I hated this movie the first time.
Seriously…
I paid money to see it.
$12.
That $12 could have been invested better. Like losing it on the street, or buying
sand.
This week, I saw on my cable provider the movie was sitting
released and able to be viewed. I
thought I would give it another try but this time with a different intent.
Instead of viewing it through the eyes of my
hero, Batman, who in this movie isn’t Batman. He’s some angry, murdering, rich dude punishing
Marvel character.
Or Superman, who I never liked because of his one
dimensional all powerful blowing out a sun and can get hit with a nuclear bomb
type powers. We get it, you are super…man.
I decided to watch the movie through the eyes of the
character that was most hated when the movie was released. That’s Right: Lex Zuckerberg.
I mean Luthor.
The entire theme of BvS is Death. It opens with death (Wayne
parents) it ends with Death (Superman). In the film's middle are the tearing down or
already destroyed lives and values of people.
Batman is no longer Batman because of the loss of Robin. Superman is no longer Superman because he’s a
lone super power on the world stage acting on his own against any City-State's wishes. Lois is losing her influence with contacts in
the Government because she is taking unnecessary risks with her life and getting CIA operatives killed (THAT WAS JIMMY OLSEN! DID YOU KNOW THAT?!). On and on and on everyone has lost or is
losing something.
Enter Luthor.
Lex is a product of base-need and self-actualization. The ultimate
elevation of the human mind built up from life experiences that started in
abuse from his father and scrapping to get by to the pinnacle of owning a
global company, received at the hands of his father. Nobody is smarter than Lex.
He knows everything.
The movie explains this. He has known for years Bruce is
Batman. That Clark is Superman. He knows the meta-humans. He has files on them
that Bruce steals during a party. The Flash, Cyborg, Aqua-Dude and even Diana –
the immortal warrior.
But he’s starting to crack in the beginning of the movie.
Why? He says it. “The
bitter sweet pain among man is having knowledge with no power. Because...Because that is paradoxical”
Lex exclaims that line. Knowledge without power is
paradoxical. And he has the most
knowledge.
To Lex, an atheist, there is no God. Even though he spends
quite a bit of time talking of God(s) he doesn't believe He/they exist. He even
tells Superman this on the roof after he takes Martha hostage and uses her as a
pawn to get him to fight BatFleck. Lex
has rationalized God away. “See. What we call God depends upon our
tribe, Clark Jo. Because God is tribal. God takes sides. No man in the sky
intervened when I was a boy to deliver me from Daddy's fist and abominations.
Mm mm. I've figured it out way back, if God is all powerful, he cannot be all
good. And if he's all good then he cannot be all powerful.”
Therefore God doesn't exist.
Lex’s entire bend is proving these supers/metas are not God. Continuing the quote from above “And
if he's all good then he cannot be all powerful. And neither can you be. They
need to see the fraud you are. With their eyes. The blood on your hands.” These
are just fallible creatures that Lex can take down because he's the smartest
man in the room.
I’m gonna go retro here and think that Zach Snyder pulled
some Luthor mythos from the other films.
That’s explicitly clear when the BvS Luthor speaks of the Greek story of
Prometheus the same way the Superman Returns Luthor speaks of Prometheus. In Superman Returns, Lex is also found saying
“Gods
are selfish beings who fly around in little red capes and don't share their
power with mankind.”
What I think we are seeing, in the DCU is the genesis into
the Lex we know. But right now, it's just being born in him. Lex is smarter
than Batman. But he needs him. Remember, even midway through the movie - Lex
and Bruce share the exact same opinion of Clark. He needs to be destroyed,
because we can't control him. They both see Superman the same way.
Enter Doomsday: Son of Luthor.
Batman and Superman don’t kill each other because Martha, the name Negan whispers after he and Maggie are shot.
"If man can't kill God (speaking of Bruce here), The Devil will do
it!" - Lex
He's speaking metaphorically here. Doomsday isn't the real
Satan. He's Lex's creation. Lex doesn't believe in the spiritual realm. Everything can
and will be controlled, because he's the guy with all knowledge.
Until he breaks when he realizes he can be as smart as he
wants, but he can't stop what's coming.
By the end, Lex isn't crazy. Lex is scared. And he's the
only one who understands WHY they should be scared. But what's he say at the
end, when he's rambling? “But,
the bells are already been rung, and they've heard it. Out in the dark. Among
the stars. Ding dong, the God is dead. The bells, cannot be unrung! He's
hungry. He's found us. And he's coming!”
The whole time he's trying to find a way to destroy things
is because there are no such things as God(s) and you either partner with power
or you destroy it.
If you watch the movie again, with that being the whole
motivation for what's happening, it adjusts the perspective. He's a puppet
master realizing he may not have all power.
And that is what drives him.
