Superman Returns Does any one know what 6'3" and 225 pounds lean actually looks like?

[rock_on]

anyone too muscular would just look odd... a bit off. A guy with too much muscle would look massive in the suit... but not in a good way. There would be no way to see the definition.... it's like the Rock and John Goodman would look the same in the suit.... well, not really. Routh has won me over.... from his voice, to him just standing tall to his spot-on awesome portrayal of clark... and of course Superman. Superman to means so much more than muscle.

I just want to say that I am so psyched for SR.... I remember last May searching for SR info and stumbling onto the hype... I've been reading the forums for a year now, following each and every SR story... and it's hard to believe that SR is almost here!

- 'Nuff said.

 

[ocriggins]

Does any one know what 6'3" and 225 pounds lean actually looks like?

Well, New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez is listed at 6'3" 225. My guess is that he is pretty lean considering he is one of the most gifted athletes on the planet, but in no way does he have a muscle bound build.

 

[Agentdemon]

Looks like he has more mass than Routh did during filming. The problem is Routh's somewhat hourglass shape which makes him look less bulky.

 

[buggs0268]

Hi all,

Not new to the boards, but have been lurking for a very long time. I read posts a lot, and I am of the group that does NOT like the way Routh looks as superman, or the costume changes.

At age 25, I am a life long superman fan, and comic collector as well, and this is far and away my favorite comic book character, so admittedly I am hard to please.

I am also an Iraq war vet with about 5 years in the army, and I have been an avid natural bodybuilder for a long time too, and have a good grasp on what bodyweights at certain bodyfat% look like, for given heights.

There seems to be a lot of argument on what build a superman actor should have. Some people here consider any muscular body a “muscle bound” freak, and think that 225 at 6’3” is skinny (not true at all). Others seem to favor a more Arnold Schwarzenegger type build for superman.

So what is “muscle bound?” The definition of muscle bound, is when a skeletal structure has so much muscle that is has lost a degree of movement to the point where it can no longer be athletic.

Let my say first off that only the most massive of bodybuilders are truly muscle bound. Guys like Ronnie Coleman 5’11” 300 pounds current Mr.Olympia, Jay Cutler 5’9” 300 pounds, Gunter Schlierkamp 6’2” 320+ pounds, Markus Ruhl 5’10” 300+pounds, are big time muscle-bound.

Lou Ferrigno, when he was on TV as the Hulk, although muscular, was only mildly muscle bound, and had the ability to still be athletic, so was Arnold S. Back in this time bodybuilders where not nearly as massive as they are to day.

For the most part, only bodybuilders, and some powerlifters, tend to be muscle-bound.

So by now you may be thinking that I would prefer a bodybuilder, like Mike O’hearn, to play superman? Absolutely NOT.

Remember Boagrius from the movie Troy (the giant guy Pitt kills in the beginning scene)? That was 6’11.5” 360+ pound bodybuilder, and WSM competitor Nathan Jones. That kind of build is WAY too massive for a role like superman, but would not be bad for a Juggernaut doomsday type character.

I think that bodybuilders tend to look way too muscular and especially the steroid using ones would just look cartoonish as Superman, on top of that they tend to be under 6 foot (not always the case, but many of them are), and even the taller ones these days still tend to be too built for the role of superman.

One thing we do agree on is that superman is ripped. He may not be a bodybuilder, but he can be very lean. No one wants a fat superman.

Then there is the “logical” argument that superman should be skinny because he could not lift weights to increase his muscular size. Nothing in the known galaxy would give him that type of resistance training. Not unless he was working out with planets, right?

WRONG, that is applying human physiology to him too much. If that were the case by the same logic superman would look sickly atrophied as everyday life would not give him the resistance his muscles need to maintain themselves!

Clark is an ALIEN, he can simply have whatever build that a Kryptonian has when under a yellow sun. No need to put logic to it, a strong lean muscular build (but NOT super-heavyweight bodybuilder), at a height of 6’3”. He can look like a guy who lifts weights even though he does not actually have to in order to maintain his body.

