The casting for James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy has been a whole ass event. Casting their Clark Kent and Lois Lane was so much a thing that there were even articles written about the finalists. There’s a lot of pressure on this movie, which stars David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, and Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher, to help reinvigorate DC Studios’ struggling franchise. Written and directed by Gunn, it’s supposed to be the first film released under his new, rebooted DC Universe. It’s been called a “workplace origin story” that will explore Superman’s heritage by both his Kryptonian birth parents and his adoptive parents in Kansas. A few weeks ago, news leaked that Nicholas Hoult was cast as villain Lex Luthor. Earlier this week, Gunn finally confirmed the rumors via a post on Threads.
James Gunn took a moment to confirm that Nicholas Hoult will, in fact, be playing Lex Luthor in Superman: Legacy and gave a bit of insight into what fans can expect from his take on the villain. The co-chair and co-CEO of DC Studios posted a photo of him and Hoult on Threads and shared that the two had dinner to celebrate the official casting.
“I couldn’t be happier,” Gunn wrote. “We went out to dinner last night to celebrate & discuss how we can create a Lex that will be different from anything you’ve seen before and will never forget. ‘But, James, we heard this weeks ago, why didn’t you tell us it was true?’ Because, although we were discussing it, it wasn’t final until a couple days ago and I don’t want to tell you all something that isn’t certain.”
News broke in November that Hoult was in talks to portray the classic villain in Gunn’s upcoming Superman movie, which will follow the Man of Steel as he balances his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing.
Superman: Legacy is expected to hit theaters July 11, 2025.
Look, I’m a giant nerd and although I may grumble, I generally can’t resist anything superhero-related. But even I’m like, “Do we really need another Superman movie?” He’s like the most overdone superhero outside of Batman at this point. However, I also said that about the Robert Pattinson Batman movie and ended up really enjoying it, despite it being 75 hours long. (Seriously, if it’s not a Lord of the Rings, it does not need to be more than 120 minutes, TOPS. You can tell good stories in under two hours!)
Anyway, I am very intrigued by this Nicholas Hoult casting. I mean, it’s less random than when Jesse Eisenberg played Lex, so there’s that. I grew up with two different Lex Luthors: John Shea in Lois and Clark and Michael Rosenbaum in Smallville. They’re always the ones I see in my mind. When I picture Hoult and ‘superhero,’ I can’t help but picture him as Beast from X-Men. I like Hoult, though, so I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and see what he can do with the role. Honestly, I don’t know whether or not I even want to invest more hours of my life on another DCU movie. They’ve been hit or miss for me, but mostly miss.
Post by @jamesgunn
View on Threads
Photos credit: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon, Robin Platzer / Twin Images / Avalon, Getty and via Threads
