Brandon Routh’s Meta Superhero Reference Explained

Don't get your hopes up.

By Joshua Yehl

Tonight’s episode of DC's Legends of Tomorrow, which acted as the third and final part of the Arrowverse “Invasion!” crossover event, saw Brandon Routh’s Ray Palmer make a big wink at his Superman role.

IGN attended a screening of the crossover where producers/writers Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg told the assembled press the extent that Ray’s line will impact the Arrowverse.

Warning: this article contains spoilers for Legends of Tomorrow and the “Invasion!” crossover!

Towards the end of the episode as Supergirl departs back to her Earth, Ray mentions how Supergirl looks just like his cousin. For those that need the line’s significance explained: Routh played Superman in 2006’s Superman Returns movie, and Supergirl is Superman’s cousin. It’s a very meta, self-aware line that acknowledges his time as the Man of Steel as well as the fact Kara has a doppelganger on Earth-1, but doesn’t make too much sense beyond that.

But before you start theorizing on who Ray’s cousin could be from the comics, pump the brakes. Guggenheim admits it was a “total throwaway line,” just a bit of fun he didn’t want to pass up.

“Basically, it’s sort of like last year on Legends we did the Prison Break [reference], it was like, I said to the writers, ‘If we don’t make a Prison Break joke here with Wentworth [Miller], we’re not doing our jobs.’ I was like, “If we have Brandon [Routh] and Melissa [Benoist] share the screen and we don’t make some sort of joke like that, we’re not doing our job.’ The truth is, that joke existed on Arrow originally and then a certain scene got cut so then I moved it over to Legends; I just kept moving it back and forth. I’m like, ‘I’m getting it in one of these episodes,’” Guggenheim explained.

Sorry to spoil the wild speculation that this line sparks, but there it is from Guggenheim himself.

What do you think of Routh’s nod to his role as Superman? Let us know in the comments.

Joshua is IGN’s Comics Editor. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.

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