Nocturne
Super Freak
Lex Luthor needed to have operated on a whole other level then what Spacey did in SR. Luthor needs to be a totally political/businesslike animal. He needs tendrils sunk into secret government projects, Wall Street, and Government offices. Spacey's Luthor was still based in thuggery like Hackman. The best portrayal of Luthor in entertainment so far has been the Luthor of the last couple seasons of the Justice League cartoons- a Luthor that hides his evil under a veneer of public goodness and political connections that makes it hard for Supes to strike out at him without looking like a bad guy. He has to outthink him rather than beat him down, which is a tougher villain for a man of steel. He has all the brawn in the world, but that doesn't stop one such as Luthor.
Completely agree with you, I grew up reading that sort of Luthor in the comics, the man who never took Superman on directly but couldn't have it traced back to him which left a frustrated Superman who couldn't do anything but wait for the next attack.
Would be great to see Bruce Timm and Paul Dini get a shot at a big budget movie after all the good they've done with the animated universe. Giving us characters we care about. I know I cared more about Jor-El and Lara in that first 2 parter of the animated series than the cast of SR.
And there was no reason to use Luthor again really, technology was realistically at a level where Darkseid or Brainiac could have been used.
As much as I think Reeve's has the definitive portrayal which ended badly through no fault of his own, regardless of the budget Superman always had dignity. Maybe it's time to move on, it would have been if they'd tried to do the George Reeve Superman in the 70's or carried on with Adam West's Batman.
And for all Hancock's flaws it was entertaining, it was funny, he used his superpowers and it gave us a new portrayal of what it can mean to be a Superhero.
SR unfortunately came over like a recycled mess of reboot and sequel with hardly anything new to its name. Not what I'd have expected from a character so rich in history.