DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn frequently celebrates the anniversaries of DC Comics' most iconic characters on social media, and today, it's the turn of classic Superman villain, Lex Luthor.
Much to the surprise of many fans, the filmmaker decided to put a new spin on Lex in last summer's Superman movie. It was a surprise because Lex is a villain we've seen in countless other adaptations, and while he was joined by The Engineer and Ultraman, his big screen return was seemingly all part of Gunn's wider plan for Man of Tomorrow.
In that movie, Nicholas Hoult's Lex will don his green and purple War Suit from the comics for a team-up with Superman. The duo will need to put their differences aside to stop Brainiac, and Gunn hinted at the villain's heroic DCU future in this latest post.
"Happy Birthday to the ambitious and unstoppable CEO and scientist Lex Luthor, who most definitely is NOT a villain, but instead of protector of earth and humanity (he swears on a stack of Bibles)," he wrote. "We’ll see how he does working with arch-nemesis Superman in MAN OF TOMORROW, in theaters summer of 27."
"He first appeared in SUPERMAN #4, written by Jerry Siegel, with pencils by Joe Shuster and inks by Paul Cassidy," Gunn concluded.
The Superman helmer has been pretty transparent about plans for Man of Tomorrow to be just as much Lex's movie as it is Clark Kent's. While this isn't necessarily the start of the imprisoned LuthorCorp CEO's transformation into a full-blown superhero, all signs point to Gunn having some unique plans for Lex moving forward.
There's also precedent in the comics for Luthor to fight alongside the Justice League on the page, and to serve as Metropolis' "Superman."
Lars Eidinger, who plays Brainiac, recently called his casting "a true miracle" and added, "I would venture to say that every actor, every actress in Germany, there is a secret hope that one day to receive a phone call from Hollywood. And I always thought, I’m 50 now, I thought okay, that’s it, and it suddenly happened. And it all went relatively quickly, didn’t it? And me? Yes, I really can hardly believe it, honestly."
Written and directed by James Gunn, Man of Tomorrow stars David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Isabela Merced as Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl, and Frank Grillo as Rick Flag, Sr. We recently learned that Lars Eidinger will play the movie's big bad, Brainiac.
Several actors and characters are rumoured to appear, including Aaron Pierre's John Stewart/Green Lantern and John Cena's Peacemaker.
Man of Tomorrow arrives in theaters on July 9, 2027.