You remember the hair. That long, stringy, strawberry-blonde mane Jesse Eisenberg sported in the early trailers for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. People lost their minds. "That’s not Lex," they screamed across Reddit and Twitter. "He looks like a roadie for a 90s grunge band."
Then the movie actually came out in 2016. The hair eventually went away, but the twitching stayed. The stuttering. The "ding-ding-ding" noises. Honestly, the Batman v Superman Lex Luthor might be the most polarizing comic book movie performance of the last decade. It’s right up there with Jared Leto's Joker, but for entirely different reasons. While Leto was trying too hard to be "edgy," Eisenberg was doing something much weirder. He was playing a billionaire who had actually, fundamentally, lost his mind to trauma.
Most people wanted the "Animated Series" Lex. They wanted the stoic, deep-voiced businessman in a tailored suit who looks like he owns the room just by breathing. What we got was a jittery, Mark Zuckerberg-on-Red-Bull tech bro who pees in jars and feeds people Jolly Ranchers against their will.
It’s easy to call it bad. It’s much harder to look at what Zack Snyder and Chris Terrio were actually trying to say about power.
The Philosophical Nightmare of Batman v Superman Lex Luthor
If you strip away the ticks and the high-pitched squeaks, this Lex Luthor is actually terrifying because his motivation is the only one that makes sense in a world where a literal god just flew down from the sky.
He isn't just a "bad guy" who wants to build a real estate empire like Gene Hackman’s version. He is a survivor of abuse. There’s a specific line where he tells Superman, “No man in the sky intervened when I was a boy to rescue me from Daddy’s fists and abominations.” That’s the key. That is the entire character in one sentence.
To Lex, Superman isn't a hero. He’s a lie.
📖 Related: Big Brother 27 Morgan: What Really Happened Behind the Scenes
He views the world through a binary lens of power. Either you are the abuser, or you are the abused. If God (Superman) exists and is all-powerful, then He cannot be all-good, because He lets bad things happen to kids like Lex. If He is all-good, then He cannot be all-powerful, because He would have stopped the "fists and abominations."
By forcing Batman and Superman to fight, Lex isn't just trying to win a turf war. He’s trying to prove a theological point. He wants to drag the "God" down to the level of a killer to prove that power is never innocent.
Why the plan was actually genius (and confusing)
People complain that Lex’s plan in Batman v Superman is too convoluted. I get it. It’s a lot. You’ve got:
- The setup in Africa to frame Superman for war crimes.
- The "White Portuguese" smuggling operation to lead Batman to the Kryptonite.
- The Capitol bombing to isolate Superman from the government.
- The kidnapping of Martha Kent as the final "push."
It feels like he’s doing too much. But if you watch the Ultimate Edition—which, let’s be real, is the only version worth watching—you see how calculated it really is. He didn't just stumble into this. He spent two years grooming Bruce Wayne’s rage. He was the one intercepting the checks to Wally Keefe. He was the one sending those "You let your family die" notes.
He played Batman like a violin.
Think about that. This kid, this "skinny nerd" as critics called him, successfully manipulated the world's greatest detective into a murderous frenzy. He broke the Batman. That’s a level of villainy we rarely see in these movies where the bad guy usually just wants to "reset the world" with a big blue sky beam.
👉 See also: The Lil Wayne Tracklist for Tha Carter 3: What Most People Get Wrong
The Zuckerberg Influence and Modern Toxicity
Jesse Eisenberg famously played Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, and Snyder clearly leaned into that. In 2016, we were just starting to realize that the young, "quirky" tech billionaires weren't actually our friends.
This Lex Luthor is the personification of that realization.
He’s the guy who uses "knowledge" as a weapon because he doesn't have the "power" of a god or the "brawn" of a bat. There’s a specific kind of intellectual insecurity there. He has to be the smartest person in the room because it’s the only way he feels safe. When Superman shows up—someone who is naturally superior without even trying—it shatters Lex's entire worldview.
It makes him feel like that helpless kid again. And he will burn the entire world down before he feels helpless a second time.
The "Doomsday" Problem
Okay, we have to talk about the ending. The big gray CGI monster.
A lot of fans argue that creating Doomsday makes Lex look stupid. "If Doomsday kills Superman, who stops Doomsday?" It’s a fair question. Honestly, Lex probably didn't care. By that point in the film, he had accessed the Kryptonian scout ship. He had seen the "communion" with Steppenwolf (in the deleted/extended scenes).
✨ Don't miss: Songs by Tyler Childers: What Most People Get Wrong
He knew something bigger was coming.
He wasn't trying to rule the world anymore. He was the herald of the end. He says it at the very end in the prison cell: "The bell has been rung. They are coming." He had transitioned from a man trying to protect his ego to a man who wanted to witness the "devils" from the stars finish what he started.
How to actually appreciate the Batman v Superman Lex Luthor
If you still hate the performance, I'm not going to tell you you're wrong. It’s a lot. It’s abrasive. But if you want to get the most out of your next rewatch, try looking at it through these specific lenses:
- Watch the eyes, not the mouth. Eisenberg plays Lex as someone whose brain is moving 100mph faster than his vocal cords can keep up with. He’s constantly vibrating with a mix of genius and pure, unadulterated terror.
- Focus on the silence. The moments where Lex isn't talking—like when he’s standing over the Kryptonian birthing chamber—show a much colder, more traditional version of the character.
- Read the subtext of the "Grandma's Peach Tea." It's not just a gross prank. It’s a direct insult to Senator Finch, who used that phrase to belittle him earlier. It shows his utter pettiness. He doesn't just want to kill his enemies; he wants to embarrass them first.
The reality is that we probably won't see another Lex Luthor like this for a long time. With the DCU rebooting under James Gunn and Nicholas Hoult taking over the role, we’re likely heading back to a more classic, "Apex Predator" version of Lex.
But there’s something haunting about Eisenberg’s version. He wasn't a titan. He was a broken, brilliant, dangerous man-child with too much money and a grudge against the universe.
To really understand the impact, you should go back and watch the Batman v Superman Ultimate Edition. Pay attention to the scenes involving the actress who played the African witness, Kahina Ziri. It maps out exactly how Lex framed the "hero" and proves that his intellect was his real superpower, even if he hid it behind a twitchy exterior. After that, look up the "Communion" deleted scene to see the exact moment Lex stops being a businessman and starts being a prophet for Darkseid.