Tom Welling as Superman

[TheLongestDay]

i hope so,i cant wait much longer...arrh

 

[Mike22]

Oh boy. It's crazy out there, Zip. It's hard to know who to believe. There are a lot of shills crawling around, not to mention people who are obviously in the know, but highly opinionated. I read a post over on the MTV boards this afternoon that was just.... wow. Crazy stuff. Post was from "Peon."

Anyhoo... I don't think it'll be long. For better or for worse, we're gonna find out who the new face of Superman on film will be. And it's gonna be SOON!

<- clutches bottomless bottle of whiskey

Got a link Pat?

 

[TWistim]

Just got thru reading the MTV blog and its really comical. When they first asked for people to cast their opinions for who should play Superman the overwhelming random response was Tom and then its like on the 4th page SR fans (maybe 3 or 4) found out and are posting every other post claiming that Brandon Routh has already been signed. It has become a bashfest over there.

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2007/09/27/casting-call-justice-league-by-larry-carroll/

 

[Serene]

Oh boy. It's crazy out there, Zip. It's hard to know who to believe. There are a lot of shills crawling around, not to mention people who are obviously in the know, but highly opinionated. I read a post over on the MTV boards this afternoon that was just.... wow. Crazy stuff. Post was from "Peon."

Wow, isn't it kind of funny that after all this time, the Welling/Routh debate is insane and heated even on an MTV blog? I understand it being a long running argument in comic forums, but this is just craziness to see it spilling over into non-comic sites.

And that Peon had a very interesting comment. I hope, if he's ever wandering through here, that he doesn't mind me reposting it here because I have a question about it.

peon Says:
October 1st, 2007 at 5:15 pm

AOL is part of the Time Warner company, along with WB. They have been doing polling of their users, since even before Superman Returns came out. They run a poll about every few months, on some variation of Superman Returns, Routh, Welling, Smallville, possible sequels, and so forth. Even at the height of Routh’s popularity, when SR was ending it’s run in theaters, Welling was beating the pants off of him in head-to-head polls. Welling was doing 3 to 1 numbers. He was polling especially well amoung teens.
WB suits were not happy.
Time Warner put on the most massive publicity push for Routh that they ever have, for any actor. Routh was on the cover of all Warner mags, and was featured on the inside pages, of their mags, for every month, for a year, leading up to SR. All of Warner’s websites featured Routh. All Warner’s syndicated entertainment shows featured Routh extensively, for a year.
In the summer of 2006, every single aisle of grocery stores had Routh’s face on multiple products. It was impossible to walk down any aisle of any convience store, without seeing Routh’s face. From cereal boxes, to grocery bags, and beyond. Routh was on billboards on every major highway in every city in the country.
Every single division of Warner put everything they had into promoting Routh and SR.
When they got back the general audience polling results, it was devastating. They had failed on a scope, they had not believed possible.
Routh is a pariah to them, because he represents their own failure. They can’t look at him without seeing their own powerlessness. Before, they were firm in their belief of their own power, as public opinion makers and believed, that like Atlas, they could shift the world, if only Warner put every bit of muscle behind it.
They ?*%@ Welling just as much, because he equally represents that failure, and because he has sharks for lawyers, who are screwing them everyway possible on the Smallville contract.
Neither of them will be in JL. Bank on it.


Sooo.. what do you think he means by Welling's lawyers screwing them (Warners) on his SMALLVILLE contract? That should have been a done deal a long time ago, right?

 

[Mike22]

Wow, isn't it kind of funny that after all this time, the Welling/Routh debate is insane and heated even on an MTV blog? I understand it being a long running argument in comic forums, but this is just craziness to see it spilling over into non-comic sites.

And that Peon had a very interesting comment. I hope, if he's ever wandering through here, that he doesn't mind me reposting it here because I have a question about it.

