Man of Steel. Big budget. Big scenes. Big fights. Big hero. The rest was kinda... medium. It's not a bad movie, however. In fact, a sequel is rumored to already be in production. And who does everyone want in there? Lex Luthor.
Ah Lex. We always use you, for some bizzare reason. Yes, you have been acted well. Yes, you have had some great dialogue. But you've never truly been done justice. Only, I will say, in Smallville, and Injustice.
In Smallville, it's because, at first, Lex wasn't the villain. He had a story arc that lasted multiple seasons. We saw this teenager transform from a child trying to escape his father, become his father. We learned why he hates Superman. You need that in film.
I'll forgive the first Superman films, starting with Superman: the Movie and ending with... ew. At the time those were made, Lex might of as well been called Generic McBadguy. Superman Returns... not so much. I understand that it was trying to continue the Donner story, but it didn't work beyond the credits. The movie was okay, but it would have been much better as a standalone film. And when it came to Lex in that movie... it was bad. This was a time when comic book movies were starting to lean away from the Generic McBadguy role, and into more sympathetic, sad villains. It probably started with Spider-Man or X-Men. But the stereotype was leaving. However, Superman Returns kept this role.
It didn't work. I'm not going to go into full detail about this, because it would be beside the point. The point is that he was a bad guy, we know he's a bad guy, but we don't know why he's a bad guy. We've never gone into full detail about Lex's history, and that's just stupid! Plus, Lex has too much history to cover. Yeah, they could cu some, but it's important. Think of Gandalf saying "Yeah, Gollum's a scitzerfranic who likes the Ring." It would let us know who Gollum is, yes, but it wouldn't be interesting or fleshed out. He wouldn't have the same likeability.
As we took a film and a half to look at Gollum before making him a villain, we should take a film to look at Lex before putting him up against Kel-El. Put him as a side character. Put him as a plotter and a schemer, pulling the strings from the background. But don't make him an all-out villain until we know him. Introduce the character. Let us, the audiance, know him.
That's why the Man of Steel sequel won't work as good as it might if Lex is the villain. Or, at least, the main villain. He wouldn't be as interesting. As compelling. We wouldn't know the reasoning behind him. We wouldn't know why he wants to put lives at stake to kill one man. In the comics, it's all fleshed out. A fear of aliens, his hatred of Clark Kent, how Superman ruins his underground deals. Make it like that. Like the animated series! That was entertainment! We got Lex in there, we got his reasonings. Hell, we even gave him Mercy! Give him Mercy in the sequel! But I digress.
I'm sorry for my little outburst there. I went a little nuts thinking about how good Lex is everywhere else. Hopefully Snyder and Nolan don't give into the demand, but do introduce Lex.
Until next time,
Comiccow6.