Four days into 2012 and we already have a fairly huge rumor on our hands, this time dealing with the city of Metropolis and a certain heretofore unmentioned bald evil genius.
Cosmic Book News reports a massive rumor that none other than Bradley Cooper is set for a cameo appearance as Lex Luthor in "Man of Steel," director Zack Snyder's big-screen reboot of the Superman mythos. Warner Bros. has not responded to our request for comment as of press time.
Surprisingly little has been mentioned about possible Luthor sightings in 2013's Superman flick, though it's hard to imagine the Kryptonian hero's number one nemesis sitting out of the proceedings entirely. A cameo certainly seems plausible -- perhaps as a post-credits scene, or even a brief appearance ala Hawkeye's short but sweet scene in Marvel's "Thor" last summer. Still, nothing's been confirmed in that regard, especially in the casting department... so any talk of Cooper playing Lex is, for now at least, wishful thinking at best.
But man, am I wishfully thinking! It's easy to imagine older, balder, more traditionally imposing actors inhabiting the LexCorp leader's dapper suit, but I think Cooper would be an inspired choice. The guy can play skeevy, smarmy, charming, cool and calculated all in one performance, better than many other young actors in Hollywood. And that's another key word to emphasize -- young. Hiring an actor like Cooper puts Clark and Luthor on more even footing, keeping them in a relatively similar age range, but not so close in age that you can imagine the two guys being old high school buddies or something. (No disrespect intended, "Smallville" fans.)
If nothing else, it would be a different approach. Cooper is definitely not the first person I'd think of when imagining actors to play Lex Luthor -- but then again, Heath Ledger also came completely out of left field when he was tapped to play Joker, and we all know how that turned out. Cooper as Lex could be a very interesting fit. And hey, at the very least, it'd be better casting than Cooper as The Crow, right?
~the source~
happy 37th birthday bradley!