Then there is the Clark Kent argument, seriously, you think if a guy looked well built in a suit, that people would just assume he is a superhero? Absurd, it is well known that millions of men in the US. Lift weight to stay in shape, be muscular and healthy, and any one who knows him would just think “well he was a big farm kid, and he must work out”.

Also the real reason no one find his secret identity is that no one is looking for it! He does not wear a mask, so most people in the DC universe might just assume he does not have an identity he is trying to protect.

Now, officially, according to DC comics superman is 6’3” and 225 pounds. Sometimes it is printed as 235, like in the DC encyclopedia, but I will go with the 225 just to be conservative.

I happen to know what a lean 225 at 6’3” should look like. I know that some magazines have printed that Routh is 220 (even one typo that he was 250) yeah right!

Bull*****, Routh is not even 210, unless his bodyfat is >15%, and that IMHO is not lean enough to be superman if that is the case.

Some people may be thinking; “I have a friend who is 220 at 6’2”, and he does not look very muscular at all, to be muscular you got to be like 250”, well if that is the case your friend has a lot of bodyfat making up his weight%, or he is padding his weight to sound bigger.

I know several guys in my company who do work out, lift weights and who are lean by army standards, and weigh between 220-230, and are 6’2”-6’4”, and they all look way bigger than Routh does.

There are several guys who are the same weight as the guys who work out a lot, but who do not work out as much, and the difference is huge. The guys who work out minimally still are in half ways decent shape, and although they are not as lean as the better shape guys, even though they weigh similar, the visual difference in muscular size is huge. It all has to do with the bodyfat %. 6% fat vs. 18% at the same weight the 6% will look far more muscled.

6’3” at around 225 pounds, ripped, is actually more like an in-between Vin Diesel, and the Rock build. Vin only weighs about 210, and the Rock in the Run Down, and Walking tall weighed about 245 pounds at 6’5”.

So what Singer should have done was found a guy of that build with a face that resembled the current comic superman, and who can act, and I am sure that lots of guys can fit that bill.

That is just the way it is. Physically, IMHO Routh does just not look like a "superman", at all.

Reeve I think could have been about 15-20 pounds more muscular for his superman portrayal; and that still would not have been bodybuilder or muscle-bound proportions, or even closely resemble a Schwarzenegger look at all.

His face also does not look right, he looks too young. His face lacks the masculine qualities that Christopher Reeves had. Sure he may resemble Reeves, when Chris was 16 years old, but Routh does not look like superman to me. Not at all.

I think that the costume has also been changed too much. All the small changes add up to being a big change, and the hair cut on him is too long. Superman does not have a buzz cut, and sure his hair should be long enough to be wavy as Superman, but still look like a conservative business haircut on Clark.

Also the portrayal of Clark in modern day comics is much more head strong and less nerdy than it was during the Reeve era. More like the Bruce Tim animated Superman cartoon than the previous Superman movies.

Get ready to be jumped on and called every name in the book. I argued the same thing and got called every name in the book about the muscle suit underneath. And low and behold, a muscle suit.

 

[Hades]

Jay cutler for Superman!

 

[Nivek]

Get ready to be jumped on and called every name in the book. I argued the same thing and got called every name in the book about the muscle suit underneath. And low and behold, a muscle suit.

Im sorry but this is a pretty standard genral opinion, concidering the character get's his strength from sources not tied into mis muscle mass, I see no reason the character should look like those 'roided up gorillas. And has been pointed out, most of these guys cant act and look freakish when trying to pass for a normal guy. This is Superman we are talking about, not the Hulk. Sandy Collera, in finding a guy who looks like the comic book Superman scale wise, also showed how the same actor looks way too freakish as Clark Kent. There was even a great bit of the rock on SNL years ago that made a joke out of this entire discussion.

 

[Superfreak]

Im sorry but this is a pretty standard genral opinion, concidering the character get's his strength from sources not tied into mis muscle mass, I see no reason the character should look like those 'roided up gorillas. And has been pointed out, most of these guys cant act and look freakish when trying to pass for a normal guy. This is Superman we are talking about, not the Hulk. Sandy Collera, in finding a guy who looks like the comic book Superman scale wise, also showed how the same actor looks way too freakish as Clark Kent. There was even a great bit of the rock on SNL years ago that made a joke out of this entire discussion.

