After being in the mix to play Bruce Wayne/Batman in Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” and losing the more recent role of James Gunn‘s new Superman, British actor Nicholas Hoult has landed the key villainous part of DC Comics supervillain, Lex Luthor. Deadline first reported the casting update. This comes after both Alexander and Bill Skarsgard were linked for being in the running alongside Hoult to play Luthor in “Superman: Legacy.”

The rest of the cast consists of David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Venezuelan actress María Gabriela de Faría playing a villain called The Engineer, Nathan Fillion features as Guy Gardner/Green Lantern, Isabela Merced set to play Hawkgirl, Edi Gathegi will play Mister Terrific, and Anthony Carrigan takes on the role of Rex Mason/Metamorpho.

Hoult is no stranger to comic book roles after playing Dr. Hank McCoy/Beast in the “X-Men” prequel films that launched with Matthew Vaughn’s “X-Men: First Class” and ended with “Dark Phoenix.” Previously, the cinematic version of the Lex Luthor role had been played by Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey in “Superman Returns,” and more recently Jesse Eisenberg played the DC Comics baddie in the lackluster “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.”

The last version of Luthor was slowly putting together his own team, The Legion of Doom, with Joe Manganiello’s Slade Wilson, aka, Deathstroke being his first major acquisition in a post-credit scene. It remains to be seen if Lex’s Legion will be part of Gunn’s future plans for the DCU alongside “Creature Commandos” and “The Authority.”

“Superman: Legacy,” the first big live-action feature film from DC Studios’ new reset DCU, will be released on July 11, 2025.

SOURCE: DEADLINE