Nicholas Hoult is your latest Lex Luthor
Hoult, who famously shaved his head for Mad Max: Fury Road, is presumably getting his Bic ready
Aux News Lex Luthor
James Gunn isn’t going to let a little thing like “superhero fatigue” slow him down, no matter how many Marvels crash at the box office. Hot off the news that another studio might release Coyote Vs. Acme, which Gunn produced, his upcoming Superman: Legacy now has a Lex Luthor: Nicholas Hoult.
Hoult is no stranger to flying or shaving his head, having starred in Renfield and Mad Max: Fury Road, wherein he played the hairless warboy Nux. He’ll join newcomer David Corenswet as Superman and Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, presumably screwing up his plans and pushing her off a building, respectively. Though Hoult was once in the running for Big Blue, rumors about him playing Lex have been floating around the internet since May.
Still, it’s unclear what kind of Lex Luthor this will be. Luthor has been sidelined as a comedic villain since the beginning of superhero movies. Sure, there are those moments when Batman V Superman’s Luthor tricked Senator Holly Hunter into drinking his pee, saying it was “Granny’s Peach Tea.” But typically, Lex Luthor is more of a funny character rather than an abjectly disgusting one.
However, Luthor isn’t the only villain of Gunn’s latest. Venezuelan actor María Gabriela de Faría will play The Engineer, the leader of a faction called “The Authority.” She’ll be one of several deep-cut characters in the film, including Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi, For All Mankind), Matamorpho (Anthony Carrigan, Barry), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced, Instant Family), and even a Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), who isn’t a deep cut, but will be in the movie. Fillion will play the Guy Gardner Green Lantern, for the record.
Superman: Legacy is slated for release on July 11, 2025.
36 Comments
Sure. Why not?MatamorphoMetamorpho, Matt.
Mett, Matamorpho.
Met a Matt, Morpho?
Actually, it’s Motomarpha.
Why not Superman? He’d be really super, ma- guy.
I know his name has been bandied about for this or Big Blue himself, and… yeah, I can see it. Interested to see what they do with these characters this time around.
He’s just reprising his role from Skins!And he was fucking brilliant as Tony.
Why in the fuck isn’t it Billy Zane
I bet it’s because Billy Zane’s perfectly willing to let the world know he’s gone bald…….and he’s neither Sean Connery or Patrick Stewart.
I think this question should be asked for every film or TV role, regardless of race/gender.
Last thing i saw him in was a Lifetime movie.
I don’t know the character very well, but am I right that Eisenberg’s loopy take was a departure?
I actually appreciated his performance a lot more once I read that he was channeling Max Landis, but yes, his take was a huge departure.
Post Silver-Age (70s) Lex is almost always depicted as very put together, someone who is always at least acting like he’s in complete control of all situations and the smartest human in the DC world (or at least tied with Mr. Terrific). Yes, smarter than Batman. Usually it takes time for him to be driven to the point of more traditional supervillainy, but it takes time of him feeling inferior to Superman, annoyed at being unable to control superheroes, and convincing himself that he’s really just championing humanity’s self reliance.
Yes. And ‘departure’ might even be an understatement.
Yeah, I didn’t like it. His plans seemed half-assed and probably should have failed as well. Well, a lot faster than they actually failed I mean. He only got as far as he did because Supes and Bats were so eager to have a fight.
The character has kinda differed quite a bit in different incarnations.In the comics, he’s basically a bond villain. Although more recent incarnations have leaned closer to a charismatic square jawed politician and technocrat while previous ones were more generically criminal. I think the Justice League cartoon was a major driver of this shift, especially once they gave him power armor to sell more action figures. But overall the character kinda tends to bounce between being a mad scientist and a evil businessman depending on the Era and whoever happens to be writing him at the time. In all cases though he tends to be brilliant but held back by his ego/hubris.As the article points out, the previous movie versions were more comedic. With Luthor being more of an incompetent grifter/con artist than a brilliant business mogul. The version from Smallville was more true to the comic version, but as an origin story. So that Lex isn’t quite as ruthless or self assured yet.Personally I kind of liked Eisenberg’s take as a modernization of the mad science + ruthless business combo for the current era of Silicon Valley tech bros. Something new but more appropriate than the old Gene Hackman version that Kevin Spacey tried to imitate.
I’ll go to bat for Michael Rosenbaum as the best on-screen Lex Luthor we’ve had.
I thought I had read somewhere that there was a Lex Luthor Sr. out there in the Snyderverse that we would eventually meet, that would be more the traditional businessman Lex Luthor. The Eisenberg version was his goofy son, but I don’t know, maybe that was just fan speculation. Bruce Willis would have been a good option back then, if it was true.
Oh, brother, was it ever!Here is how Lex Luthor should be played, courtesy of the great Clancy Brown’s voice:
Nicholas Hoult is your latest Benedict Cumberbatch
Nick Hoult’s iconic role is as a rich sociopath who manipulates and destroys a friend group for his own amusement.He’s also been on The Great.
Benedict Cumberbatch who was, himself, the latest in a long line of Hughs Grant.
But typically, Lex Luthor is more of a funny character
Eh, I hope not. Obviously they could, and have done that, but Lex is better as a serious villain. Someone who can almost make a good case against Superman.
But typically, Lex Luthor is more of a funny character
Sure, there are those moments when Batman V Superman’s Luthor tricked Senator Holly Hunter into drinking his pee, saying it was “Granny’s Peach Tea.”Uhh, wait that didn’t happen did it? Obviously I only watched that movie once but I’m pretty sure no one drinks pee in it. There is a jar of pee sitting on a desk in like the senate, that’s weird enough.
I can see Hoult doing a good job with the role. But I really hope this movie features some Superman villains that haven’t been done in live-action film before. Parasite, Brainiac, Metallo, Mongul, Mxyzpltk, etc. There are more villains than just Lex and Zod.
Mr. Mxyzptlk would be the perfect Gunn character.
I like Nicholas Hoult…but for some reason, I just can’t picture him as Lex. Or as Batman or Superman for that matter, as he famously lost out on both of those roles. He was solid as Beast in the X-Men movies though.I know Anthony Carrigan already has a role in this movie and he’ll likely be great as always…but he probably would have made a great and somewhat unnerving Lex Luthor. Despite his overall goofiness in Barry, there were definitely a couple moments where he was genuinely intimidating.
He was great at Victor Zsasz on Gotham.
Yes, he and Robin Lord worked really well off each other
I like it
Guy Gardner, that’s the dickhead version of green lantern right?
Yep—which I think Fillion is too likable to play…unless you’re Stana Katic, apparently.Still, might be a nice stretch for him to take Guy Gardner and get us to like him despite everything Gardner’s done to make every superhero starting with Batman want to punch his lights out at least once.
Yes
Nathan FillionCan they make him put on 10 or 15 pounds? I catch bits and pieces of The Rookie when I hang out with my mom, and slender old man Fillion is uncomfortable to look at.