Krypton Keeper

Look, up in the sky! It's... um, some guy named Brandon James Routh? A 25-year-old actor best known for a yearlong gig on One Life to Live, Routh will be wearing blue tights and a red cape in the upcoming Superman movie, which will be directed by Bryan Singer (X-Men) and is slated for a 2006 release.

The film, tentatively titled Superman Returns, won't retell the familiar story of Superman's origins on planet Krypton and his small-town boyhood on Earth. ''Our view is if you're over 25 years old, then you've seen the [Christopher] Reeve films and that's Superman to you,'' co-screenwriter Dan Harris (X2: X-Men United) told the Chicago Sun-Times. ''If you're under 25, then you watch TV's Smallville, and that's Superman to you.'' Instead, said Harris, the film's storyline will begin after the events depicted in 1980's Superman II, the second of the late Reeve's four Man of Steel movies.

In the meantime, there are plenty of other parts to fill, including Clark Kent's Daily Planet colleagues Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Perry White, plus the villainous Lex Luthor (assuming he's the bad guy this time around). Some online fans have speculated that Topher Grace (That '70s Show) is a possible Jimmy, Mischa Barton (The O.C. and Evangeline Lilly Lost are potential Loises, and Kevin Spacey could play Luthor. Who do you think should play those roles, and what do you make of Singer's choice of Routh? Does it make sense to avoid Superman's origin story? Talk about it here.

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