Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor remains one of the most polarizing figures in DCEU history, and one who never got a second bite at the cherry to see if they could win over the doubters. Reinventing Superman’s arch nemesis as an eccentric trust fund billionaire didn’t sit right with a lot of people, even if many aspects of the actor’s approach were ripped straight from the comic books.
The nefarious head of LexCorp was evidently being set up for much bigger and better things to come in the future; but like many SnyderVerse alumni before him, it wasn’t to be. The post-credits scenes of both Justice League cuts saw Luthor recruit Deathstroke to do his bidding, with HBO Max’s version revealing that he knew Bruce Wayne’s identity and was happy to pass it onto Slade Wilson.
We know Joe Manganiello was set to be the main villain of Ben Affleck’s The Batman, and in a new interview with ComicBookMovie, the Academy Award nominee was asked if he’d have been interested in showing up as part of the abandoned project as well.
“Oh, yeah. Yeah, of course. Also, if there were plans, I didn’t know about them. Otherwise, I’d have some great material, but I didn’t know about it!”
Zack Snyder revealed a while back that the plan for Justice League 3 was to have Lex save the world by blowing up a nuclear bomb on Darkseid’s ship, which is quite the about-turn for someone who’s typically always been painted as a one-dimensional antagonist in live-action. Eisenberg has admitted many times that he had a great time playing in the superhero sandbox, so for all we know he was well-placed to drop by for a connective cameo before Affleck’s take on The Batman fell apart.