Jesse Eisenberg casting as Lex Luthor in Superman and Batman film fits Warner Bros.’ goals

Casting for the Man of Steel sequel, which will team Superman and Batman up in a single movie for the first time in history, has been out of the box, to say the least. Jesse Eisenberg, best known for playing Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, was just the latest when he was cast as Lex Luthor.

Eisenberg is only 30, but fits with Warner Bros.’ obvious plan to secure young stars for its DC Comics movies. Henry Cavill, who played Superman in Man of Steel, is only 30 as well. Gal Gadot, who is playing Wonder Woman and is reportedly signed for more than one movie, is only 28.

The only new member of the main cast that is older is Ben Affleck, 41, who will play Batman, but that fits the new-look for Batman. This isn’t going to be the young Christian Bale Bruce Wayne, but a “worn down” character who has already seen some action. So, in that regard, it looks like a stand-alone Affleck Batman movie would be about an older hero still making an impact. That’s something rarely explored - not all heroes have to be young guns after all (even if they don’t age in the comic book world).

Still, if you’re not putting the pieces of the puzzle together, Eisenberg does seem like an oddball choice. Past actors who have played Luthor on film have been older - Kevin Spacey was 46 when he did Superman Returns - but recent stories, like Smallville, have made Luthor a younger man, around Superman’s age. The Hollywood Reporter is now reporting that Warner looked at other younger actors like Adam Driver and Joaquin Phoenix for the role. Driver was too busy and Phoenix passed, letting Eisenberg take the role.

Many had wanted to see Bryan Cranston, 57, take the role, since he looked so good as an evil, bald man in Breaking Bad, but he would have been too old for what director Zack Snyder appears to be planning. It looks like Warner Bros. really wants to put together a movie that can launch a DC Cinematic Universe to rival Marvel’s and it will need a young villain who can appear in multiple movies. That’s a description that Luthor definitely fits. (Just please, don’t introduce any more heroes in this movie or it’ll get really convoluted.)

If Eisenberg was so good as the fast-talking Zuckerberg in The Social Network, he should be able to pull off Luthor without an issue. Of course, we won’t know until May 6, 2016, when the movie comes out.

image: Photo by Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images for BFI/image.net

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