Now we know better now, don't we?
The devils don't come from hell beneath us, no.
No, they come from the sky.
There have been few characters who have both been locked so
steadfastly in our minds yet remain
as malleable as Lex Luthor.
With a resume that reads everything
from mad scientist to president to mech pilot,
Luthor has transcended origin after origin
to become one of the greatest villains of all time.
But why then is it so hard to make
that leap from the pulp print page of our hearts
to the screen?
He's hungry.
He's found us.
And he's coming!
Over 80 years ago, Lex Luthor, then just going by Luthor,
made his debut in Action Comics Number 23.
Like most villains of the Golden Age comics,
he was interested more in robberies and theft,
simple one-and-done thwarted capers that lent itself
to the monthly format.
In the Silver Age, it was revealed his initial origin
stories as a madcap scientist took place on Earth 2.
After several differing origins, the more modern accepted origin
is a teen who moved to Smallville
and grew up with Clark Kent, but through it all,
he remained Luthor, a non-superpowered villain
whose greatest asset was not money, gadgets, or weaponry.
It was simply his mind.
Luthor showed us a mortal could stand toe
to toe against a god-like Superman.
The reasoning behind why a character would want to do that
is inarguably the most interesting and enduring part
of Luthor.
Driven by jealousy, human perfectionism, and insecurity,
his decades long battle against Superman
is really a battle against himself.
To Luthor, the idea that he can work so hard, accomplish so
much, and still pale in comparison to Superman mentally
breaks him.
Luthor first battled Superman on screen in the serial Atom Man
Versus Superman in 1950.
Played by future Ozzie and Harriet neighbor Lyle Talbot,
the appearance is more in name alone
with Luthor also being Atom Man.
The appearance that brought Luthor
to the forefront of the pop culture lexicon
was really Richard Donner's Superman released in 1978.
Starring opposite of Christopher Reeve's Superman,
Gene Hackman took the iconic villain
after several actors ranging from Dustin Hoffman
to Paul Newman passed.
It's open.
Come in.
My attorney will be in touch with you
about the damage to the door.
Otis, take the gentleman's cape.
And it's clear Hackman is having an absolute blast.
Playing Luthor as more comedic ham with an air of menace,
he was described by comic book critic Peter
Sanderson as a used car salesman wielding nuclear missiles.
Hackman here is almost the blueprint
for what Jack Nicholson would do years later as the Joker.
He's vibrant, full of danger, and wrapped up
in some sort of evil plan involving real estate.
Here his iconic bald look is used
as an actual reveal at the end of the movie
where he removes his wig to the prison guards.
It's a wonderful bit of fan service
and a clever workaround when Hackman
refused to shave his head.
Hackman would play Luthor again in Superman II and Superman IV
to varying degrees of success.
The thing Hackman understood about the character
was his charisma.
No matter the profession in Luthor's storied career,
he has always managed to remain not just charming but able
to win people over.
Which just so happens to be owned by--
Lex Luthor Incorporated.
Charisma isn't simply likability.
It's being able to rally folks around you
to show them something strange and foreign
and convince them that this is the right thing to do.
There is definitely a charm to what Hackman is doing.
It just feels sort of off, not necessarily out of place
but lacking in what we want from Luthor.
It's a portrayal more in line with the Earth 2
idea of the madcap scientist.
Only instead of wild gadgets, he's working in land deals.
And while it worked in the original '78,
it's appeal lessened with each sequel.
That charisma was sorely lacking in Luthor's next big screen
appearance.
This time played by Kevin Spacey in Bryan Singer's Superman
Returns.
And while we agree the less said the better about Singer
and Spacey, it would be a disservice
to Brandon Routh's Superman and the hundreds of crew
to completely disregard the film entirely.
But having said all that, the movie is fairly forgettable.
Spacey, an actor capable of charm and wit,
is pretty wooden here.
Singer has a steadfast idea of who Superman is and anchors
the movie around Christ-like symbolism
but never veers too hard into who Luthor is
or how their relationship works in tandem.
In a slight homage to Donner, Luthor is, again,
working to exploit real estate.
Only this time, he's trying to create a gigantic land
mass that will in addition to making him rich
create living space.
It's vile and exploitative, but it's not necessarily
Lex Luthor.
We had seen the actor be manipulative, charming,
arrogant, and vicious.
