Ricky Church looks forward to Nicholas Hoult’s portrayal of Lex Luthor…
We are now a month away from the release of James Gunn’s anticipated Superman, a film set to relaunch the DC universe on film with David Corenswet as Superman/Clark Kent and Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane. One member of the cast we had not seen very much of in the various promos though was Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, a strange quirk given Luthor is Superman’s archnemesis. The film’s final trailer released earlier this week gave us our best look yet at Hoult’s Luthor and if those teases are anything to go by, we may finally get the definitive Lex Luthor on the big screen.
For anyone who would not know, Lex Luthor is to Superman what The Joker is to Batman: the antithesis of everything the hero stands for and battles both physically and philosophically. This is the reason why Luthor above all of is Superman’s greatest enemies, more than General Zod or Brainiac. Whereas those villains rationalize their actions through an ends justify the means belief or dispassionate logic, Luthor is driven by pure ego and vanity. Not only does he believe he’s above everything and everyone, using his power and influence to gain whatever it is he wants, he cannot stand when the attention is taken off him.
This is just one reason why Luthor hates Superman as the Man of Steel is often the leading story or stories on any given day as well as being Metropolis’ beloved hero. This aspect of Luthor’s obsession with Superman dates back decades, to at least John Byrne’s reboot of the Superman comics in the 1980s which reimagined Luthor from a mad scientist into a corrupt billionaire businessman. Even before that, Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor in Superman: The Movie was perturbed by Superman’s presence, knowing he was the real deal as “if any human being were to perpetrate such a fantastic hoax it would have been me” before relishing the chance to fight Superman, believing “to commit the crime of the century a man would just naturally want to face the challenge of the century.”
Despite Lex’s ego and jealousy being cornerstones of his character, it has been an element often overlooked on film. The Lex Luthors of shows like Superman: The Animated Series, Superman & Lois and Supergirl all have these traits, but in the years since Hackman portrayed the role neither Kevin Spacey or Jesse Eisenberg’s felt truly embittered toward Superman. This is where Hoult immediately stands out in the footage we’ve seen thus far, as in the previous trailers he’s clearly annoyed Superman is leading the world’s conversation despite his assertion that he is not a man at all, but something to be studied or discarded.
Then came the latest trailer where we got our best look at Luthor’s hatred of Superman where, after a clip of people cheering Superman on, Lex shouts “They chose him! Let them die!” Coupled with other glimpses of people upset with Superman and one person going so far as to toss a can at his head, what plan Luthor has up his sleeve must involve turning the public against Superman. This isn’t something entirely new as even Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice involved Luthor turning public opinion to his own agenda, but Hoult’s performance is not only much more overt it is also a much more volatile reaction, enough so that the people are seemingly turned from collateral damage to active targets due to their support of Superman.
Obviously, trailers are known for cutting together snippets of dialogue so we don’t have all of the context before seeing the full film, but what we’ve seen and heard from Hoult’s Luthor is already impressive and ironically gives me hope for the character. His delivery of Luthor’s frustration and his cold dispassion listing off the people he’ll kill to get to Superman is perfectly in line with the villain. Even the way he saunters into Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, completely unfazed by the battle going on around him, captures his personality as he doesn’t waste his time on anything he thinks below his notice.
This also seems like a version of Lex Luthor viewers can relate to in that the real world has several public billionaires often seen as out of touch narcissists who get upset when either the attention is taken off them or they get bad press, particularly in today’s age of social media and 24/7 news. Luthor certainly fits this to a tee, taking his villainy of crazy plots to kill Superman or achieve world domination and making it more relatable by targeting and resenting the lower classes.
These parallels have been explored by various comic book writers such as Mark Waid, Geoff Johns and Grant Morrison in stories like Superman: Birthright, Superman: Secret Origin and All-Star Superman. The ultimate tragedy of Lex Luthor, one Superman often cites, is were it not for Luthor’s vanity and anger at Superman he could have used his intellect and wealth to do more good than even Superman could have achieved, but instead squanders it over pointless pettiness.
Though far from a sure thing since we’ve only seen the barest of glimpses, Hoult’s interpretation already seems to be striking the major strokes of Lex Luthor’s villainous mindset, capturing that essence in his line delivery and physical performance. We have just under a month left to know for sure, but if these trailers are anything to go by Hoult may end up being the scene stealer of Gunn’s Superman and create a definitive Lex Luthor everyone can love to hate.
Superman flies into US theaters on July 11, 2025, and internationally on July 9th, 2025.
Ricky Church – Follow me on Bluesky for more movie news and nerd talk.
