We’re days away from the big blue boy scout flying back into theaters for a new reimagining, courtesy of James Gunn’s new DCU. David Corenswet fills the shoes of the most famous superhero this time around, but it’s been public knowledge that Lex Luthor actor Nicholas Hoult originally tried out for the role of Superman. According to Variety, James Gunn recently appeared on Jake’s Takes and explained why he made the choice of Corenswet over Hoult for the last son of Krypton.
Gunn said,
A lot of time casting is finding the right person for the right role. Most people [auditioning for Superman] weren’t doing anything wrong, they just didn’t fit how I envisioned this Superman to be. Nicholas Hoult auditioned. He’s a great actor. Some might say he’s better than David in certain ways, but he just didn’t fit the role. That’s why he didn’t get that.”sponsored content
He continued to explain, “As much as you can transform yourself as a person, Nicholas is just more controlled. One of the things we were doing was mixing and matching Lois and Clark actors when we were auditioning them. I wanted to make sure we had that chemistry right. The truth is Nicholas, who is a more controlled actor, had a really good chemistry with another Lois who was less controlled. They were opposites. David had better chemistry with Rachel [Brosnahan] because she’s a very controlled actor and Davis is a little bit more loose. That creates a different dynamism on screen.” Interestingly, passing over Hoult for the Superman role may have ended up benefiting the actor’s performance, as the trailers have shown Luthor to be immensely bitter at the love and attention Superman is getting.
Superman stars David Corenswet (Pearl) as Clark Kent and Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Ms. Maisel) as Lois Lane. The cast also includes Nathan Fillion (The Rookie) as Guy Gardner, a charismatic and slightly obnoxious member of the Green Lantern Corps; Isabela Merced (Dora and the Lost City of Gold) as Hawkgirl; Edi Gathegi (X-Men: First Class) as Mister Terrific; Anthony Carrigan (Barry) as Metamorpho; María Gabriela de Faría (Deadly Class) as The Engineer, a member of The Authority; Sara Sampaio (At Midnight) as Eve Teschmacher; Skyler Gisondo (The Righteous Gemstones) as Jimmy Olsen; Wendell Pierce (The Wire) as Perry White; Neva Howell (Logan Lucky) as Martha Kent; Pruitt Taylor-Vince (The Walking Dead) as Jonathan Kent; and Nicholas Hoult (The Great) as Lex Luthor. Superman will hit theaters on July 11th.
Gunn has previously dropped a few details on where we find Superman/Clark Kent in the new movie. “He is starting to become successful (at both jobs) in the big glitzy city so far away from home,” he said. “He’s madly in love with a woman who isn’t so sure about him. And he’s made a few superhuman friends who like him but think of him as naive. All these new elements in his life have unbalanced him a bit and as he’s tottering we’re going to see where he lands in terms of his values and choices.”
Following the release of Superman, the next DC Universe project will be the second season of Peacemaker, which will debut on HBO Max on August 21. Next will be Lanterns, the live-action series starring Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre as Hal Jordan and John Stewart, respectively. That show is expected to premiere in early 2026. Then we’ve got Supergirl, which will star Milly Alcock in the title role, set to hit theaters on June 26, 2026.
