Brandon Routh on Atom suit, ‘Arrow’ season 3, Superman team-up and more
The recent episode of Arrow gave fans the first look at Brandon Routh in the Atom costume, suiting up and flying around Starling City. Routh spoke to IGN about the costume, playing Ray Palmer and what’s next on the CW show.
“This is different from the Arrow and Arsenal suits, and Canary – it’s badass. It’s a whole different feeling from the Superman suit — the only other suit that I’ve been in. It’s a whole persona. I mean, so is any suit that you put on, but this one is just different. It’s cool.”
Routh played Superman in Superman Returns and contrasted the approach on Arrow and filming for the big screen.
“TV’s just a whole different animal. The speed at which you work; there’s that. What’s interesting is it’s a long growth period, as we’re finally starting to get into some of the Atom aspect of it. I was just Ray Palmer for a long period of time. So it’s a lot of character development, which is cool and I appreciate. So that’s a little bit different. The world of Arrow is certainly different than the world of Superman and Metropolis. We’re in a darker world. So they’re tonally different. But then you have Flash, which is more like Metropolis — even looks like Metropolis, the architecture of the police station and all that stuff. So it’s cool to be in the world and see that it’s expanding. You have all these other superhero entities coming into it.”
Arrow is on a brief three-week hiatus until “The Offer” on March 18, so fans will have to wait a bit longer to see Atom in action once again.
“That would be bizarre. There’d probably be some inside jokes and winks at the camera. But that would be cool. It’s such a bizarre thing already for me to be playing this character, and for some people to only be known for playing this character. People young enough who haven’t seen Superman Returns are like, ‘Oh, that guy’s the Atom. What!?! He played Superman!?'” Routh told IGN about the thought of a team-up between the two characters and fans realizing he played the Man of Steel.
“I mean, I get that all the time from people who are fans of Chuck. They see me on Chuck, and their buddies are like, ‘Yeah, he was Superman too,’ and they’re like, ‘What!?’ That’s a cool thing for me, because it means that I’m not just defined by one character. Even if that is the one thing I’m known for, hallelujah! That’s an amazing thing too. So, I don’t know. Anything’s possible. That’d be a trip.”
So, a different team-up was proposed: the possibility of Atom teaming up with the new Black Canary, a.k.a. Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy).
“It’d be an interesting matchup. They’re in opposite places, but they’re sharing a similar grief I would think. They could definitely come together about that. For them to fight criminals together would be kind of a funny thing. She needs a little bit of levity in her life too.”
Arrow also stars Stephen Amell, Katie Cassidy, David Ramsey, Willa Holland, Emily Bett Rickards, Colton Haynes, John Barrowman, Paul Blackthorne.
