Will we ever see a great Lex Luthor portrayal in the movies?

[The Overlord]

Will we ever see a great Lex Luthor portrayal in the movies?

Hackman portrayed Lex as a used car sales man, more comic relief then anything, one note characterization, campy moments that undercut his menace and with a ludicrous scheme that never would have worked. He doesn't seem smart, he boasts about his intelligence rather then doing intelligent things.


Spacey is just doing a Hackman impression, sure he is more menacing places, but campy moments undermine his menace and his scheme is even worse then Hackman Lex's plan.

Eisenberg Lex is the worst of the lot, again campy moments undercut his menace, he lacks any of the charismatic elements Hackman or Spacey had, has a really stupid scheme and seems to be playing the Riddler instead of Lex.

Its a shame that Obadiah Stane from the Iron Man movie comes across as a better Lex Luthor style villain then any version we have seen on the silver screen.

[Adekis]

I don't know, honestly.

I don't think I agree with your assessment of either Spacey or Eisenberg. Spacey's Luthor at least has a modicum of Luthor's motivation (his Prometheus speech) and I could imagine Pre-Crisis Luthor undertaking his plan, though I have to admit that a lot of that has to do with Pre-Crisis Lex's considerable inconsistency.

And Eisenberg's Luthor had a great plan! Meticulous, ruthless, a little deranged. Don't get me wrong, he's deranged enough that I don't think he'd ever be in my top ten Luthors, but it's frankly inaccurate to say that obsessive behavior and inaccurate equation of Superman with God isn't part of Luthor's history. One of the same problems I have with Spacey's Luthor, as a matter of fact. But what I'm saying is that these Luthors, while certainly imperfect, are both pretty good. It's not as bad as say, if they made a Batman who loves to talk about how he doesn't kill, ever, and then to demonstrate, he so adamantly refuses to execute a criminal that he'd rather blow up a whole dojo full of people who almost certainly died, and the only person he saves from the blast isn't the crook he refused to kill, right? Right?

Right. But while I'm arguing that both of those Luthors were good, I definitely agree that neither was great. And I don't know if we'll ever get a great Luthor in film. Lex is pretty inconsistently characterized, and I'd argue that the number of "great" stories to draw on in the source material is vastly outnumbered by mediocre-to-okay stories.

Personally, I'd like to see a story where a Luthor like the one from Young Justice- manipulative, calculating, and most importantly always in control- fights (or perhaps to use a more accurate metaphor, plays chess with) a Superman like the one from Justice League vs. Teen Titans- young, dynamic, decisive, but still insightful and wise. As it is, JL vs. TT had an abysmal Luthor, and YJ had a pretty bad Superman too.

[phantom1592]

I think my favorite live action Lex will always be the Rosenbaum version from Smallville. He hit most of the iconic devious and manipulative.

The problem is that MOST lex's are actually 'pretty' good, and there have been DRASTICALLY different Lex's through the years. Who decides what IS the perfect Lex? Is it the mad scientist? Is it the businessman? Is it the president? Guy in Power armor?

They all have their moments of glory and no live action script will ever catch all of it. Even Hackman's real estate scheme in the first show is terrifyingly brilliant. Not only the amount of death he's willing to cause, but the two missile contingency actually WORKED. Few lex schemes actually come off as successful (barring some time travel to fix it...)

[Osiris-Rex]

Basically all the movie versions of Lex were terrible, with Spacey being the closest to being not as terrible. It's a shame that TV versions were so much better. Michael Rosenbaum was perfect and John Shea wasn't that bad either.

[Stinky]

My personal favorite Lex is actually from the animated series. I thought Clancy Brown played him perfectly. Power suit (business)..... attitude...."I'm smarter than all of you and I'll tell you why" kinda guy.

