Though many feared Jessie Eisenberg’s megalomaniac had been nixed entirely, it looks like Lex Luthor will be featured in the final cut of Justice League after all.
At least, that’s according to the official Warner Bros. website (with a tip of the hat to ComicBook.com), which lists the former Social Network star alongside Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Raymond Fisher, Willem Dafoe, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, and J.K. Simmons, whose Commissioner Gordon is said to hold a very small role.
For Eisenberg, it’s still unclear how much screen time will be allocated to his devious mega-villain, though we assume Justice League will pay more attention to Steppenwolf once the mass invasion gets underway. Also of note, Lex Luthor didn’t appear in Sunday’s final trailer whatsoever. Couple that with those earlier reports of Luthor being left out of Warner’s advanced screenings and it would seem Jesse Eisenberg’s involvement is minor at best. Perhaps we’ll get a cutaway shot to his Lex Luthor wallowing away in prison? Time will tell.
One thing worth keeping in mind is that it was actually Luthor who reached out to Steppenwolf and, by effect, Darkseid at the tail-end of Batman V Superman, so perhaps he holds himself responsible for the impending apocalypse. The fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, then, and it’s up to DC’s costumed crusaders to set aside old differences and come together in the face of a common and seemingly insurmountable enemy. Because let’s face it, you can’t save the world alone.
Justice League opens November 17th. Other DC tentpoles cramming up the pipeline include Shazam! and Green Lantern Corps., along with sequels to both Suicide Squad and Patty Jenkins’ wildly successful Wonder Woman movie.