DC Cinematic Universe ( The James Gunn era)

[Grendelsbayne]

The character of Eve Teschmacher has had a weird trajectory. She was created for the 1978 movie and appeared only in it and its sequel, then nowhere else for the next 20 years. But then versions of her started appearing infrequently in the comics from 2000 onward, then Tess Mercer in Smallville was loosely based on her (but was later retconned into being a version of Lena Luthor), then a new version of Eve was introduced in Supergirl 36 years after her previous screen appearance and became a major recurring character. And now her appearance in this movie is being announced as if she were a familiar core Superman character as much as Jimmy Olsen.

It's weird how some characters created for comic-book movies/TV take off and get reused in other adaptations, while others are forgotten. Eve Teschmacher gets a new lease on life, Phil Coulson gets his own TV spinoff, Harley Quinn has become so big that the Joker and Batman are supporting characters in her star vehicles, and of course Jimmy Olsen and Perry White originated on radio. But aside from the occasional use of the "Jack Napier" name for the Joker, we've never seen a new version of any of the characters created for the Burton Batman movies, like Alexander Knox (though the original had a cameo in the Arrowverse Crisis), Carl Grissom, Bob the Goon, Detective Eckhardt (though he was basically a more corrupt Bullock), or Max Shreck. Nor have we ever gotten alternate versions (outside Arrowverse doppelgangers) for most of the characters introduced in the 1990 The Flash TV series like Julio Mendez, Megan Lockhart, Captain Garfield, Officers Murphy & Bellows, Fosnight the informant, etc. (although it looks like Richard Belzer's TV-reporter character Joe Kline has a comics counterpart in a story written by the show's creators).

As far as the Burton movies, I don't think any of those characters were really very memorable other than Eckhardt and Shreck and I wouldn't really expect most people to use either of them. Eckhardt is too close to the already well-known Bullock, so what's the point of bringing him back? And Shreck, while very unusual and memorable, is such a quintessential Burton character that he wouldn't fit right in any version of Gotham that isn't fully committed to the Burtonesque style world.

 

[Christopher]

I think Chloe Sullivan probably would have popped up in another Superman adaption post-Smallville (different actress, different/altered backstory such as when Chloe appeared in the comics towards the end of Smallville's TV run), but the Allison Mack cult situation and how she originated the character on Smallville probably have ensured the character never will appear again in anything.

A comics version of Chloe was introduced in 2010, but only appeared in a 5-part Jimmy Olsen backup story and then never again. That was long before any of the allegations against Mack came out, so I found it surprising that more wasn't done with the character, given how big Smallville was.

There is a Chloe Sullivan in the Arrowverse, implied to have played a role in young Clark Kent's life very much like her Smallville counterpart, but she was only alluded to, never seen. And a dark-haired version of Chloe Sullivan was a bit player in the Reign of the Supermen movie in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies continuity. That was in 2019, so I don't think Mack's legal problems should spell doom for the character, nor should they. Actor and character are entirely distinct entities. Holding Allison Mack's misdeeds against Chloe Sullivan would be as nonsensical as holding the Joker's crimes against Mark Hamill.

 

[The Realist]

Looks like the Redheaded League will finally be happy.

Hey, they got Lois last (cinematic) time 'round.

I think Chloe Sullivan probably would have popped up in another Superman adaption post-Smallville (different actress, different/altered backstory such as when Chloe appeared in the comics towards the end of Smallville's TV run), but the Allison Mack cult situation and how she originated the character on Smallville probably have ensured the character never will appear again in anything.

I'd love to see Chloe pop up again. There's zero good reason she can't -- character ≠ actress, as Christopher says. But I fear you may be right. At least she got name-dropped on Supergirl, to my delight.

 

[JD]

The Superboy TV series had a variation on it. Clark and Lex attended the same college, and the series even adapted the Silver Age bit from the comics where Superboy inadvertently caused the loss of Lex's hair.

Oh, I've never seen Superboy and was under the impression that it's Lex Luthor was older.

As already heavily rumored, Gunn has indeed cast Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen. In fresher character/casting news, Sara Sampaio has also been added as Eve Teschmacher.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/m...-casts-skyler-gisondo-jimmy-olsen-1235645745/

So over the past two days, the score is three actual Superman characters, zero DC also-rans. Things are definitely looking up.

Judging by their ages, it looks like we're getting a Jimmy who's more of a contemporary to Lois and Clark, Gisondo is only 3 years younger than Coronswet, and 6 years younger than Brosnahan. I wonder if maybe they'll go for something closer to what we got in My Adventures with Superman?

 

[Christopher]

Hey, they got Lois last (cinematic) time 'round.

And the first time, with Noel Neill.

But yeah, this will be the first redheaded live-action Jimmy since Tommy Bond in the serials, and he was in black-and-white. It's weird how actresses playing comic-book characters usually dye their hair to match them (which led to, in one case, the irony of Kirsten Dunst and Bryce Dallas Howard switching their respective natural hair colors to play MJ Watson and Gwen Stacy), but male actors are more likely to keep their own hair color regardless of the character's (with a few exceptions like Ben Affleck as Daredevil and KJ Apa as Archie Andrews). I guess it's because women dyeing their hair is more of an accepted cultural norm.

