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  1. #1
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    Default Why is Lex Luthor is so lame in the films?

    Why is Lex Luthor is so lame in the films? Every version of Lex we see on the Silver Screen always seems overly campy, not threatening, not very intelligent and not even remotely in Superman's league.

    I like the Donner films, but Lex is one of the worst part of those films, his plan makes no sense, he is going to use a nuke to sink California and then profit off of some land he has in Arizona. There are so many problems with this scheme, one he is wanted a criminal and yet he is going to name several things in this beach property after himself and two, he may very well crash the world economy with this stunt, which may result in the land he has being not as valuable as he would hope. Also Lex plans to send a nuke to a city where Miss Tessmacher's mother lives and doesn't think that will result in her betraying him, a smart Lex would see this coming and plan for it, a dumb Lex would be got blindsided by it. This Lex seems like such a comic relief character, that he is not in Superman's league, I much prefer Zod in these movies. Sure Zod is over the top, but I never felt like he makes really stupid mistakes and he seems like a threat to Superman.

    Lex in Superman Returns is pretty bad too, his plan is even worse then Donner Lex. He wants to use Krypton tech to create a giant island that will displace North America, kill millions and then try to sell condos on this island which is a barren rock filled with kryptonite that will likely give everyone on it radiation poisoning. Everyone in the world will be trying to kill Lex, but he thinks everything will work out for him because he has 3 thugs and an assistant to ward off anyone who would to will him. There is a million better things he could have done with this tech, instead he does one of the worst super villain plans I have seen in a film and he still seems like a campy idiot. Sure Lex stabbing Superman with a kryptonite blade is pretty cool, but that's all he does in terms of interesting things in this film. Lex is lucky Superman foiled him, because Lex would be dead in a week if he succeeded.

    In Batman v Superman, Lex is again a campy loser. He comes off as a Joker knock off rather then Lex himself, he puts a jolly rancher in a Senator's mouth, acts like a psycho toddler through out the film, has a ridiculously convoluted plan with a million flaws in it to make Superman and Batman fight each other and plans to create a Doomsday monster that will just start randomly killing people (including Lex himself) for no good reason.

    I think a good Lex Luthor should one who takes himself seriously, he is not the Joker, he is not going to kill millions of people for kicks and his plans should not be the kind of thing a 10 year old could spot the flaws in if you gave him 20 minutes to think about it. Lex should be cool, intelligent and charismatic, to be in Superman's league, he has to come off as really intelligent, not some two bit grifter with a couple of gimmicks, but no actual tactical ability. Lex should be over the top in terms of what he can do, but he does not some silly campy personality to be a good comic book movie villain, a calm, cool Lex who does amazing things is better then a campy Lex who barely seems to be able to tie his shoes.

  2. #2
    Fantastic Member llozymandias's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Overlord View Post
    Why is Lex Luthor is so lame in the films? Every version of Lex we see on the Silver Screen always seems overly campy, not threatening, not very intelligent and not even remotely in Superman's league.

    I like the Donner films, but Lex is one of the worst part of those films, his plan makes no sense, he is going to use a nuke to sink California and then profit off of some land he has in Arizona. There are so many problems with this scheme, one he is wanted a criminal and yet he is going to name several things in this beach property after himself and two, he may very well crash the world economy with this stunt, which may result in the land he has being not as valuable as he would hope. Also Lex plans to send a nuke to a city where Miss Tessmacher's mother lives and doesn't think that will result in her betraying him, a smart Lex would see this coming and plan for it, a dumb Lex would be got blindsided by it. This Lex seems like such a comic relief character, that he is not in Superman's league, I much prefer Zod in these movies. Sure Zod is over the top, but I never felt like he makes really stupid mistakes and he seems like a threat to Superman.

    Lex in Superman Returns is pretty bad too, his plan is even worse then Donner Lex. He wants to use Krypton tech to create a giant island that will displace North America, kill millions and then try to sell condos on this island which is a barren rock filled with kryptonite that will likely give everyone on it radiation poisoning. Everyone in the world will be trying to kill Lex, but he thinks everything will work out for him because he has 3 thugs and an assistant to ward off anyone who would to will him. There is a million better things he could have done with this tech, instead he does one of the worst super villain plans I have seen in a film and he still seems like a campy idiot. Sure Lex stabbing Superman with a kryptonite blade is pretty cool, but that's all he does in terms of interesting things in this film. Lex is lucky Superman foiled him, because Lex would be dead in a week if he succeeded.

