James Gunn Addresses Speculation That Lex Luthor Is President In Superman

James Gunn addresses a big Lex Luthor theory in the DC Universe timeline following the release of the new Superman trailer. Yesterday, the new Superman movie trailer was released, revealing plenty of new footage from Gunn’s upcoming DC movie. In this Superman trailer, Lois Lane asks the Man of Steel if he consulted with the U.S. President before taking part in a foreign war, and the footage cuts directly to Lex Luthor. This moment sparked speculation that the famous DC foe is actually in office in this universe.

Today Gunn addressed the theories, stating on Threads, “Lex is not President.” As of right now, it’s unclear who the current U.S. President is in the DCU franchise, which may be addressed properly in the Superman movie, but that remains to be seen.

James Gunn Addresses Lex Luthor Theory In Superman Movie

Gunn’s comment also addressed the user’s comment about how it “seems there’s no origins here, going in on turbo mode,” reaffirming that even though Superman won’t tell the Man of Steel’s origin story, the movie isn’t jumping that far ahead with characters like Lex.

What James Gunn’s Lex Luthor President Comment Means

It’s not shocking for fans to theorize that Lex could be the U.S. President, based on how the Superman trailer was edited, where the footage cuts directly to him during Lois’ question. However, from Gunn’s comments, it’s clear that even though the DCU will focus on a lot of heroes and villains who are already established in this continuity, that doesn’t mean they are going to skip crucial story beats, especially for a major villain like Lex. That would also be incredibly premature when Superman is set to be the first official DCU movie of this new franchise.

While DC Comics has explored Lex as the U.S. President, a lot of those stories had built up to it before the famous super-villain landed in the White House. Beyond the few teases in the Smallville TV show with Michael Rosenbaum’s version of the character, the concept of Lex Luthor as president has never been explored in past live-action Superman media. Depending on how far Gunn and DC Studios get with the DCU, that arc would benefit from having proper development to get Nicholas Hoult’s Lex to that point down the line, if that is something Gunn is interested in adapting.

Our Take On James Gunn’s Lex Luthor President Comment

Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor in Superman

As huge as it would be to see Lex’s political storyline come to life on the big screen, it’s great to hear that Gunn isn’t doing that with the new Superman movie because it shouldn’t happen in the first film of the DCU. The Superman reboot should be allowed to properly tackle this version of Lex and Clark’s rivalry, as they set up the DCU franchise with the 2025 movie. However, even if it doesn’t happen in Superman, there is always the chance that Lex’s rise to political influence can be explored in the DCU’s future.