Brandon Routh And Henry Cavill Auditioned For JJ Abrams/McG's 'Superman Flyby;' See The Photos

Superman's on-screen history is fascinating. There was the early TV show, the Christopher Reeve films, the rumored curse around the role, several failed reboots, including one that made it to the big screen, and now a successful reboot that's playing into a bigger DC universe.

Adding even more myth to the role, the last two cinematic iterations of the character, Brandon Routh in Superman Returns and Henry Cavill in Man of Steel, each almost put on the "S" several years before. Both actors auditioned for one of the failed reboots, Superman Flyby, which was to be directed by McG from a script by J.J. Abrams. It's a pretty fascinating coincidence and you can link to photos of their Superman Flyby auditions, including a very different Superman costume, below.

Photos from the Superman Flyby auditions have been online for over a year, but they're just hitting our radar because of a piece on Screenrant.

The photos are almost certainly copy-written so you can see Brandon Routh here and Henry Cavill here, both via Think Mcfly Think.

Both photos are from the second half of 2004, which is only mere months before Bryan Singer started doing his own Superman film, 2006's Superman Returns, with Routh. Cavill, of course, didn't get to put on his own costume for another eight years or so with Zack Snyder's Man of Steel.

I have to say, I actually do like the costume seen in those images. It's unclear if that was going to be the costume used in the film – Superman/Batman producers have been known to use other costumes in auditions – but the molded body is pretty imposing. The blue is striking, "S" is very iconic and comic book-y.

Also – if you have any more questions about Superman Flyby, we've posted some pieces about it in the past. For example, this is a video we posted last summer with some info on the film.

Are you surprised Routh and Cavill both auditioned to be Superman before actually playing Superman?