Nicholas Hoult’s repeated DC misfortunes cement his unfortunate status as the poor man’s Josh Hartnett

In what wasn’t really all that much of a surprise considering he’d been determined as the front-runner for months, David Corenswet was named as the next iteration of the Man of Steel in James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy, with Rachel Brosnahan on board as Lois Lane, which also ends any hopes of the actress signing on for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Fantastic Four reboot.

Sadly, that left Nicholas Hoult on the outside looking in, with the actor’s run of bad luck continuing. Having made it down to the final list of contenders to headline The Batman before losing out to Robert Pattinson, as well as his painful decision to drop out as the villain of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning due to scheduling conflicts, the actor has suffered another hammer blow.

However, one curious coincidence has seen Hoult forge a connection with Josh Hartnett of all people, albeit on a different kind of scale. Whereas the X-Men alum is now zero-for-two when it comes to auditioning for DC’s heaviest hitters, the Pearl Harbor veteran was offered both Batman and Superman at various points, only to turn them down.

Fair play to Hartnett for not wanting to be typecast so early in his mainstream career, but you’ve got to wonder if he ever regrets knocking back the opportunity to suit up and report for duty as either the Big Blue Boy Scout or the Caped Crusader, especially when he was in the mix for Christopher Nolan’s seminal Dark Knight trilogy.

Hoult was told no, and Hartnett said no, but maybe the former will end up getting his crack at Superman: Legacy with the part of Lex Luthor still up for grabs.