Lex Luthor has always been an important antagonist to the DC Universe, but his appearance in the 1950 serial Atom Man Vs. Superman is one of the strangest that has ever been seen with the character. With performances of all kinds for the villain, from Gene Hackman’s playfully mad genius to Michael Cudlitz’s genuinely evil Lex, Superman’s arch-nemesis has been shown several different ways throughout the years. One of the earliest, however, sets a very strange template.
Superhero film serials used to be common, especially in the 1940s and into the 1950s. Before Superman and Batman movies became tentpole events, their stories were told in chapters on the big screen. Kirk Alyn was the first actor to play Superman in live action, appearing first in the 1948 serial Superman before reprising his role here in Atom Man Vs. Superman. He was joined in this sequel by Lyle Talbot, who played one of the strangest versions of Lex Luthor that has since been seen onscreen.
Atom Man Vs Superman’s Plot Looks So Much Weirder Over 70 Years Later
The Film Sees Lex Luthor Using A Number Of Odd Devices
The story of Atom Man Vs. Superman is strange, and sees much of the technology-obsessed Lex Luthor of the Golden Age of Comic Books. In the serial, Luthor as Atom Man, with a giant, unusual mask, creates a series of gadgets to destroy Superman. Aside from these gadgets, the villain also creates a synthetic and creepy Kryptonite which he uses as a weapon against Superman. With an odd style and tone, as well as dated costumes and effects compared to today’s films, Atom Man Vs. Superman is an interesting curio.
Atom Man is a strange villain in the film, and it is unusual that the idenтιтy of Lex Luthor himself was not seen as enough of a draw. Instead, Lex was given an unusual accent, and had to use gadgets that would allow him to displace atoms across space. Combining this with his strange headpiece, the villain seems to try as hard as he can to do away with the components of Lex’s idenтιтy that audiences generally connect with. Compared with more recent takes on the character, this one feels unusual and, admittedly, disappointing.
Why Atom Man Vs Superman’s Plot Is So Bizarre
The Format And Context Were Important To The Film
The story of Atom Man Vs. Superman is heavily influenced and restricted by its form. Rather than telling everything at once, the film had to be broken up into 15 chapters that totaled a 252-minute runtime. Restricted by technology, it was difficult to tell large Superman stories with the budget that they had, which made small, strange tales with science fiction elements that would not challenge the camera that much more important. Giving Lex unusual costuming and a twisted plot helped to provide the film with stakes.
Audiences were aware of Superman in 1950, but not in the same way as today, with so many Superman TV shows and movies available. The character was known then from comics, as he was not at the center of superhero pop culture as he has since grown to be. Matching the tone of comics from the day, this serial needed to give full context to the Superman character and his world, which made for a most unusual take on Lex Luthor. While Atom Man Vs. Superman may not hold up excellently, it is an important part of the larger superhero canon.
The entire scope of Superman’s canon is a truly incredible thing. The character has been around since 1938 and has made drastic changes to his stories and to his backstory in the years since. Regardless, much of Superman has actually remained the same throughout the decades, and it is rewarding to reflect on the importance of stories like Atom Man Vs. Superman to the larger DC canon. With this in mind, it is incredible to see how far the character and his supporting cast have come.
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