[Jim Kelly]

Gene Hackman played Luthor during the height of his career as an actor and Hackman was a great actor. I can see that some people don't like the version of Lex that Hackman played, but that bias against the character seems to blind people to what a great acting job Hackman does. He gives the character a great range of qualities and produces a fully rounded performance as Luthor. You could maybe accuse Marlon Brando of phoning it in as Jor-El, but Hackman is really there in the scene and playing off his fellow actors.

[llozymandias]

Gene Hackman played Luthor during the height of his career as an actor and Hackman was a great actor. I can see that some people don't like the version of Lex that Hackman played, but that bias against the character seems to blind people to what a great acting job Hackman does. He gives the character a great range of qualities and produces a fully rounded performance as Luthor. You could maybe accuse Marlon Brando of phoning it in as Jor-El, but Hackman is really there in the scene and playing off his fellow actors.

Yes, Gene Hackman was a great actor. The version of Lex he played was still a lousy character. It's how it was written in the script.

[Jadeb]

It's hard to believe that after all this time, after having some great actors take the part, the live-action Luthors still haven't managed to reach the level of the Superfriends Luthor from the '70s. That's pathetic.

Someone needs to draft in Bryan Cranston before it's too late.

[Jim Kelly]

Yes, Gene Hackman was a great actor. The version of Lex he played was still a lousy character. It's how it was written in the script.

It strikes me that this movie Luthor is a lot like the Luthor from the '40s and '50s--but with more humour and more personality. I think that the writers in creating their Superman world were not looking at the '60s and '70s comics and cartoon shows. That might be a generational thing. They remembered the Superman from their youth that they heard on the radio and that they saw in the newspaper strips, comics, movie serials and TV series. That's why there's such a disconnect between the Reeve Superman and the Superman that was in the comics at the time. It was a bit of a jolt, the first time I saw the movie, but once I realized the distinction and accepted it (on second viewing), I stopped expecting it to be like the comics and I didn't take it as a personal insult.

By the 20th time I saw SUPERMAN THE MOVIE, it was bits like the interplay between Luthor, Otis and Miss Tessmacher that made the experience fresh--because there's all kinds of business going on between those three, that's fun to watch and I might have missed the first 19 times.

This is where SUPERMAN RETURNS fails with Spacey, Posey and the forgettable other guy. If they weren't trying to do someting similar to Hackman, Beatty and Perrine it wouldn't be so bad--but they suffer in the comparison. Posey has been better in other things, but she was completely lost as Kitty Kowalski. Spacey is hampered by trying to play two different kinds of Luthor--the twinkling Hackman version and a much darker version.

[misslane]

I don't know, honestly.

I don't think I agree with your assessment of either Spacey or Eisenberg. Spacey's Luthor at least has a modicum of Luthor's motivation (his Prometheus speech) and I could imagine Pre-Crisis Luthor undertaking his plan, though I have to admit that a lot of that has to do with Pre-Crisis Lex's considerable inconsistency.

And Eisenberg's Luthor had a great plan! Meticulous, ruthless, a little deranged. Don't get me wrong, he's deranged enough that I don't think he'd ever be in my top ten Luthors, but it's frankly inaccurate to say that obsessive behavior and inaccurate equation of Superman with God isn't part of Luthor's history. One of the same problems I have with Spacey's Luthor, as a matter of fact. But what I'm saying is that these Luthors, while certainly imperfect, are both pretty good. It's not as bad as say, if they made a Batman who loves to talk about how he doesn't kill, ever, and then to demonstrate, he so adamantly refuses to execute a criminal that he'd rather blow up a whole dojo full of people who almost certainly died, and the only person he saves from the blast isn't the crook he refused to kill, right? Right?

Right. But while I'm arguing that both of those Luthors were good, I definitely agree that neither was great. And I don't know if we'll ever get a great Luthor in film. Lex is pretty inconsistently characterized, and I'd argue that the number of "great" stories to draw on in the source material is vastly outnumbered by mediocre-to-okay stories.

