What Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor Needs to Do That Other Adaptations Haven’t

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• Lex Luthor’s previous movie adaptations have failed to capture his complexity and nuance, portraying him as a one-dimensional villain or a maniacal mastermind.
• In the comics, Lex Luthor has been portrayed as a cold-blooded corporate figure as well as a man twisted by his hatred of Superman, making him a complex and multi-dimensional character.
• Lex Luthor’s deep-seated hatred of Superman stems from his misguided belief that he himself is the ultimate hero and Superman is a threat to his rightful destiny.

Lex Luthor is one of the greatest villains to grace the pages of comic books. Ingenious and ruthless in equal parts, Luthor has been a mainstay of Superman stories for decades, vexing the Man of Steel at every turn. In those decades, Lex Luthor has successfully made the transition to movies, shows, and games, where his characterization has varied wildly depending on the story being told. Now there’s a new face to go with the name as Nicholas Hoult will play Lex Luthor in James Gunn‘s Superman: Legacy. This brings us to the one aspect of Luthor that Hoult’s version ought to incorporate, which none of the character’s previous movie appearances have truly managed to capture: Lex Luthor is the hero of his own story — in his own head, at least.

Starring David Corenswet as Superman and Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Superman: Legacy is set to be the first live-action movie of the newly revamped DCU’s “Gods and Monsters” phase. DCU co-leads James Gunn and Peter Safran have revealed a multi-year plan for their reimagined cinematic universe, so the hope is that fans will finally get the massive interconnected DC Universe they’ve always wanted. And let’s face it, there’s no DC Universe without Superman, and no Superman without Lex Luthor. That makes it all the more important that we get a Lex Luthor who’s a proper foil for Superman, one who isn’t just a criminal mastermind but a tragic hero whose fatal flaw is his unrelenting ego.

Lex Luthor’s Previous Movie Adaptations Range From Strawman to Madman

The very first time Lex Luthor ever appeared in live-action was in the 1950 Superman serial Atom Man vs. Superman, where he was played by Lyle Talbot (who also played the first live-action Commissioner Gordon). Starting with 1978’s Superman: The Movie, the character was played by Gene Hackman, who brought a comedic sensibility to the villain. Hackman played Luthor in two more movies, Superman II and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, with all three films showing the character as essentially just a greedy one-dimensional figure with access to nuclear missiles and an obsession with real estate. This continued in the 2006 revival film Superman Returns, where Kevin Spacey took over the role, cutting out the more over-the-top aspects of Hackman’s version while retaining the idea that he’s just a very resourceful criminal.

It’s only in Zack Snyder‘s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) that we get to see a Lex Luthor who has any amount of nuance, with Jesse Eisenberg portraying the character as a brilliant but insane master manipulator. Eisenberg’s Luthor, the most recent live-action film version, does come close to capturing the character in a more well-rounded manner. However, this gets lost amidst all the nihilism and semi-religious symbolism. While Dawn of Justice succeeds in showing the audience what Lex Luthor is really capable of, it also casts the struggle between Luthor and Superman as a Man vs God battle, one that stems from the abuse Luthor endured at the hands of his own father.

All of that is accurate to the source material, but only from a certain perspective. Luthor’s childhood trauma is an aspect of the character that has been explored in the comics, as is the allegory of Superman as a messiah figure and Lex as his Satan/Judas. But that said, Lex Luthor has been in the comics for over 80 years and all those years have added further layers to his characterization that haven’t fully translated to his adaptations. From this perspective, we can see that everything we’ve seen of Lex in the movies so far, including Batman v Superman, is just a drop in the bucket when compared to who he is in the comics.

Lex Luthor: Mad Scientist, Business Tycoon, and… Justice League Member?

Lex Luthor made his first appearance in 1940’s Action Comics issue #23. In his earliest stories, Luthor is depicted as a megalomaniac who wants to take over the world and/or make a lot of money. He didn’t even get a proper origin story until the 1960s, when the DC Comics line was given its first of many reboots. This “Silver Age” version of Lex Luthor was revealed to have grown up in Smallville idolizing Superboy until a fateful accident drove a rift between them. It’s at this stage that the idea that Luthor could be more than just a strawman villain was first introduced. Throughout the 70s and early 80s, this early connection between Luthor and Superman was played up, with writers like Elliot S. Maggin highlighting the character’s more heroic aspects and suggesting that if things had gone differently, Lex Luthor may have ended up a hero.

Then 1985 brought us DC’s greatest crossover event (and subsequent reboot): Crisis on Infinite Earths. After the Crisis, Lex was reintroduced as a ruthless business tycoon who was shaped not by an early friendship with Superman, but by the abuse and poverty he faced in his childhood. In the years since, writers have moved between the two characterizations, some showing Lex Luthor as a cold-blooded corporate figure, others depicting him as a brilliant man twisted by his hatred of Superman. With the passage of time, these two distinct portrayals have coalesced into the Luthor we have in the comics today, one who is a thoroughly heartless villain in the eyes of everyone except himself.

Nowhere in the comics is this more apparent than in Geoff Johns‘ Justice League Volume 2 (2011-2016), in which Lex Luthor becomes a member of the Justice League. Yes, that’s right, Lex does indeed become a member of Earth’s premier superhero team, but it’s important to note that he doesn’t do so for entirely altruistic reasons. In Johns’s story, Luthor’s request for Justice League membership is motivated by his ego, because he wants the world to see him as a savior. But whatever his intentions may be, Luthor does end up helping to save the world. This anti-heroic side of the character has continued to be felt ever since and remains the one aspect of the character that hasn’t been echoed by his adaptations.

Lex Luthor’s Hatred of Superman as the Result of a Misguided Messiah Complex

Luthor’s heroism motivated by narcissism isn’t just an interesting, layered take on the character. It also helps establish a solid foundation for the never-ending rivalry between Lex Luthor and Superman. As established in modern comics, Luthor sees himself as the pinnacle of human achievement, a “super man” in the Nietzschean sense who uses his superior intellect to conquer the impossible. He believes that he should rightfully be seen as a hero — as the greatest hero of humanity in fact — and be showered with love and adoration. However, here comes Superman, an alien being with powers far beyond what even Lex Luthor can achieve. This leads Luthor to see Superman as a usurper of his rightful destiny. So, naturally, Luthor seeks to destroy Superman so that he, Lex Luthor, can be the one and only hero the world needs.

In Scott Snyder‘s Justice League Volume 4, this same need to be the ultimate hero leads Lex Luthor to become a terrible villain, making a deal with an evil multiversal entity to transform humans into cosmic apex predators, with himself as the leader of the species. What this shows is that a Lex Luthor who wants to be a hero is far more dangerous than one who just wants to rule the world or kill Superman. If he wanted to, Lex Luthor could save the world. The fact that he doesn’t, purely because of his ego, is what truly makes him the vile villain we know him to be.

The new era of the DCU officially begins with the animated series Creature Commandos, coming to Max in 2024. Superman: Legacy will arrive in US theaters on July 11, 2025. To learn all the details revealed so far about the upcoming DCU movie, its crew, cast, characters, and more, be sure to read our complete guide to the film.