Superman Returns was well-received by critics in 2006, but it never really took flight at the box office (something which was blamed on those ties to the original Superman movies). Now, star Brandon Routh has talked about what it was like for him to learn that his time as the Man of Steel had ended.
The failure of the movie hurt the actor's career at the time, and he admits that the aftermath took its toll on his mental health. However, he "didn't lean on drugs or alcohol or partying" to help get him through it. "I played World of Warcraft endlessly. That was my addiction, and then a few other games along the way, but that was where I lost myself and spent way too much time."
Routh went on to say that he "really had to come to terms" with the Superman franchise not going anywhere. "There was no sequel, the movie was widely well reviewed, people liked the movie, but it, you know, made almost $400 million worldwide but that wasn't enough."
"And it was a very slow fizzle out of the possibility of a sequel over the next two, three years and I did everything that I could do, that I thought, in my world to help make it happen," he continued. "[World of Warcraft] was a coping mechanism, but it wasn't teaching me things, until I finally had several experiences where I had to come to terms with that."
Routh was given the opportunity to play Superman again, and got to say goodbye to the character in the
Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover. While the actor has recently expressed his disappointment with how his
Legends of Tomorrow exit has been handled, his future is definitely looking brighter now than it did after
Superman Returns arrived in theaters nearly fifteen years ago.
What do you guys make of Routh's comments?