Posted in : ABC , CW , Justice League , Justice League Dark , Movies , Netflix , streaming , Superman , Trailer , TV| Tagged : ABC , life , Anthony LaPaglia , Atom Man vs. Superman , Batman V Superman : Dawn of Justice , bleeding cool , cable , Chris Noth , clancy brown , cw , gene hackman , james marsters , james woods , jason isaacs , jon cryer , justice league , justice league outright , lex luthor , lois & clark , lois and Mark Clark , lois lane , michael rosenbaum , netflix , baron boothe , rainn wilson , smallville , streaming , superboy , Superfriends , supergirl , superman , superman returns , superman : the animated serial , television , tv , WB
With Jon Cryer stealing every scene on CW ’s Supergirl , let ’s see how he ranks up against other great ( and not - so - great ) Lex Luthors from boob tube and film .
For our money , Jon Cryeris currently steal every scene ( and everything that is n’t blast down ) during his run of theCW’sSupergirl . With that in mind , how does he rank among all those actors who have make bold to portray one of the greatest superintendent - villain of all time ?
Glad you asked ! Here ’s a flavor at the good , the bad , and the second-rate – prominent screen and little – as we order the " Lexiest " Lex Luthors out there …
Note : rightful completionists may squabble with our list , as we ’re only including moving-picture show and video versions ( sorry , no television game reading – people looking for us to trashSuperman 64will have to go elsewhere to find those rant ) . Also , we ’re not let in some genuinely hidden versions or bantam cameos ( eg , the Lego movies ) ; and we ’ve aggroup some Luthors together for ease of treatment .
10.Superman Returns –Kevin Spacey
Controversial , I know , but in hindsight he is the weakest Luthor . Over the top playing ( Wrong ! ) , never really give us a common sense that he is the smartest someone on the planet ( or think he is ) , and his scheme is … a landgrab?We’re go to make a new crystal continent ? Lame , Luthor . Learn a new move , Lex – it ’s a newfangled hundred . And considering what was materialize at the same time on the small cover at the same clock time ( Smallville , Justice League : Unlimited ) , it makes this variant the smallest and weak version . Also ? F@#k Spacey .
9.Superboy– Scott James Wells and Sherman Howard
Strike one is that in the continuity of the ( pretty terrible ) syndicated series , two actors played Lex – which sort of say something about the quality of the show . Mostly I just palpate bad for the really moderately talented and classically - discipline Howard , but there just is n’t much there in this tale of college - elderly Supes and Lex . His outline mostly need the mundane and like the series itself , is ultimately forgettable . If you desire to traverse these down , you may jollify in how late 80’s / early 90 ’s the dress and hairstyles are .
8.Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice / Justice League– Jesse Eisenberg
Exactly what the hell was Lex Luthor doing in these film – and why was Eisenberg cast ? My personal head - canon is in reality thatBatman v Supermanis a sequel toThe Social Networkand Eisenberg is n’t really Lex Luthor , but justMark Zuckerberga little bit down the route . That makes alittle bitmore sense , and perchance explain why he has secret files on other potential members of the Justice League – complete with their own Word ? Thanks for doing our branding for us , Luthor ! What just was he doing making Senator Holly Hunter drink pee?That’shis malevolent plan ? Then to use a stager as a felo-de-se hoagie to splash Superman with the pee ? I just ca n’t even with this Lex Luthor . It ’s basicallynotLex Luthor . Also not Luthor?Thathair .
However , he has one redeemable second : post creditsJustice League , where he gets out of prison house and meets with a sure someone on his yacht . A sure someone played byJoe Manganiellonamed Deathstroke . Damn but I do n’t want to see that movie sooooooo bad . Future headspring - canon : in said unmade Legion of Doom movie , Lex Luthor would ’ve had a better supervillain program than just making people drink pee .
7.Atom Man vs. Superman– Lyle Talbot
This 1950 Superman serial is the former on - screen avatar of Lex Luthor , and as such he had n’t quite find oneself his footing . Somewhere between a disturbed scientist and condemnable gangster , his dodging involve hit various areas of Metropolis with a destructive beam of light weapon and using a conveyor to glow people into blank in a sort of proto - Phantom Zone . And Lyle Talbot was not spoiled in the role . Trivia : he would subsequently go on to play Commissioner Gordon in Batman series .
