Or Kryptonians are sooooooo advanced they cracked the method to time travel. Jor-El probably imparted the method to Clark during his training.
Superman The Movie question
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Or Kryptonians are sooooooo advanced they cracked the method to time travel. Jor-El probably imparted the method to Clark during his training.
Jor-El: Kal, my boy, you must never interfere with human history. But here's how you'd do it if you were gonna...
I think the Silver Age Luthor was a lot smarter than the Movie Luthor.
I always took it that Jor-El meant "don't impose your mark on humans too much, let them make their own history," but that Superman/Kal-El had the idea based on that comment to literally change history, and had a thorough enough understanding of his powers to know how to do that.
So was the Bronze Age Luthor that was in the comics at the time of Superman: The Movie's production. He was a brilliant scientist, who had many shell companies, including a version of LexCorp, to fund his schemes.
Both the Hackman and Spacey versions were cartoon characters. The best media adaptation of Luthor, as a real threat to Superman who is his mortal intellectual equal, has been in Bruce Timm's various animated projects from Superman: The Animated Series to Superman: Doomsday.
Doomsday nicely contrasts how both Luthor and Superman use their intellects. The former uses his intellect to create cures, only to slowly release them in stages so as to turn a huge profit. The latter uses his to try and find a cure for cancer with the hope of helping humanity.
Moreover, the animated movie shows how Luthor how much of his hatred is influenced by ego. How can someone exist that is stronger, smarter, and ethically superior to him? This is well illustrated in Morrison's All-Star Superman.
The complicated aspects of Luthor are something that's been missing in the cinematic adaptations of Superman. Hell, Lois and Clark had a far better Luthor than the Donnerverse movies.
See, I agree with you that my favorite Luthor is the corporate businessman, the intellectual mortal equivalent to Superman-- Clancy Brown's Lex is the best, bar none, and I loved his depiction in All-Star Superman, too-- but Gene Hackman and Kevin Spacey do such a good job at playing goofy Lex in the films that I just don't care.
"Kill me? And extinguish the greatest criminal flame of our age?"
"Kill me? And extinguish the greatest criminal flame of our age?"
Luthor in Superman Returns was one of the more disappointing aspects for me...I was really looking forward to seeing Kevin Spacey make Luthor his own and portray him as a cooperate mogul who is also smart enough to dabble in science. That has always been my favorite portrayal of Lex. Spacey though seemed to be channelling Gene Hackman in Returns though...
Superman The Movie and it's sequels taking place pre-crisis doesn't bother me, those were the source materials Donner and the writer had at that time. I just am disapointed that with his experience making the two X-Men films and using all kinds of different eras from that franchise's canon that Bryan Singer chose to return to the Donner Verse instead of making his own movie. Sorry didn't mean to turn this into another Superman Returns rant. I'm pretty sure as I stated earlier that Jor-El had taught Kal-El about the possbility of time travel and it's use to alter Earth's history, that is probably why he was so adamant about him not interfering with it.
Superman The Movie and it's sequels taking place pre-crisis doesn't bother me, those were the source materials Donner and the writer had at that time. I just am disapointed that with his experience making the two X-Men films and using all kinds of different eras from that franchise's canon that Bryan Singer chose to return to the Donner Verse instead of making his own movie. Sorry didn't mean to turn this into another Superman Returns rant. I'm pretty sure as I stated earlier that Jor-El had taught Kal-El about the possbility of time travel and it's use to alter Earth's history, that is probably why he was so adamant about him not interfering with it.
See, I agree with you that my favorite Luthor is the corporate businessman, the intellectual mortal equivalent to Superman-- Clancy Brown's Lex is the best, bar none, and I loved his depiction in All-Star Superman, too-- but Gene Hackman and Kevin Spacey do such a good job at playing goofy Lex in the films that I just don't care.
"Kill me? And extinguish the greatest criminal flame of our age?"
For me, it's not so much that Luthor is a corporate business man or an "evil scientist," but whether or not he comes across as the complicated villain that he is. Pre-Crisis or Post-Crisis. Doesn't matter. So long as he isn't the buffoon.
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Ah, I see what you're saying. My exposure to the pre-Crisis Luthor has been scattered and limited, but I haven't seen much that endears me to him the way I am towards the post-Crisis Luthor.
But the buffoon is hilarious!
But the buffoon is hilarious!
Although, I like how they've combined a bit of the Pre-Crisis Luthor with the Post-Crisis Luthor in these Post-Post-Crisis comics. Luthor built his fortune with his intellect, something they also did in the Timmverse, only to lose his company due to his criminal pursuits.
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