A "Bald" Prediction on Lex Luthor in "Batman v Superman"

When the latest “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” trailer was released, it gave us more footage of different characters. Perhaps the biggest jump in screen time was Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor, who is seen chatting with Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne, chastising Lois Lane, and ultimately unleashing Doomsday.

The opening scene suggests that Eisenberg's Luthor will be somewhat playful and not a menacing threat, at least initially. I get a sort of “wolf in sheep's clothing” vibe from the brief encounter shown in the trailer. But reading a few different reactions, one thing I did notice was commentary on his appearance. For some, this latest trailer may have been their first glimpse at footage from the film or the first time hearing Eisenberg identified as Luthor. This led to the inevitable “That's not what Lex Luthor looks like” comments derived from the character's long hair.

Of course, this feeds into more fan theories about how Luthor will eventually lose that hair and become the more traditional bald antagonist we've seen for so many years. A lot of attention has been paid to the bandage on Luthor's hand depicted in a couple scenes, which you can see in this screenshot. I've read a few theories that Luthor may have injured himself during his experiments with kryptonite and perhaps the exposure leads him to fall ill before eventually losing his hair as a side effect.

While this idea is certainly plausible, I don't get that same feeling. If kryptonite in the DCEU has harmful effects on the humans who come in contact with it, that may take away from its power. This material is supposed to be the one thing that can bring Superman down to man's level, so it would make more sense for it to be something a man can handle.

My persona theory on how Luthor loses his hair is a bit different and stems partly from the promotional shot of Eisenberg released a while back:

Upon taking a closer look at the photo, I couldn't help but notice his shirt. It is possible that Eisenberg is not officially in character for this picture and therefore his clothing has nothing to do with Lex Luthor. But if that's not the case, then what I see is a prison jumpsuit. I get the impression that Luthor is wearing a shirt issued to him while incarcerated. The trailer showed us that Luthor clearly unleashes Doomsday in an effort to destroy Superman. So my theory is that Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman will defeat Doomsday and Luthor will be arrested for his role in creating/releasing the monster. As a prisoner, I'm picturing a scene where his head is shaved, setting up his turn as full-blown super-villain.

The reason behind Luthor's hair loss is not a major plot point, or at least I certainly hope not. But of course, its fun to speculate and guess especially as we count down the days until the March release of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” Let's just hope too many of us don't pull our hair out waiting in the meantime...

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