SUPERMAN Returns star Brandon Routh will fly to Perth this week for his first visit as part of Supanova.
It will be the actor’s first time back to Australia since he was in the country for the film’s 2006 premiere.
Routh reflected on landing the coveted role in the blockbuster film, which saw the hugely popular comic book character’s highly anticipated return to the big screen after almost 20 years.
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READ NOW“Superman seems like so long ago that it doesn’t seem like it happened,” he said.
“I was 25 while we were filming it and I was 26 when it came out.
“(I feel like) the older you get, the more you realise how much you didn’t know at the time.
“I am more mature and more worldly now than I was then.”
Routh said he knew he had big shoes to fill when he stepped on to the big budget set.
“(I handled it) with a lot of naivety I think,” he said.
“Being 25, I knew I had a lot of work to do and I wanted to honour Christopher Reeves and the other men that had come before me.”
Superman Returns was directed by Bryan Singer and co-starred Kevin Spacey, two men who have been recently accused of sexual assault amidst the #MeToo movement.
Routh expressed sympathy for Singer and Spacey’s accusers.
“Obviously there are many people that have had challenges in their career and many struggles, for men and women,” he said.
“My heart goes out to those people who have had these challenges.”
Now Routh is popular with a new generation of fans after securing another superhero role: Ray Palmer/The Atom in TV’s Legends of Tomorrow.
He said he was not looking specifically to bring to life another superhero character when the opportunity came along.
“I think I had put it (playing another superhero) out of my mind and that it was not an option,” he said. “I had played the biggest and best one, so who would imagine me as another superhero?
“But when this came, I jumped at it and not because he was a superhero, but because it was pitched to me with a lot of comedy.
“(Now) I have played Ray more than I have played Superman.”
Supanova is at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre from June 22 to 24.