This is the first in a series of character sketches in anticipation of the Man of Steel sequel, a hoped-for Justice League film and the future widening of DC Cinematic Universe.
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Lex Luthor
The first character sketch is about Lex Luthor, widely expected to be the "Big Bad" (or one of them) in the anticipated Man of Steel sequel. Below, I discuss what the character should be like, especially his key motivations. I include some dialogue to flesh this out further.
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Luthor should represent the pinnacle of human achievement, the apex of self-improvement, the ultimate "self made man" who struggled through sheer force of will from a difficult childhood (poverty, child abuse, learning disabilities) to reach remarkable heights.
Luthor, built by Luthor
He has become an incredibly driven, extremely well-connected scientific genius, billionaire industrialist and social gadfly with great athleticism, quick-wit, resourcefulness and physical strength. In other words, this is the guy much of the world considered a "Superman" -- the guy who considered himself "The Superman" -- before the Kal-El dropped out of the sky.
Luthor: "I can save the economy."
Luthor's hostility toward Superman is two-fold. It's grounded, at least in part, on envy. Luthor considered himself the true "Superman" -- and unchallenged one that, until what he considers, at best, an undeserving alien, and at worst, a superpowered threat to Lexcorp, America and the entire planet, blew into Metropolis.
Luthor: "There is only one Super*man*."
His external motivation is that aliens and other superpowered beings risk taking humanity's control of its fate and destiny away from it.
He projects onto Superman his own superiority complex: the assumption that if someone has such great, superior power then, naturally, that person will seek domination over his inferiors... just as Luthor has.
The tragedy of Lex Luthor is that with his incredible resources (internal and external) he could be an incredible force for good, and he and Superman could do much to reduce suffering across the world.
But because of his troubled background, ego and cynicism, Luthor simply can not conceive that Superman is as good as he appears to be to most people - he can not conceive of Superman as anything more than a competitor to Luthor and a threat to the planet...as another Lex in sheep's clothing. And his ego can not stomach the possibility that there's someone else in this world that might be better than him.
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Luthor should be the man we love to hate and hate to love. We should marvel at his ability to compensate for a lack of superpowers with raw intelligence and utter ruthlessness.
The most eligible billionaire on the planet
Audiences should admire him as much as they hate him. Lacking any superpowers, he's ready and more than willing to go toe to toe, face to face, with any superhuman good guy or bad buy, by sheer force of will and intellect. He's not intimidated by anyone. Not by Superman, not by Darkseid. Anyone. "Self-confident" would be an understatement... And his self-confidence is well grounded.
Luthor: "I think, therefore I am."
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Luthor's first appearance in the film should immediately convey his strength, brilliance, wealth, charisma, power and ruthlessness.
The first time we see him, he should be multitasking effortlessly. The first sight we have of Luthor is of him doing a 300-pound benchpress....
Luthor: "What do you bench?"
...while reading scientific texts on his Google Glass,...
Luthor: "Wrong again, Hawking."
...while taking multiple speakerphone conversations in multiple languages (Chinese, German and Brazilian Portuguese) and monitoring multiple video calls from LexCorp executives, and multiple video feeds about news developments across the planet (including Superman's latest exploits). Immediately we should get a sense of a smart, focused, driven, energetic, multitasking, physically fit and brilliant man. A powerful and ruthless one.
One minute he's on the phone with the Brazilian commerce minister demanding offshore drilling rights before he hangs up on the unwilling minister and then contacts his boss, the Brazilian President, demanding she fire the commerce minister, or Lexcorp will divest from key cities across Brazil and threaten the Brazilian president's shaky re-election bid. Luthor knows how to get what he wants... and he gets what he wants.
Luthor: "See you in Davos."
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Some key quotes:
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Luthor giving a speech at a "Rebuild Metropolis" Fundraiser, after he tells the audience some of the background history on the hardships he faced during his youth:
My point here isn't to wallow in the past.
My point is, look at me now.
There isn't anything I couldn't do that I put my mind to.
Just as there isn't anything any of us can't do that that we put our minds to.
We don't need Superheroes to do what we've always done for ourselves.
In that spirit, the Luthor Foundation is proud to donate to efforts to rebuild what these aliens tried to take from us.
(Clark Kent is a reporter in the crowd, covering the speech. He winces at the Luthor's last remark, which receives applause from many in the crowd).
Luthor: "Mr President...Bill..."
Luthor is a major donor to both political parties, a big financial backer to the U.S. President's last campaign and a college buddy. Luthor is conversing with the President in the oval office and lobbies for a big military contract to build a new anti-alien defense system, including weaponized satellites and antipersonnel cybernetic armor, in conjunction with S.T.A.R. Labs. He tells the President (who himself is skeptical of Superman, but leans sympathetic toward him):
Mr. President, respectfully,
He's not a Super-man. He's a super-alien.
A small town in Kansas was leveled.
There's extensive ecological damage across the South Indian Sea.
