Many elements of the DCEU that were established during Zack Snyder’s time at the helm are being quietly abandoned, so much so that everything up to and including Justice League may not strictly be considered canon anymore. Ben Affleck’s Batman is out, with Robert Pattinson inheriting the cape and cowl in Matt Reeves’ upcoming reboot. Furthermore, there’s been no mention whatsoever of Ray Fisher’s Cyborg for a long time, and Ezra Miller’s solo outing as The Flash isn’t expected until 2022 despite initially being announced in 2014, not to mention the continued speculation over Henry Cavill’s status as Superman.
Even James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad is hitting the reset button despite technically being a sequel, and now that Jared Leto’s time as the Joker seems to be officially over, the only flagship characters from the Snyder era of the DCEU that look set to continue playing a prominent part in the franchise are Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman and Jason Momoa’s Aquaman.
The shared superhero series moved too fast too soon, with the events of Man of Steel snowballing straight into Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, which strained under the weight of trying to build an entire shared universe in the space of one movie. The reception from both fans and critics was lukewarm to say the least, and the massively-anticipated face-off turned out to be a major disappointment.
One of the most divisive aspects of Batman V Superman was Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor, with the actor’s performance as one of the most iconic villains in comic book history drawing a lot of criticism. The closing moments of the movie, as well as the post-credits scene in Justice League, seemed to indicate his return though, and in a recent interview, the actor admitted that he’d jump at the chance to play the role again.
“Oh yeah, I would very much like to because it’s such a cool character. Playing a villain in a superhero movie is the fun part. The good guys are fine, but the villains are the fun part because they get to be a little bit more flamboyant. Of course, the hero gets to, you know, survive. But, the villain has all the funny lines. I don’t know about the first part, but the second part is something that I could definitely be involved in, sure.”
Despite his enthusiasm, it seems unlikely that Eisenberg will get the chance to play Lex Luthor once more. The post-Justice League DCEU has been distancing itself from what came before, and if Superman’s bald-headed arch-nemesis were to resurface again in the future, it seems likely that the part would end up being recast.
