After four seasons of name-checks and nods, Lex Luthor is finally making his Arrowverse debut later this season on Supergirl. Superman’s nemesis will be played by Two and a Half Men star Jon Cryer, whose DC pedigree goes back to 1987’s Superman IV: The Quest for Peace in which he played Lex’s dim-witted nephew Lenny.
Due to his most famous role being on a hit comedy, fans were initially surprised when it was announced that Cryer was playing the iconic bald-headed bad guy last December, with some lamenting that Smallville star Michael Rosenbaum wasn’t asked back. Supergirl exec producers Robert Rovner and Jessica Queller, however, are promising that Cryer’s the perfect performer to bring Lex to life in this incarnation.
While Rovner admitted that his previous DC turn is “quite different” from Lex, Queller teased that the actor will “kill it” in the role.
“But Jon Cryer is just a phenomenal actor, and he’s got that twinkle in his eye. He’s masterful, he’s got humor. He’s just gonna kill it.”
But how will Kara Danvers deal with having to face her cousin’s nemesis? After all, we know she’ll be going against Lex alone, as Clark revealed that he was going off-world back in “Elseworlds” so that Lois could have their child on Argo, the last surviving part of Krypton. Rovner explained that this will only make Kara more determined to bring Lex down.
“I think she feels the challenge. I think with Lex around, it’s her cousin’s big foil, and I think she feels the responsibility to bring a character like that to justice in probably a bigger way than she would’ve if Clark were around. She doesn’t want to mess it up.”
Somehow, Lex’s arrival will tie into the various plot threads that’ve built up over the first half of Supergirl season 4 – so Manchester Black and The Elite, the Red Daughter and Ben Lockwood and the Children of Liberty. This was promised by Rovner, who was hopeful that the season will be able to weave all of these storylines together to create an awesome conclusion.
“I think what’s great about the second half of the season is that we’ve laid a lot of different stories at the beginning half of the season. We create some more, but all our stories dovetail by the end of the season, so that everything’s been done by design and they’re all on a collision course into what we hope will be a very exciting and a resolution.”
Be sure to watch Supergirl Sundays on The CW to find out when Lex Luthor makes his debut.