With the anticipation for the upcoming Superman getting higher and higher with each passing day, it’s natural for the fans to also want to know what the main antagonist will look like to match the superhero’s prestige. For that, James Gunn has brought Nicholas Hoult to play the role of the evil mastermind Lex Luthor in the project.
But despite the star being deemed by the co-CEO of DC Studios to be perfect for the role of the main antagonist, the star still has to live up to the legacy of several iterations of the villain over the years in the industry.
While every single version may have had its own charm to it, Hoult believes that Michael Rosenbaum’s version of Luthor in Smallville was exceptional, which is why it’s his and Gunn’s favorite.
Nicholas Hoult Reveals Michael Rosenbaum’s Lex Luthor From Smallville Is His Favorite Version
Since Superman has been such a crucial part of the comic book world for almost a century now, there has been a long list of iterations of the superhero for both the big and small screens with both animated and live-action versions.
And since no superhero can exist without a supervillain, one of the big bad from the character’s lore is Lex Luthor, who also happens to have been reiterated several times in the past.
Since this cycle is about to be repeated with James Gunn’s version taking center stage with the upcoming Superman, Nicholas Hoult has also been brought on to the project to play the role of the antagonist in the film. Thus, when he was sitting down with Michael Rosenbaum on his podcast Inside of You, the star had to bring up his first encounter with the character that he will be playing in the future.
Commenting on it with honesty, the Renfield star revealed that it was the host of the podcast himself that he loved in the role of the evil mastermind from the hit show Smallville. This show featured Rosenbaum playing the role of a young Lex Luthor who locks horns with a young Clark Kent in his hometown of Smallville.
This is something even the co-CEO of DC Studios will agree on with the actor, and so will the fandom of the comic book genre of films and TV shows. Rosenbaum’s performance as the villain is considered not just to be one of the best iterations of Luthor on-screen, but one of the finest that superhero cinema has ever seen, forever solidifying his legacy as an actor.
Why Is Lex Luthor Such An Important Villain?
One of the key reasons why Lex Luthor is such an important antagonist for Superman stems from his hatred of the Superhero in its purest and simplest state.
While other supervillains have the innate and evil desire to control the entire world or destroy it, and Superman is the only line of defense that makes them oppose each other, Luthor is an egotistical mastermind and a mad scientist who wants to prove he’s better than Superman in every sense of the word.
He’s highly jealous of the superhero’s influence and popularity, which pushes him to do everything in his power to bring him down just for the sake of showing him who’s the best. This trait also made him the Kryptonian’s archnemesis, making him different than the rest.
Superman, in cinemas on 11th July, 2025.
