The first official photo of Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was released Wednesday, March 25.

First Look: Jesse Eisenberg Is Lex Luthor

Little is known of director Zack Snyder’s sequel to his Superman reboot, Man of Steel, aside from the much debated casting of Ben Affleck as Batman, Jason Momoa as Aquaman and Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. Ever since it was announced that Eisenberg had won the role of the famed Superman villain, both Snyder and Eisenberg have been hesitant to reveal any details regarding the character.

“He’s not any of the Lexes that you’ve seen, that’s for sure, other than him being a captain of industry and one person to the world and another person to himself. And bald, of course,” Snyder teased along with the release of the first official photo.

Jessie Eisenberg as Lex Luthor (image credit: EW/Clay Enos)

Indeed, the first photo does show a freshly bald Eisenberg, but Snyder didn’t stop there, adding, “Our Lex is disarming and he’s not fake. He says what he believes and he says what’s on his mind. If you can unravel the string and decipher what he means, it’s all there.”

Eisenberg is no stranger to playing geniuses – the actor is best known for his stellar performance as Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network. And fans are both excited and skeptical to see his incarnation of Lex Luthor, as evidenced by the split Twitter reaction to the photo.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is set to hit theaters March 25, 2016.

Article by Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Olivia Truffaut-Wong was born and raised in Berkeley, California, where she developed her love of all things entertainment. After moving to New York City to earn her degree in Film Studies, she stayed on the East Coast to follow her passion and become an entertainment writer. She lives on a diet of television, movies and food.