Jesse Eisenberg Thinks Zack Snyder's Batman V Superman Hurt His Career

Life comes at you fast. Once upon a time, actor Jesse Eisenberg wasn't known for anything more than his work as a scrawny character actor in movies like Noah Baumbach's "The Squid and the Whale" and Greg Mottola's "Adventureland." In fact, his biggest cause for concern in those days was beating the allegations that he was the same guy who played Napoleon Dynamite. ("Please Abraham, I'm not that man," he recalled pleading during one interview, launching a thousand memes in the process.) And then "The Social Network" happened, which net him a Best Actor nomination and ultimately set him on track to become the latest actor-turned-writer/director with this year's brilliant "A Real Pain" (which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival).

But one particularly polarizing role may have caused some serious bumps along the way — his turn as Lex Luthor in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," which Eisenberg is now admitting set his career back quite significantly. The refreshingly candid remarks come from a recent podcast appearance on "Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard," during which Eisenberg addressed his, ah, divisive performance as Superman's arch nemesis. Reimagined by director Zack Snyder as a tech mogul with severe daddy issues and a nervous tic, critics and audiences alike all but rejected this unusually unrestrained approach. The blockbuster scale meant all eyes were on him ... for better or worse, as Eisenberg explained:

"I was in this 'Batman' movie and the 'Batman' movie was so poorly received, and I was so poorly received. I've never said this before and it's kind of embarrassing to admit, but I genuinely think it actually hurt my career in a real way, because I was poorly received in something so public. I've been in poorly received things that just don't see the light of day, and for the most part, no one knows. But this was so public, and I don't read notices or reviews or movie press or anything, so I was unaware of how poorly it was received."

Granny's peach tea. All those weird, nervous chuckles and neurotic meltdowns in public settings. That way-too-serious scene of Lex Luthor getting his head shaved in prison. And, I must emphasize, Granny's peach tea. These are probably just a few of the more unsavory moments that spring to mind when the average person thinks of Jesse Eisenberg in 2016's "Batman v Superman." With all that working against him, it's little surprise to hear that the actor felt like being associated with that role held him back in some ways. But don't mistake such blunt candor for regret. As he went on to say, he has no ill will towards the movie or Zack Snyder: 

"I loved my role, and I love the movie [...] so I just feel myself to blame, not like they did me wrong. No, I'm like, 'Oh, I guess I did something wrong there.' And so it did feel like I had to climb out again. It was depressing, but I'm depressed all the time. In some ways, it was just like, 'Oh yeah, of course I had this great opportunity, of course it didn't go well.' Just pessimism."

Eisenberg has been vocal about how much he dislikes the more public-facing aspects of acting in major films, which would seem to make him a poor fit for a role as massive as Lex freaking Luthor. Still, despite the end results, you have to give Snyder and his creative team credit: their instincts to turn the supervillain into a whiny tech bro with no social skills or creative talent to speak of was spot on. (See: Elon Musk.) It's just the execution of his performance and the lack of guardrails to his personality quirks — not to mention the script he was saddled with — that doomed this leaky ship to a watery grave.

In any case, today's trailer for James Gunn's "Superman" brought us our first look at our newest Lex, in the form of Nicholas Hoult. That reboot arrives in theaters July 11, 2025. Let's just hope things go slightly better here than they did the last time around.