Lex Luthor: Man Of Steel 2, Batman VS Superman Casting A Bad Choice?
The Lex Luthor casting is reportedly set in stone (steel?) now, with Jesse Eisenberg being handed the role for Batman VS Superman, but what repercussions does this have for the Man Of Steel 2 movie?
In a related report by The Inquisitr, rumors surrounding the making of Batman vs. Superman have gotten fairly crazy. They can’t even make up their minds on a title, which is why you see it flipped around so often. We do know the release date has been delayed at least a year although the exact reasons keep changing. Henry Cavill is definitely Superman, Ben Affleck is Batman (unless he decides to quit… yay?), Amy Adams will be Lois Lane, and Gal Gadot is Wonder Woman, but otherwise all bets are off for all the other major roles in Superman VS Batman and Man Of Steel 2.
The role of Lex Luthor also a been a question mark. First we had some people claiming Bryan Cranston would have Lex Luthor “breaking bad” all over metropolis. Then it was Joaquin Phoenix. The rumors got even crazier when Denzel Washington was suggested as a black Lex Luthor. Then some people suggested Denzel will be the Green Lantern, although nothing was ever confirmed.
The press release by Warner Bros definitely confirms Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor role for the Batman/Superman project. Although they do mention the original cast of Man Of Steel being reunited for this other flick, there are some reports claiming Lex Luthor will also be in Man Of Steel 2.
While it’s possible such headlines were a mistake, it also makes sense. Unlike the previous movie versions of Lex Luthor, as played by Gene Hackman and Kevin Spacey, the comic book version of the villain always played the role of the head of a tech giant in Metropolis while secretly manipulating everyone from the background. While Luthor often would take Superman head on he typically didn’t want his public persona to be sullied.
And that’s exactly the type of Lex Luthor that the first Man Of Steel has set up. If you pay attention to the backgrounds in the movie there’s references to Luthorcorp so it’s obvious Eisenberg won’t be playing another Hackman version of Luthor. Instead, he’ll be the “smart, diabolical, ice-cold, inhuman, troubled, brilliant, conniving, hateful, maladjusted megalomaniac” that we’ve all come to love/hate over the years. So it’s possible that Lex Luthor could be present in multiple movies without revealing himself as the villain immediately.
But fans may also be having a love/hate relationship with the casting choice so far. Everyone is still moaning over Ben Affleck as Batman, but is Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor casting also a bad choice? NPR seems to think Eisenberg can pull it off based upon his performance as Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, but many on Twitter seem certain the choice is like kryptonite for the movie:
Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor!? You can breathe easy now Ben Affleck… The internet has found its new target.
— Johanna Fuentes (@jfuentes) January 31, 2014
Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor in the Batman vs Superman movie?? Please tell me Joker is the casting director & this is just a sick joke.
— Victoria (@VictoriDrink) January 31, 2014
Ok, I had my doubts about Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor but this leaked production still changed my mind (SPOILERS!): pic.twitter.com/I46lmWQE2O
— Jon Blair (@okjonblair) January 31, 2014
Regardless, the Man Of Steel 2 release date is set for May 6, 2016, although whether or not Lex Luthor will be in it is up in the air…like a bird. Or a plane.