A quarter of Metropolis is in ruins
This alien has blood on his hands.
Bill, you're a student of history. When in history has superior might not eventually been abused? You ask me, do I trust him? I ask you, can any of us afford to trust this stranger? Can an alien with this kind of power ever be fully trusted... by any of us?
We need... contingencies...
I look at what happened in Metropolis and I ask, is this our future? Cowering behind lunch tables and wrecked cars and broken walls like children - like little sheep -- while aliens and freaks, the likes of this Superman, duke it out over the spoils of our planet?
"Oh, Superman, please save us."
Is that humanity's future?! Our destiny???!!!
I say, "No."
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Luthor is interviewed for a Daily Planet Magazine special by Lois Lane. Luthor says things about Superman that are deliberately calculated to compel Lois come to Superman's defense, briefly dropping her guard of journalistic objectivity. Just before Luthor abruptly walks away from the interview, he tells her this (turning the charm on and off with savage speed):
Ms. Lane,
You were top of your class at Colombia, and at J-school
You're one of the youngest Pulitzer winners ever.
You're one of the most promising journalists in this country.
You worked hard to get where you are. We have much in common.
But let's face it. You're an insignificant cog in a dying industry,
hardly a profession, that no longer provides any value added in the age of the Internet.
You're also biased, compromised.
There is video of you kissing this... alien.
I think you've lost objectivity, and credibility. Don't you?
Good day, Ms. Lane.
Luthor: "You are... small."
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Luthor to Superman:
We're in charge of our destiny, not you.
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Superman to Luthor:
I don't understand why you hate me.
Luthor to Superman in response:
I was a cripple - a mental cripple, they said. Dyslexic. Learning disabilities.
Worthless, my father called me. Worthless.
Then the cancer (points to his head).
But I wouldn't let any of that stop me.
I graduated high school at 12
I graduated college at 14
I had masters from Harvard in business, finance, economics and from MIT in math, organic chemistry, physics and biology by the time I turned 20
I won for the Fields Medal at 22
I'm a contender for the Nobel in physics this year... And I'll win.
I grew Lexcorp into one of the top 10 multinationals on this planet in less than 5 years.
I refused to be inferior.
I raised myself up from the impoverished, dyslexic orphan to one of the most successful businessman and accomplished scientist this world will ever see.
....And they call you the "Superman"?!
Your strength, your speed, your flight.
What did you ever do to earn any of it?!
I refuse to be inferior to any man... Much less to an alien drifter.
The Man of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
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To Superman:
I know you're Clark Kent (with the events of Man of Steel and Luthor's resources, it would be impossible and unrealistic for him not to know)
And you know what, I could care less...
I've written virus code that is, even as we speak, deleting all traces of any data --text, video, audio, anything -- associating you with Clark Kent.
My company's security division is systematically...processing.... anyone who knows or could find out what I've learned.
I'm interesting in defeating the real you, the... Superman.
Clark Kent is a lie. This is the real you. The only you that interests me.
And I don't want anyone else to defeat you, or use your family, your mother.
You're mine.
I'm going to show the world we don't need aliens and freaks protecting us.
We need...
Superman
....someone like you?
Luthor
(smiles)
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Luthor and Perry White
Luthor
Mark my words. This man is a threat. Power corrupts. Absolutely power corrupts absolutely.
Perry White
You would know.
Luthor
....Shame about the paper's financial troubles. Buck up - the sum of its parts is worth more than the whole...
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In a future Justice League
Luthor to Bruce Wayne (over dinner at a fundraising gathering of Fortune 500 executives)
Luthor
Yes, they're impressive. But the man I wonder about is this Batman. Everything suggests he's a mere mortal with ingenuity, tenacity, resources. Clearly a man of means. I don't know who he is (he says, with a twinkle in his eye), but I'm sure of one thing: He's one of us. I like him.
He's what I wonder about. Does he see the threat?
Wayne
Threat?
Luthor
He's surrounded by aliens and superpowered beings. He's the only normal human in the group. Like I said, this man is one of us. He's a CEO. A strategist. Like us. He's forward-looking. He has to be. He's like us.
(Draws closer to Wayne) Has he done a scenario analysis? Has he contingency planned....
Wayne
For what?
Luthor
Why, for the possibility these people, with their superior power, will eventually turn on him. I wonder....
Wayne
(looks uneasy)
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The challenge for Superman (and later the rest of the Justice League) in confronting Luthor is this:
Just how great will the limits of Superman's forbearance be pushed under the pressures and manipulations of people like Luthor, who has the vast resources of his mind, his company and, through personal and financial connections, the vast reaches of governments, courts and other institutions across the world at his disposal. For all his power, Superman's just a farmer's boy-drifter from Kansas, who's now a second-string "stringer" at a failing newspaper.
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In the next installment, I'll flesh out other characters exploring possible motivations and storylines that would provide a good foundation for future films.