Rachel Brosnahan as his reporter girlfriend Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as his scheming scientist businessman nemesis Lex Luthor. All three actors feel born to play these parts (even if Hoult originally auditioned for Superman himself).

/Film’s Bill Bria spoke with these three actors about their work on “Superman,” with Hoult discussing how he researched Lex’s character and inhabited it. One of the Superman comics he read that stuck with him the most was writer Brian Azzarello and artist Lee Bermejo’s 2005 mini-series “Lex Luthor: Man of Steel.” That book turns Luthor from the villain in Superman’s story to the antihero of his own story. The plot unfolds from Lex’s POV, and the inner monologue is his, so we feel how he sees Superman (who stays mostly silent and only appears in the distance) as a dragon to slay.

Hoult continued:

“There was a dialogue from that [book] that Lex says, that it kind of instantly jumped out at me. And then, that kind of became a little bit of a mantra for my Lex, but that was quite early on. And that became like an early seed that I would kind of carry with me.”

Unfortunately, Hoult didn’t elaborate and say specifically which line this was. But we can make some educated guesses, because in “Superman,” Gunn characterizes Lex a lot like how Azzarello did.

Is Lex Luthor the real Man of Steel, not Superman?

Azzarello and Bermejo’s original pitch for “Lex Luthor: Man of Steel” is included in the comic’s collected edition (and screenshotted below). They talk about how they intend to reframe Lex’s goals as altruistic and present him as someone who genuinely thinks he’s out to save humanity from Superman destroying them.

But to Lex, the threat that Superman poses isn’t just that he might one day decide to make himself ruler of the world. Lex is also paranoid that’ll happen, especially since he distrusts Superman for being an alien. In Gunn’s “Superman,” Hoult’s Lex bathes in the glow of his confirmation bias when it’s revealed the late Jor-El (Bradley Cooper) did want his son to conquer Earth. (Obviously, Kal-El has no such plans.)

But to Lex, Superman is also a more abstract threat: the death of human ambition. No one can measure up to what an invincible flying man like Superman can do, so why try to even be better than what you are? Superman’s strength only reminds people of how weak we are in comparison, Lex explains to Superman during the movie’s climax.

These particular “Man of Steel” quotes stand out to me as ones that resonate across both Azzarello and Bermejo’s Lex and Gunn and Hoult’s version:

“Those red eyes, I’m sure they look right through me, like I am nothing more than a nuisance. But when I see you? I see something no man can ever be. I see the end. The end of our potential. The end of our achievements. The end of our dreams. You are my nightmare.”

“All of us — everyone — deserves a chance at greatness. All that takes is the belief that it exists. But his existence threatens not just that belief … but our existence.”

“If you [Superman] could [see my soul], you would see a man who willingly denied himself happiness, who chose to give up hope, for the world. A world without Superman.”

“I know I can’t beat you … alone. But then, I’m not alone. There are six and a half billion of me and only one of you. And we can drive you back out to the blackness from which you came.”

Lex thinks people should strive to be great, though, because he is the endpoint of that striving. Lex is brilliant, rich, and handsome; if it wasn’t for Superman, he would be the one people look up to. That’s why he can’t stand seeing them look up at a genuine Man of Steel in the sky.

“Superman” is now playing in theaters.

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