James Gunn isn’t going to let a little thing like “superhero fatigue” slow him down, no matter how many Marvels crash at the box office. Hot off the news that another studio might release Coyote Vs. Acme, which Gunn produced, his upcoming Superman: Legacy now has a Lex Luthor: Nicholas Hoult.
Hoult is no stranger to flying or shaving his head, having starred in Renfield and Mad Max: Fury Road, wherein he played the hairless warboy Nux. He’ll join newcomer David Corenswet as Superman and Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, presumably screwing up his plans and pushing her off a building, respectively. Though Hoult was once in the running for Big Blue, rumors about him playing Lex have been floating around the internet since May.
Still, it’s unclear what kind of Lex Luthor this will be. Luthor has been sidelined as a comedic villain since the beginning of superhero movies. Sure, there are those moments when Batman V Superman’s Luthor tricked Senator Holly Hunter into drinking his pee, saying it was “Granny’s Peach Tea.” But typically, Lex Luthor is more of a funny character rather than an abjectly disgusting one.
However, Luthor isn’t the only villain of Gunn’s latest. Venezuelan actor María Gabriela de Faría will play The Engineer, the leader of a faction called “The Authority.” She’ll be one of several deep-cut characters in the film, including Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi, For All Mankind), Matamorpho (Anthony Carrigan, Barry), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced, Instant Family), and even a Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), who isn’t a deep cut, but will be in the movie. Fillion will play the Guy Gardner Green Lantern, for the record.
Superman: Legacy is slated for release on July 11, 2025.