A superhero usually is only as good as his or her villain. We remember the classic Batman villains that have appeared on the big screen almost as much as we remember the actors who stepped into the legendary cape and cowl. To me, the better Spider-Man movies stand out because of the antagonist the wall-crawler faces off against, from Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin to Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus.
When it comes to Superman, we generally want to see him face off against the genius Lex Luthor, who has been played over the years by Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey, Jesse Eisenberg, and several more. When David Corenswet appears on screen as Supes in the upcoming DC movie Superman, his Lex will be played by the outstanding Nicholas Hoult (who actually read for the part of Clark Kent before landing the villainous role), and he had a lot to say about their dynamic when we spoke with him on the Superman set in Cleveland, Ohio.
Lex Luthor is a maniacal villain, but he comes with layers. There are different ways that an actor can get into the character’s head space. So I asked Nicholas Hoult on the Superman set where his Lex draws his power, and the X-Men: First Class actor told CinemaBend:
He's more of a tech billionaire. One of the things that he values – probably quite highly, and you’ll see throughout the film – is this public image of how people view him. He's managed to keep his more nefarious tactics hidden, so that he does appear to be someone who's only there for good.
The old bait-and-switch. Classic Lex Luthor. Make himself look like the good guy, and try to turn the world against Superman. That’s likely rooted in an instant distrust of Superman because of the enormous power the alien yields. Several other iterations of the Superman-Lex dynamic have explored that paranoia, with Zack Snyder even spilling some of that fear onto his interpretation of Batman. And Hoult tells us that Luthor’s hatred for Superman will be present from the opening frames of James Gunn’s movie, saying to CinemaBlend:
One of the things I loved most about the script the first time I read it is that you get thrown into the middle of a fully developed world and story already. So these characters have already existed in this universe, and you're playing catch up a little bit as an audience member for what the lore is, and what you're dealing with. With Lex, it's this thing of, he has already developed or devised all these plans of how to defeat Superman, and you're playing catch up in terms of what's at play, and the plans unfurling in front of you. So that's kind of where you meet him.
But how close are these adversaries? How long has Supes been on the scene? How long has Lex been observing him, and plotting against him? When I posed those specifics to Nicolas Hoult, he told CinemaBlend:
They are aware of each other, but I don't think they have necessarily met in person. But Lex… one of the things I really love about this version of Lex is that all his beliefs and fears are what drive him, but in some ways, that drive is real. And what he is weary of with what Superman represents is something that could be a real danger and threat to humanity. So in some ways, that was something that I really liked. … It’s his beliefs, and almost his love of humanity, and protection, and a belief in this idea that they should be masters of their own fate and destiny is important to him. The rest of society has fallen into this path of trusting Superman, believing in Superman, and giving him what Lex would view as all power and freedom. So it's like, ‘Where does jurisdiction and law and protection of humanity come into that process?’
These are the heavy questions that James Gunn will look to answer in his Superman, which arrives in theaters on July 11. From what we understand, Luthor is the main villain of the piece, which makes sense. But that opens the door for other questions regarding the role of Edi Gathegi’s Mr. Terrific, and whomever that is that Superman is fighting in the baseball stadium in the trailer. A lot left to learn, and personally, I hope they save it all for the movie, instead of ruining it with a longer trailer sometime between now and opening day.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
