Bryan Cranston’s recently been cast to play Superman’s arch
enemy Lex Luthor in the upcoming Batman/Superman film. I’ve decided to
take this opportunity to define who Lex Luthor is and how wrong everyone else
is about their thoughts on the character. That’s right, I’m always right,
and you’re always wrong.
Film
Pre-Crisis Lex Luthor is an evil mad scientist devoted to
destroying Superman because he’s evil. This version of Lex was portrayed
by Gene Hackman in the Christopher Reeves’ Superman. What the audience
got was Gene Hackman doing his typical bad-guy persona with the name of Lex
Luthor. It was amusing and silly but not really scary. Kevin Spacey
used this same acting choice in the Superman Returns reboot of the
series. What Spacey portrayed was his bad guy/angry guy persona of a dude
who’s named Lex Luthor.
Cranston gained tons of acting cred after his phenomenal
stint in Breaking Bad. He went from family man to bad man in 5
seasons. He also shaved his head. That’s what really got Cranston
the part. He played a bad guy who shaved his head. If Cranston
played a bad man with a full head of hair he would have been the next villain
in Mission Impossible.
I’m not saying Cranston can’t pull off the character of Lex
but there is a very good chance he’ll follow his movie predecessors and just be
Bryan Cranston as Evil Walter White as Lex Luthor. Can Cranston
understand the differences between evil genius and bad guy? Does he
understand who Pre-Crisis Superman is versus Post Crisis Superman thus
Pre-Crisis Luthor versus Post Crisis Luthor.
TV
The small screen was more influenced by Post Crisis
Superman. Specifically the John Byrne Man of Steel revamp of the
character (more specifically Marv Wolman came up with the Lex corporate angle). In this version Superman is an evil corporate tycoon, a
formidable villain in the 1980s. This corporate villain was memorably
performed by John Shea in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
He set the bar for how an evil corporate executive could go toe to toe with the
Man of Steel. He didn’t even have to shave his head to do it.
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Clancy Brown perfected the corporate tycoon in Superman: The
Animated series. Even when Luthor spun off into more evil genius Super
Villainy in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited he still retained his
corporate roots. In fact he was still running LexCorp when the Justice
League took him down. Brown played the super evil genius consistently and
business minded throughout his run as the character. In the last episode
of JLU the character even makes a statement he needed to change into his power
suit which was just one of the suits he always wore. Not some big
mechanical gizmo or some weird spandex number. Luthor’s power suit was
what he wore to the office to crush men in the boardroom. Luthor’s power
came from buying, selling, and controlling people. Luthor hates Superman
because he cannot buy, sell, and thus ultimately control Superman.
Michael Rosenbaum played a young Lex Luthor for 7 seasons in
Smallville. The audience witnesses the transformation of a nice young man
into an evil sociopath. Rosenbaum sites John Shea as his main inspiration
for his take on the character. In spite of the shows script/story
failings Rosenbaum played the character to utter perfection. The last
episode cameo by Lex, where his memory was completely erased, was a disservice
to 7 years of some stellar character development. Thus all the
experiences Lex endured were for nothing. His destiny to become evil was
not because of his experiences in Smallville. It was 7 years of wasted
characterization. Throughout the show Luthor’s obsession for control
dominates his choices. This need for control corrodes his soul until
there is nothing left but evil.
Control and power are Lex’s motivation. He fights
Superman for control of mankind. Luthor’s perspective is that Superman is
dangerous because he cannot be controlled. Even Luthor must appear to
adhere to society’s laws. Superman is so powerful that he could do what he
wants without consequences. That is a man that must be kept in
check. Therefore Lex sets out to keep Superman honest by being his
parallel. It’s the only way he can control Superman and ensure the world
isn’t enslaved. Luthor is the hero, he’s the one willing to make the ultimate
sacrifice to his life, reputation and social status to ensure people never
follow Superman blindly. If Cranston understands his character’s
motivation, he’ll do well. If he phones in something similar to John
Travolta’s performance in The Punisher he’s fail.
Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
UPDATE
Since this article was written it was announced that Jessie
Eisenberg has been cast to play Lex Luthor.
Just replace everything I said about Bryan Cranston with Eisenberg and
Mark Zuckerberg.