    In Batman v Superman, Lex is again a campy loser. He comes off as a Joker knock off rather then Lex himself, he puts a jolly rancher in a Senator's mouth, acts like a psycho toddler through out the film, has a ridiculously convoluted plan with a million flaws in it to make Superman and Batman fight each other and plans to create a Doomsday monster that will just start randomly killing people (including Lex himself) for no good reason.

    I think a good Lex Luthor should one who takes himself seriously, he is not the Joker, he is not going to kill millions of people for kicks and his plans should not be the kind of thing a 10 year old could spot the flaws in if you gave him 20 minutes to think about it. Lex should be cool, intelligent and charismatic, to be in Superman's league, he has to come off as really intelligent, not some two bit grifter with a couple of gimmicks, but no actual tactical ability. Lex should be over the top in terms of what he can do, but he does not some silly campy personality to be a good comic book movie villain, a calm, cool Lex who does amazing things is better then a campy Lex who barely seems to be able to tie his shoes.



    There was a good portrayal of Lex in the second movie serial. Back in the late 40s. 'Atom Man vs Superman". Lyle Talbot played a Luthor who was calm, cool, collected. As well as incredibly evil, & incredibly super-intelligent. And at no point was he called Luther. In the entire thing his name is pronounced correctly.
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  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by llozymandias View Post
    There was a good portrayal of Lex in the second movie serial. Back in the late 40s. 'Atom Man vs Superman". Lyle Talbot played a Luthor who was calm, cool, collected. As well as incredibly evil, & incredibly super-intelligent. And at no point was he called Luther. In the entire thing his name is pronounced correctly.
    Fair enough, its a shame the modern films write him such goofball, really they have done that with every film appearance of Lex for the past 40 years.

  4. #4
    Astonishing Member jetengine's Avatar
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    The best portrayal of Lex is still the DCAU.

  5. #5
    Extraordinary Member Jokerz79's Avatar
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    TV Lex's have been pretty good with Sherman Howard on Superboy skip season 1 with the original actor he was horrid. John Shea on Lois and Clark and Michael Rosenbaum on Smallville even John Glover as Lionel was great.

    As for films Hackman was good as he was written as a goofy silver age Lex same for Spacey (Personal Disgust for the man aside) the only Lex I ever found annoying was Eisenberg's Lex.

    Talbot was good in the serial's too.

  6. #6
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    The Entire DC Cinematic Universe, is lame.

  7. #7
    Invincible Member Vordan's Avatar
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    Donner Superman was based off the campy Lex of years past, and he was fine for that. Singer Lex was basically a continuation of Donner just bald. Snyder Lex was an abomination made by a man who had no freaking clue what he was doing. We keep getting these idiots who have never read a Superman comic making these movies so it’s no wonder they suck. The DCAU Lex was the best adaption of Lex. Smallville Lex was fantastic. YJ Lex was fantastic.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jokerz79 View Post
    TV Lex's have been pretty good with Sherman Howard on Superboy skip season 1 with the original actor he was horrid. John Shea on Lois and Clark and Michael Rosenbaum on Smallville even John Glover as Lionel was great.

    As for films Hackman was good as he was written as a goofy silver age Lex same for Spacey (Personal Disgust for the man aside) the only Lex I ever found annoying was Eisenberg's Lex.

    Talbot was good in the serial's too.
    I am pretty sure Silver Age Lex had to come as more competent then Hackman Lex or Spacey Lex, at least sometimes, everyone praises Silver Age Lex as a great villain and a worthy foe for Superman, surely he did something better then these lame convoluted real estate schemes that kill millions of people for no good reason.

  9. #9
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    The Batman TV series set the bar for a very long time for how to play a villain. Over the top acting. No scenery left unchewed. Hackman's Lex would have fit right in with Romero's Joker (or Nicholson's), Meredith's Penguin and Gorshin's Riddler. Ashas been pointed out Spacey was basically going for Hackman as a model for his performance since that was what Singer was aiming for. Hell on TV, I think Rosenbaum was the only one who wasn't playing it up as camp. John Shea may have been a bit more subdued about it when he was a regular in that first season, but there were still some mustache twirling moments there. Lionel at his Magnificent Bastard best was nothing but a camp villain done with skill.

