Brandon Routh

There's little in the way of story details just yet, but Latino Review does cite Brainiac and Lex Luthor as the villains. Hooray for Brainiac, but can we please skip Luthor for at least one installment of the series? No film has quite gotten the character right, and I'd rather see Supes face off with someone he can actually have physical action scenes with -- Parasite, Mongul, Bizarro, anyone but Lex Luthor.

A new Superman movie sounds like a really tough sell, and this is coming from a guy who actually liked Bryan Singer's homage to Richard Donner. I acknowledge that it wasn't the Superman movie than most fans wanted to see, but it still strikes me as odd that Superman would ever be in a position where he'd actually be hard to market. Once bitten, twice shy, I guess. I'm hopeful that Nolan and company can turn this image problem around. There's still a lot to love about the Man of Steel.

A look at tonight's sci-fi TV:

Chuck, "Chuck Versus Operation Awesome" – Brandon Routh, who I always thought was a pretty swell dude and one of the halfway decent things about Superman Returns, begins his recurring run on Chuck tonight. Routh plays Shaw, a new ... er ... super spy who becomes Chuck's mentor and his rival for Sarah's affections. Angie Harmon also guest stars in an ep that finds Chuck trying to save Captain Awesome from the Ring. (8 p.m. ET on NBC)

Heroes, "Pass/Fail" - George Takei and David Anders return as participants in a trial going on in Hiro's scrambled subconscious. Meanwhile Sylar gets all grabby with Claire and Samuel tries to impress Vanessa, who later remains unimpressed ... and probably dead. Probably. (9 p.m. ET on NBC)

Head after the jump for clips and more TV picks.

By Elisabeth Rappe

When Warner Bros announced it was rebooting the Superman franchise, we all held our breath a little bit waiting to see what Gigantic News would come next. Of course, nothing happened. Last week, Omelete talked to Brandon Routh on the Scott Pilgrim set, who revealed that his Superman contract had expired, and that he had no idea when or if he would return to the character. (Pause for a moment and realize how much it has to suck to get the part of Superman, and have it go utterly sour.) That news suggested one of two things: that Warner Bros would let the franchise expire too, or that they were planning on picking out a new Man of Steel.

Now, Warner Bros and DC Comics have won a favorable ruling in the suit filed by Joanne Siegel and Laura Siegel Larson, the heirs of Superman co-creator Jerome Siegel. If you're curious about the lawsuit in its entirety, ThinkMcFlyThink has a pdf of it, but the part that concerns Superman fans is this: Warner Bros president Alan Horn testified that he'd like to make another movie, but that the project wasn't currently in development at the studio. There isn't even a script being written. The earliest another Superman film could hit theaters would be 2012.

But they now have a pretty big incentive to do it, as the court ruled that if Warner Bros doesn't get a Superman film underway by 2011, the Siegels could sue for damages. Their lawyer Marc Toberoff gives every indication to Variety the Siegels will do just that. So, we could see the studio kick their reboot plans into high gear ... or they'll leave Superman in his Fortress of Solitude, and quietly go to court in 2011.

[via ThinkMcFlyThink]