Summary
- James Gunn officially confirms Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor in Superman: Legacy, much to the delight of fans.
- Casting choices for the upcoming movie have been well-received, giving a positive outlook for the future of DC movies.
- With a strong ensemble cast and time before the release, Superman: Legacy could help kickstart the new DCU under Gunn’s direction.
Following James Gunn‘s official announcement about Nicholas Hoult‘s casting as Lex Luthor in Superman: Legacy, the director has also confirmed one burning question about Luthor’s appearance in the movie. On the back of his Threads post announcing that Hoult is now signed on to play the comic book villain, one fan asked whether the character will be bald in the movie. Gunn’s simple, abbreviated response was:
Lex Luthor has always been known for his shiny head, but Zack Snyder’s iteration of character, played by Jesse Eisenberg, spent most of his appearance in Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice with a full head of hair. Most likely, this is why the question of the new Lex Luthor’s follicle status has been such a prominent query since the character was known to be appearing in the first movie of the DCU.
Although it seems like we have known this for some time now, James Gunn officially confirmed the casting of Nicholas Hoult as Superman: Legacy’s Lex Luthor yesterday. Sharing an image of himself with Hoult, Gunn explained that although many fans will say that they “heard this weeks ago,” the director is only able to confirm it now because it has only been confirmed “a couple of days ago.”
The news was originally broken by Deadline, suggesting that it was a foregone conclusion that Hoult would be taking on the iconic villain role in Superman: Legacy. The Nosferatu star was originally one of the actors in the running to play the Man of Steel himself, but it seems that he is more than happy to be taking on a different role in the movie – and fans are also quite happy about the casting.
On his Instagram post, Gunn wrote:
“Yes, finally I can answer, Nicholas Hoult is Lex Luthor in Superman: Legacy and I couldn’t be happier. We went out to dinner last night to celebrate and discuss how we can create a Lex that will be different from anything you’ve seen before and will never forget. ‘But, James, we heard this weeks ago, why didn’t you tell us it was true?’ Because, although we were discussing it, it wasn’t final until a couple days ago and I don’t want to tell you all something that isn’t certain. Anyway, here’s to Lex (and Nicholas!), one of my very favorite characters in the DCU.”
Related: Nicholas Hoult Transforms Into Lex Luthor in Superman: Legacy Fan Art
Fans Have Been Happy with Gunn’s Superman Casting
It is no secret that a movie can live and die by its casting decisions. While there have been many comic book movies that have recently seemed to suffer due to the casting of certain actors, and said actors’ personal lives, it seems that Gunn is at least casting actors that fans are on board with. As one user commented on the back of Gunn’s post:
“All of the casting choices have been perfect, James is genuinely going to save DC movies.”
Naturally, this is not the opinion of everyone, especially in light of the casting of Gunn’s brother and regular collaborator Sean Gunn in the role of Maxwell Lord, but in general, there is an optimistic feel about the upcoming movie that has been missing from many recent DC movies. Of course, all of these feelings are based on just the casting of two projects, Superman: Legacy and Creature Commandos, and the next big challenge will be the casting of a new Batman in The Bold and the Brave.
For now, though, Superman: Legacy’s cast is stacking up to be a dream ensemble, and with almost a year and half before the film hits cinemas, the gap between this month’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and the first live-action movie of Gunn’s reign could be another thing that helps the new DCU get off to a flying start.
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