For
Batman vs Superman, Jesse Eisenberg has been cast as the iconic supervillain Lex Luthor. It was always going to be a big deal whoever got the role, but in particular, there are certain expectations that come with playing Superman’s arch nemesis. Forgive me, but I’m gonna naysay a little bit here. From Ben Affleck to Gal Gadot, He's going up against the World's Finest heroes, and it makes me wonder if he's up to the task. Thought it might be therapeutic to work out my misgivings in an article, so join me, as I try to figure out why I think this is so…odd…
He’s the same in everything. One of my first questions about this big casting news is, can he even do anything different from what I always see? Jesse Eisenberg is the dorky weirdo. And it’s not even a trait he can call his own. In fact, early in his career, many casual movie goers often mistook him for Michael Cera. It’s an easy mistake- not that they look alike, but they are both skinny ‘snarky’ type guys who play skinny, ‘snarky’ type characters. These guys are quick-witted, sharp-tounged, masters of mumblecore. They also both star in mostly lighter films. It makes me wonder about his range, and if he has the chops to go outside the box. This leads me to my next, very similar point…
Can anyone guess which of his movies this is from? He plays a “type.” You know the type I’m talking about. The dweeby little bitch. The smart-ass. The question becomes, Is that the type of Lex Luthor they want to create? It could be entirely possible, if this is the route they want to go. A contemporary comment on some of the young people of high status in our socio-economic today. Jesse could pull off a genius quite easily. But isn’t there more to Luthor than his brains? I mean, this could be interesting, but wasn't
Man of Steel trying so hard to establish the status quo by the end of the film? Meaning things are finally getting familiar to Superman fans. Why throw that off again, by having Kal-El face off on a possibly hipster take on Lex Luthor?
Spider-Man towering over Luthor in The Facebook Movie He was not a villain in the Social Network. At worst, he was kind of a jerk and he screwed over his friend. This is not what a villain is. He's just a flawed, human person. After watching that movie, nobody said, “That was some straight Lex Luthor, shit right there!” There is no true malice in his Mark Zuckerberg character, nor did he take pleasure in making other people suffer. These are the types of things we’ll need to see from Luthor, and I don’t doubt that he can try to do that, but I wanted to address this very common defense that has been circulating the casting, and I want to debunk it right here and now.
A movie is only as good as its villain. I can’t stress this enough. The antagonist of a superhero movie is what separates the great CBMs from the mediocre. It’s why we remember someone like Magneto, and why we don’t remember whoever was in
Thor 2. A great bad guy makes the action and the stakes all the more exciting, and few could argue it gets more important than Lex Luthor in a Superman movie. As one of the most well-known, and formidable foes of all time,
Man of Steel 2 needs to offer something on the level of Dr. Octopus or Joker- someone worthy of our hero’s time. Can Jesse Eisenberg be that guy? We don’t need another Red Skull (great villain that was completely wasted).
His most recent appearance was on TV- just a few weeks ago. Not the most imposing screen presence... He’s “too young”. That’s the immediate complaint, and at 30 years old (the same as Henry Cavill) the fact that it is still an issue anyway speaks for itself. Can Jesse stand against his co-stars? When I picture Cavill (or Ben Affleck for that matter) standing-off, face to face with Jesse, I can't help but think it just seems laughable. If age ain't nothin’ but a number, then the issue is, Eisenberg still feels very boy-ish, compared to what we’ve seen from this role in the past, and now we're back in that trap that befell Brandon Routh and Kate Bosworth in
Superman Returns. The roles are essentially going to kids, (see: the
Fantastic Four reboot) and you're asking a lot of the audience to buy these people in their parts. It will feel less like
Superman vs. the most powerful man in Metropolis, and more like
Superman vs. a spoiled rich kid who doesn't like him very much. Don't get me wrong. I've enjoyed Jesse Eisenberg in literally everything I've seen him in. But he's just not what comes to mind when I think of Lex Luthor, who is so imposing and intimidating. I liken this casting to Smallville's Michael Rosenbaum, who I was also familiar with as a comedy guy. Of course Rosenbaum has gone on to be the best incarnation of Luthor ever, in my opinion, but the difference is he was
supposed to be young, playing opposite an
also young Clark Kent. It’s really hard for me to reconcile Eisenberg’s inherent boyishness being so powerful in this movie.
As someone who loved
Man of Steel, WB/DC is testing my good faith. One after another with these (insane) announcements, and it's hard to keep a positive attitude. I'm not freaking out (after all, we haven’t seen anything yet), but just expressing a gut reaction to the news, as I’m sure we all are.
Thanks for reading!