A ‘super-scary’ Jesse Eisenberg? Meet the new Lex Luthor (with hair) in ‘Batman v Superman’

“I had a Mentos. Do you want one?” Perched in a glass conference room wearing a T-shirt with the sleeves hiked up, actor Jesse Eisenberg unrolls mints and makes polite conversation.

Meet the new face of the Machiavellian comic-book supervillain Lex Luthor.

Eisenberg has just finished filming footage for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, expanding on Luthor’s ancillary storyline that Warner Bros. dreamed up for his character’s immense corporation, LexCorp. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the SEO-friendly villain that will be used to market the film, which opens March 24.

Gone is the magnificent underground lair or ascot-heavy wardrobe, replaced with a Fortune 500-friendly prodigy. This is the millennial Luthor, a deviation that Eisenberg dubs a relief. “When you’re doing a movie like this and playing a character that’s already been played, the further away it is from the previous incarnations the better,” Eisenberg says. “Because chances are, especially with a guy like Gene Hackman or Kevin Spacey, you’re not going to get favourably compared.”

Also absent: Luthor’s signature hair style – or lack of hair. True comic-book aficionados know that Luthor is usually presented totally bald. Many months back the studio released images of Eisenberg outfitted in the famous chrome dome. But recent footage has shown the young mogul introducing Superman’s alter ego, Clark Kent (Henry Cavill), to Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) capped with long, flowing brown locks not dissimilar to Eisenberg’s real hair.

When asked to explain Luthor’s new hairdo, Eisenberg would only joke about it. “Literally, there would be one of those Wile E. Coyote things where the piano drops from the sky randomly on his head. That’s what will happen to me.” Clearly Warner Bros. is protective of even the tiniest strand of spoilers in the latest addition to the franchise relaunch of the DC Comics universe.

However, Eisenberg promises the patience will pay off, “When you see the movie, you’ll see. It’s the greatest scene that I’ve ever taken part in – it accounts for the change in hair.”