Nicholas Hoult Is About to Reinvent Lex Luthor in Man of Tomorrow
Nicholas Hoult is raring to return as Lex Luthor in Man of Tomorrow, promising a more subversive, layered take on Superman’s nemesis with plenty left to explore.
Lex Luthor is not just popping in and out of James Gunn's new DCU. Nicholas Hoult is already lining up his second go as Superman's favorite bald genius, and both he and Gunn sound very into where this is headed.
Hoult's Lex: round two already locked
Hoult, who joins a long line of Lex Luthors that includes Gene Hackman, Michael Rosenbaum, and Jesse Eisenberg, first shows up in Gunn's Superman. And he is already set to be back for the sequel, Man of Tomorrow.
He told GQ he recently caught up with Gunn about the follow-up and is itching to shake up what people expect from Lex. He has not read the script yet, but he says the first film gave him enough to know there is more to dig into with the character. Translation: he is ready to get weirder and smarter with it.
What Gunn is teasing
On the Howard Stern Show last month, Gunn dropped some actual story shape for Man of Tomorrow, and it is not just another capes-and-punches sequel.
"It's a story about Lex Luthor and Superman having to work together to a certain degree against a much, much bigger threat... It's as much a Lex movie as it is a Superman movie. I relate to the character of Lex, sadly... I just love the script so much."
That "bigger threat" line has fans circling Brainiac as the obvious candidate, and Gunn may have nudged that along when he revealed the title page of the script. Nothing official on the villain yet, but the breadcrumbs are there.
Timeline check
Man of Tomorrow is scheduled to start production in April 2026, with Warner Bros. dating it for July 9, 2027. So yes, this thing is real, on a calendar, and apparently as invested in Lex as it is in Kal-El. I like that Gunn flat-out admits he relates to Lex; you do not hear that every day from the guy writing Superman.
What is next in the DCU before that
The next DCU movie to actually hit theaters is Supergirl, landing June 26, 2026. The cast is stacked and specific in that way Gunn likes:
- Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon) as Kara Zor-El
- Eve Ridley (3 Body Problem) as Ruthye
- Matthias Schoenaerts (Rust and Bone) as Krem of the Yellow Hill
- David Krumholtz (Oppenheimer) as Zor-El
- Emily Beecham (1899) as Alura
- Jason Momoa as Lobo, a part he has been wanting to play for years
Bottom line: Hoult says he is ready to mess with Lex in smart ways, Gunn is openly making this as much a Luthor story as a Superman story, and the sequel has dates on the board. If the "much bigger threat" is who everyone suspects, the second film might be where this new DCU really plants its flag.