How do you like your Lex Luthor? Bald, obviously. Beyond that, would you prefer him to be a charismatic narcissist (à la Gene Hackman in Richard Donner’s “Superman”) or a sociopath who tries to get Holly Hunter to drink urine (see Jesse Eisenberg’s bizarro rendition from Zack Snyder’s blessedly dead DCEU run)?
I ask because all Skarsgårds are not created equal. According to Kit, Gunn is eying Alexander Skarsgård (that tall drink of aquavit from “True Blood,” “The Legend of Tarzan” and “The Northman”) and his brother Bill (the creep-out machine from “It,” “Barbarian” and “John Wick: Chapter 4”), and my only issue here is that you’re going to get radically different performances here. This suggests you’re fussing about with tone when you should probably know precisely what you want — especially since the DCEU was a morass of tonal indecision.
I haven’t read the script, but, from what I know of this material, Alexander would be my preferred Luthor. You should enjoy Lex on some level. He shouldn’t make your skin crawl at every second, which is very much Bill’s forte.
Gunn isn’t set to start showing “Superman: Legacy” until early 2024, so we’ve probably got time to debate this casting conundrum. So choose your Skarsgård!