James Gunn's Superman won't be Nicholas Hoult's first brush with the superhero genre (he played Beast in 20th Century Fox's X-Men movies), but it will be his first time portraying a major DC Comics character after narrowly missing out on landing the part of Bruce Wayne/The Dark Knight in Matt Reeves' The Batman - and screen-testing for the Man of Steel himself.

Hoult was actually a contender to play Superman prior to David Corenswet being cast, but realized that he might be a better fit for the hero's nemesis while reading Gunn's script.

"It's funny, because when I first read the script, I remember reading it and there was a little inkling part of me that was like 'Oh, I think you would have fun playing Lex,'" Hoult said during a recent interview with Deadline. "And I kind of didn't say anything, and then...