16 Perfect Superhero TV Show Casting Choices That Nailed Their Characters
15. Michael Rosenbaum - Lex Luthor (Smallville)
Confession time: I really didn't care for Smallville in the slightest. Why include Rosenbaum you might say? Well, while I may not have enjoyed the show on a personal level, it was obvious that Lex was a standout. He was cold, calculating and obsessive - much like the Lex I knew from the comics. Considering the show was renowned for avoiding even the vaguest of imagery associated with Superman's literature, that's a pretty big thing.
Again, even if you don't appreciate Smallville, you have to at least recognise its cultural significance. It ran for a decade, and though I may not have understood the following it garnered, Michael Rosenbaum's performance is certainly something to make note of. It's also pretty cool to note that Rosenbaum himself portrayed The Flash in the DC Animated Universe, who at one point even became trapped within Lex Luthor's body. You have to love the self-aware meta nature of that twist, even if it's played more for laughs than the actor's more sinister portrayal of the adolescent Super-adversary.
What makes it all even better is the fact that Rosenbaum himself had to portray the character in a manner unseen before. Pretty much everyone knew Luthor as an old white bald dude who had a business and hated Superman - his past was never really up for discussion. The fact that the actor was able to convey that transformation, all whilst embodying the inherent changes that accompany early adulthood, is fairly spectacular.