SUPERMAN'S STRENGTH IS TIED TO HIS MUSCLE MASS, why wouldn't it be. The only difference is that instead of eating to get energy, he is powered by the Sun. His muscles are still doing the work. Come on people, who is making things up. His superstrength is not a result of some magical aura which makes him strong. He is strong biologically, not because of some magical energy field that makes him strong (that's invulnerability and flight, it has nothing to do with his strength).

For all intents and purposes, Superman is human. But his dense molecular structure, and his ability to absorb sunlight, allow him to be super strong. This isn't some magical power, his body is just more effecient than ours. His muscles are essentially human, the only difference is that where his muscle is getting its energy from, and the 'capacity' of his muscles is much greater than the lowly human.

Now, this doesn't mean he should be a roid monkey (at first). Superman's size and power should increase over time, as his feats become bigger and better. Ie. at the beginning, he's lifting cars, he should be about average human size. But as his powers grow, and he begins picking up bridges and buildings, he should begin to grow a little bigger.

Superman works out too

 

[JamalYIgle]

SUPERMAN'S STRENGTH IS TIED TO HIS MUSCLE MASS, why wouldn't it be. The only difference is that instead of eating to get energy, he is powered by the Sun. His muscles are still doing the work. Come on people, who is making things up. His superstrength is not a result of some magical aura which makes him strong. He is strong biologically, not because of some magical energy field that makes him strong (that's invulnerability and flight, it has nothing to do with his strength).

For all intents and purposes, Superman is human. But his dense molecular structure, and his ability to absorb sunlight, allow him to be super strong. This isn't some magical power, his body is just more effecient than ours. His muscles are essentially human, the only difference is that where his muscle is getting its energy from, and the 'capacity' of his muscles is much greater than the lowly human.

Now, this doesn't mean he should be a roid monkey (at first). Superman's size and power should increase over time, as his feats become bigger and better. Ie. at the beginning, he's lifting cars, he should be about average human size. But as his powers grow, and he begins picking up bridges and buildings, he should begin to grow a little bigger.

Superman works out too

Actually no. Superman's strength is indeed tied directly to the amount of solar radiation he absorbs. The more sunlight he absorbs the more powerful he becomes. He is not directly affected by strain and it would take an incredible amount of effort for him to become more muscular since muscle is built by actually tearing muscle tissue and allowing it to heal.
if you remove sunlight from him, he becomes no stronger than a normal human being.
The only reason he is drawn as large as he is, frankly,is an individual artist rendition.

 

[resentment]

SUPERMAN'S STRENGTH IS TIED TO HIS MUSCLE MASS, why wouldn't it be. The only difference is that instead of eating to get energy, he is powered by the Sun. His muscles are still doing the work. Come on people, who is making things up. His superstrength is not a result of some magical aura which makes him strong. He is strong biologically, not because of some magical energy field that makes him strong (that's invulnerability and flight, it has nothing to do with his strength).

For all intents and purposes, Superman is human. But his dense molecular structure, and his ability to absorb sunlight, allow him to be super strong. This isn't some magical power, his body is just more effecient than ours. His muscles are essentially human, the only difference is that where his muscle is getting its energy from, and the 'capacity' of his muscles is much greater than the lowly human.

Now, this doesn't mean he should be a roid monkey (at first). Superman's size and power should increase over time, as his feats become bigger and better. Ie. at the beginning, he's lifting cars, he should be about average human size. But as his powers grow, and he begins picking up bridges and buildings, he should begin to grow a little bigger.

