It’s official! Following reports that he was in talks for the role of Lex Luthor, Nicholas Hoult is now confirmed to star opposite David Corenswet in Superman: Legacy. The actor will play Superman’s arch-nemesis, with director and DC Studios co-director James Gunn confirming the news on Instagram.
“Yes, finally I can answer, @nicholashoult is Lex Luthor in #SupermanLegacy and I couldn’t be happier,” he said in his post. “We went out to dinner last night to celebrate and 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. Anyway, here’s to Lex (and Nicholas!), one of my very favorite characters in the DCU,” reads the rest of the caption.
The X-Men: First Class star joins an already impressive cast that includes Corenswet as the Man of Steel, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern, Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific, Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho, and more recently, María Gabriela de Faría as the Engineer.
With this casting, Hoult follows in the line of Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey, and Jesse Eisenberg, who have all played the supervillain in some form or another. Not much else is known about the upcoming film, but it will herald the start of DC Studios’ reboot of the cinematic universe – formerly known as the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), and now referred to as the DCU, short for DC Universe. Story details are also being kept under wraps for now.
Superman: Legacy takes to the skies on 11 July 2025.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
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