Bryan Singer and Brandon Routh: No longer Super?

In a sad development, it's being widely reported that Bryan Singer's Superman sequel appears to be dunzo. Deputy editor of Variety Anne Thompson reports on her blog that it’s "highly unlikely" that the director will be helming the sequel, instead choosing to focus his attentions on completion of Valkyrie (which seems to be facing its own bout of troubles, having its release date pushed from June of this year to October 8th) and prepping production for his Harvey Milk biopic, The Mayor of Castro Street.

While it’s great to hear that Singer apparently wants to focus attention on the rare film with an explicitly gay plotline, as a known defender of Superman Returns and a huge fan of his X-Men films, I have to admit that I was really looking forward to another of Singer’s intelligently handled superhero movies. And as Cinematical points out, it seems an odd choice to bow out of Superman entirely when filming is completed for Valkyrie and Castro Street is unlikely to be a lengthy shoot. Why not schedule for both?

Continuing the tragic news, it has been confirmed that Brandon Routh will not be reprising his role as the Man in Tights (UPDATE: The site referenced has reversed their claim and now refers to their earlier confirmation as a "rumor". Thanks, guys!). It now seems less likely that Supes will be played by whoever gets cast in the role for the Justice League movie, currently in development with a fresh young cast. I still for the life of me can’t figure out why Routh didn’t catch on with audiences. I thought he was pretty great in the role; appropriately befuddled in his Clark scenes, handsome and charming as Supes, and damn did he fill out that costume.