Hackman's Luthor was one of the best things about the Donner film, as he tried to add color and a feeling that there was something behind his desire for power, but Otis was a frequent distraction and made no sense: why would someone as intelligent, detail-oriented, secretive (until he tries to trap Superman) and ambitious as Luthor rely almost exclusively on a simpleton? One might write it off as "the absurdity of the subject" but even non-comedic fantasy has to play it straight enough for the conflict to sell.
Hackman's Luthor was one of the
worstB things about the Reeve films. There was
nosense of his "genius", only Luthor talking about it. He was a salesman more than anything. Otis magnified it, but he was just an awful nemesis for Superman.
And going back to what you said
@TREK_GOD_1 about Superfriends... i don't think there is any big push to make a movie version of the cartoon... but many people haven't seen the show, let alone got a chance to hate it... but the general public
already knows this group of heroes, at least the general membership.
I can't believ i agrred with
@Christopher , but i agree they didn't need to do separate films like Marvel did. They already had "cultural permission" to just start off
with the Justice Leagie, especially legacy heroes like Superman.
The only aspect of Superfirends that would be good to keep would be the
"Challenge of the Superfriends"...specifically the Legion of Doom.. (having a villain team from the get go, so the League aren't batlting random demons). They don't have to name ithe Legion as such in the movie (like they didn't with Justice League). But a few easter eggs would make enough fans happy that some good buzz could be generated (Like the FLash TV series when we herd different aspects like John Wesley Schipp) -- it can still be its own thing, but honoring what came before.
I personally would have liked it styled after Justice League INternation by
Keith Giffen and
J. M. DeMatteis, and by
Kevin Maguire, For me, that was a FUN comic book, and would have been great to see.