"That's a really bolstering sort of thing to happen," Hoult tells EW. One of the first Lex Luthors that Nicholas Hoult remembers seeing as a kid is the one played by Michael Rosenbaum on Smallville, the CW series featuring Tom Welling as Clark Kent/Kal-El in a high-school coming-of-age setting.

Lex Luthor is a maniacal villain, but he comes with layers. There are different ways that an actor can get into the character’s head space. So I asked Nicholas Hoult on the Superman set where his Lex draws his power, and the X-Men: First Class actor told CinemaBend:

The Animated Series , fans were treated to one of the most chaotic and compelling villain team-ups in DC history with Lex Luthor and the Joker. The 1997 three-part crossover “World’s Finest” kicked things off in Gotham,