LOIS LANE may be implausibly clueless. (Does Clark Kent really look that different without glasses?) And her spelling has never been worse. ("How many F's in 'catastrophe'?" she asks.) But in "Superman Returns" she has finally won a Pulitzer.

The director Bryan Singer suggests that his film, set for release by Warner Brothers on June 30, makes an even more startling tribute to the Man of Steel's longtime love interest. When asked over a recent dinner here to describe the action of "Superman Returns," he spoke from Lois Lane's point of view: "This is a movie about what happens when old boyfriends come back into your life."

As the movie begins, Mr. Singer explained, Clark returns from a mysterious absence to discover that Lois has a fiancé and a child. This creates what may be the film's central quandary. "Even if you're the strongest man in the world," Mr. Singer said, "if the woman you love has found someone else that she's nearly married to that's not a bad guy, how do you figure out what your place is in that woman's life?"

He added, "I call it my first chick flick."

Making Lois (as played by Kate Bosworth) the linchpin of the Superman franchise may sound radical, but the screenwriters Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris say that it's a natural next step in the hero's saga. "In the original comic Superman was the hypermasculine guy, but slowly the romantic aspect of the character became more prominent," Mr. Dougherty said in an interview here. "First he was a fighter, and then the lover got introduced. It wasn't one or the other, it was this mixture of both."

Mr. Dougherty said it was in Richard Donner's "Superman," released by Warner in 1978, that the character became "not just this alpha male, but he was sexualized, and romance really crystallized there." Later, the television series "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," which was broadcast on ABC in the mid-1990's, turned the romance into what Mr. Dougherty described as "full-on soap opera."

"And then they moved the soap opera to high school: 'Smallville' is absolutely the same thing, but younger," added Mr. Harris, referring to the WB series, which followed "Lois & Clark." "It opens with Clark Kent shirtless in a cornfield. Immediately you know they're going for the sexuality of Superman."

In "Superman Returns" the hero's sexuality is tempered by traditional values, the screenwriters said. The result is a kind of civilized masculinity, an acting challenge that falls to the previously little-known Brandon Routh. Although Lois Lane has a new boyfriend, Mr. Harris explained, she's still "the woman of Clark's dreams, and it's very difficult." He added: "He's put in the position where he's got to choose between being a good guy and being who he is, which would mean going beyond the borders of who he was. Which for the first time in a movie gives Superman something he can't overcome.

"It's like Kryptonite. It's like emotional Kryptonite."

Superman's growing preoccupation with romance does mark a career step of sorts for Mr. Singer, whose first three films told stories about men engaged in elaborate games of secrecy and disclosure — that much remains the same — but without a dominant love story.

In "Public Access," an independent film made in 1993, a mysterious young man named Whiley (coincidentally, he looked and sounded like Clark Kent) arrives in a small town and starts a provocative call-in TV talk show, inciting gossip and scandal. In "The Usual Suspects," which won Oscars for the actor Kevin Spacey and the writer Christopher McQuarrie in 1996, Mr. Singer depicts the police interrogation of a man who weeps: "I'm a cripple! I'm stupid!" and turns out to be one of cinema's wiliest criminals. Next, in "Apt Pupil," the director told the tale of a boy who sets out to learn about evil under the tutelage of an old Nazi, and finds more than he wanted.

In each film the weak turn out to be strong: appearances are never what they seem. And in the end each of these main characters demonstrates his strength and power— his manhood, if you will — not by completing a quest for truth, but by demonstrating a facility with fiction. As the boy in "Apt Pupil" learns from his Nazi mentor, being honest "is a privilege of boys — a privilege that men must sometimes give up."

In his more recent movies, "X-Men" in 2000 and "X-2" in 2003, Mr. Singer has dabbled in affairs of the heart. Wolverine has his passion for the mutant Jean Grey, but he remains more committed to unlocking the secret of his own personal past; and Jean, not the vulnerable type, is probably best remembered for tricks like levitating an airplane telepathically. "I think that's a strong female character," said Mr. Singer.

Now 40, with a perfectly smooth brow and wide-set, pale blue eyes, Mr. Singer said the one common theme of his films is "the notion of identity." More than a few of his characters have multiple identities, something the director ties to his own background. "I'm adopted," he said. "So I've always drawn a parallel. I love my parents, they're my foundation, they're why I am the way I am. There's this other heritage that could be anything."

Mr. Singer described his characters as being "like onions, you peel back and they have different identities." He continued, "The stranger who comes to town ultimately has another darker side to him. The old man next door is a Nazi war criminal. The cripple in the police room is actually more than meets the eye. In 'X-Men' you've got a whole tribe of people trying to blend in with society but ultimately possessing these extraordinary powers. And in the case of Superman, he's a farm boy who discovers that he's the heir to a legacy of superheroes."

But Superman is also deeply in love with Lois, hence the 'chick flick' element that has Mr. Singer, apart from all the rollicking action beats, contemplating the Man of Steel from a woman's perspective. "He's virtuous, he doesn't lie, and he's handsome! And I think these are, these are idealistic qualities in the male that you, in someone that you'd want as a husband, I'd imagine."

Looking at his empty plate after consuming a pizza, Mr. Singer had a further thought about the nature of masculinity, super or otherwise. "If there's any virtue in it, it has a vulnerable side," he said. "Because without vulnerability one can tend to lack compassion. And without compassion one can tend to lack humanity. And these are some things a man should strive to have."

Then he groaned. "I sound like a politician."

Looking at his empty plate after consuming a pizza, Mr. Singer had a further thought about the nature of masculinity, super or otherwise. "If there's any virtue in it, it has a vulnerable side," he said. "Because without vulnerability one can tend to lack compassion. And without compassion one can tend to lack humanity. And these are some things a man should strive to have."

150 minutes chick flick with an emotional Man of Steel...

As if my anticipation could be any lower...

Well is tht so much worse than Spiderman??

I'm so sick of this Superman bashing, can't wait till it finally opens and hopefully makes a gazillion dollars just so that all the buffoons shut the fuck up.

What if I hate Spider-Man (I do.)

Can I go on hating Superman without being accused of double standards?

What if I hate Spider-Man (I do.)

Can I go on hating Superman without being accused of double standards?

I'm with you. I didn't like Spider-Man either; so much so that I never saw the sequel.

And Singer refers to SR as his first "chick flick"? Yeah, *that's* the way to get me into that seat... *blech*

Joy

Bravo! Double standards galore.

Spiderman is basically a teenage soap yet it is touted to be oh so brilliant but Superman showing some of his softer side is being brushed off as gay. The same goes for the supposed campiness.

I'm so sick of this Superman bashing, can't wait till it finally opens and hopefully makes a gazillion dollars just so that all the buffoons shut the fuck up.

**channeling yoda**
i see you being very surprised u enjoyed the movie more than u thought u would.

Your channel to Yoda must be weak, as I'm not even going to be GOING to see SR. It's not worth my time and money.

Joy