Buzz for Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel film is at an all-time-high – following favorable test screening reports that soothed anxiety in worried Superman die-hards. The full length Man of Steel trailer teased epic action set pieces and subtle moments of emotional drama but great marketing doesn’t necessarily mean a great movie. As a result, fans were eagerly awaiting word on the quality of the actual film – from someone who didn’t work on Man of Steel or belong to the Warner Bros. PR department.
However, trusting unconfirmed word-of-mouth from untested sources creates a very slippery slope – a lesson that should be familiar to anyone following the back and forth reports about Christian Bale in the Justice League film. For that reason, take the following rumor with a massive grain of salt: Lex Luthor could be referenced, but not appear, in Man of Steel.
The latest DC rumor comes from the least reliable place on the planet – a forum posting (via CBM) – and the only reason we’re reporting on the details is to ask the question: should Lex Luthor even be mentioned in Man of Steel? He’s Superman’s arch-nemesis after all. But more on that in a bit.
For anyone who is interested in jumping down the rabbit hole of pre-release rumors, the source forum post was published by a moviegoer who claims to have been a guest at a recent Man of Steel screening. Unlike JoBlo‘s “trusted source” who provided the “Nolan story with Snyder effects/action” description of Man of Steel, this viewer is not affiliated with a media outlet and it’s entirely possible that any information provided could be entire fabrication. That said, Warner Bros. has been holding Man of Steel test screenings and the poster’s descriptions line-up with behind-the-scenes whispers we’ve been hearing – so anything is possible. A lot of ground is covered, from superpowers to fight sequences – so, for anyone interested in unsubstantiated speculation, there’s a lot to unpack – you can read the full forum thread – HERE – (NOTE: be careful of potential spoilers).
Still, one bit of information that jumped-out, was an answer to the question: Does Lex Luthor have any sort of cameo? And if so, does he get any screentime or lines?
The poster’s response could be considered a MILD SPOILER (if it’s even true), so turn away now if you’re attempting to avoid even the most minute Man of Steel story information.
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Answer: He’s never shown but he is referenced in the way Norman Osbourne is referenced in [The Amazing Spider-Man]. They state in the movie that he is working on a new AI that will “revolutionize technology unlike anything Metropolis has ever seen.”
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If true, it’s not much of a stretch to assume that Snyder could be setting up a Brainiac storyline for the potential Man of Steel 2. However, as indicated before, there’s no reason to get worked up about where the story could go – as, regardless of whether or not the information is accurate, we’re a long way out from a Man of Steel sequel. A lot could change between now and then.
Still, the post raises an interesting topic of discussion that hasn’t been touched-on in a long time (not since rumors suggested Bradley Cooper was up for the Lex Luthor role): should Snyder (along with writer David Goyer) touch on Lex Luthor at all in this movie or intentionally avoid any mention of the iconic evildoer altogether? Recently, the Man of Steel cameo speculation has centered around post-credits Justice League tie-ins – specifically Wonder Woman or Dark Knight teases – instead of mentions or nods to mainline Superman characters.
Since Man of Steel already has a charismatic and dangerous villain in Zod (along with Faora), who is a physical match for Superman and is intimately tied to the hero’s origins, it’s understandable that actually putting Lex Luthor in the film (especially with a high profile actor in the role) could have been more of a distraction than an actual benefit. We’ve seen plenty of superhero adaptations that were weakened by the “me too” inclusion of franchise villains. Great antagonists reflect and juxtapose the values and struggles of the protagonist – meaning that too many characters of conflict in a single film can muddy the success of the character drama (think Spider-Man 3).
Yet, if Snyder includes a small Lex Luthor reference (let alone a cameo), it could still undercut the central Zod/Superman rivalry – since the character is a domineering personality in the comic book (and film) series cannon. Of course, Luthor could easily be name-dropped in the aftermath of the Zod battle as a knowing tease toward looming danger still on the horizon (similar to The Joker card at the end of Batman Begins). Similarly, fans have been exposed to several high profile versions of Luthor over the years (most recently on Smallville), so Warner Bros. might be motivated to give the arch-villain a rest – in the interest of bringing him back in a big way down the line.
However, what if the character is not mentioned at all? Will audiences embrace a Superman film that doesn’t (at least) mention the existence of Lex Luthor? Probably but, keep in mind, Luthor was a major factor in 4 out of the last 5 live-action Superman films – and the one that left him out completely (Superman III) was regularly criticized for swapping the villain out in favor of the similar (but less interesting) Ross Webster character. Without question, Superman III was a misfire for a variety of other reasons but it’s still the only modern Superman movie to push Luthor entirely out of the spotlight.
