Lex Luthor I, Lex Luthor II, Dawn of Justice Is In The Title Of The Movie And The Chipmunks Need To Stop Singing

What’s up CBM!  I wanted to write a quick Editorial, I wanted to post this within a better time frame but I got too busy with other things, like holidays and Christmas shopping, in a lot of ways, I would have rather been geeking out on here instead.  I used to like Christmas music a lot but if I have to hear the Chipmunks sing the “Christmas Song” again I may be forced to start telling kids repetitively that Santa Claus doesn’t exist, which would then immediately follow by me having to do more Christmas shopping for those kids because I would feel bad. So, it would really just be a vicious never ending circle of hell.  Happy Holidays!!
 
Also here’s a quick disclaimer.  I love comics, both DC and Marvel and I’m really excited for the upcoming CBM slate next year, so that’s really what this article is about.
 
I’ve heard a lot of people talk about how Eisenberg isn’t good for the role of Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and I just wanted to write this article to get a few of my thoughts out there, and to reveal a fact that has already been revealed.
 
The version of Jesse Eisenberg that we've seen so far is Lex Luthor II from the comics.
 
Also, if anyone wants to read or reread some comics in anticipation of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice…. these are the comics that I’ll be referencing in this article.  Although I would add that I’m really re-reading these, so read at your own discretion, (there are SPOILERS) in here for these comics.  Rereading these are just getting me more hyped for the movie, but they may have an opposite affect on someone else.
 
The Death and Return of Superman

·             Approaching Doom
·             Funeral For a Friend
·             Reign of the Supermen
·             The Return of Superman
 
But, first things first….  Who is Lex Luther II, no, not Lex Luthor.  Lex Luthor II.  Kind of like how people keep forgetting that the name of the movie he’s in is called Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice not Batman v Superman.
 

 

In the comics,
 

“Lex Luthor II was an elaborate disguise, using a new cloned body. He was taller, more athletic, bearded, and had a full head of red hair (as specified by Luthor) and an Australian accent. Dying of cancer, Luthor faked his death, had his brain removed from his dying body and a new cloned body grown around it. In this new identity as "Lex Luthor II", Luthor passed himself off as his own long lost son from Australia. His new appearance was alarmingly similar to Supergirl's creator from another dimension. He used this advantage to seduce her, after which they began to date. Eventually, his true identity was discovered, which led to the near-destruction of Metropolis.”

 
Above is a short summary, but if you want to learn more about Lex Luthor II directly from the source, I would start reading Funeral for a Friend.  The arc deals with how Lex in this new body is dealing with the death of Superman, and how Lex acts in a world without Superman.
 

 

Panels like these above are especially relevant to Lex’s personality, because even though he is now taller and more athletic, with a new body, he is still getting knocked down by his trainer.  Leaving him to fight with his only true powers, his mind, his personality, and his power of manipulation.  Even in a stronger body, Lex still has to use his strongest asset, his mind.  Similar to the mech suit, because even with the mech suit, if Lex doesn’t have Kryptonite, Superman wins.

 

There are a lot of cool panels from these arcs, but I want to compare some panels directly to the trailer, actually just one scene in the trailer, because in my opinion, it is awesome what Zack Snyder is doing with Lex in relation to the comics.
 
The party scene….
 
Below are some panels from the “Death and Return of Superman” arc in witch Lex is holding a party on his “blimp” and he is putting on a persona while introducing himself to various guests and even asking Lois Lane for a dance.  Again, I won’t spoil the comic, but the last image shows how even Superman is confused about Lex, and is trying to figure out if he’s putting on a persona or if this is the real Lex.
 

 

 

 

 

And, after watching the trailer again, and looking at these gifs…. Who knows?  Lex could actually be a clone, we could be looking at Lex Luthor’s brain in a new body.  That sounds really far fetched, and it most definitely is, but at the same time, this is a movie in which General Zod is being transformed into Doomsday.  Plus, due to the fact that in this universe Wonder Woman has existed in WW I, and Batman already has a full history of crime fighting under his belt….  Anything is possible at this point.  There’s also the far off chance the Lex Luthor #1 knew about Kara Zor-El, (aka Supergirl) and Dev-Em and how they crashed the scout ship that Superman found in Man of Steel into Earth.  So it’s possible that he already knows more about Krypton than we think, and now, after the Zod vs Superman battle, he is finally able to piece everything together.
 
Plus, Supergirl goes through a pretty insane transformation in the Funeral For a Friend arc.  So for all we know Lex Luthor #1, could have known about Kara Zor-El, and was searching for but never found the scout ship.  Again, I doubt it, I really, really doubt it but it’s possible.

 

 

I’ll stop here for now, I may write another article in the future about how these arcs relate to more scenes in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Man of Steel as well, but for now I’ll stop, and hope that I don’t hear the Chipmunk’s Christmas caroling anytime in the near future.
 
I hope this was a fun read.
 
Peace….  Let me know what you think in the comments