Rainn Wilson on Lex Luthor 'The Hero' in Reign of the Supermen

When it comes Superman's most popular enemies, the character at the top of most people's list is Lex Luthor. Even though he has no superpowers to speak of, Luthor can attack the Man of Steel using his deep pockets and cold, calculated intelligence. Luthor will stop at nothing to achieve his goals, even if he is forced to side with the same DC heroes he's normally in opposition with.

Many different actors have played the role of Lex Luthor on the large and small screen, but the latest to lend his voice to the iconic character is Rainn Wilson (The Office) in The Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen animated movies. Luthor recognizes Superman's death in the first film leaves a void that needs filling, which leads to his creation of Superboy.

CBR spoke to Wilson regarding his depiction of Lex Luthor, how he fits in the modern day and comparisons to Tony Stark, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

CBR: After you found out you'd be voicing the iconic Superman nemesis Lex Luthor in The Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen, what type of research did you do to prep for the part? Did it involve reading any of the comics or rewatching other Luthor adaptations on TV or film?

Rainn Wilson: I really felt like there’s already so much Luthor out there. He’s been voiced in the animated series by like 10 other actors, and he’s been played on screen by another five or six actors. I just went for the script they were writing and did a deep dive on what these stories were, where Lex was in the arc of the DC Universe at this time and the type of Lex we’re dealing with. And really work with the team on these films about what they needed from the character and try to make it my own.

I didn’t want to listen to a bunch of different Lex’s, I didn’t want to watch a bunch of different performances. Of course, I’ll always be influenced by the great Gene Hackman in his performance. It was about having fun bringing him to life and making it my voice.

Something I noticed is that your depiction of Lex Luthor is a fairly classic version of the character -- it skirts the line of a truly nefarious villain and bottom-line businessman, but he also wants to defend the world while protecting his own investments. Which part of Luthor's personality do you find the most appealing to bring to life?

You brought up all these different aspects of Lex that are important. There are episodes where he’s a straight-up supervillain and he’s created some monstrosity in his plan to destroy Metropolis and Superman. There are instances where he works with the Justice League, works with Lois Lane and Superman. There are ones where it focuses on his business interests.

So that’s the interesting thing with Lex. You don’t know which Lex you’re going to get when you watch a movie. You don’t know if you’re going to get evil Lex or begrudging, collaborator Lex. I really like when he’s interacting with a lot of people like Lois, and you get to see these other sides of him. He’s perhaps the most brilliant mind on the planet.

I would love to see a DC/Marvel crossover with Tony Stark vs. Lex Luthor. Lex is Tony Stark without the need for the TV cameras and without the Iron Man suit. He wouldn’t want to make an Iron Man suit because he wouldn’t want to sweat inside it.

NEXT PAGE: Lex Luthor's Fatal Flaw & Comparisons to Amazon's Jeff Bezos

You brought up Lex’s interactions with other characters. Something I did like was seeing Lex with Lois and the young Superboy. There was a scene in the limousine where it looks like Lex is about to snap, but in a split-second goes back to his calm business demeanor. As you said, Lex goes straight to the edge and is able to pull himself back. That dynamic of the character is cool to see brought to life on the animated screen.

All these supervillains have a fatal flaw. For Lex Luthor, it’s his narcissism. He thinks he’s the smartest person on the planet and that makes him have a really hard time keeping his patience. But that’s just fun to play as an actor.

Lately, we've seen the villain archetype turned into the anti-hero, where the crowd starts to pull for them. Do you think Luthor works best in this model, or do you prefer when he's the clear-cut villain of the story?

I think in this day and age Lex Luthor is more of a hero. People have a hard time with Superman because he’s such a goody-goody two-shoes. In the modern world, Lex Luthor is the hero we’ve all been waiting for [laughs]. I think that would be smart for the next step in the DC Universe to have a Lex Luthor film. I don’t know if it’d be Jesse Eisenberg or how’d you do it, but Lex is ready to have his own dynasty.

You can really see him fitting in the modern day, looking back at 2018 and now in 2019. In the real world, you can see a Lex Luthor-type person existing. Which is why it’d be great to see him lead some type of TV or movie series.

Well, Elon Musk has said Tony Stark is his idol. Jeff Bezos wants to fly into outer space. Actually, I think Jeff Bezos is really not that far off from being Lex Luthor.

NEXT PAGE: Can Lex Luthor and the Justice League Coexist?

As Reign of the Supermen ends, we get the post-credits scene where Lex Luthor looks to "officially" join the Justice League. That's obviously something that will be picked up down the line, but I wanted to hear your thoughts on what Luthor as a member of the Justice League means not only for him, but for DC's superheroes as well.

Well, I’m not exactly a deeply-entrenched DC nerd, so I couldn’t really go into the history of Lex and the Justice League and what it means for the DC Universe, but I will say the Justice League gets a little bit boring sometimes, so it could definitely use some spicing up. So I think Lex is going to help make those stories way more interesting.

Seeing Lex and Superman working together for a good chunk of a movie will be fun to watch play out.

If you set up a situation where Lex and Superman need each other, that would be an amazing thing to watch.

And finally, this goes back to how seeing Lex headline a TV or movie, we recently got the first photo of Jon Cryer as Lex Luthor on Supergirl, and there is reportedly a Metropolis live-action series in the works starring Lois and Lex as the costars, and of course what you brought to the table in the animated movies, do you think we’re in a golden age for the longtime Superman foe?

Yeah! I think it’s really exciting with Aquaman and the new Wonder Woman. There is a lot of really exciting stuff coming from DC. We’re going to see a lot of interesting characters and interesting matchups. I’m really excited to see where it goes.

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