It’s impossible to think of a new Superman story without Lex Luthor, but that’s almost exactly what we got with James Gunn’s Superman.
Lex is Superman’s ultimate antagonist, the one who comes to mind over figures like Brainiac, Doomsday, and even General Zod. His hubris is also the perfect match for Superman’s home-grown humility, a clash that David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult enthusiastically embody in Superman. That said, Lex is admittedly better suited to a more seasoned Superman; had Gunn not introduced us to a Man of Steel a few years into his tenure as a hero, it might have made sense to pit him against a one-off villain. Gunn even “considered” featuring Brainiac in Superman once upon a time, signaling a very different ordeal for the hero.
