In early 2004 at the age of 13, Wayne Dalglish became the second actor to play a younger version of Lex Luthor on Smallville. The episode was called “Memoria” and it was directed by co-creator Miles Millar; it also happens to be one of the most fondly remembered episodes of the entire series.
Twenty years later, Dalglish went into a different field, though it was one that has a lot of connections to Smallville — Wayne became a stunt man and eventually a stunt coordinator. In fact, he got an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Stunt Coordination in 2022 for his work on another DC-inspired TV series, Peacemaker.
Peacemaker isn’t the first time Wayne Dalglish worked with James Gunn: In addition to the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (for which he did receive an Emmy in the Children’s and Family Emmy Awards), his credits include Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 where he was a stunt co-coordinator. IMDb also lists him as a supervising stunt coordinator for the upcoming Superman: Legacy, which – who knows – could result in Lex Luthor coordinating stunts for a Lex Luthor.
If being memorable as Young Lex Luthor and working with new DC head James Gunn was not enough, a peek at Dalglish’s IMDb page reveals he worked in stunts for several DC Comics-inspired features. Beyond providing motion capture stunts for DC Universe Online, Wayne’s credits include the Green Lantern movie, Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman, Justice League, and Blue Beetle. He also did stunts for Zack Snyder’s recent Netflix film Rebel Moon.
Wayne Dalglish’s success in the field makes us wonder if Smallville lit the fire of interest in the stunt world. In any event, we are very amused by the connection and wish him the best of luck in all future endeavors.