James Gunn hired David Corenswet as the titular character in the new ‘Superman,’ and Nicholas Hoult joined him as his arch-nemesis Lex Luthor. The decision led Michael Rosenbaum to later question why Gunn hired Hoult in the role instead of him. The actor shared during a Nashville Comicon 2024 panel:
“I asked him, ‘Why am I not in ‘Superman?’ Why am I not in the movie somehow?’”
He went on:
“It was fine, though. I wish him all the happiness. He deserves all the success he has. He’s enormously talented. When it’s the right thing, he’ll ask me. Or he won’t. And that’s aside from friendship. When your friends go off and do big things, you say, ‘Hey, they know I’m here. They know my number.’ And you just hope for the best.”
Rosenbaum played Lex Luthor for seven seasons of the CW series, ‘Smallville.’ He also voiced the Flash in the ‘Justice League’ animated show and several other DC characters in other projects.
He Worked With Gunn For Marvel Projects Too
The actor later joined the MCU, as well. He played a Ravager called Martinex in Gunn’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2’ and ‘Vol. 3.’ Martinex was supposed to have more screen time in the franchise but was cut out.
Rosenbaum explained at the panel:
“I mean, the role was supposed to be a lot bigger. They cut a lot out. Well, you were supposed to see, it was written in the script to see Martinex’s powers, which were really cool. But they had so much to talk about in the script that they ended up cutting it out in the end. And there was some other stuff.”
But he mentioned no hard feelings:
“But it was fun. For me it’s like, I’m working with my friends, I get paid, I’m in a big Marvel movie, life could suck worse. You know what I mean? I’m very grateful.”
The Guardians will not return in the near future as Sean Gunn previously reported. But ‘Superman’ will hit the theaters on July 11, 2025.
