When asked by Variety if he still felt an attachment to Lex Luthor, Jesse Eisenberg opened up about his time as Superman’s arch-nemesis, saying, “Whenever you play a role you feel connected to it.” After his debut in “Batman v Superman,” Eisenberg returned as Luthor for a brief appearance in “Justice League,” setting up a Legion of Doom that never saw the light of day. Despite such a brief run as Luthor, Eisenberg explained his connection to the bad guy. “There’s no way around it,” he said. “Any time you do anything, even if it’s a movie that’s a Hollywood kind of thing, you connect.”
While speaking with Deadline in 2022, Eisenberg described his experience with the character as personal and reflected on how he joined “Batman v Superman” because of writer Chris Terrio’s strong abilities, not Luthor’s comic book legacy. “He’s a very emotional person,” the actor said of Terrio. “He thought a lot about my character, and I thought a lot about my character, too. I talked with my acting coach about the character a lot, about his backstory with his father and his emotional life — and then people hate me.”
The vitriol surrounding Eisenberg’s take on the character was toxic, to say the least, but it did result in an extremely unique performance. It’s safe to say that Hoult will take Eisenberg’s advice and make the role his own. Zack Snyder and James Gunn are very different filmmakers and it’s hard to imagine the new DCU boss wanting to create a Luthor that resembles a tech mogul. We’ll have to wait until “Superman: Legacy” flies into cinemas on July 11, 2025 to see what direction Hoult is taking the iconic character in.
