Reports of wardrobe problems are greatly exaggerated

SAN FRANCISCO -- "Superman Returns" star Brandon Routh made one of his first appearances on the convention circuit this weekend, meeting with adoring fans at San Francisco's WonderCon.

Given the opportunity to greet the formerly unknown 26-year-old actor, the inquiring WonderCon faithful (at least one of whom was dressed up as a banana) wasted little time delving into the most important issue surrounding the new Man of Steel -- his allegedly bulging codpiece.

In recent weeks, not-so-legitimate news services (British tabloids and those pesky rumormongers on the Internet) have been buzzing with news that Warner Bros. executives were concerned that Routh's groin was appearing too prominently in the summer tentpole.

"Well, to my knowledge, I was not in the room when there was discussion about the codpiece and frankly, I don't really understand the uproar over it, though technically I guess you could file it under 'Good News,'" Routh says. "It's better to have good news spread about the film than bad news."

Routh went on to explain the logistics of how he filled out his super-tights. Sorry, ladies, there was apparently at least some enhancement.

"To be honest a lot like a baseball player's protection or football players wear protection for that area," Routh admits. "That's pretty much what it is except softer because I didn't have to worry about getting hit in it."

Even having candidly dealt with his nether-regions, Routh's body came into play once again with the discussion of the "S" on the new Superman suit, a piece of lettering that many in the comic community have felt is too small. Yes, size really matters.

"What I was told was that if you make the 'S' too large, on the particular suit that we had, the new designed suit, the 'S' tends to take over the chest and the whole front of the suit," Routh acknowledges. "And so the shape of the 'S' is to maximize, um, my chest."

"Superman Returns" helmer Bryan Singer adds, "It fits Brandon's body. It fits his chest size. If we were to make it larger, it would make Brandon seem smaller."

Fans will be able to check out Routh's pelvis and "S" for themselves on Friday, June 30.