Nicholas Hoult is doing just fine for himself as an actor, but two of the most iconic superhero roles barely eluded his grasp.
It was literally down to him and Robert Pattinson for the titular role in Matt Reeves’ The Batman. You saw how that went. Then, Hoult was one of the finalists to star as Clark Kent and his godly alter ego in Superman: Legacy.
Hoult will get to take out any lingering frustration on new Supes actor David Corenswet by playing the Man of Steel’s archnemesis, Lex Luthor, per Deadline.
THIS. RULES. I mean, you literally couldn’t simulate a better real-life situation to prepare Hoult for this character. Not that Hoult is super jealous of Corenswet for rocking the Superman tights. It’s just that…I mean maybe Nicholas Hoult is a better man than 99.9% of us. If it were me, I’d feel a type of way toward Warner Bros. if they passed on me for Batman and Superman.
But I guess this makes up for those near-misses in a big way. You can’t help but think of the most iconic modern DC movie, The Dark Knight, in a meta sort of way when it comes to Hoult getting the shot to play Lex.
Portrayals of Lex Luthor on the silver screen have been divisive at best. Gene Hackman was pretty good but hella campy. Doesn’t totally hold up. Kevin Spacey basically did a more extreme, hammier Hackman. Then, Jesse Eisenberg actually played Lex Luthor Junior in a wildly different take for the Henry Cavill-Ben Affleck blockbuster Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice — Ultimate Edition. I add that extra bit onto the title because it’s the only version of that movie that deserves to be acknowledged.
So yeah. Speaking of legacy, Hoult has a real shot to make his Lex the definitive incarnation that we’ve ever seen on the big screen.
You blend up some of the treachery from his turn as Nux in Mad Max: Fury Road with his uppity, snooty foodie from The Menu and you have an excellent Lex already. Never mind whatever other nuances Gunn’s script has in store, and the wealth of other work Hoult will do in preparation for the part.
To me, it’ll be hard for anyone to top Michael Rosenbaum’s portrayal of Lex from the hit TV series Smallville. Since Rosenbaum has worked with Gunn multiple times in the past, I held out a faint bit of hope that they could reunite for Superman: Legacy. It wasn’t to be. We’ll have to wait and see if Gunn can build out a solid cinematic universe at DC Studios. Maybe someday Rosenbaum can step into Lex’s shoes again in some sort of Elseworlds/multiverse type of story.
Enough with all that pipe dream stuff. Sincere congrats to Nicholas Hoult. A little fan art to get the imaginations going…
