A nation was stunned. It began in confused murmurs, and soon erupted into gasps of horror. The comic book geeks were shouting: “Who?” “What’s his name?” “Ruth?” The Internet critics were pounding on their keyboards: “The guy’s too pretty, too skinny, too young.” “And just who the hell is he?”

The new Superman movie had been in development limbo for a decade and in that time a number of “name” actors were considered for the role of the Man of Tomorrow, such as Nicolas Cage, Josh Hartnett, Paul Walker, Brendan Fraser, Ashton Kutcher, David Boreanaz, and Tom Welling. But director Bryan Singer decided to find himself another Christopher Reeve, who was unknown before his role in 1978′s “Superman: The Movie.” And so Brandon Routh (rhymes with south) was given the job of reviving the Superman myth on the silver screen. Yet, Routh remains a mystery. Let’s clear that up.

Brandon Routh was born October 9, 1979, (that makes him two years younger than TV Superboy Tom Welling) in Des Moines, Iowa. He attended the University of Iowa and soon got into professional acting. His first major role was on the 1999 ABC show “Odd Man Out” (ever hear of it?). He followed that up with more TV apearances, such as the MTV soap “Undressed,” “Gilmore Girls,” and “Will and Grace.” He even had a small part in a movie called “Karla” in 2005 and appeared in Christina Aguilera’s music video for “What a Girl Wants.”

But Routh’s biggest claim to fame was probably winning a Hollywood Halloween costume contest dressed as — you guessed it — Clark Kent. A year after that, in October 2004, he was named the star of “Superman Returns.”

Will Routh be another Christopher Reeve? I doubt it. But I’ll settle for a new Superman movie that doesn’t suck.