Superman works out too

I'm sorry, but you're a little off there. Read the official "The Science of Superman" and the all new Superman series All-Star (yes it's elseworld's, but just because the "story" is not on key with continuity.) His muscles sure are tough and strong, but the fact of the matter is, how in the hell would Superman lift a submarine out of the water with the surface area of 10 inches of steel that his hands are pushing up against push the rest of the ship upwards? It can't, that's impossible. Same goes with an airplane. If they were to raise an airplane on jacks so to say, would they use a jack the width of a man's hand to lift it straight up? No, because that would just tear right through the outer metal and punch a hole into the plane. The point I'm getting at is this, it has been printed he uses an aura, because half the stuff he does with superstrength would be impossible one way or another, even if he was strong enough to lift whatever it is. On a side note, it's also official that he MUST be able to lift that amount of weight on his own, with his own strength, but once he does, it becomes weightless due to his "anti-graviton" aura that bursts outwards like a radio wave, so the larger the object, the heavier it is for him, due to radio frequencies weakening with distance. Hell, I seem to remember reading a comic once where me remarked to whatever he was lifting, seemed to instantly feel weightless because of this ability.

edit: In response to the above poster, what most writers and fans forget about Superman when he loses his powers is this: Krypton originally had the gravitational force 10 times that of Earth. So if Superman were to somehow not have solar energy given to him, he would be naturally 10 times stronger and durable than the average man on Earth. He should still be able to see different light spectrums and hear greater than the average human, due to the harshly dense atmosphere Krypton had. His hearing would naturally be better because sound waves would not travel as easily through such muck in the air on Krypton, and his sight would still be augmented incredibly without his "powers" on this planet due to the much thinner air and different light source (yellow sun rather than a red sun). His skin would also be tough as a brick, and he should be naturally resistant to other mediocre forms of radiation that would harm or even kill a normal human. The only reason I'm saying this is because this is from 'The Science of Superman" which I highly recommend to anyone who has not read it yet.

 

[JamalYIgle]

Get ready to be jumped on and called every name in the book. I argued the same thing and got called every name in the book about the muscle suit underneath. And low and behold, a muscle suit.

well, I've seen the actual suit. The Muscle suit is thin and nessesary because miliskin is really sheer, and not much thicker than nylon and not very opaque. Without the muscle suit around the ribcage and chest, you can see right through the suit.Also, no padding on the shoulders and arms as well, contrary to your opinion.

 

[supzfan]

As I understand it Krptonians have reached some level of physical perfection. Now when we consider the physical ideal, I assume we imagine someone along the lines of classical Greek and Roman sculpture as emulated by bodybuilders and physical culturists throughout history. Superman's appearence should, by definition, suggest POWER and STRENGTH and that measns MUSCLES!. Not necessarily the steroid-induced kind but the kind that can only come from deliberate weightlifting or some kind of strenuous exercise. I think it a bit hypocrtical to give Routh's skinny and ill-propotioned physique a pass when at the same time we see The Man Of Steel being portrayed in the comics as a muscular man. If muscles didn't matter we could put Pee Wee Herman in a padded suit and call him "Superman". Of course they matter. Look at Bale and Jackman.

 

[supzfan]

BTW, here are some stats on some muscular men from the past. Steve Reeves stood 6ft 1in and weighed in at around 215 lbs. He had arms over 18 inches and a 29 inches waist. Football great Jim Brown was 6ft.3in and weighed 230 lbs. Watch "The Dirty Dozen" and take a look at Clint Walker who stood 6ft.6in and weigh close to 250. Another thing to remember is that the camera automatically ADDS 10 lbs. to one's appearance.

 

[Majestic]

Like I have said before for every example are examples the other way. Everyone is built differently and carries weight differently and anyone that actually works out consistently knows this. So people who compare Routh to to Steve Reeves or who ever they may are lame. For straters he is two inches shorter and a "PROFESSIONAL" body builder. Routh is not, plus he carries a lot of weight in the legs which is easy to tell. Also have has anuone ever met him in person? NO! From the pics at the MTV music awards you can see hhow much bigger he is than Bale and that is after losing some weight. People need to stop being such armchair quarterbacks and hope for a great movie!

