Before the days of the Snyderverse and the failed DCEU, DC, and Warner Bros. were already consistently producing new superhero and comic book movies to be released theatrically. While DC’s history in film goes all the way back to the mid-20th century, the first decade of the 2000s saw more new DC movies being produced than ever before. Whether it was with Christopher Nolan’s new revival of Batman with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, the 2004 Catwoman film starring Halle Berry, or a myriad of other projects like Constantine or Watchmen, DC and WB were already firmly committed to translating these beloved comic-book characters to the big screen.

In the midst of all this, DC also staged a major comeback for one of its most beloved characters: Superman. The Man of Steel had been absent from the big screen since the Christopher Reeve era of the character came to a close with Superman IV: The Quest for Peace in 1987. Although numerous new Superman films had attempted to get off the ground, the first that actually managed to take flight was Superman Returns. Released in 2006, this new Superman movie was directed by Bryan Singer (coming off his first two X-Men films), and it introduced Brandon Routh to audiences as the latest actor to don the blue spandex and red cape.

Although its box office run certainly didn’t break any records, Superman Returns still made a decent splash upon its release, as it pulled in nearly $400 million worldwide, more than Nolan’s Batman Begins had just the year prior. The film actively tried to recreate the atmosphere of and serve as a loose sequel to the Reeve-era Superman films, and it was somewhat successful in that endeavor. However, unlike Batman Begins, Superman Returns would never receive a sequel. Meanwhile, Routh’s iteration of the character was abandoned for a complete reboot with Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, starring Henry Cavill, just a few years later. That wasn’t always the plan, and there were ideas about what a sequel to Superman Returns would have looked like. Here’s what we know:

The Story Would Have Introduced Iconic Superman Villains

Before the release of Superman Returns in the summer of 2006, WB and DC had already announced the development of a direct sequel. Essentially, everyone involved was expected to return, including Singer as director and stars like Routh, Kevin Spacey and Kate Bosworth. There were already a lot of ideas floating around about what the plot of the film would have been, and some were even specifically set up in Returns. Specifically, Singer stated that one of the film’s central plot elements would have been the “New Krypton” left in space near the end of the first film.

Additionally, Michael Dougherty was set to return as the film’s writer. In various interviews over the last nearly two decades since Returns was released, the writer has shed some light on what he envisioned the sequel to be. Most notably, he stated that it would have been much more action-packed than the first, which was generally viewed as an establishing story to get audiences attached to these new versions of the characters. In order to increase the action, Dougherty says a Returns sequel would have introduced additional Kryptonians that could have gone toe-to-toe with Routh’s Kal-El.

On top of these other new super-people, Dougherty also confirmed that he was interested in delving into other classic Superman villains that hadn’t been given their due on screen yet. Chiefly, his focus was on Braniac, the infamous green-skinned android with the intelligence and power to rival any being in the universe. Another character that was considered was Bizarro, the twisted opposite of Superman, who frequently blurs the lines between an anti-hero and a straight-up villain.

Related: 20 Superman Storylines James Gunn’s Film Could Adapt

Why the Superman Returns Sequel Fell Apart

This particular Superman film was the latest to join the long list of projects that failed to come together. Although Superman Returns brought in decent box office returns – it was the fifth-highest grossing movie of 2006 in North America and the ninth globally – it wasn’t nearly enough to justify its enormous production costs. While it was being made, the cost of Superman Returns ballooned to an absurd degree. The reported production costs vary between $230 million and $300 million, depending on where you look. No matter what the actual number was, it was too much, and it set the bar for financial success way too high for the newest take on Superman.

After taking marketing and distributor costs into account, it’s likely that Superman Returns failed to turn a profit for DC and WB. Understandably, this made the studios hesitant to give a sequel the green light right away. Over the following years, essentially everyone involved in the project moved on to other things, as the Superman sequel was just taking too long to come together and get the official stamp of approval from WB. Filming was originally meant to begin in 2007, though it was eventually delayed to 2008 before being pulled altogether.

The film’s writers left the project in early 2008, while Singer began prioritizing other films like Valkyrie and Jack the Giant Slayer. When 2009 came, Routh’s contractual obligations to return for a sequel expired, and that was likely the end of any immediate discussion about a sequel. WB had already begun hearing pitches for a newly rebooted Superman as early as the summer of 2008, which included an idea from writer David S. Goyer that was backed by Christopher Nolan. This pitch went on to become Man of Steel, the 2013 reboot directed by Zack Snyder.

Related: James Gunn Reveals What Qualities the New Superman: Legacy Star Needs, Including Being Huggable

The Legacy of Superman Returns

In the years since the release of Superman Returns, the film has largely been forgotten about and overshadowed. The new version of Superman, played by Henry Cavill, which was introduced as the beginning of the DC cinematic universe in Man of Steel, became the definitive take on the character in the 2010s. The 2006 film from Singer was the last attempt to bring Superman to life, with the lightness of the Reeve-era baked into its core. With Man of Steel and the following Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, the character was taken in a much darker direction, which divided many fans and struggled to bring in new audiences.

This, however, could change with the newest reboot, Superman: Legacy, set for release in the summer of 2025. Starring David Corenswet and directed by the new DC Studio co-head, James Gunn, Legacy will serve as the beginning of the refreshed and reimagined DCU franchise. While, at this point, it’s hard to know for certain what the film will be, all signs seem to be pointing toward Gunn bringing back a lighter tone to the Superman character and mythos.

As for Routh, he has continued to be a familiar face in the many stories and worlds of DC. He became a core character of the “Arrowverse” series of shows that aired on the CW, where he played Ray Palmer / The Atom through regular appearances in Arrow and The Flash before becoming a co-lead in the Legends of Tomorrow series. Those shows included many different crossovers, one of the most notable being “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” which crossed over many of DC’s different continuities. In that crossover event, Routh returned to the role of Superman, in a sort of reprisal of his character from Superman Returns, who had gone on to grow into an older version of Superman inspired by the famous DC comic, Kingdom Come.

Beyond Routh’s appearance as Superman in the Arrowverse, there have been very few ways in which Superman Returns has had a continual impact on the current age of superhero movies. These days, the film feels like a strange and often ignored detour in the character’s history. It’s easy, especially for new fans of the character, to not even be aware of the film’s existence. It has not had the lasting legacy that the Reeve films did, nor was it expanded upon in the way that Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel was. It’s a lost remnant of an old age of superhero cinema, and the sudden introduction of “cinematic universes” into the comic-book movie landscape shortly after Returns’ release resulted in it being tossed aside in favor of newer ideas.

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