Before Man of Steel premiered this past summer, the last time we saw Superman on the big screen was in director Bryan Singer's 2006 adventure Superman Returns. The director recently conducted an interview with Empire Magazine, where he spoke about his reaction to Man of Steel for the first time, while revealing why he didn't cast Henry Cavill as his Superman, when he was up for the role with the actor who eventually won the part, Brandon Routh.

When asked about his thoughts on Man of Steel, the director revealed how impressed he was about the movie, although there are things he would have done differently.

"I am in awe of the world building and the scope of that picture. It's tough for me. I'm not a critic and it starts to get into a weird thing where one director is talking about another director. I know how hard it is to make a movie, especially one of these movies and especially a Superman movie, and there was so much I was impressed with in that movie. There were things I might have done a little differently just because of the way I view the character. Don't misinterpret that as me not liking something. It's not 'Bryan Singer's review of Man of Steel'!"

Fans may not know that Henry Cavill was in contention to play Clark Kent in Superman Returns, before Brandon Routh ultimately won the role. The director revealed that he didn't cast Henry Cavill because he didn't fit into the Christopher Reeve mold of the character.

"I think Henry Cavill is great. I knew Henry. He and I were friends years ago. Oddly enough, the reason I didn't cast him was because I was making a sequel to Christopher Reeve and I wanted somebody who embodied Reeve more."

When Superman Returns was released in 2006, many fans called it one of the worst superhero movies of all time. Bryan Singer revealed that, while he understands some of the criticism, he said that the movie was made for a certain type of audience.

"Half of that I understand and half of it I never will. It was a movie made for a certain kind of audience. Perhaps more of a female audience. It wasn't what it needed to be, I guess. I think I could lop the first quarter off and start the movie a bit more aggressively and maybe find a way to start the movie with the jet disaster sequence or something. I could have grabbed the audience a little more quickly. I don'y know what would have helped. Probably nothing. If I could go again, I would do an origin. I would reboot it."

Although a sequel to Superman Returns never happened, the filmmaker said that he planned on introducing the villain Darkseid in the proposed follow-up, while revealing that they planned on using Man of Steel as the title for the sequel.

"That was the title. Actually, my buddy, one of my two best friends, came up with that. We did explore it a little. Just hammering out ideas. I think Darkseid was going to be the villain. It was pretty world-destroying, actually. I ended up having the opportunity to go and make Valkyrie, and I think the studio lost interest at that point," he reveals. "I can't say it was all the studio's fault and I can't say it was all my fault. It just fizzled out."

Bryan Singer's next superhero adventure, X-Men: Days of Future Past, hits theaters on May 4.