Macho man to ladies' man

He might be faster than a speeding bullet, but the latest Superman is more than just a macho action man.

In a plotline more Home and Away than 'up, up and away', the latest Superman movie centres on Lois Lane's new life with a fiancé and child.

Superman Returns reduces the one-time man of steel to a sensitive soul struggling to deal with his enduring love for Lois in the knowledge she now belongs to another man.

Director Bryan Singer, who brought the action-packed X-Men series to the big screen, said: 'This is a movie about what happens when old boyfriends come back into your life. I call it my first chick flick.

'Even if you're the strongest man in the world, if the woman you love has found someone else who she's nearly married to and who's not a bad guy, what is your place in that woman's life?'

Screenwriter Michael Dougherty said a big reason behind the romantic plot was the success of TV shows like The New Adventures of Superman and Smallville.

'First he was a fighter, and then the lover got introduced. It wasn't one or the other, it was this mixture of both,' he said.

Superman Returns stars newcomer Brandon Routh as the Man of Steel, Kate Bosworth as Lois and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. It opens on June 30.