Jesse Eisenberg believes Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman hurt his career

Life comes to you quickly. Once upon a time, actor Jesse Eisenberg was known for nothing more than his work as a scrawny actor in films like Noah Baumbach’s “The Squid and the Whale” and Greg Mottola’s “Adventureland.” In fact, the biggest cause for concern in those days was overcoming allegations that he was the same man who played Napoleon Dynamite. (“Please Ibrahim, I am not that man.” (He remembers pleading during an interview, launching thousands of memes in the process.) And then “The Social Network” happened, which led to a Best Actor nomination and ultimately put him on track to become the latest actor-turned-writer/director. This year’s great “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 now admits set his career back in a big way. Refreshingly frank statements come from A recent podcast appearance on “Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard” Where Eisenberg made his speech, oh, Contentious Performance as Superman’s archenemy. Reimagined by director Zack Snyder as a tech mogul with severe father issues and neurotic tics, this unusually no-holds-barred approach was dismissed by critics and audiences alike. The popular metric meant that all eyes were on him…for better or worse, as Eisenberg explained:

“I was in this ‘Batman’ movie and the ‘Batman’ movie was very poorly received, and I was received very poorly. I’ve never said this before and it’s kind of embarrassing to admit, but I really think it really hurt me.” A career in a real way, because I was poorly received in something very public, and I’ve been in poorly received things that don’t see the light of day, and for the most part, no one knows but this was very public, and I don’t read notices or reviews or the film press. Or anything, so I didn’t know how bad it would be received.”

Grandma’s peach tea. All those weird, nervous chuckles and nervous breakdowns in public. This very serious scene of Lex Luthor shaving his head in prison. I must emphasize, Grandma’s peach tea. These are perhaps just a few of the most unsavory moments that come to the average person’s mind when they think of Jesse Eisenberg in 2016’s Batman v Superman. With everything working against him, it’s not surprising to hear that the actor felt his connection to the role was holding him back. In some ways. But don’t confuse this blunt honesty with remorse. As he said, he has no ill will towards the film or Zack Snyder:

“I loved my role, I love the movie (…) so I feel like I’m to blame, not like they did me wrong. No, I say: Oh, I think I made something wrong there.” And so I felt like I had to climb back up, and it was frustrating, but I feel depressed all the time. In some ways, it was like, “Oh yeah, of course I had this great opportunity, of course.” Things didn’t go well. “Just pessimism.”

Eisenberg has been vocal about how much he dislikes the more audience-facing aspects of acting in major films, which seems to make him unsuitable for a huge role as Lex doting Luthor. However, despite the end results, you have to give Snyder and his creative team credit: their instinct to turn a supervillain into a whiny tech bro with no social skills or creative talent to speak of was obvious. (See: Elon Musk.) It’s the execution of his performance and the lack of guardrails for his character’s quirks – not to mention the script he’s saddled with – that condemns this leaky ship to a watery grave.

anyway, Today’s trailer for “Superman” directed by James Gunn Brought us our first look Latest Lex, as Nicholas Hoult. This reboot hits theaters on July 11, 2025. Let’s just hope things go a little better here than they did last time.