The wisdom of LEX:
This character has always been Superman’s nemesis. To me, Reeve’s version and Superman Returns are of the same nature, and they are just superficial descriptions! Later comic versions described LEX as Clark’s classmate, and also as a friend in “Smallville”. He was originally a good guy but later became a demon. The setting of MOS comes from the fact that he was abused by his father since he was a child, and he is very sensitive to the contradiction between “power” and “morality”. He cannot accept that there is an almost invincible alien who looks like a “god” and can define “justice” by his own standards.
Lex desires to control everything, but Superman is something he has no control over. He develops an inferiority complex and hostility toward powers (like Superman) that he cannot dominate with his own intelligence. He tries to prove to the world that even gods can be defeated by humans. So he manipulated Batman into fighting Superman in an attempt to prove his theory.
As for LEX, played by Nicholas Hoult in 2025, the film did not explain in detail why he hates Superman. Gunn just used the trick of saying that everyone knows that Superman is his nemesis to obscure it!
LEX in the movie can copy Superman, create a pocket universe, have engineers under his command, and transform small creatures into big monsters, as well as threatened primitives. He has black technology, financial resources, and material resources? But what is lacking is intelligence.
Lex Luthor is often depicted in most canonical comic universes (especially Earth-1, Prime Earth) as one of the smartest humans on Earth, and sometimes even the smartest.
We don’t know why this version of LEX targets Superman. What is its ultimate goal? Do you want to kill him or frame him for injustice? If you want to kill him, wouldn’t it be enough to clone multiple ULTRAMANs? If you want to frame him, isn’t ULTRAMAN a clone that looks exactly like Superman? Just ask him to use Superman’s appearance to cause trouble everywhere? There is no need to go to all the trouble of pretending to be the “Hammer of Bolavia”! Also, ULTRAMAN has the upper hand by wearing the “Hammer of Bolavia”. If LEX’s purpose is to kill Superman, this scene is a great opportunity! If you are afraid of failure, you can still call the “engineer” to do the finishing blow! ? However, he seemed to give up when he was ready, and almost said like a cartoon: “If you want to kill him, there is always a chance, let him go today!”
It turns out that this scene was just a conspiracy to show that a Boravian country was dissatisfied with Superman’s interference in its internal affairs, so it sent the “Bolavia Hammer” to teach Superman a lesson? So you saw Superman lying there after being defeated in this battle, and the people also said that Superman was taught a lesson because he interfered in other countries. This battle ended without knowing it… (And I think Superman’s way of handling this matter was too childish. He kidnapped him to the desert and “pushed him against a cactus” to warn him to stop invading Jahanpur.) Why didn’t he directly destroy Boravian military weapons without killing people? Firstly, he could show Superman’s strength and majesty to make people shut up, and secondly, it could avoid the start of war again.) In the play, Lois reminded Superman of transnational political interference. Did he obtain the consent of the US government? In fact, Superman, an alien, is so powerful that he can fly around the earth quickly. Does the Superman version of Superman also need to obtain a pilot’s license and an international passport to fly?
Gunn’s script seems to be very free-wheeling. He is like other Hollywood left-leaning artists who oppose Trump. They always regard Superman as representing “truth, justice and the American way”. But they now changed it to “Truth, Justice and a Better Tomorrow.”
Talking back to LEX, the “pocket universe” he and his team created. He captured Super Dog and forced Superman to be trapped in a transparent chamber in the pocket universe, with elementals inside. The purpose of the elemental man is to generate kryptonite to make Superman weak. Although the elemental man looks evil, he is kind at heart. Because LEX imprisoned his children as a threat, he was forced to work for LEX.
The problem came, his child was imprisoned in the glass room opposite him, and the guard was only an ordinary soldier. As a result, Superman persuaded the elemental man to let him go. With his ability, he could immediately save his son who was opposite. The elemental people did not dare to betray LEX and generated kryptonite to hurt Superman. Later, LEX used Russian roulette to kill a kind vendor, which made the elemental people fear that he had other plans in his heart…
After LEX watched the elemental being transform into Kryptonite and abuse Superman, he walked away very satisfied… As a result, the elemental people took advantage of LEX’s absence and formed the sun to help Superman recover! What’s even funnier is that there are other people imprisoned by LEX in the pocket universe, and one of them is his ex-girlfriend! What on earth did this ex-girlfriend commit that made this smart man want to lock her up here? LEX can kill people at will, so why does he imprison these people?
When these people imprisoned by LEX saw the elemental man causing trouble with the little sun, they immediately reported it to the guards and complained! ? Whether it is the people imprisoned in the Kushiro Bag Universe or LEX, all of them have very problematic behavioral and ideological logic. Put the Elemental Son on the opposite side and only send ordinary guards to guard it. He just tortured Superman without killing him and left like this?
The same goes for the plot in the Fortress of Solitude. LEX can enter the Fortress of Solitude because he has a Superman clone! From the beginning of the movie, he has been tracking Superman’s idea of attacking the Fortress of Solitude… It seems that LEX has known for a long time that there are secrets in the Fortress of Solitude that are not good for Superman. But the plot didn’t describe the arrangement in this way at all, but when he broke in, he immediately called scientists and linguists to analyze it. Did he activate God’s Vision and read the script?
If Batman in BVS saw the destructive power of the alien Superman due to the Black Zero incident, coupled with the dream teleported from the future world, Batman became hostile and wary of Superman. So why does Gunn’s version of LEX hate him? (On the YOUTUBE show, Gunn couldn’t tell the reason why LEX hated Superman. Instead, actor Nicholas Holt said it was because he was jealous that Superman had something he didn’t have.)