Even if Zod is an extremely appealing evildoer, moviegoers have been trained to see Luthor as an integral part of the Superman series story. After all, Snyder included plenty of fan-favorite Superman characters for payoff down the line: Lois Lane (played by Amy Adams), Perry White (Laurence Fishburne), and possibly Jimmy (or Jenny) Olson. For that reason, it’s likely that some viewers will want to know where Luthor fits into the new mythos as well – and will be disappointed if there isn’t a single nod to the evil genius in Man of Steel.
Conversely, if Warner Bros. is looking to Man of Steel before launching their Justice League campaign, there’s only so much they can hint-toward ahead of time. The pre-Avengers Marvel film build-up worked because each installment directly referenced the next film in the series – stitching a singular thread from one to the next. While Lex Luthor might play a role in the Justice League movie, too many references teasing into the future could easily undermine the present Superman story.
Is Zack Snyder (not to mention Warner Bros.) willing to run that risk?
Let us know what you think by voting in the poll below and continuing the discussion in the comments.
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Follow me on Twitter @benkendrick for more on Man of Steel as well as future movie, TV, and gaming news.
Man of Steel is currently in post-production and will hit theaters on June 14, 2013.
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thinking outside of the box i think viggo mortenson would make a great lex if there happens to be a follow up to mos and i hope it does.
The best idea is to mention him at the end of the movie like they did in Batman Beings mentioning the Joker. Everything else like actually having him appear is stupid and would really be rushing things.
The Rock for lex luthor
I am up for any “realistic” villain. It will separate them from Marvel.
The “realistic” villain? seriously. yes that makes sense. lets add a realistic villian to the most UNREALISTIC super hero. It worked with batman because he has no super powers. it wont work with superman. fact is that lex luthor is tired. i think zod is a great villain but good lord superman has some great villains to fight! Namingly Darkseid, Doomsday, Brainiac, Metallo and Imperiex to name a few. The death of superman involved 3 super villains perfectly. why cant we get that?? and lex was a minor part. Im just saying the Lex Luthor methodology isnt exactly a block buster here. bring in the hard hitting action with the badass super villains with extraordinary powers!!! not lex luthor scheming to launch nuclear missiles (Zzz). or growing an island of kryptonite. (who the eff thought up that lame idea?)
+1 the death of Superman was a great story. the animated movie not so much
I would like a hint of Luthor but I don’t understand the rest of what you are suggesting.
Movie audiences trained? Audiences decided wether a movie sinks or swims based on wether it is a good film or not, nothing to do if Luthor is in the film or isn’t.
Enough of Lex Luthor already!I’m sick of the guy. The character has only been featured in 4 out of the 5 Superman motion pictures. Enough is enough for God sake!
+1 I’m not paying another dollar to see a Luthor-centric Superman movie. It’s tired. It’s old. I’m bored with all of the variations of that dynamic. Apart from the movies, we had what, 8 or 9 (or more) years of Luthor battling Superman on Smallville? “Oh, but that was TV. This is Hollywood, baby!” BIG HONKING DEAL! Please, for the love of what could be an amazing series of live action movies, let’s move on. Here’s an idea: let’s start the rebooted movie with a scene showing Superman giving Luthor’s eulogy to a crowd of 4, maybe 5, attendees.
“We are gathered here today to honor a dishonorable man. He doesn’t deserve this recognition, but having me here is fantastically ironic; the kind of irony that resonates with today’s audiences. … Wow, look at the time. And look at that spaceship in the sky; Brainiac is 2 minutes early. Up, up, and awaaaaaaay!”
lol
omg thank you!!!! im so freakin sick and tired of lex luthor!!! bring on darkseid or doomsday! shoot, even the video games brought in brainiac beautifully!
Please no Lex Luthor , personally I’m sick and tired of Lex Luthor in a Superman movie. 5 movies is enough . Need some new villains to appear if your gonna reboot it (again) start off fresh Lex is played out . would like to see DOOMSDAY but anybody is better than Lex nothing against the greatest criminal mind of our time lol we as superman fans need more just saying.
I know that we had had too much Luthor in all the existing movies but he needs to be there even if we don’t like it, if not in MOS in a sequel or at some part of the series. Not having him is like having a Batman series without the Joker, it is just not the same. Besides I’m still hopeful that somewhere out there there’s a man that could give us a reinvented Luthor of the quality of Ledger’s Joker.
