Ilya and Alexander Salkind, along with producing partner Pierre Spengler, purchased the film rights to the Superman property in August 1974.

Paul Newman was offered all three roles of Superman, Jor-El and Lex Luthor[1] to his choosing though he did not accept any of them, for a salary of $4 million.

Impressed by the producers' ability to cast famous actors in respective roles, Warner Bros. decided to distribute the film internationally, rather than simply domestically.

During My Life, Stark Hesseltine told Christopher Reeve that he had been asked to audition for the leading role as Clark Kent/Superman in the big budget film Superman.

Through Stalmaster's persistent pleading, a meeting between director Richard Donner, producer Ilya Salkind, and Reeve was arranged.

When Hackman was initially cast, he was sporting a full head of hair and mustache unlike the Lex Luthor of the comics.

Following Donner's dismissal, Marlon Brando's scenes were removed from Superman II and much of the film was re-shot under Lester's direction.

Meanwhile, Gene Hackman, who had finished the majority of his scenes playing Lex Luthor, left the project following the departure of Richard Donner.

In the films, Luthor is portrayed as Superman's comedic foil, or as comic book critic Peter Sanderson puts it, "a used car salesman wielding nuclear missiles".

Although retaining a humorous streak, Spacey's take on the character[19] is drier and more straightforward than Hackman's, and displays more personal dislike and hatred for Superman.

The depiction of Lex Luthor in Superman: Brainiac Attacks, rather than being the cold, calculating industrialist portrayed in Superman: The Animated Series, seems to incorporate elements of Gene Hackman's less serious portrayals of the character in live-action movies, making Luthor more light-hearted and darkly whimsical, going as far as to make jokes about the situations around him.

Wonder Woman 1984 director Patty Jenkins has stated Pedro Pascal's performance as Maxwell Lord was inspired by Gordon Gekko from Oliver Stone's Wall Street and by Gene Hackman's portrayal of Lex Luthor in Richard Donner's 1978 Superman film, with Jenkins describing Lord as "a villain with potential to be dangerous and scary".

Luthor is a charismatic yet cutthroat businessman purely motivated by money, as well as the desire to swindle as tremendous a fortune as possible to prove his genius, and no concern for the consequences his schemes could produce or how they could affect others.

Luthor's schemes are offset by a tendency to surround himself with unsatisfactory help; he is burdened by his bumbling henchman Otis (Ned Beatty), as well as his conscience-stricken girlfriend Eve Teschmacher (Valerie Perrine).

Luthor plots to divert a nuclear missile into hitting the San Andreas Fault, causing California to sink into the ocean, thereby turning its neighboring states into prime beachfront property.

Joyce Kilmer's poem "Trees" was recited in a video of an elder (John Hollis) from planet Krypton as an example of "poetry from Earth literature".

It was through this extended version that viewers first caught a glimpse into the Superman II that might have happened had Richard Donner remained as director.

In the extended ending, a U.S. "polar patrol" is shown picking up the three Kryptonians and Lex Luthor, after which Superman, with Lois standing beside him, destroys the Fortress of Solitude.

[34] After Margot Kidder publicly criticized the Salkinds for their treatment of Donner, the producers reportedly "punished" the actress by reducing her role in Superman III to a brief appearance.

Instead, he said, the creative team decided to pursue a different direction for a love interest for Superman, believing the Lois and Clark relationship had been played out in the first two films (but could be revisited in the future).

Once again, Lex allies himself with other villains, in this instance a cadre of war profiteers and arms dealers who are worried about what Superman's efforts toward nuclear disarmament will do to their business.

Lex uses his own DNA combined with a strand of Superman's hair that is stolen from a museum to create a hybrid clone that he dubs Nuclear Man (portrayed by Mark Pillow and voiced by Gene Hackman).

Luthor funds his criminal operations by seducing a wealthy, elderly benefactor named Gertrude Vanderworth (portrayed by Noel Neill).

After his scheme fails, Luthor uses a helicopter to escape capture, but it runs out of fuel stranding him on a deserted island with Kitty Kowalski as well as her dog.

Clark suits up as Superman and destroys the robot, taking its head and giving it to Luthor (who was recently released on parole) to analyze.

However, it instead encourages Brainiac to excise Metropolis and shrink it to preserve it like he's done for the other civilizations, leading Lex to flee in a hot air balloon.

Gene Hackman showed a talent for both comedy and the "slow burn" as criminal mastermind Lex Luthor in Superman: The Movie (1978).