You may or may not remember Superman Returns, the 2006 installment of the classic superhero that did so-so in reviews and public perception. It wasn’t so much the lack of success — the title did clear $391 million — as it was the lack of being the smash hit that the studio hoped it would be. Nobody took this quite as hard as Brandon Routh, the actor who played the lead character, and to recover he took solace in an online roleplaying game of epic proportions.
That’s right, Superman turned to World of Warcraft to sooth his balms and be his “therapy.”
“I played World of Warcraft endlessly,” Routh said in an interview. “That was my addiction, and then a few other games along the way, but that was where I lost myself and spent way too much time. It was a coping mechanism, but it wasn’t teaching me things, until I finally had several experiences where I had to come to terms with that.”
Perhaps he should have checked out DC Universe Online to work out his internal issues over the Superman role? He could have started a guild with Ben Affleck, and eventually there would have been a movie made about that and we would totally have seen it.
At least Routh wasn’t alone in enjoying some time in Azeroth; our recent Perfect Ten shared tales about several celebs who had a crush on WoW.
