This year, Brandon Routh joined Chris Evans and Adrianne Palicki on that list of people who have played two different superheroes.
Brandon was the star of the 2006 movie Superman Returns, playing Superman, arguably comics’ most famous superhero that is not Batman, and with this TV season, he plays Ray Palmer, a.k.a. The Atom, on The CW’s Arrow.
At the “Heroes and Villains of The Flash and Arrow” panel at today’s TCA Press Tour, Routh was asked if he was hesitant to join the DC Universe again.
“When this was proposed to me, it was just a meeting about to come and talk about this idea that they had for a character, and I was hesitant, yes, to be honest, stepping into this DC world again… really never thinking that would happen, that I would never play another superhero, having played, in my mind, the pinnacle character,” he admitted. “But I went forth with open arms, because I appreciated the work of the show, seeing Arrow and the great work they were doing there. And, you know, it’s been nothing but an amazing experience, getting to play a character that I get to go and have fun and be light most of the time, and have fun with Emily [Bett Rickards, who plays Felicity Smoak],” he continued.
“It’s just become such a cool experience,” he said. “Everyone on the show is amazing to work with. And it’s good to be a part of the show that’s so well loved and appreciated. I’m loving playing this character. So, yeah, I would love to keep playing him as much as possible,” he enthused.
Brandon’s answer was followed up with a question to the producers about whether or not an Atom spin-off is on deck.
“We are in very early talks on a very general, very general idea that we haven’t dug deeper on yet, and we’re not allowed to say anything about it yet. That’s all I can say,” Greg Berlanti said, with Marc Guggenheim adding that right now, they are just trying to get the Atom suit finished.
So what is coming up for Ray Palmer on Arrow in the coming weeks? Could we see him in the Arrow lair, as part of the team?
“I think Ray is on a slightly different track than the other member of Team Arrow,” Guggenheim admitted. His connection, obviously, is through Felicity, and I think one of the things that has always been part of the design of Season 3 is that there would be more and more ‘costume characters’ populating Starling City,” he said.
“Oliver started off just as one man, and when he said in the pilot that he had a plan, he never envisioned all these other people being part of that plan. He thought he would be a solo act. Part of what he experienced this year is seeing the crusade grow beyond him, and that’s very much by design. It ties into pretty much everything we’ve got planned for Season 3, which I can’t go into further detail on it without spoiling something,” Guggenheim teased.
Arrow Season 3 returns January 21 on The CW. You can read some of what Stephen Amell had to say about what’s coming up here.
