I think it's safe to say that Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor was everyone's least favorite aspect of BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE. The cold and calculating figure was turned into someone closer to the Joker, with a plan that didn't seem the least bit foolproof from the start.
Was Lex betting on Batman to kill Kal-el? What if Superman took out the Dark Knight? What if Doomsday killed everyone? It's easy to theorize that Luthor was just "winging it", but Eisenberg himself feels that Luthor mostly knew what he was doing. In speaking with IGN, he had the following to say:
I think Lex becomes increasingly unhinged throughout the movie. I also think he’s a guy who has 40 back-up plans and so when one thing doesn’t work out he has another and if that doesn’t work out he has another, which is why I think he never feels that threatened by Superman and Batman because he knows he always has the leverage and his final act, in my opinion; and this is now thinking back a year-and-a-half – was this kind of like last-ditch effort to leave it all on the table.
While my only comparisons to make are against Lex Luthor's from previous films, Eisenberg's character didn't seem all that different from any other comic book villain. I'm guessing that's the problem, as everyone was expecting a much different character. Hell, his Mark Zuckerberg seemed more cunning than what ended up in BATMAN V SUPERMAN. In any case, I'll be curious to see if they leave Luthor unhinged in future DC flicks, or try to restore the character to his former glory.
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