That ’s the goodness . The badness ? These serial publication were cheaply made , slow paced , and just generally not right . There also is n’t a beneficial way to really describe the uncanny helmet Luthor would wear out in his secret identity as the Atom Man ( and since when does Lex need a secret identity ? ) It ’s like a spangled discotheque helmet from someone who wanted to expect like an Easter Island head . But again , why does Lex Luthor need a helmet ? Or a secret personal identity ? Talbot did his best with the material he had , but that material is just not Lex - suitable .
6.Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman– John Shea
Some citizenry might place this higher on the list , but here ’s why ultimately this reading of Luthor was inferior . First , he die at the end of the first season and was in the show less from then on , and then when he come back resurrect he tried to use clones ? They fluff their shot in the first season .
And what was the overarching upshot of Season 1 ? Lex and Lois are get hook up with ! That ’s his big schema ? Marry Lois Lane , take her to your sewer lair , replace her with a clone ? count , we all loveTeri Hatcher . But that ’s not really an alibi for what is overall a mostly histrionic part . pick the show for being more about Lois and Clark ’s will - they / won’t - they family relationship than genuine Superman heroics for that .
But have ’s give some accolades to Shea ’s attempts to elevate the grapheme . Opposite a more bland and haplessDean Cain , Shea was definitely essay to prove he was the superior someone . And his attempts to actually try out his favorable position , rather than just kill his scourge , is a central part of the Luthor image that he wield to nail , if only briefly .
5.Superfriends– Stan Jones
" Meanwhile , at the Legion of Doom … “No other give-and-take could be quite as threatening on Saturday morning cartoons . Growing up in the 80 ’s , this was our Lex Luthor . With theRichard DonnerSupermanfilm a little too heavy and VHS not yet a luxury we all had , this was who we grew up with as Superman ’s bane . Above all else he wasthemastermind : the guy who led the Legion of Doom from their creepy swampland den . He was also voiced by Jones , one of those voice actors who was in everything , fromTransformerstoGI Joe . Fun trivia : he also played noted denuded comic fictional character Professor Xavier onSpider - Man and His Amazing Friends , as well as supervillains Kingpin ( also barefaced , plenteous ) and Doc Ock , as well as the voice of The Leader onThe Incredible Hulk – nearly a bald mastermind Bingo right there .
TheSuperfriendsshow has n’t aged improbably well , but its nostalgia is still strong . So solid , it inspired this classic promo for theCartoon Networkreminding Lex Luthor what the real key to victory is : getting Brainiac some freaking pant !
4.Smallville– Michael Rosenbaum
Whoa whoa , hold back on . Before you break out the pitchfork and woolly mullein ( I see all youSmallvillestans out there ) , just let me say these top I were harder to rank . Here on out , these are all great and arguably thedefinitiveLex Luthors .
Rosenbaum was everything . He was cunning , he could be evil , but just likeTom Welling ’s Clark Kent , we could see the commodity in him and wanted to fight for it . From the very first episode where he plowed over Clark in his car on that nosepiece , we were as obsessed with Lex as he was with find out Clark ’s secret . His spar with his don also made him a character we want to settle for . Lionel Luther wanted to sprain his son into the cold , cunning , cynical brute we knew he was intend to be , but somehow did n’t want to see him go down that road … just yet .
The downside ? Lex ’s character assume some weird turns in the show , even go away for a few seasons . Some of those season ofSmallvilleare also nearly unwatchable . To his credit , Rosenbaum ingratiated himself further into the DC Universe by becoming a nigh ubiquitous voice thespian in the liven flick and series playing both Wally West and Barry Allen versions of The Flash in various projects . But in the oddment , Rosenbaum is the Lex we all need to root for . Which is why it pain me to put him at # 4 ( also , wait to see who # 1 is before judging ) – but he ’s in the best of fellowship .
3.Supergirl– Jon Cryer
We ’ve only had a twosome of episodes with this Lex Luthor , but so far they ’ve been magical ( No mollycoddler , so this is as much a preview of why you should take this opportunity to take in up onSupergirlbefore it returns April 21 as anything else ) .
It took a second to warm up to what Cryer was doing , but by the ( ahhem ) volatile close of " O Brother Where Art Thou " it was beautiful , and a literal crescendo timed to authoritative music . It could not be more Lex Luthor if they tried . And then to see his machination – how he is run all English to sew chaos for his own profits and welfare is sincerely beautiful to lay eyes on .
