New Superman cast

Virtually unknown actor Brandon Routh has reportedly been confirmed as the next Superman.

15:36 20 October 2004

Virtually unknown actor Brandon Routh has reportedly been confirmed as the next Superman.

Routh will star as the infamous Man of Steel in Bryan Singer's upcoming movie. The 25-year-old has appeared in One Life to Live, Gilmore Girls, Will & Grace and Cold Case and recently finished work on his first feature role in Deadly, directed by Joel Bender and co-starring That '70s! Show star Laura Prepon.

The Usual Suspects director Singer and crew are headed to Australia next month to begin production.

Screenwriter David Harris told the Chicago Sun-Times: "He'll begin in his late 20s. He lost his powers in Superman 2 and now he has the powers back. But something has happened because he's been away for a long time. We're taking off from the first two Superman films with Christopher Reeve. We use his history and then move on with big twists and great special effects."

"[We're] not going to do the origin story again," Harris added. "Our view is if you're over 25 years old, then you've seen the Reeve films and that's Superman to you. If you're under 25, then you watch TV's Smallville and that's Superman to you."

Smallville's Tom Welling had recently been tipped for the role in the new Warner Bros flick, as well as numerous Hollywood heavyweights, including Nicolas Cage, Ashton Kutcher, Josh Hartnett. The new Superman movie has been five years in development and has changed directors several times.