HOLLYWOOD — “Superman: Legacy” director and DC Films showrunner James Gunn took to X.com on Wednesday to dispel a persistent internet rumor that adult performer and living meme Johnny Sins will play Man of Steel nemesis Lex Luthor in the upcoming, eagerly anticipated mainstream feature.
Gunn addressed the rumor through an online micropost — formerly known as a “tweet” — in response to a user who asked him, “Jefe — you didn’t cast a porn star as Lex right? It’s so ridiculous, it could be true.”
“Oh my God, you can't possibly believe that,” Gunn replied.
Besides being an accomplished veteran adult performer, Sins has developed parallel notoriety as a ubiquitous internet presence, thanks to photos of him in roles as a doctor, policeman, handyman, teacher, etc. He looks very much like some renditions of Luthor in the DC comics that appear to have inspired the forthcoming “Superman: Legacy.”
Film gossip sites immediately rebroadcast Gunn’s statement to superhero movie fans.
“Fans have been joking about Johnny Sins as Lex Luthor ever since Henry Cavill was cast for Man of Steel,” reported Heroic Hollywood. “With the DC Universe on the lookout for a new actor for the role in ‘Superman: Legacy,’ jokes have once more flared about his casting, so much so that James Gunn took to Twitter to confirm he hasn’t been cast in the role.”
The rumor gained some traction last week when X.com user Le Cinéphiles asserted that Gunn personally hired Sins to join David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan in “Superman: Legacy.”
Before Gunn was compelled to deny the rumor, one gossip site noted that, despite the possibility of the claim being a hoax or prank, it still reported on it because “looking at wild things happening, you never know what’s true. Even Taylor Swift is joining the MCU apparently, so you never know.”
