[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Superman, now playing only in theaters.] Milly Alcock’s Supergirl isn’t the only member of the Superman Family to make a surprise cameo in James Gunn’s Superman. The film, which opens with a hologram message from Kal-El’s (David Corenswet) Kryptonian parents Jor-El and Lara (Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy star Bradley Cooper and Angela Sarafyan) and is bookended by a pop-in from his punk rock cousin Kara Zor-El (Alcock), also pays homage to the Superman legacy with the surprise return of Michael Rosenbaum to the DC Universe.
The Smallville alum — who played Lex Luthor, friend-turned-foe of Tom Welling’s Clark Kent on the 2001 WB/CW Superman prequel TV series — briefly appears in Superman, making a cameo as one of the Raptor guards working for LuthorCorp CEO Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult).
After the bald villain’s selfie-snapping girlfriend Eve Teschmacher (Sara Sampaio) leaks intel to The Daily Planet‘s Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo), leading to Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi) springing Superman from a black site prison in Luthor’s pocket universe, Rosenbaum’s Raptor guard says, “Sending sexy selfies behind the back of Lex Luthor? She has to be the biggest idiot in the world.”
“James asked me to do something fun, so I have a couple of lines that I voice,” the ex-Lex actor teased in an interview before the film’s July 11 release. “He’s one of my best friends, and he’s very loyal. It’s exciting. I think he’s got a great vision, and he’s putting his heart and soul into it and expressing that, because he knows how important the character is.”
Gunn and Rosenbaum have worked together before: Rosenbaum played Martinex in the Gunn-directed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Vol. 3, and he previously appeared in James Gunn’s PG Porn. In addition to portraying Lex Luthor as a series regular across seven seasons of Smallville between 2001 and 2008, Rosenbaum has voiced DC Comics characters like the Wally West Flash (in the Justice League animated series), Kid Flash (in Teen Titans), Deadman (in Batman: The Brave and the Bold), and Trapper (in Static Shock).
Hoult, who told ComicBook that following the “incredible” Gene Hackman as Superman’s archnemesis Lex Luthor was an “intimidating thing,” also named Rosenbaum’s Luthor as “the first Lex that I was more aware of” watching Smallville.
“People have strong opinions and ideas of how it should be. You want to take the script, first of all, and do that justice, and serve the story. And then just be honest and truthful to that, and what your opinion of it is,” Hoult said of playing the latest cinematic iteration of Lex Luthor. “I think that’s the brilliant thing [about] having James as the writer and director of this: he really understands storytelling first and foremost, but also the characters in this world, and what they all represent.”
“He wrote scenes that instantly felt very honest and believable to me, so it was then about just committing to those ideas that were on the page, and yeah, going back and watching Gene, and watching Michael,” Hoult continued.
DC Studios’ Superman is now playing only in theaters.
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