Superman in film that in his absence Lois Lane has given birth to a son and become engaged. Singer chose to follow Donner's lead by casting relatively unknown Brandon Routh as Superman, who resembled Christopher Reeve somewhat, and more high-profile actors in supporting roles, such as Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. Singer brought his entire crew from "X2" to work on the film. Via digitally-enhanced archive footage, the late Marlon Brando appeared in the film as Jor-El. "Superman Returns" received positive reviews and grossed approximately $391 million worldwide. In February 2006, four months before the release of "Superman Returns", Warner Bros. announced a
Superman in film it was in early development. Paul Levitz, president of DC Comics, still expected Routh to reprise the title role, but Routh's contract for a sequel expired in 2009. ""Superman Returns" didn't quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to," Warner Bros. President of Production Jeff Robinov admitted in August 2008. "It didn't position the character the way he needed to be positioned. Had "Superman" worked in 2006, we would have had a movie for Christmas of this year or 2009. Now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman without regard to a Batman and Superman