There’s no doubt Bryan Cranston would do a phenomenal job playing Lex Luthor in a movie, and a new fan-made poster teases the potential casting. Ever since the immense success of 2019’s Joker, a standalone film that serves as an origin story for Batman’s arch-nemesis, fans have been wondering which other supervillains may be getting their own movies. As one of Superman’s biggest foes, Lex Luthor seems like an obvious choice, but as was the case with Joker, it could only work with an actor strong enough to pull it off.
Artist Bryan Zapp supports the idea of casting Cranston as the supervillain. He’s created a poster for the non-existent film Luthor, and while it only gives us a small peek at Lex’s bald head and suit, it’s really not hard to imagine Cranston in the role. The artwork seems to be inspired by Joker, and that certainly makes sense as the Clown Prince of Crime is to Batman what Lex Luthor is to Superman. If we’re talking about the most well-known DC supervillains, Joker and Lex are both right up there at the top.
A handful of actors have played live-action incarnations of Lex Luthor over the years. He was famously played by Gene Hackman in the original Superman movies with Christopher Reeve. More recently, Jesse Eisenberg played the DCEU’s version of Lex, appearing in the crossover films Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League. While the future of Lex on the big screen is uncertain, Eisenberg has said he’s up for reprising that role if given the opportunity.
“You know, my background is in theatre where you do a play 200 times and you feel like you’re just getting the hang of it by the last performance,” Eisenberg said in September. “I would love to play any character again. After a movie ends, the actors usually turn to each other and say, ‘Oh, now I finally know what I’m doing and I understand what my purpose [was].’ Actors, in my experience, do like playing roles again but that particular one is just not up to me. I’m sure I could do a one-man show somewhere but no one would, you know…”
On the small screen, Two and a Half Men star Jon Cryer has impressed viewers with his own portrayal of Lex Luther in the CW’s Arrowverse. After debuting on Supergirl, which has since concluded its run, Cryer has also spoken about how much he wants to keep playing the supervillain. Cryer previously played Lex’s nephew Lenny in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace alongside Hackman’s Lex Luthor.
As for Bryan Cranston, the acclaimed actor is attached to several upcoming films including Jerry and Marge Go Large, Asteroid City, and Argylle. It’s also been announced that Showtime has renewed Cranston’s series Your Honor for a second season. The series, which was originally intended to be a limited series, is Cranston’s first starring role on television since Breaking Bad. Let’s hope his name will also be in the running if the Lex Luthor movie gets greenlit at Warner Bros.
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