That first post is a little ridiculous, because if you lift at all like you say then you would obviously know that everyone carries there weight different. For every example you site one way a person can site an example another way. So to say you are the expert is lame and revisiting a dumb argument rehashed over and over. Also for starters it is hard to quantify through pictures how much weight a person is carrying on there legs which can account for a lot of weight. David Carr is probably the closest build to Routh in my opinion, Carr is 6'3 220.

 

[SuperMike335!!]

Just wanted to point out that I would not have wanted superman to be cast as a bodybuilder.

I completely understand that those guys have far and away more muscle than one ever needs to look masculen.

They also have such an unusual apearance that makes them look like they are a different species.

What I would have prefered is for an unkown actor to be cast, that can act, who has about the build of the Rock. Dwayne Johnson (the Rock) is 6'4" and 225, and ripped, would be a perfect build for superman, and would not overly sant out in a suit. Would just be big enough for people at the planet to say "well he grew up on a farm, and he must work out these days". Not unusual. Millions of guys work out and are not bodybuilders, no one thinks twice these days when they see a muscular person, and no one ever figures them for a superhero.

Not that I would want the Rock himself to be superman either, he is too well known, and superman is not somoan. But there must be some one out there who has that build, who does look like superman in the face, and who can act.

To me Superman has also been a strong masculen role, and I just dont get that feeling looking at Routh. I did with Reeves, but not Routh.

It is not just the body, also the face. I see the difference between Routh and Chris, and Brandon just has softer looking features. He aalso has a thin looking neck.

One thing I think they both have in common is they need a hair cut.

Just my opinion, I know some people love that thin look for superman.

Some folks are just stuck to the idea that superman cant have big muscles because there is nothing for him to lift weights with.

By the same logic, how can characters like the Hulk, and Doomsday have such large muscles? I mean they are so strong they should be skinny too, right?

Superman is an ALIEN, so he can have whatever build that a Kryptonian has under a yellow sun. He CAN have big muscles without lifting weights, at least big enough to be 225 lean pounds.

 

[DorkyFresh]

What I would have prefered is for an unkown actor to be cast, that can act, who has about the build of the Rock. Dwayne Johnson (the Rock) is 6'4" and 225, and ripped, would be a perfect build for superman, and would not overly sant out in a suit. Would just be big enough for people at the planet to say "well he grew up on a farm, and he must work out these days". Not unusual.

no offense but...

...he DOES stand out in a suit, hehe. the Rock's a big dude, i would NEVER want Superman (in a movie) to look that big. that's pushing Collora's World's Finest.

 

[Superman79]

no offense but...

...he DOES stand out in a suit, hehe.

Looks normal enough to me...

He does have a bit of a large head though

 

[DorkyFresh]

Looks normal enough to me...

this is normal...

http://www.**************.com/images/news/batman-begins/batman040504.jpg
edit:

this is bigger than normal...

 

[Superman79]

this is normal...

this is bigger than normal...

Sorry...all I'm getting for pic #1 is a red X...

 

[y2jversion1]

Sorry...all I'm getting for pic #1 is a red X...

The red X is Bale

 

[DorkyFresh]

yeah....that's normal. the Rock in a suit isn't...hehe. i edited my post btw.

 

[Superman79]

The red X is Bale

Ahh... I see now.

Really if bale had his coat open and teh Rock had his top button done they would really look about the same. Yeah the Rock has wider shoulders and a little thicker neck, but really he looks nabout like I do in a suit and I'm normal. (6'3" about 200-205)

If you get a properly tailored suit, anyone wuold look "normal"...at least that's my contention.

 

[Mr. Socko]

It doesn't matter I guess since Routh will be wearing a bodysuit. But I agree he's not Superman type size. 6'3 and 225 lbs would be perfect.

Bale was like 220 in Begins and Routh looks alot skinnier then him. Singer was just bent on having an unknown play the role that he liked and didn't care how he looked.

 

[Superman79]

Routh will do just fine I'm sure...regardless of the tweaks we'd have made.

 

[Mr. Socko]

Yeah, I'm not worried about his muscles.

 

[DorkyFresh]

Bale was like 220 in Begins and Routh looks alot skinnier then him.

uh...not a LOT. maybe just a BIT...