Jesse Eisenberg’s take on the famous Superman villain Lex Luthor was well less then successful. With Eisenberg probably not returning to the DCEU despite him inviting Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke into the legion of doom both these characters have been dismissed perhaps drifting away into ash when Thanos snapped his fingers. The casting of Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor was controversial at the time of its announcement thankfully though most people were still rioting about Ben Affleck donning the cape and cowl people weren’t as focused on this piece of casting despite it going completely against character. Lex usually being an older man, balding and physically in shape. The younger, slimmer and known for playing neurotic characters Jesse Eisenberg was cast.
At the time I thought it could work perhaps they will play Lex off as a Mark Zuckerberg type similar to Eisenberg’s performance in the Social Network which is the angle I think Snyder was going for when directing Eisenberg’s performance however Eisenberg’s Luthor completely misses the mark in tone and characterisation. Coming off more as an amalgamation of the Joker and the Riddler, fans and myself alike saw nothing Lex Luthor-esque in Eisenberg’s performance of the smartest man on the planet. I think where the character truly broke down though was very simple. Luthor is never truly fleshed out in Batman Vs Superman. Snyder never takes the time to actually establish Luthor’s Motivations and Aims when we meet Luthor he is a fully realised character who has already set in motion his plan to kill Superman. We never learn any backstory around Luthor and his hatred towards Superman except for some little nuggets of information sprinkled in with his incomprehensible maniacal rantings.
The key to any great villain his understanding firstly what motivates them to be a villain for example Magneto is a villain because he was tortured by the Nazi’s in a concentration camp and has witnessed humans distain for mutant kind. Magneto is motivated to eradicate Humans in order for Mutant kind to survive. A clear understandable motivation and a very clear aim. We understand what magneto wants, a utopia where only Mutants exist and are the dominant species. So if we say Luthor’s I guess aim is to kill Superman which is what the film is trying to establish although we have no established motivation for this aim, what is Luthor’s plan to do once he reaches his aim of killing superman. I will give you a hint, the film never establishes an end goal for Luthor if his plan is to be completed. Once he completes his aim of killing Superman what does Lex now plan to do he is out of the way. Usually in the comics Lex is looking to meet his own goals whether it is political or more egotistical goals to be worshipped as somewhat of a god amongst the people of Metropolis.
The problem is Luthor in batman vs superman is introduced already has a villain there is no back story or build up Snyder just relies on the audience knowing this is Lex Luthor and he is bad which is fine for comic book fans like myself and people reading this article but for general audience members it truly highlights how one dimensional the character is, being introduced as a bad guy without any truly established Motivations and Aims the character lacks depth and is just seen as a run of the mill bad guy who is simply in the film in order to supplement the fight between batman Vs Superman he isn’t the true antagonist of the film and becomes a background character, which Lex really should never be.
Without understanding a villains Motivations and Aims the audience cannot connect with the character and understand them on any sort of level. Great villains tend to make the audience understand their point of view and allow the audience to sympathise with them and their plight despite the awful acts they are committing without that there is no conflict and the line between our hero and villain is very clear, that is not interesting. For example, Thanos’ Aim is to kill half of all living beings in the universe. He is motivated by the destruction of his own planet and by seeing what over population and under resources do to a planet. Being the last Titan he sets out to achieve his aim by acquiring the infinity stones and eradicating half of all living beings. Once he completes his aim Thanos states he will simply rest and spend the rest of days watching over a thankful galaxy having believed he is the universes saviour. Thanos has clear motivations, a clear aim and we know what he plans to do once he reaches his aim.
Many audiences loved the character of Thanos because he asked a difficult question and was willing to commit obscene actions in order to what he perceives as helping. Like magneto he has a warped view of life which motivate his action, but the audience understands these characters state of mind due to understanding their backstory and why these motivate their actions. Infinity War made audiences ask the question did the end justifies the means, obviously mass genocide isn’t the answer but at least there was some debate around Thanos and some actual conflict which got audiences talking.
Seeing as most of Batman v Superman is about whether Superman can be trusted being that he is an alien who came down and leveled most of a city, the film could have went with the angle Lex was in his eyes was trying to help the world and the city he loved. He would have a warped view on life due to being so successful and feels he should be celebrated more for his achievements having somewhat of a god complex similar to Thanos and by killing Superman was a means to meet the end and ask the question did Lex take the correct path due to this unknown entity living in metropolis?
There is none of that with Lex he is just the run of the mill bad guy who was never actually established to have motivations which actually conflicted with Superman’s character. Without this Lex is just a character who glides on through the film. After all is said and done what have our characters learned from our villain nothing. All development our two mains go through are internal instead of a light being shone on them by Lex to reveal their biggest weaknesses. I do believe truly amazing villains change our heroes, or at least shine a light on some of their wrongdoings and make them face an internal struggle and question their own beliefs. The best example is magneto and Professor X’s constant Philosophical battle over whether Mutants are now the dominant species and whether humans and mutants can live in harmony. Magneto shows Professor X that he is not completely right in his beliefs and this makes us question the legitimacy of Professor X’s arguments.
Without Lex directly challenging Batman and Superman the character just lacks any true depth. Added with no clear Motivations or Aims. Lex could just be easily replaced with a nobody bad guy, the character for me is wasted in Batman Vs Superman and was simply put in the film in order to flesh out of the universe but he lacked any of his typical attributes which makes the character so iconic.
I also made a video on why I think Lex just isn’t a good villain so be sure to check it out!
Just a 26 year old comic book, film loving nerd. I probably look too in depth into films about superheroes but that’s half the fun. Check out my YouTube channel!
