Lex Luthor

Q: Can you explain how Lex Luthor was elected President? Donald Trump might need some pointers. -- @ASaltzberg A: President Lex! Now there's a story that I haven't thought about in a while - and just for context, I'm someone who thinks about Harold, the hunchbacked mechanic that Batman used to keep in his basement to fix up the Batmobile, at least once a week. Looking back, it seems like a very weird story, an ultimately forgettable new direction for a villain that never really went anywhere, but at the time, it definitely felt like it was a big deal.

When I watched the Comic-Con panel for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, I thought to myself, “Man, Jesse Eisenberg does not look happy to be here.” That was the understatement of the millennium.

Q: Has there ever been a more notable or successful reinvention of a villain than the transition from Mr. Zero to Mister Freeze? -- @spacetimeboss A: Friend, you are not kidding about Mr. Freeze. As much as heroes and villains change over the years, and as much as they have to change to stay relevant as hundreds of creators work on their ongoing stories, I honestly don't know if there's any bad guy who made a change that dramatic, both in terms of theme and quality. He goes from being a one-note crook with an ice gun to one of the most compelling and tragic figures in Batman's entire Rogues Gallery. I'd even go as far as saying that aside from Two-Face, he's the easiest of the major villains to sympathize with --- and he probably works in a whole lot more stories besides.

There have been rumors floating around about Lex Luthor’s role in Batman vs. Superman, but there’s been little confirmation about anything involving Jesse Eisenberg’s take on the character. So far, we pretty only know that this version of Luthor is still bald, thanks to the first official image of Eisenberg in character. That’s it, really. But a new rumor suggests something a little more interesting for Superman’s longtime nemesis.

Since the launch of the New 52 reboot in 2011, DC Comics has seemingly gone out of its way to find new ways to make its superhero darker. Its current Futures End weekly comics event is one in which everything has become even more dour and depressing in the span of five (narrative) years, for example. But there's one character that DC writer Geoff Johns simply can't view as dark, however: The Flash. In an interview with Nerdist, former Flash comics writer Johns answered a question about the lighter tone of the new The Flash TV series by saying that Barry Allen simply can't be a gloomy character.

In a new interview in Total Film magazine, actor Jesse Eisenberg, who will portray Lex Luthor in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, gives the movie and its writers more than just a ringing endorsement. He says he'd do the movie for no money at all if it was some low-budget flick. "I really liked it on its own terms. I would do it if it was for free and it was tiny." That seems like quite a stamp of approval. Sure, actors have to talk up their movies for promotion, but saying, "I'd do this for no pay" is a fairly extreme endorsement. And it turns out from the rest of the interview that Eisenberg isn't exactly a fan of the superhero genre -- but he may be coming around.

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Q: Who do you find more psychologically interesting, the Joker or Lex Luthor? -- Jordan, via email A: You know, it's weird. As much as you see Superman and Batman together in stories where they're continually contrasted against each other, full of endlessly terrible first-person narration about how "Clark likes pancakes because he can't understand what it means to be vulnerable" but &quo

Get ready for a younger, thinner, but perhaps less wind-resistant Lex Luthor. Batman vs. Superman director Zack Snyder has confirmed that noted mop-top Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) will play Superman's nemesis in the new film, quashing rumors that the role would go to Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston or any of the other actors who have been rumored for the role (As CA Senior Editor Andy Khou

Click through for a heapin' helpin' of links for your Tuesday.