As much as it might be hard for Henry Cavill die-hards to accept, the DCU has its new Superman in the form of David Corenswet, who was recently officially hired to star in Superman: Legacy, James Gunn’s upcoming flagship film for his rebooted cinematic universe. So with the SnyderVerse’s Man of Steel in our rearview mirror, perhaps it’s now time to accept a hard truth about the Cavill character that fans have not wanted to admit for years.
Specifically, that the DCEU’s Supes really isn’t the strongest version of the Last Son of Krypton. Although Cavill’s Kal-El is beloved in some quarters for being tougher and more brutal than the Christopher Reeve iteration, it’s often overlooked that there’s another cinematic Superman who is canonically proven to be a whole lot more physically impressive than Cavill. That’s right, it’s time to claim your spot in the sunlight, Brandon Routh.
One valiant Redditor braved the potential backlash to share their “honest opinion on Superman Returns” on the r/DC_Cinematic sub. The 2006 effort has long been controversial among the fandom for its flawed attempt to recapture the Reeve films and its lack of action and oomph. Nonetheless, the OP makes an inarguable point about Routh’s Clark Kent. When arguing that Returns is “an actually good Superman movie,” the Redditor declared: “I’ll probably get hate or won’t but Brandon Routh’s Superman is stronger than Henry Cavill’s Superman because he lifted an entire island made of Kryptonite.”
For those who might need a reminder, Returns sees Kevin Spacey’s Lex Luthor create a giant landmass infused with Kryptonite in the North Atlantic Ocean. In order to prevent the destruction of the entire American continent, Superman is forced to lift the landmass out of the sea and throw it into space. Carrying an entire artificial continent on his shoulders is no slouch as it is, but the fact that Routh’s Supes manages this despite it being riddled with his greatest weakness makes it even more impressive.
Suffice it to say, things might’ve turned out very differently if Routh’s hero was the one who battled Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne in Batman v Superman. Who knows where Corenswet’s incarnation will fall in the Superman strength scale, but it has to be said that Cavill definitely doesn’t occupy the top space.