peon Says:
October 1st, 2007 at 5:15 pm

AOL is part of the Time Warner company, along with WB. They have been doing polling of their users, since even before Superman Returns came out. They run a poll about every few months, on some variation of Superman Returns, Routh, Welling, Smallville, possible sequels, and so forth. Even at the height of Routh&#8217;s popularity, when SR was ending it&#8217;s run in theaters, Welling was beating the pants off of him in head-to-head polls. Welling was doing 3 to 1 numbers. He was polling especially well amoung teens.
WB suits were not happy.
Time Warner put on the most massive publicity push for Routh that they ever have, for any actor. Routh was on the cover of all Warner mags, and was featured on the inside pages, of their mags, for every month, for a year, leading up to SR. All of Warner&#8217;s websites featured Routh. All Warner&#8217;s syndicated entertainment shows featured Routh extensively, for a year.
In the summer of 2006, every single aisle of grocery stores had Routh&#8217;s face on multiple products. It was impossible to walk down any aisle of any convience store, without seeing Routh&#8217;s face. From cereal boxes, to grocery bags, and beyond. Routh was on billboards on every major highway in every city in the country.
Every single division of Warner put everything they had into promoting Routh and SR.
When they got back the general audience polling results, it was devastating. They had failed on a scope, they had not believed possible.
Routh is a pariah to them, because he represents their own failure. They can&#8217;t look at him without seeing their own powerlessness. Before, they were firm in their belief of their own power, as public opinion makers and believed, that like Atlas, they could shift the world, if only Warner put every bit of muscle behind it.
They ?*%@ Welling just as much, because he equally represents that failure, and because he has sharks for lawyers, who are screwing them everyway possible on the Smallville contract.
Neither of them will be in JL. Bank on it.


Sooo.. what do you think he means by Welling's lawyers screwing them (Warners) on his SMALLVILLE contract? That should have been a done deal a long time ago, right?

Can you please give me a Link, Serene?

And the Welling part there doesn`t make the slightest kinda sense. They never promoted welling for superman and they have always profited from smallville in a big way. This dude is full of it. Allthough the Routh thing sounds quite believeable.

 

[TheLongestDay]

Wow, isn't it kind of funny that after all this time, the Welling/Routh debate is insane and heated even on an MTV blog? I understand it being a long running argument in comic forums, but this is just craziness to see it spilling over into non-comic sites.

And that Peon had a very interesting comment. I hope, if he's ever wandering through here, that he doesn't mind me reposting it here because I have a question about it.

peon Says:
October 1st, 2007 at 5:15 pm

AOL is part of the Time Warner company, along with WB. They have been doing polling of their users, since even before Superman Returns came out. They run a poll about every few months, on some variation of Superman Returns, Routh, Welling, Smallville, possible sequels, and so forth. Even at the height of Routh’s popularity, when SR was ending it’s run in theaters, Welling was beating the pants off of him in head-to-head polls. Welling was doing 3 to 1 numbers. He was polling especially well amoung teens.
WB suits were not happy.
Time Warner put on the most massive publicity push for Routh that they ever have, for any actor. Routh was on the cover of all Warner mags, and was featured on the inside pages, of their mags, for every month, for a year, leading up to SR. All of Warner’s websites featured Routh. All Warner’s syndicated entertainment shows featured Routh extensively, for a year.
In the summer of 2006, every single aisle of grocery stores had Routh’s face on multiple products. It was impossible to walk down any aisle of any convience store, without seeing Routh’s face. From cereal boxes, to grocery bags, and beyond. Routh was on billboards on every major highway in every city in the country.
Every single division of Warner put everything they had into promoting Routh and SR.
When they got back the general audience polling results, it was devastating. They had failed on a scope, they had not believed possible.
Routh is a pariah to them, because he represents their own failure. They can’t look at him without seeing their own powerlessness. Before, they were firm in their belief of their own power, as public opinion makers and believed, that like Atlas, they could shift the world, if only Warner put every bit of muscle behind it.
They ?*%@ Welling just as much, because he equally represents that failure, and because he has sharks for lawyers, who are screwing them everyway possible on the Smallville contract.
Neither of them will be in JL. Bank on it.


Sooo.. what do you think he means by Welling's lawyers screwing them (Warners) on his SMALLVILLE contract? That should have been a done deal a long time ago, right?

Thats absolute nonsense-there was nothing about Routh before Returns,they made a point of hiding him away until the release!

 

[triplet]

Why is Tom considered a failure?



And why would they care whether Tom has "?*%@s" them or not?

If he IS the new face of Superman, would they really mind him screwing them over as long as they can make money off of him?

I don't buy that as an argument against Tom.

 

[ariellem]

...there was nothing about Routh before Returns,they made a point of hiding him away until the release!

and the few things they did release were less exciting and flattering than they could/should have been.

 

[TWistim]

Mike, I put a link to the post you requested on my last post #3262.

 

[Serene]

Thats absolute nonsense-there was nothing about Routh before Returns,they made a point of hiding him away until the release!

Are you kidding? You couldn't turn around in any store without seeing his.. mug on something. I thought they promoted the hell out of, not just him, but the movie in general.

