So, the premise of this is that all of the various screen versions of DC characters are “real”, just on different worlds (which are, of course, now colliding)? ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365/18 "2019-08-06T20:46:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > So, the premise of this is that all of the various screen versions of DC characters are “real”, just on different worlds (which are, of course, now colliding)? Essentially yes, for certain values of “screen.” I don’t think they’re be any tie-in to the DC Movie Universe. This is already set up in the CW shows. Arrow, Flash, and LoT are on one Earth. Supergirl is on another. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365/19 "2019-08-06T21:27:50Z")
So what cameos, if any, do they have lined up from _Lois and Clark_? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365/20 "2019-08-06T22:03:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > So what cameos, if any, do they have lined up from _Lois and Clark_? Dean Cain is already playing Supergirl’s adoptive father. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandon-routh-to-return-to-his-superman-role-in-cws-arrow-verse/837365.md?page=2)