Jesse Eisenberg Says Lex Luthor Role in Batman v Superman “Hurt My Career”

While chatting with host Dax Shepard on the Armchair Expert podcast, actor Jesse Eisenberg opened up about the negative impact starring as Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice had on his career and personal life. Upon its release in 2016, the movie was lambasted by some who found the plot faulty with “disconnected storylines” (via Forbes) and defended by others who felt critics were being overly harsh on the DC film. Despite feeling embarrassed by the admission, Eisenberg shared how Batman v Superman “hurt my career” and summarized his experience following the release of the movie as “depressing.”

“I was in this Batman movie, and the Batman movie was so poorly received, and I was so poorly received,” Eisenberg said (via PEOPLE).

“I’ve never said this before, and it’s kind of embarrassing to admit, but I genuinely think it actually hurt my career in a real way because I was poorly received in something so public,” he continued, adding that “in the industry, if you’re in a huge, huge movie and not seen as good, the people who are choosing who to put next in their movie are just not gonna select you.”

Eisenberg doubled down on how the enormity of the DC sequel, with millions of eyes on it, played a part in others taking note of how the project was received and thus apparently impacting future roles.

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“I’ve been in poorly received things that just don’t see the light of day,” the actor said. “For the most part, no one knows. But this was so public, and I don’t read notices or reviews or movie press or anything. So I was unaware of how poorly it was received.”

The Lex Luthor star also wanted to clarify that he had no bad feelings towards the movie or the role themselves, instead internalizing how critics and audiences responded to Batman v Superman.

“I loved my role and I loved the movie, doing it and everything,” Eisenberg said. “So I feel just myself to blame. I’m not like, ‘They did me wrong.’ No. I’m like, ‘Oh, I guess I did something wrong there.”

Eisenberg’s comments give a new perspective on the actor’s previous advice offered to Nicholas Hoult, who stars as the latest iteration of Lex Luthor in James Gunn’s 2025 Superman movie. During an interview with Variety earlier this year, Eisenberg kept his guidance to Hoult simple by saying, “Don’t watch me!”

Serving as filmmaker Zack Snyder’s follow-up to his 2013 Henry Cavill-led Man of Steel, Batman v Superman was the second entry in the DC Extended Universe. The comic book movie earned over $874 million at the worldwide box office off of a budget of $250 million (via Box Office Mojo). Snyder’s sequel was slammed by critics, however. Batman v Superman currently holds a score of 29% on Rotten Tomatoes, though the audience score is a bit better at 63%.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is available to stream on Max and Prime Video.