Superman, where have you been?

updated 2:18 p.m. ET June 26, 2006

LOS ANGELES - Lois Lane, the love of Superman's life, had written him off, put him behind her, even won a Pulitzer Prize for a column about why the world no longer needed the Man of Steel.

Clearly, Lois was wrong. The world needs Superman so much that Hollywood spent a frustrating decade of false starts with top directors to bring the kid from Krypton back to the big screen.

The wait finally ends June 28 with "Superman Returns," the story of a planet that lost the hero it had come to lean on and learned to make do without him, only to have him reappear at the moment his powers are needed most.

"I'm happy that it took as long as it did in the end, because I think we've come out with something that's really great," said Brandon Routh, a virtual unknown who's been rocketed to stardom as Superman and his alter ego, bashful, klutzy reporter Clark Kent.

The fictional saga of Superman's mysterious departure reflects his long void at theaters. While the character flourished on television with "Smallville," "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" and various animated shows, he had become a forgotten man at the movies, where other comic-book heroes had come to reign.

In the 19 years since Christopher Reeve's fourth and final appearance as the hero in "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace," Hollywood churned out five Batman flicks with four different actors in the title role. "Spider-Man" and its sequel became the Cadillac of superhero franchises at the box office. Three "X-Men" movies turned the mutants with strange powers into global idols.

There were movie adaptations of "Fantastic Four" and "The Incredible Hulk," and lesser-known comic-book heroes leapt to the big screen in "Blade" and its two sequels, "Daredevil" and its spinoff "Elektra," and "Constantine," "Hellboy" and "The Punisher."

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The longer Superman, with his goody-goody Boy Scout values, languished in development at Warner Bros., the more it looked like his time may have passed in favor of the darker, conflicted heroes of "Batman," "Spider-Man" and "X-Men."

‘Superman endures’
Not so, said Bryan Singer, who directed the first two "X-Men" movies and passed on the third when he got the chance to make "Superman Returns."

"The world may change. That's kind of the idea behind the movie. The world may change, relationships change, things change, but Superman endures," Singer said of the DC Comics hero who first appeared in print in 1938.

"When you're coming to a Superman movie, you want to see Superman. You want to see all that nobility, idealism, virtue and strength more than ever, because the more frustrating and dark things get in the world, the more a character like that becomes a breath of fresh air. A light at the end of the tunnel. Something to strive for. Someone to make you feel — I don't know — the purity you felt as a kid."

A boyhood fan of the old George Reeves TV series "Adventures of Superman," Singer saw director Richard Donner's "Superman" starring Christopher Reeve on opening day in 1978. Singer was not into comic books growing up and knew nothing about the "X-Men," but said his early love for Superman helped inspire him on the "X-Men" movies.

Ironically, Singer wound up in a game of Hollywood musical chairs with Brett Ratner, who along with directors Tim Burton and McG, had been among filmmakers signed on over the years to revive the "Superman" franchise. After Singer jumped to "Superman Returns," Ratner wound up directing "X-Men: The Last Stand," the year's biggest hit so far.

"The karma gods have really been good to me and Bryan," said Ratner, who always dreamed of doing a big comic-book adaptation.

Considering the convolutions it took to revive Superman, the karma gods apparently were kind to movie fans, too. Three years ago, Singer turned down the chance to direct a Superman movie because at the time the project would have been yet another origin story of the hero, whose roots have been thoroughly examined in the 1978 movie and "Smallville."

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