@ Strange
As Nicolson’s Joker was’t good enough?
It was good for its time, but Ledger’s was the right for us right now. Nicolson’s Joker at these times wouldn’t have gotten as much attention as Ledger’s did. It is the same with Hackman’s Luthor and you can see it on Superman Returns, Spacey tried to do the exact same Luthor that Hackman did and he failed (we all hated that Luthor). We need something like Rosebaum’s Luthor but even tougher.
Why bother? Nicolas Cage could do Brainiac, you don’t need Lex.
we havent had the comic book version of lex yet and smallville sucked so much balls….<-yup i said it and gene was a good lex in the first film and was a bit annoying in superman 2 after awhile and superman 4…..didnt happen…lol,and kevin spacey's lex was a darker version of genes who was a alot more bitter , but not like his comic book counter part sadly and miss chance of a doing something very different with the role, i wouldnt mind seeing a new lex being alot more in envolued in the hopeful snyder-verse and maybe he draws more of supes rogues to come to earth and trying the hands at taking down supe and while hes causing all sorts of problems running around in the back ground of mos2 and mos3,but thats my two cents.
“there hands”
I suppose they could do a similar things like they did in The Amazing Spiderman…. (Reference to his name and a silhouette of him in Oscorp). They could show a TV screen with a news report with his name on it or showing a Daily Planet newspaper with Superman as the headline and have a little mini story at the bottom about Lex Luthor doing something?
In my suggestions, Terry O’Quinn can make a great villain playing the billionaire Lex Luther of LexCorps. That’s who Iam assuming ? I think he can reprise his villain role in the JUSTICE LEAGUE film. How does that sound ?
How about Clive Owen as Lex Luthor He’s 6’2 so he would be the perfect height and he Frequently plays tough characters who use intelligence rather than strength.
I was thinking about Clive Owen too. Would be interesting to have Luthor as an Englishman too (and we all know that english actors make for EXCELLENT bad guys). If not him them what about Christoph Waltz?
Christoph Waltz would be great,though i would like a younger actor for luthor i wouldn’t mind Waltz because he is an amazing villian.
Lex is to Superman what the joker is to batman
Exactly. And LexCorp is to Metropolis as Wayne Enterprises is to Gotham. You cannot have a Superman movie with no mention or reference of Luthor whatsoever. He’s almost like a evil version of Tony Stark
all the spoilers on that guys blog are blocked out wtf!!
okay.. yea just click on the black lines. as for lex he has to be at least mentioned he is supes arch enemy. i have no clue who should play him.
! No !
Lex Luther has had his time in Superman movies…boring !
Brainiac was always a favourite villian when I was a kid !
Oh…and giant monster robots….that can fly !
Given the array of seriously hard fellas Supes can go up against (Darksied, Doomsday, Brainiac etc.) I think that Lex should be given the Thanos treatment (without the cameo)
Spread him over a couple of films…
Have LexCorp in the background, have Lex for President on the front cover of the Planet, LexCorp crates at the bad guys house etc. but do it over TWO moives, so you’ve got Zod this time round, one hard b@stard in the sequal (which there will be) and then BAM Lex Big Time for the Third or JL Movie
LexCorp is to integral to the infrastructure of Metropolis not to have the corporation referenced somewhere would be a bit weird, it’s like no Wayne Enterprises in Gotham, aint gonna happen.
great idea!!! well spoken!
luthor as the backer could be good, backing a group to take out supes, or just protecting his interests. and not seducing old ladies for their money, poor poor spacey, i felt his pain
That would be interesting maybe he could back up The Elite which would challenge supermans limts and beliefs.
In order to prevent overkill of the Luthor variety, appearance wise in Superman movies, I think the best way to introduce him would be to have in him alongside another villain from Superman’s rogue’s gallery. The best one would Brainiac, as we have yet to fully see him properly realised on screen (and I do not include the abysmal attempt they had in Smallville).
They could do something similar to story elements from the Elseworlds story “Red Son” (where in an alternative timeline Superman’s spaceship landed in Russia not America and Luthor ends up working with Brainiac in order to defeat Superman and take over the world, only for Brainiac to turn around and try and double cross Luthor). We could have a very scary 21st century version of HAL 9000, but on Earth.
