Thanks to Entertainment Weekly, DC fans now have their first look at Lex Luthor as the once curly-headed and boyish Jesse Eisenberg reinvents the iconic hairless criminal mastermind for Zack Snyder’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”
He’s not any of the Lexes that you’ve seen, that’s for sure. – Zack Snyder
Aside from the being the criminal minded titan of industry with his signature depilated dome-piece, Luthor will be unlike any Lex before him… or so claims Snyder. I will be the first to admit that the moment I heard the news of Eisenberg being cast, I was wrought with panic as to what would become of the nefarious dark counterpart to beacon of light that is DC’s beloved Superman. How is the on-screen Mark Zuckerberg going to play an adequate foil to the most powerful hero to grace the big-screen?
Although Bryan Singer’s “Superman Returns” is generally regarded, by comic savvy and non-comic savvy super-hero film fans alike, to be the pinnacle of what not to do with Superman, Singer did get one thing right. Kevin Spacey was a spot-on Lex Luthor. With Snyder’s reinvented “Man of Steel” audiences see Superman existing in a more realistic world, and a darker world at that. How is the often curly headed and pensively grinning Eisenberg going to pull off the Superman rivaling stature of Luthor? At first I thought that the studio was going to scrap the Luthor formula and pick up a new, young, and tech-savvy start-up mogul type persona, hence picking up the “Social Network” lead. Now with the recent EW photo, I can breathe a sigh of relief that Snyder is keeping with the tradition of Luthor, at-least physically speaking.
Looks aside, what starkly different personality traits will Eisenberg infuse into king of all bad guys? Will we see a more sadistic and serious Luthor to rival the more ready to kill (cough… Snapping Zodd’s neck) Superman? Judging by the picture alone, there is a tortured soul behind those conniving eyes, but much is yet to be revealed as to just ‘who’ Luthor will be. “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” is set to hit theaters March 25, 2016.