  10. #10
    Extraordinary Member Jokerz79's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Overlord View Post
    I am pretty sure Silver Age Lex had to come as more competent then Hackman Lex or Spacey Lex, at least sometimes, everyone praises Silver Age Lex as a great villain and a worthy foe for Superman, surely he did something better then these lame convoluted real estate schemes that kill millions of people for no good reason.
    I think many people think of Bronze Age Lex when thinking Pre-Crisis Superman because he was a competent and good villain but Silver Age Lex like most of the Silver Age could be very goofy his origin was being angry for Superboy "causing" him to go bald.

  11. #11
    Extraordinary Member Jokerz79's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jon Clark View Post
    The Batman TV series set the bar for a very long time for how to play a villain. Over the top acting. No scenery left unchewed. Hackman's Lex would have fit right in with Romero's Joker (or Nicholson's), Meredith's Penguin and Gorshin's Riddler. Ashas been pointed out Spacey was basically going for Hackman as a model for his performance since that was what Singer was aiming for. Hell on TV, I think Rosenbaum was the only one who wasn't playing it up as camp. John Shea may have been a bit more subdued about it when he was a regular in that first season, but there were still some mustache twirling moments there. Lionel at his Magnificent Bastard best was nothing but a camp villain done with skill.
    Wasn't just Batman Classic Dr. Who, Star Trek villains, even James Bonds villains would chew the scenery and be over the top.

  12. #12
    Father Son Kamehameha < Kuwagaton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jokerz79 View Post
    I think many people think of Bronze Age Lex when thinking Pre-Crisis Superman because he was a competent and good villain but Silver Age Lex like most of the Silver Age could be very goofy his origin was being angry for Superboy "causing" him to go bald.
    Well, I guess that may have been a standing plot but it made for quite the essential Bronze age story in Superman#292.

    Back then I just guess that like you say, what people knew at the time was scenery chewing. And StM wasn't a huge action blockbuster or anything, so they ended up with this silly, cartoonish Lex with no outstanding plot. Outlandish but somehow grounded. Not great but I can really respect it.

    BvS had the lamest Lex, but it was intentional so technically it was great.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jokerz79 View Post
    I think many people think of Bronze Age Lex when thinking Pre-Crisis Superman because he was a competent and good villain but Silver Age Lex like most of the Silver Age could be very goofy his origin was being angry for Superboy "causing" him to go bald.
    I think Silver Age Dr. Doom was fairly competent, despite being in the Silver Age and having the occasional bad day.

    Silver Age is not short hand for bad villain. I can forgive Hackman Lex a bit for being a goof ball villain due to the times, but that act felt outdated when they used it with Spacey.

  14. #14
    Extraordinary Member Jokerz79's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Overlord View Post
    I think Silver Age Dr. Doom was fairly competent, despite being in the Silver Age and having the occasional bad day.

    Silver Age is not short hand for bad villain. I can forgive Hackman Lex a bit for being a goof ball villain due to the times, but that act felt outdated when they used it with Spacey.
    Well that's not a fair comparison Marvel made a point starting with the FF to create more "realistic" heroes compared to the rest of heroes in the Silver Age which were heavily affected by the comic code in the 50's. In many ways the creation of Marvel led to the Bronze Age which was a revamp of DC characters taking on a more serious with Superman being slightly depowered and updating the Daily Planet, Batman going back to his Dark Knight roots, Green Lantern and Arrow being teamed up and GA being reinvisioned as a hero of the left and downtrodden.

  15. #15
    Fantastic Member llozymandias's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jokerz79 View Post
    I think many people think of Bronze Age Lex when thinking Pre-Crisis Superman because he was a competent and good villain but Silver Age Lex like most of the Silver Age could be very goofy his origin was being angry for Superboy "causing" him to go bald.


    In the origin story (from 1960) Lex was angry at Superboy for ruining his greatest (at the time) experiment. Then Lex tried several things in order to outdo Superboy. Those things all backfired. Lex jumped to the conclusion that Superboy was sabotaging his projects. It was then that he declared war on his former best friend. The hair loss was treated as a minor thing. Prior to the bronze age Lex hated Kal for two things; always getting in his way, always sending him back to prison. It was in the bronze age that premature baldness became the thing that Lex wanted revenge for.
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