Batman V Superman: Is Lex Luthor Secretly Kryptonian?

4. It Has A Thematic Purpose

The big issue with having such a radical twist to the character is that it undermines exactly what Lex Luthor represents, right? This is a criticism that Marvel has faced with several of their reimaginings and one of the key reasons why recent fan theories about Jared Leto's Joker really being Jason Todd in Suicide Squad and Luke Skywalker being the real villain of Star Wars: The Force Awakens don't hold much water - it's shock for shock's sake. Luthor being a Kryptonian, however, still has the potential to maintain his (rotten) heart. The simple point of his character is that he is the epoch of humanity, a ruthlessly intelligent business man in peak physical condition. Someone could call him a specimen and you wouldn't argue. So when this being infinitely more powerful than him drops from the sky he's driven mad, unable to deal with not being the best. Now obviously him not being a human reduces the extent of how powerless he'd be, but if you've got a Luthor who's risen up to be the dominant power on this new planet - in his mind an alien overlord - to have another of his species turn up and gain worldwide notoriety in a long weekend would puts his view of success into doubt. It's a twist on the classic rivalry (also serving as a nice echo of the whole Jonathan Kent/Jor-El debate prominent in Man Of Steel), sure, but certainly within the realms of character faithfulness, at least in movie terms. You have to remember that who exactly Luthor is has been altered a lot in the past across all forms of media, so making slight shifts to his persona that still allow for the general characterisation to remain are reasonable (not that any fans would see it that way).