I recently saw James Gunn’s new Superman movie, and as I sat there in the dark theater, I couldn’t help but think that Nicholas Hoult based his Lex Luthor on Elon Musk. Something about that smirk he kept flashing throughout the movie reminded me so much of the Tesla CEO’s. But Hoult’s mannerisms weren’t the only thing. His Luthor had several other characteristics that I, and many others, see in Musk, most notably a savior complex and a need to be adored. That’s in addition to the fact that in this film, Luthor is a tech billionaire with significant contracts with, and influence over, the government.

The thing is, during a lie detector test conducted somewhat in jest by Vanity Fair, Hoult told Superman star David Corenswet that he did not base his Lex Luthor portrayal on Elon Musk. Corenswet noted that Hoult had previously said he wanted to make his Luthor “as alpha as possible,” and asked whether there were any alpha male podcasts Hoult listened to to prep for the role. Hoult replied that he hadn’t listened to any podcasts, but he did listen “to the audiobook of Elon Musk’s book, even though I didn’t base the character on Elon at all. But I just thought it’d be interesting.” [Note: Hoult did not clarify if he was talking about Musk’s official biography, written by Walter Isaacson in 2023, or Ashlee Vance’s unofficial Musk biography, from 2015.]

Still, it’s hard not to spot the similarities between the........

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