Yeah, it's kind of weird that the two most well-known versions of the character (the scheming business mogul and the green-armored mad scientist) have never made it to the big screen and we kept getting stuck with real estate con man Lex.
.
This.
It makes it so hard for me not to hate on Singer for making it seem like there IS no other version of the character.
People remember Gene Hackman's Lex. They accept that it's a kind of cheesy villain because it's an old film. And then they watch SR thinking Kevin Spacey is a 'new', modern Lex, and it turns out he's still got the same agenda and a similar portrayal of character...
So they think that's just who he is.
People have absolutely no idea of Lex's character as the fans understand him.
Whether you're a fan of him being a scrawny scientist, a beefy businessman, a charming philanthropist with an anti alien agenda, or a jealous man in an armoured power suit; you say to the average person that you're favourite villain is Lex Luthor and they raise their eyebrows, because in their mind he's just this crazy flamboyant con man who's obsessed with owning land, and is no real threat to Superman or what he's trying to achieve, beyond whipping out some Kryptonite... In their mind, he
sucks!
Lex should have power over Superman that has NOTHING to do with kryptonite.
Whether it's his intelligence or his power as an important figure in Metropolis, Lex is supposed to be a formidable opponent. Not physically (until you introduce a power suit), but he's the man constantly trying to derail Superman's agenda.
I mean, take various different versions of Lex and what have you got:
He pollutes public opinion. He tries to make Superman look bad. He is a key figure in organised crime and spends the majority of his time CAUSING a lot of the problems Superman is trying to solve. He's behind so many of the bad things that happen in Metropolis. If Clark could take him down, it would be a huge step in clearing up the corruption, greed and villainy in his city.
But it's not so easy because he's so good at what he does. He's so convincingly charming in public, and so menacingly threatening behind closed doors. All his bases are always covered, so that nothing can be traced back to him. And he even gains more and more power, to the point of becoming President! How do you win against a man like that?
I swear, the biggest reason I want MOS to big success and secure a sequel, is that I love Lex Luthor. I seriously absolutely love him as a villain, and I am so sick of him being portrayed so badly when there is SO MUCH good material there to work with.
