9 DCEU Characters That Are Totally Different From The Comics

3) Lex Luthor

Comic Books: The Greatest Criminal Mind Of Our Time is traditionally portrayed as a middle-aged bald business tycoon whose enormous intellect is only matched by his even greater ego. Though he has been depicted as slightly bumbling on occasion – e.g. Gene Hackman’s take in the Christopher Reeve movies – usually Lex is a powerful, malevolent foe for the Man of Steel.

DCEU: Controversially, Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal of Lex completely reinvented the character in Batman V Superman. Now much younger, this Lex was a neurotic, highly eccentric billionaire who was clearly losing his grip on his sanity. He was fond of Joker-like pranks (Granny’s Peach Tea, anyone?) and seemed to have a hatred of Superman derived from a fear of an impending alien threat rather than the ethical rivalry the characters usually share. At the end of the movie, he was also locked up in Arkham Asylum – usually the home of Batman’s rogues gallery rather than Superman’s.

The character is so different from the norm, in fact, that some fans theorize that his father, Lex Luthor Sr. (who’s alluded to in the movie), is the DCEU’s real version of Lex and could make an appearance further down the line.