It’s finally happening. Following the debut of Elizabeth Tulloch as Lois Lane in the “Elseworlds” Arrowverse crossover, Supergirl is adding another iconic Superman character to its cast later on in season 4. Yes, the Man of Steel’s nemesis Lex Luthor will be stopping by National City to give Kal-El’s cousin the Girl of Steel a runaround. Apparently, the casting process is not underway yet but fans have already made their mind up about who they want to play the bald billionaire.
Much like everyone wanted Tom Welling to don the blue tights on Supergirl before Tyler Hoechlin signed up as Superman, folks are hoping that Smallville alumn Michael Rosenbaum will return as Luthor. In fact, as soon as the news was announced, he was at the forefront of people’s minds.
Cast Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor again, you cowards. https://t.co/dkDIFUl0oX
— Jonathon Dornbush (@jmdornbush) October 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/BJMendelson/status/1053003387388743681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1053003387388743681&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fdc%2F2018%2F10%2F18%2Fsupergirl-fans-want-michael-rosenbaum-lex-luthor%2F
@TheCWSupergirl @TheCW Choose Michael Rosenbaum, please. https://t.co/LDPWwhiA9c
— Sheriff Grimes (de 🏡 ) (@VinyThe100_FLA) October 18, 2018
Some went straight to the man himself to ask if he was interested in reprising his role. Even if it meant shaving his head again!
https://twitter.com/TheCaliNerd/status/1052977461305069568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1052977461305069568&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fdc%2F2018%2F10%2F18%2Fsupergirl-fans-want-michael-rosenbaum-lex-luthor%2F
@michaelrosenbum just read Lex Luthor will be making an appearance on Supergirl….. one question: do you still have hair at this moment?
— Chris Holstein (@CrossFiticus) October 18, 2018
Others felt that Rosenbaum returning as Luthor would be even better than his performance on Smallville due to the actor being older now. Plus, who doesn’t hope that Superman also comes back to face his arch-foe?
Rosenbaum may actually be the perfect age for the role now. I just hope Superman is in that episode too. I'd like to see more of him as a supporting member for Supergirl, as long as he isn't weaker.
— Marc C (@MarcNYY618) October 18, 2018
So, could this actually happen? Well, on the one hand, Supergirl has welcomed many Smallville cast members onto the show over its three seasons so far – including Erica Durance, Laura Vandervoort, Dean Cain, Helen Slater and many more. However, all of them have played different characters, so having Rosenbaum reprise the same role would be a bit weird.
That said, the actor did recently joke – we think – on Twitter that he’d like to take over for Jesse Eisenberg in the movies and “get his job back.” So if there was even a grain of truth in this post, maybe there’s hope for coaxing him back for more. If it doesn’t happen, though, then Supergirl‘s new Lex Luthor sure has a lot of work to do in measuring up to Rosenbaum’s reputation.
