The post-credits scene of Justice League teased back in 2017 that Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor would be pitting Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke against Batman, likely for the solo movie Ben Affleck was developing at the time, though Eisenberg recently confirmed that, were there plans to include Luthor in that narrative, he was never informed of them. Given how long ago that scene was filmed and how many behind-the-scenes shakeups there have been at Warner Bros. in regards to the DC Extended Universe, it seems like even at the time the sequence was filmed, there was a lot of uncertainty about the direction the franchise would be heading.
Videos by ComicBook.com
“If there were [plans to return], I didn’t know about them,” Eisenberg confirmed to Comic Book Movie. “Otherwise, I’d have some great material, but I didn’t know about it!”
While Eisenberg previously played a major part of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the post-credits scene was the debut of Manganiello’s Deathstroke, with that actor having shared a number of details over the years about what plans for the character were being explored. Luthor, however, likely would have lurked in the shadows for some time after playing such an important role in the conflict between Batman and Superman.
Following the disappointments of Justice League, ahead of Affleck’s departure from the DCEU, it’s clear that there have been some major changes for the franchise, but despite those changes making a return from Eisenberg seem unlikely, he expressed that he’s happy to get more experience as Luthor in a future project, even if such decisions aren’t up to him.
“I’m probably the last person to know the answer to [Luthor making a return] because I don’t know how they make those decisions,” the actor confirmed. “My background is in theatre where you do a play 200 times and you feel like you’re just getting the hang of it by the last performance. I would love to play any character again. After a movie ends, the actors usually turn to each other and say, ‘Oh, now I finally know what I’m doing and I understand what my purpose [was].’ Actors, in my experience, do like playing roles again but that particular one is just not up to me.”
The Batman is currently slated to hit theaters on March 4, 2022.
Would you like to see Eisenberg reprise the role? Let us know in the comments below!
Related Posts
-
Image courtesy of DC Studios
