Nicholas Hoult Joins Superman: Legacy as Lex Luthor — Supergirl’s Jon Cryer Believes He’ll ‘Absolutely Crush’ the Role
Nicholas Hoult is poised to tackle the iconic role of Lex Luthor in James Gunn’s forthcoming Superman: Legacy movie, and he’s doing so with the blessing of another actor who recently brought the DC villain to life on the small screen.
Jon Cryer, who portrayed Superman’s arch nemesis across The CW’s Arrowverse from 2019 to 2021, posted his response to Hoult’s casting on Threads shortly after the news was announced on Monday: “He will absolutely CRUSH this.”
Hoult is coming off a three-season run as The Great‘s Emperor Peter III of Russia, a role for which he received Golden Globe nominations in 2021 and 2022, as well as a Primetime Emmy nomination in 2022. Hulu announced the comedy’s unexpected cancellation on Aug. 30. No stranger to comic franchises, Hoult previously portrayed Hank McCoy (aka Beast) in several X-Men films, beginning with 2011’s X-Men: First Class.
Set to be released in theaters on July 11, 2025, Superman: Legacy serves as a significant reboot to the DC Extended Universe. Formerly played by Henry Cavill, the DCEU’s new Man of Steel will be portrayed by David Corenswet (Hollywood, The Politician), while Amy Adams is passing her baton to Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), who will embody intrepid reporter Lois Lane.
How do you feel about Hoult taking on the mantle of this legendary DC villain? Drop a comment with your thoughts below.
Michael rosenbaum will forever be the greatest lex luthor.
Rosenbaum is a good choice. And I think he may have had the best Luthor line of all time… although I suppose that technically, he was voicing the Flash.
I don’t know how he’s portrayed in the comics these days, but I imagine a modern Lex Luthor would have to be some sort of Elon Musk-style tech mogul (with Jeff Bezos’ hairline).
Yeah, that’s been his characterization, more or less, for around 30 years now. Which made whatever he was in the last iteration of DC movies just completely inane.
Nicholas Hoult seems to be an actor that could be an A-lister, but has never gotten the right role that would propel his career. I’ll be curious to see what type of Lex Luthor they’ll give him.
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Since he won’t be the main antagonist in “Superman: Legacy”, I hope they truly build him up through the course of a few movies before he goes full villain/the main threat.
I’d be amazed if this movie ever is actually released with the mess than WB is now, so I wouldn’t even count on a few movies for him.
I do think he’s a great choice and will be excellent in the role.
I thought the same since I first say him in the UK show Skins and where he really looked like a young Tom Cruise. I thought for sure he would become a really big actor in the future but was always surprised he never did. In a way, it’s kind of a good thing where it seems like he is nowadays able to go for the roles he believes in and not just because it’s a giant paycheck and a potential blockbuster.
HUZZAH!!!!!
I’m not surprised since they’ve been rumors for a while about this but although I have no issue with Nicholas as a person/actor, I wonder if somebody else would’ve been a good fit.
And I had low expectations when cryer joined supergirl as lex Luthor as he was reviled in Superman iv: a quest for peace I have never watched it but people were really there casting ducky luthor as lex luthor and I think cryer did even a better job then Hackman
Interesting choice but I think it’ll work