Flush with ambition for their new slate of superhero adventures, Warner Bros. and DC appear to be planning more crossovers. Nothing is confirmed yet, but according to Deadline, the companies are talking to Jesse Eisenberg about bringing his take on Lex Luthor from Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice to the film based on the**Suicide Squad **that has David Ayer attached to direct.
As of right now, it’s only at the discussion stage mostly because Eisenberg has a busy schedule ahead. He’s already on board for Now You See Me 2 and has been circling a role in Todd Phillips’ planned new based-on-reality stoner comedy Arms & The Dudes.
This would clearly indicate that Eisenberg’s version of Superman’s most famous villain won’t be suffering a Zod-style neck snap at the end of** Dawn Of Justice **and will be hanging around the DC movie universe to cause trouble. His presence in Suicide Squad (which finds a group of the comic-world’s biggest supervillains recruited for dangerous missions by the government) would help connect the film more closely to the Justice League-spawned films, at least in actor terms, but there’s also the matter of other casting to be ironed out with Will Smith, Ryan Gosling, Tom Hardy and Margot Robbie among the names being floated.
And it’s a gamble, too: how does Warners know that audiences will respond to Eisenberg’s version of the genius villain? Whatever happens, Ayer – who talked about the project to us here – is aiming at an August 5, 2016 release date.