Smallville star Michael Rosenbaum has revealed that he would be open to reprising the role of Lex Luthor in a future DC Universe film.
The actor recently responded to a fan on Twitter who asked if he would be willing to shave his head again to return as Lex Luthor for James Gunn's revamped DCU. "for james i’d do anything," Rosenbaum replied, ending his tweet with a smiley face. The actor, who is friends with Gunn in real life, previously portrayed the Superman nemesis through the first seven seasons of Smallville. He left the show after that but returned for the two-hour series finale.
While Rosenbaum played Lex in Smallville, the character was previously portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg in the shared universe formerly known as the DC Extended Universe. Eisenberg first appeared as Lex Luthor in 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, with the character depicted as an eccentric young businessman and CEO of LexCorp who is obsessed with defeating Henry Cavill's Superman. Following the 2016 film, the actor reprised the role for a brief cameo in a post-credits scene for 2017's Justice League, which showed Luthor attempting to form a supervillain team of his own to combat the Justice League. With Cavill now out as Superman, it is unlikely Eisenberg will be brought back for Gunn's new DCU -- despite having previously expressed interest in returning for future projects as Luthor -- leaving the door open for Rosenbaum's return.
James Gunn Penning New Superman Movie
DC Studios co-chairs and co-CEOs Gunn and Peter Safran are at the moment busy finalizing the first wave of projects that will enter development under their eye. So far, the only DCU project that has been confirmed and announced is a new Superman film that Gunn will write that explores "an earlier part of Superman's life." Gunn has also revealed that the new DCU Superman will already be established and know all the "major characters" in the shared universe. No cast or director have been announced at this time. It is also unknown which characters besides Superman may appear in the upcoming film.
Rosenbaum, meanwhile, is currently keeping busy hosting the celebrity interview-based podcast Inside of You. He is co-hosts a Smallville rewatch podcast series with Tom Welling (Clark Kent/Superman) called Talk Ville that follows the friends and former co-stars as they rewatch Smallville episode-by-episode, sharing behind-the-scenes information and anecdotes along the way. On the acting side, Rosenbaum will reprise his Marvel Cinematic Universe role as Martinex in Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which opens in theaters on May 5, 2023.
Source: Twitter