Only bc he was he was so obsessed. And all of his deception. I still don't think it was the real Lex. And I just never bought into Shea. That's just me personally. It was hard for me to buy into that show period. It was too corny. I still watched it though. Smalllville too. I can't help it.
I want Birthright, Man of Steel: Lex Luthor, and AS:S' character portrayal of Lex. Hell, even STAS on the big screen would be great.
I did like Rosebaum's Lex as a character, and I loved the dynamics between Lex/Clark and Lex/Lionel.
But he just sort of felt like an entirely different character to me. To the point where, like with Clark too, some of the things they did to try to make them change into the characters we know and love... it felt really forced and unnatural. Like they were just trying to flip a switch and didn't really care about developing it over the series.
I mean, take a character like Wesley from Buffy/Angel. Now THAT is how you show character development from one end of the spectrum to the other, seemlessly.
that is the lex i want
"i agree all men are created equal but you are not a man"
t:
Ok Hope, so I went back and watched a couple videos on Youtube of L&C (and you have to know it's been Years since I've watched that show) bc Smallville is way more fresh in my memory. I have to say Shea's Lex is way better then I remember. I was young then and dismissed him for aesthetic reasons but now I have to say you might be right about who's closest to the comic out of the two.
I have to admit though. It maybe be silly and call it what you will but his hair actually distracts me still. And I'm not one who thinks that Lex needs to be bald or anything. It just throws me off from him. But he was written pretty well. Still corny.
Without a doubt it's corny. It's not the kind of show I can watch with other people, cause i'd be shifting awkwardly while they politely tried not to laugh
But I grew up with it, and I still absolutely adore it. Especially for the characterisations. There's not one character that I think they did badly.
John Shea's Lex, right from day one, was a cool, charming and powerful businessman with an animalistic predatory nature and a psychotic pleasure for getting away with his crimes and watching his enemies suffer.
He sees himself as untouchable, and sees Superman as the only one who could even come close to his level... which is why he feels he needs to constantly prove who is top dog out of the two of them, and hates it when Superman comes out on top in anything.
And also worth mentioning that they included a lot of his love of science, lex labs, and plenty of questionable research.
Oh, and while they didn't talk about his past much, they did hint at a 'from rags to riches' backstory, which I definitely prefer for Lex. I like him to have come from a hardened background and feel like he EARNED his position. It makes his hatred of Superman stronger, because he is jealous Superman never had to earn his power like he did, therefore he doesn't deserve it.
It's a great interpretation.
And btw, I think that is a sympathetic enough understanding of the character to go in with. I really don't think we need the 'does he think he's the good guy saving the world from Superman' storyline in there, I always think that cheapens it.
The GA is perfectly capable of engaging with a villain fuelled by jealousy, greed and an obsession with power. Those are human traits. You don't have to throw a little bit of 'he used to be a good guy, he just lost his way', to make the story 'deeper'.
