Next Superman movie : howabout an African-American Lex Luthor?

[Filbert]

Do you have somebody in mind?
I'm an ability-over-appearance person;whoever plays the best mad scientist wins, man/woman/black/white/blue.

[superduperman]

I think the best way to mitigate a backlash would be to have him be "charming brilliant". In other words, not an "angry black man". He hates Superman but not openly. He sees him a threat and THINKS he's doing the right thing by trying to get rid of him.

[Fire Angel]

As a kid I thought the DCAU Lex was black or mixed race.

I'm in the same boat. Lex and Two-Face with the bigger lips always led me to believe they were intended to look half black or Sicilian/Mediterranean because of the straight black hair with tan skin.

[CosmeticSkull]

I'm in the same boat. Lex and Two-Face with the bigger lips always led me to believe they were intended to look half black or Sicilian/Mediterranean because of the straight black hair with tan skin.

Funny thing is, DCAU Superman had the same skin tone.

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[superduperman]

I wouldn't mind seeing a black Lois.

[CosmeticSkull]

I wouldn't mind seeing a black Lois.

I wouldn't mind either, but I kind of feel like they're pushing Lois toward being Asian with MAWS. My current fan cast for Lois is Naomi Scott.

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[greatmetropolitan]

My own fancast for Lex was always West Wing-era Jimmy Smitts, just the world's most charming man, with a whip smart intellect. You could do a film about Clark being an immigrant and refugee, but contrasted with Lex, with Clark always receiving the benefit of the doubt because he's white, but Lex viewed with suspicion and had to work phenomenally hard to get where he is. It'd be a film about power and privilege and and how neither of those things are intrinsically bad, but it all depends on how you use them. Clark's a hero because he has all the power and privilege in the world but uses them in service of everyone but himself.

But to write that properly and thread those very tricky racial needles would be a very tough job.

[exile001]

I'm fine with it, I'm pretty tired of how straight, white and male most superhero movies are.

You're going to fill up villains before heroes, anyway. Non-SWM progression in US media almost always bit parts, supporting cast, villain, hero. It's how they slowly acclimatise US viewers to anything "different."

Cast first so you can keep in mind anything that might be problematic when writing and I think there's plenty to be done with a non-white Lex, even if it's just traditional Luthor not played by a white dude.

But then, I saw people on this forum alone lose their minds at Laurence Fishburne's Perry White so maybe it's not worth it. I literally saw some chode arguing that his name is White so it's heresy and against Siegel/Shuster's wishes for him to be played by a black actor.

[Stick Figure]

Honestly, they should consider going with black Superman. That would get more eyes on the character than anything else. I wouldn’t have an issue with Lex though.

[Mistah K88]

I'm in the same boat. Lex and Two-Face with the bigger lips always led me to believe they were intended to look half black or Sicilian/Mediterranean because of the straight black hair with tan skin.

I originally thought STAS Lex was supposed to be black at first as well... Clancy Brown's baritone voice didn't help things.

Oddly, I didn't have that problem with Harvey Dent in BTAS, so it wasn't just the character having fuller lips (Rupert Thorne also had full lips in that series).

As for Lex, while I wouldn't mind it, you'd definitely would have to play it smarter than the xenophobia trope that most incarnations of Lex seems to have.

[DABellWrites]

Same took until I was a teenager to realize his VA wasn't even Black.

Giancarlo Esposito does voice him on Harley Quinn currently.

As for this, I don't care either way. Although, everything about Lex Luthor just screams "rich white man with too much power."

As a kid I thought the DCAU Lex was black or mixed race.

Joe Shuster stated in 1983 for Nemo Magazine, he based the original evil Superman off Telly Savalas. That incarnation of Superman looked like a proto-Luthor. The interview was reprinted in 1992. I bet someone working on STAS was well aware of that connection.

https://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2012...-together.html

[DABellWrites]

I'm fine with it, I'm pretty tired of how straight, white and male most superhero movies are.

You're going to fill up villains before heroes, anyway. Non-SWM progression in US media almost always bit parts, supporting cast, villain, hero. It's how they slowly acclimatise US viewers to anything "different."

Cast first so you can keep in mind anything that might be problematic when writing and I think there's plenty to be done with a non-white Lex, even if it's just traditional Luthor not played by a white dude.

But then, I saw people on this forum alone lose their minds at Laurence Fishburne's Perry White so maybe it's not worth it. I literally saw some chode arguing that his name is White so it's heresy and against Siegel/Shuster's wishes for him to be played by a black actor.

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster did not create Perry White. He came from the radio serial.

[DochaDocha]

Joe Shuster stated in 1983 for Nemo Magazine, he based the original evil Superman off Telly Savalas. That incarnation of Superman looked like a proto-Luthor. The interview was reprinted in 1992. I bet someone working on STAS was well aware of that connection.

https://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2012...-together.html

That doesn't chronologically fit, since Telly Savalas was born in 1922. I think Shuster was just saying that his evil Superman looked like Savalas.

[DABellWrites]

That doesn't chronologically fit, since Telly Savalas was born in 1922. I think Shuster was just saying that his evil Superman looked like Savalas.

I've been misreading that line for a long time. Still, I don't think it's a coincidence though.

[DABellWrites]

I think the best way to mitigate a backlash would be to have him be "charming brilliant". In other words, not an "angry black man". He hates Superman but not openly. He sees him a threat and THINKS he's doing the right thing by trying to get rid of him.

So, write him as white Lex Luthor? Then keep Luthor white.