The Superman And Sinners Villains Have One Thing In Common (But Most Fans Missed It)
Two of the biggest movies of the year 2025, Ryan Coogler's period vampire action horror/musical drama "Sinners" and James Gunn's DC Universe jump-starter "Superman," have one very particular thing in common. No, it's not their likeliness to wind up on "best of" lists at the end of the year, nor even the fact that both Coogler and Gunn are celebrated Marvel Cinematic Universe directors. It's the two movies' villains.
In "Superman," Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luthor is arguably the most comics-accurate live action depiction of the Man of Steel's bitter billionaire nemesis: A seething megalomaniac whose hubris builds Superman (David Corenswet) clones and pocket universes, and who kidnaps and torments ex-girlfriends and random civilians at the slightest provocation. Jack O'Connell's Remmick, the central antagonist of "Sinners," is an equally complex and bombastic beast, but far more sly. He's a lonely and ancient, yet decidedly demonic Irish immigrant vampire who uses tricks, torment, manipulation, and brutality to gain access to music prodigy Sammie Moore's (Miles Caton) time-transcending, spirit-summoning powers in hopes of reuniting with his own, long-dead community.
Both characters, just like their respective movies, are extremely different from each other. However, look a little closer, and both the designer suit-wearing Luthor and the dancing, folk-singing Remmick share a very particular scheming intensity that elevates their threat and seems almost primal in nature. This surprising similarity may be because both Hoult and O'Connell share the exact same acting background: Both men earned their chops and rose to prominence as main characters on the British cult coming-of-age drama "Skins."
Hoult and O'Connell have both explored teenage turmoil as crucial Skins characters
"Skins" is effectively the UK precursor of later zeitgeist-capturing shows like "Euphoria." It ran from 2007 to 2013, and focused on several "generations" of mostly troubled teens going through their Sixth Form (a period of British secondary education for students aged 16-18). The first six seasons of the seven-season show look at the Sixth Form years of three different generations, with the final season focusing on particular standout characters' later misadventures.
Nicholas Hoult played Tony Stonem, the central character of the show's first generation, for the first two seasons. After he departed the series, Jack O'Connell took over as the major second generation character James Cook for seasons 3 and 4. Unlike Hoult, O'Connell later returned for one of the feature-length season 7 stories — "Skins: Rise," a grim look into the troublemaker's adult life as a downtrodden small-time drug dealer.
Since we're drawing comparisons, I would be remiss not to mention that Hoult and O'Connell's "Skins" characters even bear certain similarities to their later villain roles. Hoult's Tony is a successful golden boy with a hidden nasty, manipulative side that influences events far and wide, which is also a decent description of Lex Luthor. Meanwhile, O'Connell's Cook is a brash, smirking outcast who has copious "agent of chaos" qualities, goes through a massive amount of punishment over the course of his arc, and hides a pocket of pure sadness within his hard shell — all character traits that resemble Remmick more than a little bit.
Numerous Skins actors have gone on to become major stars
Of course, neither actor simply copied their early classic roles into their 2025 bad guy performances. Hoult got the DCU Lex Luthor right the way other Superman movies haven't by stripping every ounce of comic relief from the character and focusing on a particular DC comic book line as Luthor's mantra. Meanwhile, O'Connell's performance gives the "Sinners" villain a unique combination of human longing and vampiric thirst that makes his Remmick the "I Am Legend" villain we never had.
Still, there's no denying that being able to hone their craft on "Skins" has helped both men on their way. After all, the sheer number of "Skins" actors who have gone on to craft great and memorable characters in other projects speaks volumes of the show's impact (not to mention the quality of its casting department).
Apart from O'Connell and Hoult, familiar folks like "Get Out" and "Nope" star Daniel Kaluuya, Dev Patel of "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Monkey Man" fame, "Game of Thrones" alums Joe Dempsie and Hannah Murray, "What We Do in the Shadows" star Kayvan Novak, and many others have shined in various "Skins" roles. Judging by how far the aforementioned names have come, there's every reason to believe that other actors with "Skins" roles in their résumé will climb the Hollywood ladder in the future, as well.