"It Was Always Gonna Be Like Chris": How Six Men of Steel Paid Tribute to Christopher Reeve at MegaCon

We finally found out what happens when you get six men who have all portrayed Clark Kent aka Superman in one way or another. This weekend at MegaCon in Orlando, Florida, Tyler Hoechlin, Brandon Routh, Dean Cain, Tim Daly, George Newbern, and Tom Welling all appeared on a panel together. Part of the conversation during the panel, moderated by Joe Deckelmeier at Collider's sister site, ScreenRant, eventually shifted to one person who is arguably most synonymous with the Man of Steel: the late Christopher Reeve.

Collider's Maggie Lovitt was in attendance as Welling, who starred as Clark Kent on Smallville for 10 seasons, spoke about the time that Reeve guest-starred on the series as scientist Virgil Swann in Season 2.

"We got there and the plan was to shoot four hours and get his side of two scenes and then he would leave and I would do my side with someone else. We did the first scene and they said, 'OK, we're gonna do the next scene.' He goes, 'What about Tom?'"

"He was like, 'No I'm not leaving.' And long story short, it got to the point about eight hours into the day and they turned around filming my scenes with him. And his nurse, power of attorney, was like, 'If you don't come with me in 15 minutes, I'm calling the police.' He had to leave. He looked at me and goes, 'They're always telling me what to do.'"

Referencing the experience, Welling says, "You didn't feel sorry for him at all. He was telling jokes the whole time. We had a riot, he was cracking up. ... We just had really great banter. I had a lot of fun with him."

"I Wasn't Playing Superman. [I Was] Playing the Feeling"

Also during the panel, Brandon Routh, who has portrayed the Man of Steel twice now, shared what it was like being "tasked with transitioning the character from Chris playing the character" when he portrayed Clark Kent in Superman Returns. He says of Reeve's legacy:

"It was always gonna be like Chris," he said. "Even if it was some other movie, some other version of that slightly altered Superman, because I wasn't playing Chris. I wasn't playing Superman. [I was] playing the feeling, the love when you're Superman.”

After playing the DC superhero in 2006, Routh would go on to portray a different DC Comic character, Ray Palmer aka The ATOM in Arrow and DC'S Legends of Tomorrow. The involvement with the Arrowverse eventually led to him portraying Clark Kent from another earth. During the 2019 crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths" Routh portrayed a Clark Kent who had experienced the Kingdom Come storyline from the comics. Routh contrasts his two experiences, of the feeling of playing Superman, saying, "I didn't know what that was when I was 25," but by 2019, that reality had set in for him.

You can watch Reeve's portrayal of Superman in the 1978 Superman: The Movie on Max. Stay with Collider for the latest from MegaCon.