Nicholas Hoult’s journey to becoming the iconic Lex Luthor in the upcoming Superman movie was far from the norm. Specifically, because the respected actor was initially auditioning to play the lead role in the highly anticipated film.

James Gunn's Superman may have found its perfect Man of Steel in David Corenswet now, but there was another actor who was almost set to play the Kryptonian hero, and surprisingly, it was Nicholas Houl

While Jon Cryer and Michael Cudlitz have recently played versions of Lex Luthor in The CW series Supergirl and Superman & Lois, respectively, Hoult recalled growing up with Hackman’s Luthor and Rosenbaum’s Lex as “the first Lex that I was more aware of.”