The Warsuit is finally real, and the set photos from James Gunn’s Man of Tomorrow prove it. After 85 years of Superman films pretending it didn’t exist, Gunn did it: Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor will be the first villain in live-action feature film history to suit up. Any Superman fan knows Luthor’s powersuits have become an integral part of his character over the years, and yet the movies have played around this crucial part of the LexCorp empire.
The green and purple armor has been Luthor’s best tool to even the playing field with the Man of Steel since the ‘80s. With Gunn’s commitment to resurrect the earnest style of Silver Age Superman, it’s no surprise that he would be the first filmmaker to bring the Warsuit to the big screen. Let’s take a look at how Lex’s armor has evolved over the decades, and why it became as iconic as his bald head for DC fans.
How the Warsuit Gave Lex Luthor a Fighting Chance Against Superman
Though Lex remains one of Superman’s greatest rivals, his physical abilities pale in comparison to the Last Son of Krypton. In 1983’s Action Comics #544, during a storyline in which Luthor was stranded on the alien planet Lexor, the then ex-villain came across the Warsuit. This powered armor allowed the head of LexCorp to defeat Superman in hand-to-hand combat, sending him back to his evil ways.
The Warsuit – and its iconic green and purple design – was the creation of DC’s legendary artist George Pérez, who also created most of the Teen Titans universe as we know it. In-universe, the suit was actually built by an ancient Lexorian scientist named Ukruh – Luthor just had the good sense to find it. The idea was to turn Luthor into more of a physical threat for Superman, and it’s safe to say that worked.
The Warsuit’s Life Beyond the Comics
Over the years, the Warsuit has become one of Lex Luthor’s most defining qualities in Superman-related media. Worth noting: the Pre-Crisis version was self-aware – it could talk, self-pilot, and catch Luthor if he fell. Lex didn’t just build a weapon; he built a loyal one. Besides the hundreds of comic book issues in which the armor has appeared, the Warsuit has been a part of Luthor’s de facto wardrobe in animated series like Justice League Unlimited and Superman: The Animated Series.
Most notably, the Warsuit gave Luthor a chance to join the roster of DC’s Injustice games. In live-action, the suit has made only a couple of appearances in official DC media.
The closest the movies came was in the Snyderverse, where rumors circulated that Snyder had planned for Jesse Eisenberg’s Luthor to reverse-engineer Zod’s Kryptonian armor into his own Warsuit. One fan made the concept impossible to ignore by merging Zod and Lex action figures and painting the resulting suit in the classic green and purple. It would have made complete sense: the DCEU established early on that Superman’s arrival on Earth was the catalyst for everything, and Lex was already tearing through Kryptonian tech. Doomsday was proof of that. A Warsuit built from Zod’s remains would have been the logical next step.
Zack Snyder’s original concept for Lex Luthor’s armor was tied to the idea of Lex acquiring technology from General Zod’s Kryptonian suit. This would have been amazing!
by u/SplitNational2929 in DC_Cinematic
The Supergirl show featured the “Lexosuits” – the series’ equivalent of the Warsuit, complete with the same green-and-purple colorway fans know and love.
Superman & Lois features a more militaristic take on the suit, resembling Spartan armor from Halo instead.
For some reason, filmmakers have ignored the Warsuit for years, going with the more “intellectual” Lex Luthor instead. Now, James Gunn is finally bringing the two versions of Lex Luthor to the big screen, after years (over 80, to be precise) of fans waiting to see the two go head-to-head in theaters.
The suit itself is worth talking about. The concept art shows full green-plated armor with angular chest and shoulder sections, glowing yellow-green accents running along the joints, and a translucent gold dome helmet that sits over the face. It’s chunky and physical in a way the comics always promised, built more for punching a Kryptonian than attending a LexCorp board meeting. Think less Iron Man, more tank with ambition.
Why Gunn’s Warsuit Breaks a 40-Year Lex Luthor Tradition
One thing to note about James Gunn’s take on the Warsuit is that it seemingly breaks one of Luthor’s most enduring armor traditions: it has a helmet. The comics rarely show the Warsuit with a helmet – it goes against Lex Luthor’s monumental ego to cover up his face, even if it is with a translucent yellow dome.
Now, if last year’s Superman made one thing abundantly clear, it’s that Gunn loves classic Superman. A fan like that would most certainly understand why Lex would never cover his face, even for his own safety. The helmet might be the one concession Gunn makes to practicality, but given how well he’s handled Hoult’s Luthor so far, you get the sense he’s earned the right to bend the rules.