I feel pretty much the same. All of the live action Lex Luthors have been portrayed well, in my opinion: the actors perform the scripts they were given as well as I think they could have. As for the actual characterization, each felt right for the story they were in and, for the most part, had what I feel are Luthor's iconic motivations. Discounting television live action portrayals where I feel Michael Rosenbaum was fantastic, Eisenberg's Lex has been my favorite. He's the first Lex that I found truly brilliant and unsettling, and I had a better sense from him why he'd struggle so much with a hero like Superman that he'd want to take him down. I'm curious how his character might evolve in future installments, if he appears.

I think my favorite live action Lex will always be the Rosenbaum version from Smallville. He hit most of the iconic devious and manipulative.

The problem is that MOST lex's are actually 'pretty' good, and there have been DRASTICALLY different Lex's through the years. Who decides what IS the perfect Lex? Is it the mad scientist? Is it the businessman? Is it the president? Guy in Power armor?

They all have their moments of glory and no live action script will ever catch all of it. Even Hackman's real estate scheme in the first show is terrifyingly brilliant. Not only the amount of death he's willing to cause, but the two missile contingency actually WORKED. Few lex schemes actually come off as successful (barring some time travel to fix it...)

This.

[codystarbuck]

Hackman played a great Luthor. It wasn't quite the Luthor of the comics of the era; but, it was a more rounded character. I didn't find it campy (until Superman IV). Clancy Brown had a great mix of the old Luthor (evil scientific genius, with a vendetta against Superman) and the post-Crisis Luthor (power mad billionaire), though he didn't get to play much of the humanistic side that Elliot Maggin captured so well, in his Superman novels. That's what I would like to see on screen, though Michael Rosenbaum's young Lex is pretty close (minus the scientific genius).

[williamtheday]

I like Jackson Beck's Luthor, from the 60's.

[daBronzeBomma]

Will we ever see a great Lex Luthor portrayal in the movies?

Well, "great" is subjective.

Hackman's Luthor worked within the context of the first two Donner films. Remember, as Christopher Reeve himself once said, in his Superman movies, nobody dies when Superman's around. Kinda puts a cap on how successful an EVIL Luthor could be.

Spacey's Luthor was far more malevolent in demeanor, but still handcuffed to that earlier blueprint for a much different time.

Eisenberg's Luthor was a much more original and emotional take. His motivation actually fit the movie he was in. I just hate that they played up the insanity angle at the end. Luthor is not the Joker. He is always sane.

I'm hoping by the time JUSTICE LEAGUE is released, we have an outwardly menacing bald, calculating Luthor who is 10 steps ahead of most everyone ... kinda like the Young Justice version (the all-time best interpretation of the character in any medium, comics included).

[misslane]

Eisenberg's Luthor was a much more original and emotional take. His motivation actually fit the movie he was in. I just hate that they played up the insanity angle at the end. Luthor is not the Joker. He is always sane.

Was he really insane? I thought to others he would come across that way, but the truth was he was speaking the truth and reacting to the truth based on whatever contact he seemed to have with Steppenwolf, who he was shown communing with in the Ultimate Edition when he was taken into custody. I don't believe it's uncommon for a great Lex Luthor to have issues with sanity or stories where that is explored. Specifically, I'm thinking of Michael Rosenbaum's Lex Luthor who had difficulty with reality when it came to his deceased baby brother Julian, who he sang to as a child at boarding school, and as a result of the isolation and sickness he had from being stranded on an island for months. He repeated the bizarre behavior of singing to Julian when his father, Lionel, drugged him during an arc in Season 3 where Lex eventually spent time in an insane asylum and received shock treatment that corrupted his memories. In other words, neither Eisenberg's or Rosenbaum's Luthors were really insane, but they were affected by something that made them appear that way; therefore it's not too much of a departure.

[LordTrump]

Eisenberg was literally just Silver Age version, but younger and with hair. Literally, if you have no problem with lame campy xenophobic mad scientist Luthor, you got him, just with the Post-Crisis son's awful lion hair.