Jude Law passed on playing Superman because of the costume

Back in 2006 Brandon Routh played the Man of Steel in Bryan Singer's Superman Returns, but there was a time when Jude Law was going to suit up as the iconic hero. While on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the actor revealed that he even tried on the red and blue costume, and that was ultimately what made him turn down the role:

"So I take the suit into the bathroom and I’m putting it on and then I look round, I’m in the mirror and suddenly…I’m Superman, right. I stood there and then I had this picture of me in that costume on posters all over the world and I was like…’no way’ and I unzipped it".

Check it out below...

This is an interesting case of what might have been; while Routh, Henry Cavill, and of course Christopher Reeve have played the Man of Steel on screen, Law would have been the first A-list actor to be cast in the role in a Superman film that actually made it to cinemas (Nicolas Cage also got close). In any case, it seems Law is perfectly satisfied with his brief moment in spandex; "I was Superman for two minutes, that’s enough". 

Images: Warner Bros

Amon Warmann

Amon is a contributing editor and columnist for Empire magazine, but is also a Film and TV writer for GamesRadar+, Total Film, and others. He has also written for NME, Composer Mag, and more, along with being a film critic for TalkSport. He is also the co-host of the Fade to Black Podcast, and a video mashup creator. Can also do a pretty good Bane impersonation.