Some have previously compare Lex Luthor toDonald Trump – both billionaires who get into politics to expand their greed – but the sequence " The House of L " shows Cryer ’s Lex to be more Vladimir Putin than Trump in terms of the games he ’s toy .
Indeed , this is the only time ( exterior of our # 1 ) where Lex ’s plans unfeignedly seem so many step ahead of everyone else : they ’re complex and elaborated , with every potential option count . While we still need to wait until the end of the season , he may terminate up being the smartest Lex Luthor we ’ve ever visualize .
This version is also brilliant in melding the nostalgic old and the modern new so effortlessly . Cryer can do a sales pitch - perfect outcry for Miss Teschcmacher ( you heard it in your foreland , did n’t you ? ) , and he can even quote dialogue fromBatman v Supermanand make it sound good . That ’s a exploit . Also a feat ? Making us even draw a blank he once played ne’er do well nephew Lenny Luthor inSuperman IV : The Quest for Peace .
Which take us to …
2.Superman I, II, IV– Gene Hackman
Hackman is the king . Only Hackman could keep his whisker the whole series of movies and we would n’t care because we ’d still buy him as Lex Luthor . Only Hackman could be in such terrible scraps asThe Quest for Peaceand we do n’t care .
Lex Luthor ! Ruler of Australia ! He is so incredibly iconic : merriment and campy without exaggerate it , also threatening and malefic when he needs to be . He ’s so adept at playing both sides , we almost draw a blank he ’s the bad guy by the end ofSuperman II . He ’s also a few steps ahead of everyone , and I ’m firmly of the mindset that he bed the part he was playing with Zod , Ursa , Non , and the molecule bedroom at the final stage .
More than any other of the alive - action carrying out , it ’s just a joyfulness to watch Hackman work on silver screen – an appreciated but still under - rateded histrion , his carrying into action here is a tumid part of his acting legacy .
Now I said live - action thespian , because our # 1 spot is …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itAOGRiYRLI
1. DC Animated Universe – Various (Clancy Brown, Kevin Michael Richardson, Michael Rosenbaum, etc.)
See , nowthisis why I toldSmallvillestans to hold their pitchforks and torches ! Let ’s all take a moment and recognize that animated Luthor isthebest Luthor . He ’s the most fully realized , perhaps because longform storylines really take into account Lex to play out his schemes the just – and also probably because he is n’t pulling some real acres / pee - drinking dodging like in most of his large - screen appearances .
With Brown playing him inSuperman : The Animated Series , Justice League , andJustice League : Unlimitedwe also get a truly supervillainous Lex . It also does n’t hurt have got the rich basso tone of Brown on your side , and again , personal head - cannon has also - sound - by - Brown Mr. Krabs an underwater low - fry Lex Luthor .
But especially in theJustice Leaguecartoons , not only are his scheme whale but some are even legitimate . We also get a commiseration from the dying - from - kryptonite - poisoning - Crab that Cryer ’s good turn seems to crib directly from ( steal from the best ) . We also wish to see him hoisted on his own petard as he tries to ally himself with other supervillains like Grodd and Ultra - Humanite and someone always betrays someone else . We had his eventual unification with Brainiac , then his flimsy genial health after fall back Brainiac is just absolutely golden .
You also ca n’t discount the legion other alive features or series with Luthor where he is present by others besides Brown . Rosenbaum ’s turn inJustice League : Doomis excellent , but we ’d be neglectful to also not mention voice acting legend like Richardson , Steven Blum , Fred Tatasciore , andJohn DiMaggiowho have all taken a act – each first-class . lease ’s not block the likes ofPowers Boothe , James Marsters , Chris Noth , Anthony LaPaglia , Jason Isaacs , James Woods , andRainn Wilsonalso have tried their script at voice Luthor .
The combined talents of all of these , plus just the see-through volume and excellence of Lex Luthor work in DC ’s animated works , are what makes the mod animated Lex Luthorourbest Lex Luthor .
Agree ? Disagree ? See something we missed ? Have a favorite among the vocalism actors ? lease us know what you think below – and do n’t forget the CW’sSupergirlreturns on Sunday , April 21 .
Enjoyed this ? Please share on social medium !
