Lex Luthor: Eisenberg no Heisenberg?

So...that happened. The last week or so has been so awash with casting rumours that it took a while to establish if this was real or just pumped out by the studios to generate more free press. A stupid assumption really, Man of Steel 2: Justice League All-Stars has seen so many changes and additions it hardly needs to make up stuff to get talked about. Though I'm sure Warner Bros would prefer we weren't talking about it with the same tone one might discuss reconstructing the Titanic or the Wii U.

But whatever the consequences it's true. Jesse Eisenberg, of Zombieland and The Social Network, is going to be Lex Luthor in Man of Steel 2: Electric Boogaloo. My opinion? Good move. I like Eisenberg and not just because my girlfriend thinks I resemble him. The fact is back in the day it was easy to write off Eisenberg as a Michael Cera clone; awkward, stammering skinny white guy inexplicably coming out on top. It was so obvious that apparently even he knew it and endeavoured to avoid that terrible fate Cera had suffered; typecasting.

The Social Network demonstrated how far Eisenberg could take the introvert, playing a detached, calculating, yet somehow endearing Mark Zuckerberg. To follow he went on to play a Seth Rogan-esque slacker in 30 Minutes or Less, the only film where the title explains roughly how long the film would remain in cultural consciousness. And as a member of the orthodox Jewish community and  only thing worth seeing in the crime drama Holy Rollers.

So Eisenberg has the chops to play a Lex Luthor but there's still the one thing everyone's gonna be snarking about on Twitter. At age 30 (and hardly looking it) he'll be the youngest film version of Lex to date after Gene Hackman (48 for Superman) and Kevin Spacey (46 for Superman Returns). And while he's the same age as Superman himself, Henry Cavill, the idea of a younger and specifically young-looking Lex will be hard for some to get on board with.

The reason I don't see it being a major problem though is because I see nothing about Lex Luthor, especially John Byrne's 1986 redesigned buisinessman Lex that most are familiar with, as intrinsically old. After all, who is Lex Luthor? An insanely successful businessman, incredibly proud of with achievements, possessing a genius level intellect, scrupulous morals and a huge seething resentment of Superman. None of these things are the exclusive domain of the old. 

Even today American culture has this idealised image of the hardworking capitalist. Men who've spent lifetimes building an empire on nothing but sweat and pep talks from Uncle Sam. But that doesn't exist anymore, not since the first dot-com millionaire made the Fortune 500 on his parents computer. We live in an age of young billionaires with questionable morals, billionaires just like like Mark Zuckerberg. In fact that's probably what made the penny drop at Warner Bros in the first place.

So yeah Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor? Warner Bros can put that in the win category. Doesn't make me anymore confident that Man of Steel 2:Rise of the Multi-Bear, won't collapse under its own weight but...baby steps.

Oh and about that title? Yeah I would've been psyched to see Superman fight Walter White too. It's thrilling to see a goofy, comic actor like Bryan Cranston getting all these great roles. But Cranston's whole thing is mild mannered guys thrown into dangerous situations and seeing how crazy they go trying to deal. It'd be difficult to pull that off while still taking him serious as a credible threat to freaking Superman. Maybe after he's taken on Godzilla...