Casting wise, I think they should go for a leftfield choice (like Heath’s Joker), rather than a big name; someone who perfectly embodies the full essence of the character. As much as I wasn’t a huge fan of later season’s of Smallville (stupid storylines and the pointless introduction of the Lois & Clark style on-again-off-again relationship), I still say Michael Rosenbaum was a brilliant Lex Luthor. He perfectly captured the devious, cold, calculated nature of Luthor. Add in some genius background fleshing out of the character and I think you have the perfect Luthor. Whether Warner will want to cast an actor in the role who is so already so heavily linked with a tv show is debatable though.
If not Rosenbaum (who may be a little to young) then why not go for Christoph Waltz? After his turn in Inglorious Bastards, I can just imagine him turning that stare on hapless board members during a meeting!
I don’t want an entire movie focused on him but it isn’t really Metropolis if Luthor isn’t pulling strings behind the scenes. He’s like Bruce Wayne if Bruce had a really demented moral compass, he IS Metropolis. I don’t even necessarily need a cameo but a mention wouldn’t kill. Either a passing line if Clark Kent asks about LexCorp or some background LexCorp logo hinting that he’s a billionaire former scientist who’s company works on government contracts, etc.
The suit that Zod wears could also be a set-up for the kryptonite powered mech suit Luthor is seen wearing in the comics for him to be a physical enemy in a future movie. In order of the Superman villains they could use, I’d prefer to see Brainiac, Metallo, the Eradicator, and then Lex Luthor but I’d understand completely them putting Luthor to the forefront eventually.
I think a few LexCorp logos here and there would be enough and maybe at most a mention of him – e.g maybe someone in the movie acts arrogant and is asked “who do you think you are? Lex Luthor?”.
I think in a sequel bringing in lex as a side villain would be better than to make him the main villain. For example…
In the first movie Zod will die (or phantom zone) and in the sequel we see remnants of his suit being enfused into an AI project Lex is working on. It would be novel to have Lex not bald for once and maybe even likable (Bradley Cooper?) with a massive passion to serve humanity against aliens (he could see Superman as an alien threat to his people). I think this would make Lex connect with the audience much better because we could identify with his fear/concerns about having a Super man flying around among us.
However, when he gets his hands on some technology from Krypton and combines that with Zod’s armour and the AI project – he unleashes Braniac on the earth.
He hates Superman but has to work with him to bring down braniac only to then double cross superman in some way.
Something like that would be cool.
Personally they should erase lex luthor from DC history, what nerve does he have thinking he could fight someone like superman the mary sue of mary sue characters? a mere human fighting a god…idc how smart he is he will always lose and he does….human antagonist for superman are stupid….I say they should have lex luthor in for like 2 minutes and then kill him off for good and never mention him again. Infact, after they kill him in the movies they should never show him in a comic or cartoon or animated film again and just act like he never existed….he’s a sorry sack of sh*t anyways.
I don’t see the problem…..they don’t have to have lex in as the main villain of the movie, but they need to have him to set up something…..Lex Luthor is an important villain in the superman series. So maybe they should show him as a minor reaccurring character becoming important in later movies. all the christopher reeves movies were in the 80′s only the first 2 were good the other were crap, and the last superman was the sh*ttiest of…but, here we have a clean slate and a new chance to redefine lex and give the mantle to someone other than gene hackman….and kevin spacey did a sh*tty job…so the character needs to be redeemed….you can’t be tired of lex luthor, he’s always in the comics, even if he’s not apart of a story arc he usually has some minor appearance or something….but, how can no one be tired of the Joker in batman movies with that logic….we’ve had Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, mark hamille, and other….plus, you need lex to introduce some of the other villains like Metallo, or Parasite or something..plus Zod has already appeared in superman movies so this is already a repeat anyways…nerds are just a bunch whiney b****es whether your for or agains something….you can still have other villains….but, if you deal with the superman universe your going to run into lex sooner or later…so they shouldn’t cut him out completely or ignore him…
Personally I would like to see these actors take on roles in Superman movies:
Benedict Cumberbatch for Brainiac
Dennis Haysbert for Darkseid
Kevin Spacey for Lex Luthor (yes he has been used already but I loved him as Lex in Superman Returns)
Michael Fassbender for Atomic Skull
Matt Damon for Conduit
Leonardo Dicaprio for Hank Henshaw/Cyborg
Dwayne Johnson for Metallo
Mark Wahlberg for Mongul
Johnny Depp for Mister Mxyzptlk
Stone Cold Austin for Solomon Grundy
Bizarro should be played by Henry Cavill