I don't really care about what he said about Routh. I still wonder what that guy meant about Tom and his Smallville contract. Hulk? You speak lawyerese better than the rest of us... any clue what this could mean (if it's not complete b.s., that is).

 

[AgentPat]

Ah jeeze, I didn't want to bring that argument here. I shouldn't have even mentioned it.

 

[Serene]

Ah jeeze, I didn't want to bring that argument here. I shouldn't have even mentioned it.

Why not? I'm glad you mentioned it. I'm having a hard time keeping up with all the JL casting comments out there. I think it's fair game to post any Tom related JL stuff in this thread.

 

[Mike22]

Mike, I put a link to the post you requested on my last post #3262.

Thanks man.

Ah jeeze, I didn't want to bring that argument here. I shouldn't have even mentioned it.

I`m glad you did Pat. This stuff is interesting and what that Peon guy says about Welling doesn`t exactly add up.
Sure, I can understand the Routh part because they promoted the hell out of him as superman and the movie in general . But what the living hell did he mean about Welling being an equal failure?
Smallville has been a WB favorite for a very long time because it`s been profitable for them. That just didn`t make sense.

 

[Pickle-El]

Ah jeeze, I didn't want to bring that argument here. I shouldn't have even mentioned it.

That part didn't need to be posted......just the Welling stuff. It's nothing more than bashing, and ill-informed comments.

Which feels like everything related to Superman properties these days.

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

everyone on that MTV blog has an agenda and is full of ****. that "Dan" guy has no clue whatsoever, if he keeps citing the Siegel litigation as a reason for there not having been a casting announcement.

As for "Peon" I have no clue as to why Welling would represent SR's failure? No one is making much sense over there. It's all spill over from boards like this.

I'll give you one guess who the clown over there who says Jude Law should play Superman is?

 

[triplet]

The heroes official site, which has the best emoticons btw (they have one that gets his head sliced.... It's awsome!), that actually has both Smallville and JLA threads...

Even on sites that are officially for other shows, Smallville, Tom and JLA get discussed.

http://boards.9thwonders.com/index.php?showforum=13



Oh, I love the character related emoticons!

Peter:

Sylar:

Hiro:

Awseome and the forums look like a comic book!



So Cute!

 

[Gmanofsteel]

Thats absolute nonsense-there was nothing about Routh before Returns,they made a point of hiding him away until the release!

not true, his face was everywhere.

 

[TheLongestDay]

not true, his face was everywhere.

not before the movie came out-in fact they even mention it on the dvd that they tried to keep him out of the press until the movie hype started (what little of it there was),he said himself he just kept his head down and got on with filming.

It was only on these boards that his picture was being posted around cuz people were scrambling for info on him.

Im all for Welling as Supes but the arguments against Routh are becoming nonsense

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

I dont know about where you live, but leading up to the release of that movie his mug was all over the place in the US. No one's saying he was getting promoted during filming, we're saying in the few months up to the release. The argument that the film was "under-promoted" is silly, they were handing out copies of the Daily Planet on my train for cripes sake..

 

[TheLongestDay]

I dont know about where you live, but leading up to the release of that movie his mug was all over the place in the US. No one's saying he was getting promoted during filming, we're saying in the few months up to the release. The argument that the film was "under-promoted" is silly, they were handing out copies of the Daily Planet on my train for cripes sake..

im talking about during filming,not the pre-release hype.The article said they promoted Routh exclusively for a year,now it may have been a month or so but i certainly wasnt a year long Routh campaign

 

[DvilDog]

im talking about during filming,not the pre-release hype.The article said they promoted Routh exclusively for a year,now it may have been a month or so but i certainly wasnt a year long Routh campaign

Your right it wasnt a year. But it was at least 3 to 4 months before the movie came out because i started seeing his face in stores like walmart in march. I remember thats what made me join the hype in the first place. Seeing his face and the costume got me excited about Superman cause i didnt even know they were doing it until that point in 06.

 

[triplet]

You know, I haven't cancelled my notification on that IESB thread even though most of what people are saying is complete crap and getting notified on every single post is annoying as hell...

But I was glad I hadn't cancelled that when I saw a post today by blkyank, in which he said this:

Last week I decided to watch the season premire of Smallville which was the first time in about 2 years I watched the show to validate my belief that Welling is not the man for the job in JLA. You know what? I changed my mind.The guy sure is bigger then Routh (who I still think is ok as Supes) but more important Welling projects AUTHORITY.

