Nicholas Hoult Says His Lex Luthor Will Be Ruthless in Order to Outmaneuver SUPERMAN in the Upcoming Film

James Gunn’s trailer for his upcoming DC tentpole film Superman dropped this week, and it gave us our first really good look at the characters in the story. One of the main players in this movie is Superman’s nemesis, Lex Luthor, who is being played by Nicholas Hoult. He is just the most recent in a long line of actors to take on the villainous part, but he seems to be putting his own spin on the character.

At a Q&A held on the Warner Bros. lot after the Superman trailer premiere, ComicBook reports Hoult gave new insight into his portrayal of Lex Luthor.

“The thing about this Lex, I think that was most exciting to me was being in a James Gunn universe. Like you said, so emotionally raw and powerful, but huge in the scope of the world and what he’s creating.”

He then spoke about how “ruthless” Lex will have to be to stay one step ahead of the Man of Steel, and how some fans will understand Lex’s thought process of believing he’s better for the world than Superman.

“And I think with this Lex, I mean, obviously he’s smart and ruthless and he has to outmaneuver Superman on certain levels because he can’t match him in others. But there’s also something about this character, hopefully from my standpoint, where even though you perhaps don’t agree with his process, there’s an element where you can understand on some levels where he’s coming from and why perhaps what he’s pushing as his ideology is perhaps better for humanity.”

Hoult is a great actor, and I feel confident that he will deliver a great performance. I look forward to seeing the story that James Gunn has set out to tell.

Superman stars David Corenswet asClark Kent/Superman; Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane; Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor; Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern; Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl; Edi Gathegi as Michael Holt / Mr. Terrific; Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen; María Gabriela de Faría as Angela Spica, aka The Engineer; Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher; and Terence Rosemore as Otis.

Superman will launch the movie part of DC Studios’ Gods and Monsters: Part 1. It’s scheduled for a theatrical release on July 11, 2025.