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SALT LAKE CITY — Casting may be moving forward quickly for the “Man of Steel” sequel, set for the summer of 2015.
In what will probably be welcome news, after the controversial announcement that Ben Affleck will be playing Batman in the follow-up movie, ComicBookNews.com is reporting Bryan Cranston has been cast as Superman arch-nemesis Lex Luthor.
Matt McGloin reports, “Cranston has reportedly signed a deal that includes at least six appearances (and possibly more), meaning that his character will appear in a variety of films set within the interconnected DC Comics universe."
If true, and please read the “if” one more time here, this report is setting the DC universe up for a lot of Cranston and suggests Luthor will be involved in more evil-doing than just the misdeeds he commits in the 2015 Batman/Superman crossover.
Fans of AMC’s “Breaking Bad” should be happy if the rumor turns out to be true. Cranston has demonstrated, over the show’s five seasons, impressive range as an actor and sells credible villainy better than about anyone working. One Cranston fan, after hearing the news, commented on RollingStone.com, “Poor superman ... Lex Luthor will finally kill him.”
While several sources, including IMDb, RollingStone.com and eonline, are repeating the story, no one seems willing to confirm it. That may be in part to another bit of news in the same article:
“DC also does have major interest in bringing Matt Damon into the Justice League now that Affleck is on board, and it is rumored that he is being considered for Aquaman or Martian Manhunter.”
Matt Damon as Aquaman sounds like too much to ask any film geek to swallow at this point, but with El Mayimbe at Latino Review reporting the same Luthor news a few weeks back, I’m willing to file Cranston as Luthor away in my things-that-are-very-likely cabinet. Travis has been covering movie news and film reviews for Deseret News and KSL.com since 2010, and continues to contribute coverage for film festivals and other live events in Utah. You can contact Travis at tspoppleton@gmail.com.
