Superman: Legacy, the upcoming superhero action movie from director James Gunn, has reportedly found the actor for its main villain, Lex Luthor. As reported by Deadline, Warm Bodies and Renfield actor Nicholas Hoult has been cast as Lex, who will star in the DCU movie alongside David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman when it releases in 2025.
Nicholas Hoult is best known for starring in various familiar fantasy, drama and horror movies including Jack the Giant Slayer, Warm Bodies, Renfield and more. This isn’t Hoult’s first brush with a superhero property as he also played Beast in X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix. Hoult’s future projects not only includes Superman: Legacy now but also The Garfield Movie (where he voices Jon Arbuckle) as well as Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu.
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Sources close to Deadline say that Hoult has been cast as Lex Luthor in Gunn’s upcoming Superman movie that will essentially reboot the DC cinematic universe. However, it’s worth noting that this hasn’t been verified yet so take it with a pinch of salt for now. That said, it’s very likely that this news is accurate as Hoult was one of the previous frontrunners to play Clark Kent before Corenswet was cast.
The official plot description of Superman: Legacy reads:
“Superman: Legacy tells the story of Superman’s (Corenswet) journey to reconcile his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as Clark Kent of Smallville, Kansas. He is the embodiment of truth, justice and the American way, guided by human kindness in a world that sees kindness as old-fashioned.”
In related news, Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier reported that Rocksteady was never developing a Superman game, despite long-standing rumours claiming that the studio was working on a single-player game featuring the Man of Steel before leaning towards Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League.
Superman: Legacy arrives in cinemas on 11 July 2025.
Source: Deadline