A guy who only wanted to watch because he wanted to validate his position that Welling wasn't the guy to play Superman was won over by his performance on Smallville...

That's saying something.



See the complete post here:

http://www.iesb.net/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=170&func=view&catid=20&id=1413#1413

 

[TheLongestDay]

gaaah i need my season 6 box set now! ...and i need to watch the new episodes !

 

[AgentPat]

I'm gonna make a few comments about this and move on. THIS is not the place to be discussing SR, after all.

IIRC, the first pictures of Routh IN costume were released around March or April of 2005. For a YEAR before the film unspooled, those pictures were ubiquitous. "Here's the new Superman, what do you think" and articles of that nature appeared everywhere on line and in the entertainment sections of newspapers and magazines. About three months before the film preemed in summer '06, we started to get actual promotion, though it didn't really kick in full tilt till about late May/June sometime. This is pretty much what that poster was referring to. After the film opened, there WERE polls posted on Time Warner owned sites and publications, some of which raised an eyebrow even by me. One such poll was the one posted in late October of '06 - one week before SR ended its domestic run in the US & Canada. It appeared on EW's Popwatch section.

The poster over at MTV is jaded, cynical and biased about things that were allegedly going on behind the scenes at Warners during that time, but the information about what I saw first hand in terms of public promotion and general audience polls after it opened is spot on. If folks want to disagree with it, that's fine, but it's really a discussion for another forum.

Now, moving on....

I'm scratching my head as to what the poster meant about Welling, but I can speculate:

• Being let out of his SV contract is more than just "sign here and here and we're done." Welling leaving SV would effect EVERYBODY. The negotiations that took place were probably insane.
• In Hollywood, who doesn't have sharks for lawyers? I thought they were all blood suckers?
• Sanchez went from "it's happening," to "it's not happening," to "it's now in Welling's camp." That just sounds like they've been going back and forth trying to reach a compromise.
• As far as anybody knows right now, it's still up in the air, but there are enough shills out there that would have you believe every different combination of possible outcome imaginable. The only rumor I haven't seen yet is that BOTH actors are going to be in JL. But hey, there's still time for somebody to float that one.

On another note, I can't believe even Empire Magazine (!!!) is now suggesting Welling. Anybody who knows their editorial history on the Superman topic would know that's like George Steinbrenner suggesting that the Red Sox were in line to win the World Series (again.)

I haven't seen the article yet, but apparently it's a small feature on the Justice League in the November issue, which was released yesterday. It stated which characters they'd include and who they would cast in each role:

1./SUPERMAN- Returns' Brandon Routh is apparently out of the picture. Most people say this leaves the way open for small-screen Smallville star Tom welling, finally free to break the series' 'no flights, no tights' rule.

2./BATMAN- Christian Bale has said he won't star, which leaves the possibly confusing prospect of two big-screen batmen. If your looking for brooding, sardonic and authoritative, we're saying you can't beat Serenity's Nathan Fillion.

3./WONDER WOMAN- In this weener-fest you need a strong woman for balance, someone who can make star spangled pants look anything other than ridiculous. How about boosting the career of Buffy the Vampire Slayers Eliza Dushku? Then give her a spin off too.

4./MARTIAN MANHUNTER- The name's pretty daft, but martian's powers of transformation, invisibility and flight could make him great (if costly) on screen. Give Doug Jones, the man who embodied the Silver Surfer, a shot at the role.

5./GREEN ARROW/LANTERN- There's probably room for only one green hero, making it a toss up over whether the verdant corner of the team will be filled by the Robin Hood-like Green Arrow, with his multi-purpose payloads (nets, fireballs, bombs), or the Green Lantern, a masked avenger who uses a magic ring to toss around people and objects. If it's the former, we'd throw the role to swarthy Kiwi Martin Henderson. If it's the latter, you can't go wrong with the underrated Derek Luke.

6./ BLACK CANARY- This minor members power is a shriek that can make ears bleed, so you'll need a very appealing lady if she's to be anything but annoyingly screechy. Perky Anna Farris perhaps? She'll likely only make the cut if the producers decide they need another girl in the mix.

7./ THE FLASH- Fast-moving and fast-talking, The Flash is the joker of the bunch. Ryan Reynolds has already expressed an interest and we can't imagine anyone better suited than the Smokin' Aces star, thanks to his mastery of punch lines and punch-ups.

Interesting that they left out Aquaman. Nobody likes Aquaman.

 

[Showtime]

I like Aquaman.