Oh, I've never seen Superboy and was under the impression that it's Lex Luthor was older.

Well, yes and no. In season 1 of Superboy, Lex was played by Scott Wells as a college student the same age as Clark and Lana, but he was terrible, so in season 2, they did a plastic-surgery plot to handwave recasting him as the significantly older and vastly superior Sherman Howard (while offering no in-story explanation for simultaneously replacing John Haymes Newton with Gerard Christopher as Superboy). And then they pretty much pretended Wells had never happened, with Howard playing Luthor even in alternate timelines.

 

[Mage]

The character of Eve Teschmacher has had a weird trajectory. She was created for the 1978 movie and appeared only in it and its sequel, then nowhere else for the next 20 years. But then versions of her started appearing infrequently in the comics from 2000 onward, then Tess Mercer in Smallville was loosely based on her (but was later retconned into being a version of Lena Luthor), then a new version of Eve was introduced in Supergirl 36 years after her previous screen appearance and became a major recurring character. And now her appearance in this movie is being announced as if she were a familiar core Superman character as much as Jimmy Olsen.
.

The character appeared in Superman Returns as well right? Or was that a different character?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Season two of Peacemaker cannot come soon enough.

The character appeared in Superman Returns as well right? Or was that a different character?

Kitty Kowalski is Eve Teschmacher with the serial numbers filed off.

 

[Christopher]

The character appeared in Superman Returns as well right? Or was that a different character?

No, Parker Posey's character was named Kitty Kowalski, though she played the equivalent role as Luthor's moll. It just shows how much influence the Reeve movies had that people automatically assume any moll of Lex Luthor's has to be Eve Teschmacher even though she's had so few actual appearances. The 1988 animated Superman series had a very Hackmanesque Luthor with an Eve-like ditzy blonde assistant, but she was named Jessica Morganberry; I figure Ruby-Spears probably didn't have the rights to movie-exclusive characters.

Another reason it's odd that Eve has made a comeback is that Mercy Graves has been the character most often used as Luthor's main female associate since she was created for Superman: The Animated Series in the '90s. Although Mercy is pretty much the opposite of Eve in personality, probably by design.

Frankly, I was never that impressed by Eve in the movies. The "sexy moll" role was filled more interestingly by Pamela Stephenson's Lorelei Ambrosia in Superman III, because it was a deconstruction of the sexist trope where she acted like a ditzy sexpot but was secretly a genius. (I also found her much hotter than Valerie Perrine, but that's subjective.)

 

[Mage]

Season two of Peacemaker cannot come soon enough.


Kitty Kowalski is Eve Teschmacher with the serial numbers filed off.

I have this weird memory from Superman Returns and Kevin Spacey's Luthor yelling 'Miss Teschmacher!!!'
Granted, it's been years since I've seen that movie.

 

[Christopher]

I have this weird memory from Superman Returns and Kevin Spacey's Luthor yelling 'Miss Teschmacher!!!'
Granted, it's been years since I've seen that movie.

The mind is very good at constructing false memories from fragments of different memories, especially ones that have elements in common. It's a lot like generative AI that way.

 

[Captaindemotion]

I have this weird memory from Superman Returns and Kevin Spacey's Luthor yelling 'Miss Teschmacher!!!'
Granted, it's been years since I've seen that movie.

Mandela syndrome. Or Mandela of Steel Syndrome.

 

[The Realist]

I have this weird memory from Superman Returns and Kevin Spacey's Luthor yelling 'Miss Teschmacher!!!'
Granted, it's been years since I've seen that movie.

You may be remembering Cat Grant doing it on Supergirl (a moment that was a laugh-out-loud delight).

 

[Tosk]

Mandela syndrome. Or Mandela of Steel Syndrome.

It's just a false memory. To be the Mandela Effect, a large number of people need to share the same false memory.

 

[Christopher]

It's just a false memory. To be the Mandela Effect, a large number of people need to share the same false memory.

My first impulse in my post above was to say "Mandela Effect," but then I remembered, "No, wait, that's not actually what it means, is it?" Though I didn't quite remember what the difference was, so thanks.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

I have this weird memory from Superman Returns and Kevin Spacey's Luthor yelling 'Miss Teschmacher!!!'
Granted, it's been years since I've seen that movie.

Maybe mixed it up with Hackman?

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[Mage]

Maybe mixed it up with Hackman?

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Perhaps it's a weird trick in my brain, like Christopher suggested. I can really remember a scene on the yacht with Spacey's Luthor yelling it. But I am most likely just mixing things up.

 

[Sketcher]

Maybe you're mixing up Spacey's "WROOOOONNG!" with Hackman's "MISS TESSHMACHER!"

Same inflection. Different words.

 

[The Realist]

Stolen from elsewhere, our cast so far:

 

[JD]

I do find it a little funny that after voicing Hal Jordan 6 times in DC's animated movie, Nathan Fillion is finally playing Green Lantern in a live action movie, and it's not Hal.

 

[Skywalker]

Personally, I hope that's because they intend to make John Stewart the focal Green Lantern of the DCU. They can still have Hal show up as another veteran Lantern.