But in Superman Returns, the scene chewing camp is gone,
and we're left with just a dry smugness.
Part of what has always made Luthor a villain worth decades
of written words and meticulously illustrated
comic panels is his relationship to his greatest enemy,
Superman.
In Superman Returns, that relationship is never concrete.
Instead of an inner jealousy of Superman,
there's really just a plan that is contingent on our boy scout
bringing kryptonian crystals to Earth.
That sort of symbiotic relationship
works well with other heroes and villains
like Professor X and Magneto, but the core of Luthor
is centered around jealousy and envy.
And if you really want to ring those bells,
you're going to need some teen soap operas.
Michael Rosenbaum played our Luthor
in I first premiering in 2001.
One thing both Smallville and Rosenbaum
get right is Luthor's envy, and highlighting
that characteristic makes perfect sense in a series
centered around teenagers.
The melodrama and questioning is perfect for that time
of a person's life.
Unfortunately, though, it is still
a show bound to its own structure that
demands to be fed, and within those confines,
there simply isn't enough space to let Luthor really
be the villain we know.
Every man has a weakness, Clark, no matter
how superhuman he may be.
The closest we've gotten to the version we know
is in the DC Animated Universe.
Voiced by Clancy Brown, his deep base
was a tone we already associated with evil thanks
to roles in Highlander and The Shawshank Redemption.
There's an undercut of malice and restrained anger
with every delivery.
As much as I'd enjoy seeing that,
first you've got some business with me.
And the show writers knew it giving Brown
ample opportunities to veer from over-the-top supervillain
to cunning businessman.
The animated Luthor understood the audience's expectations
and more importantly had the time with its longer format
storytelling to build the villain's arc.
We understood him.
For the first time since the comics,
we knew this Lex Luthor.
That familiarity we have is one of the strongest
strikes against Jesse Eisenberg in Zack Snyder's Batman versus
Superman.
While a socially awkward, long-haired Luthor
had appeared in Mark Waid, Leinel Francis Yu, and Jerry
Alanguilan's Superman Birthright,
the Luthor here is more broad strokes than character study.
But if you forge one, well then, we
don't have to depend upon the kindness of monsters.
Here Luthor is a tech savant with ideas to use his power
to take over the world.
Part of our disconnect may be Eisenberg's arguably
most famous role in The Social Network
as a tech savant with ideas to use his power
to take over the world.
That's probably not an idea lost on Batman versus Superman's
director Zack Snyder.
As with Clancy Brown and the ingrained feelings
we have around an actor portraying Luthor, our Jon
Cryer [INAUDIBLE] Lex Luthor is already saddled with baggage
across the Arrowverse.
For us, Luthor is the definition of human perfection coming
up short.
For that idea to really work, we have
to believe in the perfection.
While Cryer and Arrowverse do a fine job
of the villain's schemes and manipulation,
the presence just isn't there.
One of Luthor's greatest abilities as a character
is to become the boogeyman for whatever generation
he's being written from a generation being bombarded
by new scientific breakthroughs in the '40s to ruthless
businessmen of the '80s to tech moguls and politicians.
There's an adage about replacing an ax blade and then later
the handle.
You begin to wonder if it's the same ax at all.
In Luthor's case, it absolutely is.
Despite his many iterations and over 80 years of continuity,
his true power has always been his mind
no matter the window dressing that is thrust upon him.
And as long as Luthor's mind is free,
his stories and the possibility of getting him right
are never too far away.
Part of that is the basic dichotomy
of Luthor and Superman.
Superman is an ideal, morality and responsibility,
ingrained superpowers not given by mutation or accident
but birth.
He is what the creators want us to aspire to be,
noble and kind.
While Luthor represents an obtainable existence,
a tempting one at that.
Regardless of what origin you go by
he is a character who has built himself up through charisma,
curiosity, and determination.
And that is something we see missing in onscreen
interpretation of Luthor.
He is a cautionary tale, the story of our hubris,
single sightedness, and lack of empathy run amok.
There is a fine line between enviable determination
and the disregard for humanity that Luthor crossed a long time
ago and never looked back.
He is a warning even if he's closer to us than Superman.
So what do you think?
Are there other villains you can think of that we
relate to more than the hero?
Let us down in the comments below and as always,
thanks for subscribing to Nerdstalgic.
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