Superman: Legacy - James Gunn Won't Repeat Zack Snyder's Lex Luthor Mistake
James Gunn isn't about to make the same Lex Luthor mistake as his contemporary Zack Snyder, with the filmmaker confirming that Nicholas Hoult's version of the iconic villain will be bald in "Superman: Legacy."
In announcing Hoult as Luthor in "Superman: Legacy," Gunn replied "ofc" (slang for "of f***ing course") on Threads when asked if his interpretation of the character would be bald. In the process, Gunn is about to avoid one of Snyder's biggest errors: not introducing an immediately recognizable version of the classic DC antagonist.
2016's "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" introduced a Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) who did not closely resemble his bald comic book counterpart. Instead, Eisenberg's supervillain had long brown hair and was changed from the menacing, calculated businessman that most fans knew to an obnoxious, eccentric billionaire who was supposed to reflect real-world figures such as Facebook co-creator Mark Zuckerberg. His luxuriant locks remained until the end of the film, when Luthor was finally hairless in a conversation with Batman (Ben Affleck) at Arkham Asylum — a look that stayed for his final appearance in "Zack Snyder's Justice League," in a post-credits meeting with Deathstroke (Joe Manganiello).
Why Lex Luthor's baldness matters
Lex Luthor's bare scalp has been a key part of the character almost since his earliest appearance. He appears as a stocky red-headed man in his 1940 debut in "Action Comics" #23 (by Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster), but after he was accidentally drawn bald in a comic strip in 1941, it turned into a defining trait of the villain.
In 1960's "Adventure Comics" #271 (by Jerry Siegel and Al Plastino), DC first gave Luthor's baldness an origin. In the comic, a young Lex, a massive fan of Superboy before he becomes Superman, captures the hero's attention, leading him to build a lab to figure out a cure for kryptonite poisoning. However, after Luthor causes a fire, Superboy uses his super-breath to stop it from spreading, inadvertedly knocking a bottle of acid on Lex. As a result, Lex's long brown hair falls off, and his grudge against the future Man of Steel begins.
In the post-"Crisis" era, Luthor's baldness was explained in a much simpler manner: it was simply a result of his aging and losing his hair. In flashbacks, such as the ones in 2007's "Countdown to Final Crisis," a younger Luthor can be seen with red hair and a receding hairline, showing that from an early age, he started to lose his hair naturally. Yes, Luthor had hair at one point in his life, but the character's baldness is just as important a characteristic to him as Superman having a cape. Thankfully, James Gunn is sticking with Luthor's most iconic look for "Superman: Legacy."