Supergirl has found its Lex Luthor! Jon Cryer has been set to recur as the popular Superman nemesis.
Cryer is expected to make his debut as Luthor in the 15th episode of the current season, which airs in early January. The series switched to Sunday nights in October when it launched its Season 4 storyline. The season’s sixth episode, titled “Call to Action,” airs Sunday.
Executive Producers Robert Rovner & Jessica Queller had this to say about Cryer’s casting:
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“We are enormous fans of Jon Cryer, and he was instantly our dream actor to play the iconic role of Lex Luthor. Jon is a super-talent, and the fact that he played Lenny Luthor in Superman IV brings an added layer of legacy to his casting. We’re beyond thrilled to welcome Jon to the Supergirl family.”
In the pages of DC comic books, Luthor dates back to April 1940. The archenemy of Superman made his first screen appearance in 1950 when Kirk Alyn was the Man of Steel. Lyle Talbot played the title villain in Atom Man vs. Superman — but in the end, Atom Man was revealed to be none other than Luthor in disguise. Luthor’s signature screen appearance arrived nearly three decades later when it was Christopher Reeve wearing the red cape. That’s when Gene Hackman was tapped by director Richard Donner to portray a slippery con-man version of Luthor in Superman, which was the most expensive film in history at the time of its release in December 1978. Other big-screen incarnations include Kevin Spacey (in Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns in 2006) and Jesse Eisenberg (in Zack Snyder’s Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016).
On the small screen, John Shea played the character on Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in the 1990s. For the decade-long run of Smallville (2001-2011), Michael Rosenbaum portrayed Luthor as the cunning and charismatic frenemy of Tom Welling’s Clark Kent.
Cryer won two Emmys for playing chiropractor Alan Harper on the CBS sitcom Two and A Half Men (2003-2015). His career breakthrough, however, was way back in 1986 when he portrayed “Duckie” Dale in Pretty in Pink.
