The 2024 Metropolis Superman Celebration officially starts today with an appearance by an actual (movie) Superman!

Tomorrow's "Featured Guest" is Brandon Routh. Yes, I'm on record as hating Superman Returns, but I certainly don't blame Routh for that trainwreck. (It's just a terribly misguided script.) He was pretty darn good in the role of "New Christopher Reeve." And, of course, his beautiful blue eyes were so striking that they stopped bullets.

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As I mentioned at the time, both Routh and one of this year's "Special Guests," Mark Pillow, made their first appearance at the Celebration in 2011. Maybe Routh and Pillow, who played Nuclear Man in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, have bonded over being in awful Superman movies. Or maybe they just have the same agent.

If you were unaware, there's another Superman movie in the works right now with David Corenswet in the title role, so we can certainly expect him at future Celebrations. You've probably never heard of Corenswet, but had you heard of Routh before he played Superman? I don't think I had. Granted, I'm really bad with names and faces. Maybe you're better.

You do you, whatever your name is.

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Today is the opening day of the 2011 Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois. As recently as late last month, the city was nearly underwater as the Ohio River flooded its banks. Fortunately, Superman was on the scene, and the late flooding will have little effect on the festivities between now and Sunday.

This year's marquee guest will be Brandon Routh, the most recent big-screen Superman. Routh is as popular among fans as the film Superman Returns is reviled. Superman Returns writer/director/producer Bryan Singer is noticeably not on the Superman Celebration Guest list. Maybe time will soften that attitude. It's worked wonders for Mark Pillow.

Pillow is among the other guests scheduled to appear this year. Pillow played Nuclear Man, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace's version of Bizarro. There was a time when Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was the most hated Superman movie. Twenty-four years later, the fans want to meet the man who once played the Nuclear Man. When it comes to acting in a comic book movie, Mark Pillow is no Reb Brown (who is?), but he's living proof that there is some truth to the old acting adage that there are no small parts.

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