Then he brought in scientists who were more powerful than the Kryptonian AI robots. They not only repaired the damaged video of Superman’s parents, but also brought in language experts to decipher the meaning of his parents’ alien language. It’s like a cooking show, “Due to time constraints, they got it done in no time!” Moreover, the scene where his biological father asked him to rule the earth and his biological mother asked him to have a harem was very beneficial to LEX. It was very dramatic.
Anyone who has watched movies knows that Superman is very popular here because he is surrounded by citizens and children for solving big monsters. At this time, the TV is playing a clip of Superman giving birth to his parents, and LEX attached translated subtitles to let the world know that Superman was sent to conquer the earth and create a harem to find earthly women to breed offspring. In just a few seconds, the citizens who originally supported Superman started to stay away as if they saw feces on you. His face changes so quickly…
If citizens have placed their trust in Superman for a long time, will they suddenly fall out of favor? What’s more, the public shouldn’t even know that the clip is false? Unless the clip is spread all over the world and everyone knows that it is the superborn parents, the film only needs translation. You released a video of a stranger for no reason, and you don’t understand the language he speaks, and you just post subtitles and you believe it?
Maybe Gunn is satirizing the world like the citizens in the movie, where a huge monster appears and only takes pictures and checks in? And not far from the monster’s feet, there is a little girl taking a leisurely walk (it doesn’t look like running for her life at all) and Superman needs to rush around to save her.
If this is not Gunn’s deliberate satire on the current situation, then the thinking and logical behavior of the people in this movie are not what normal people do at all. To put it bluntly, this whole movie is in the style of a cartoon, but it is replaced by real people. As long as you think this is a cartoon, those actions make sense!
Why do we need to watch movies adapted from anime? We want to bring it to reality and present new visual effects. If we copy it, it is just COSPLAY.
I remember when Joey Schumaker took over Batman Episode 3, he was worried that fans of Episodes 1 and 2 would be unhappy, so he reassured fans that this was still a Tim Burton production because he was still the producer. But after the box office success, when Joey Schumaker started filming the fourth episode, he couldn’t wait to announce: “Tim Burton doesn’t know how to film superheroes at all, let me show you how to film superheroes!” He also reminded the actors: “Everyone~! This is a cartoon! Just keep having fun and film it!”
Coincidentally, Gunn once said on his Twitter that he did not like Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman, nor did he like Nolan’s Batman. Instead, Joey Shumaker’s “Batman and Robin” is his favorite!
Let’s go back to our most handsome boy in history, LEX. Why would a smart guy like him have such a girl by his side? (The ex-girlfriend in the pocket universe doesn’t know what she has done, so he wants to trap her here?) This girl named Eve, every time she takes selfies during LEX’s battle meeting, LEX can let her take random photos? Isn’t he afraid that the secret will be photographed? In the end, the girl really had an affair with Jimmy Olsen, and Jimmy sent her photos and turned them into evidence to catch LEX committing crimes. Is this a twist of events or an idiot plot? Seeing the crowds of people in the market rushing to applaud, it really makes me feel like I have a glass of water in my stomach, and I know whether I am good or bad.
LEX’s end was when Louise exposed and announced his crime, and then he couldn’t bear to cry with a blushing face… Is this Afu’s reaction to being exposed by Nobita and Doraemon? In the end, he also imitated the classic scene from the Avengers, where Loki was thrown around by HULK, and LEX was bitten and thrown around by the super dog. But… isn’t Super Dog a disobedient, playful, epileptic dog? When it hit the injured Superman, Superman was even more injured. When he hit Super Girl at the end, it showed that ordinary people couldn’t stand it… Why is LE safe and sound? You mean Chao Gou has enough energy? But judging from the performance in the movie, Chao Gou definitely doesn’t have this kind of intelligence. There is also a stupid mistake like LEX’s left hand being bitten by a super dog and fractured, but he made a stupid mistake like applying a bandage on his right hand when getting into the prison car.
Online praises say this is the most handsome and smartest LEX in history… I admit that he is handsome, but smart…
Then this LEX was handcuffed by the police uncle, and what happened when he shot and killed the vendor in the pocket universe? Superman didn’t seem to show anger at the friendly citizen who reached out to pull him up for this matter. He just preached to LEX: “I can love and be afraid. Every morning when I wake up, even though I am overwhelmed, I will move forward step by step and try to make the best choice. I will always make mistakes, but this is human nature! This is also my greatest advantage. I hope that one day, for the sake of this world, you can understand that this is also your advantage.”
It seems that the value of that hawker’s life has been wiped out with one shot…
Many people on the Internet praised this version of LEX. The male is nothing more than the characters he has played in the past, and the female is so handsome! (Just like THE BATMAN, girls don’t care whether Batman is good or not, as long as Rob Pattinson is handsome!) Currently, I think the best LEX is Michael Rosenbaum from Smallville. His version starts out as friends with Clark and then slowly becomes a demon. But it’s actually a bit unfinished, because LEX is portrayed as such a nice person in the drama! The turn for the worse failed to convince the audience, and even Michael Rosenbaum was dissatisfied with the script and resigned, although he came back to make a cameo in the last episode to complete the show.
Okay, the next part of this issue will focus on the LEX part, and I will talk about the other supporting characters of the new Superman in the next issue.