Ok, now I understand a lot of people are against the idea of Lex Luthor possibly being in the Superman reboot. I can understand most of you out there would want something NEW and FRESH. Well...it cannot be denied then that Lex Luthor though he has been in a lot of the films...has yet to be portrayed properly on screen. He is always being portrayed as an idiotic land-grabber. He seemed more petty in the films than actually threatening. I say he was "idiotic" because he always surrounded himself with stupid henchmen...and surrounding yourself with retards wouldn't exactly make you SMART...just kind of petty.
Anyway like I said...if Lex is to be in the new Superman film I hope they give him the kind of depth and accuracy to his comic book version that Rosenbaum and yes even John Shea had with the character. John Shea didn't shave his head right away I know but at least he gave a much more accurate portrayal of the character than the Hackman/Spacey versions. For those who never watched the 'Lois and Clark' series, John Shea portrayed a Lex who was a billionaire CEO of Lexcorp who tried to act as a humanitarian to Metropolis while behind the scenes he was corrupt and all through the 1st season tried to destroy Superman. THIS is exactly how Lex Luthor should have been portrayed in the films. Instead all we've gotten was a petty, land-grabber.
Rosenbaum IS I admit the definitive live-action Lex Luthor...only problem is he left Smallville before he had the chance to ever portray a fully-realized Lex Luthor. And Rosenbaum though he was certainly the best live-action Lex we have seen, he even admitted once in an early interview I read that he based a bit of his take on Lex from Shea's version of the character. Comparing them side-by-side they both had the subtle evil to their characters and coincidently in their runs as Lex both took over the Daily Planet and ran their own news-stories and such.
So now...I have come to the realization that IF Lex were to be in the Superman reboot, Snyder should make him a somewhat combo of Rosenbaum and Shea's Lex Luthors. Giving him the depth...emotions and...baldness of Rosenbaum's version but mixed in with the evil, corrupt businessman angle of Shea's version. Combining those 2 in my opinion would bring him more in line with the animated Clancy Brown version. Again, Lex doesn't need to be the main villain, he can just help aid the MAIN villain whoever it may be. But where there is a Superman...there HAS to be a Lex Luthor. He is an essential part of Superman's life and needs to be involved in the film somehow. If they are truly rebooting Superman FROM SCRATCH it would make no sense to ignore the very existence of Lex Luthor.
I would say the t.v versions of Luthor have always been the most spot-on...hopefully if he's in the film he will finally ditch the lame real-estate scams and start being the badass we all know he's capable of being.
