Lex Luthor Superman: Villain, Actors and Films

Lex Luthor is the powerless criminal genius and businessman who opposes Superman in five main-series films. He first appears in Superman (1978), directed by Richard Donner, and most recently in Superman (2025), directed by James Gunn. He also turns up in two crossover films, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League. The credits list him as Lex Luthor, and the Justice League post credit appearance is billed as Lex Luthor (uncredited). He has no powers of his own, so every version leans on property, technology and hired help instead.

Four actors are credited in the role. Gene Hackman played him three times, then the part passed to Kevin Spacey, Jesse Eisenberg and Nicholas Hoult, each with a different take on the same ambition. His opponent changes faces too: Superman, who is also the reporter Clark Kent, is played by Christopher Reeve in the first, second and fourth films, Brandon Routh in Superman Returns, Henry Cavill in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, and David Corenswet in Superman (2025).

He does not appear in Superman III, which belongs to the tycoon Ross Webster, or in Man of Steel, which is General Zod's story. Each version also places him differently: a scheming property speculator in Superman (1978), a newly freed prisoner in Superman Returns and a young tech billionaire in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. For the hero he fights, see the Superman character profile and the full list of Superman actors.

Lex Luthor's arc runs from a land-grab missile plot in Superman (1978) to a staged war and a pocket universe prison in Superman (2025), with each film widening the scheme. In Superman (1978) he plans to sink the western United States by hitting the San Andreas Fault with a missile. His henchman Otis accidentally sends a second missile toward New Jersey, and Luthor traps Superman with Kryptonite and explains the scheme. His partner Eve Teschmacher frees Superman, and the blast still causes earthquakes in California before Superman turns back time.

In Superman II he escapes prison with Eve's help and offers to lead General Zod's group to Superman in return for Australia. He tells the villains how the crystal chamber works, but Superman has changed it, so only the three Kryptonians lose their powers and Luthor is taken into custody. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace has his nephew Lenny spring him from prison. Lex steals a strand of Superman's hair to build a genetic matrix, fixes it to a nuclear missile with arms dealers and creates Nuclear Man.

Superman Returns shows a newly rich Luthor stealing crystals from the Fortress of Solitude. He causes a blackout along the East Coast and grows a huge new landmass in the Atlantic that would wipe out much of North America. On that land his gang beats Superman badly, and Kryptonite stabs and weakens him.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice makes him a young tech billionaire who pushes a senator to let him import kryptonite and is refused. He still gets access to Zod's body and the Kryptonian ship, bombs a Senate hearing and kidnaps Martha Kent and Lois Lane. His demand is that Superman kill Batman to save his mother, and he unleashes Doomsday, a monster made from Zod's DNA. In the Justice League post credit scene he escapes from Arkham Asylum and recruits Slade Wilson (Deathstroke) to form a league of their own.

Superman (2025) gives him the widest scheme. He releases a giant creature on Metropolis as a distraction, breaks into the Fortress with the Hammer of Boravia and the Engineer, captures Krypto and broadcasts the full Kryptonian message. After the government hands David Corenswet's Superman to him, he holds him in a pocket universe prison with Metamorpho, murders a Superman supporter and opens a rift that splits Metropolis.

Luthor's closest ties are with the people who carry out his plans, and his sharpest opposition comes from Superman and the reporters around him. Otis, played by Ned Beatty, serves him in Superman (1978) and Superman II. Eve Teschmacher, played by Valerie Perrine, appears in both films, frees Superman in the first and helps Luthor escape prison in the second. In Superman (2025), Sara Sampaio plays Eve Teschmacher, who is described as his girlfriend. She gives up evidence that he backed Boravia in return for land.

His other partners are mostly one film deals. General Zod, Ursa and Non use him in Superman II, Lenny Luthor is his nephew in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and Kitty Kowalski works with him in Superman Returns, where she throws away the crystals he needs to keep his landmass growing. In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice his opposition is Batman as much as Superman, because he manipulates the two into a fight. Luthor and General Zod also share an uneasy deal in Superman II.

On the other side, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen expose him in Superman (2025), where Clark Kent and Lois finally say they love each other once he is arrested. Krypto subdues him in the same film.

Lex Luthor ends most of his films in prison, in custody or arrested, and in Superman (2025) he is arrested after Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen expose him. In Superman (1978) Superman leaves him and Otis in prison. In Superman II Luthor is taken into custody after the Fortress chamber strips Zod, Ursa and Non of their powers. In Superman IV: The Quest for Peace Superman returns him to prison and places Lenny in Boys Town.

In Superman Returns Superman throws the new landmass into space, and the film leaves Luthor's own fate open. In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice he is jailed, and Batman visits him in prison. The Justice League post credit scene then undoes that, because he escapes Arkham Asylum and recruits Deathstroke.

In Superman (2025) he admits that he staged the Boravia conflict and is subdued by Krypto. Lois and Jimmy Olsen expose his schemes, and he and his associates are arrested. His latest status is arrested at the end of Superman (2025).

Man of Tomorrow is dated for July 9, 2027 in the US according to ABC News, and the reporting does not say whether Luthor appears.

The best Lex Luthor moments are the missile plot in Superman (1978), the Australia deal in Superman II, the growing landmass in Superman Returns, the demand to kill Batman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and the Boravia reveal in Superman (2025). In my opinion, the Superman (1978) missile plot is the template: a villain who wants land, who trusts a blundering partner and who is undone by a woman who changes sides. Hackman's Luthor has never been bettered for pure showmanship, because the plot hinges on his own cleverness.

The Superman II deal for Australia is a close second. He offers the Kryptonians something small to them and enormous to him, and then he is outfoxed by the crystal chamber that Superman has changed. The most underrated is the plan to grow a continent in the Atlantic, a set piece that gives him a scale no other version quite matches.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice offers a very different Luthor. His strongest scene, to my mind, is the demand that Superman kill Batman to save Martha Kent, because it turns a bomb plot into a personal trap. Superman (2025) ends with the most human reveal of all: the Boravia conflict was staged, and Hoult's Luthor has been driven by envy. That comes closest to explaining why he does it, and it is the version I would hand to a new viewer first.

If you are new to the saga, the order matters, and the Superman movies in order page lays it out. The wider rogues gallery is on the Superman villains page.