Who Is Eve Teschmacher? Lex Luthor's Girlfriend In Superman Explained

DC Studios dropped its first full-length trailer for James Gunn’s Superman, and with its release, a lot of new information about the film has emerged. Starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, it will follow the hero early in his career as he accidentally stirs up international controversy and draws the ire of Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult). In addition to Corenswet and Hoult, Superman stars Rachel Brosnahan, Edi Gathegi, Isabella Merced, Sara Sampaio, and Nathan Fillion, among others.

The Superman trailer sets up Lex and Clark’s rivalry as rooted in jealousy and xenophobia. The LuthorCorp CEO oozes with envy as he calls the hero an “it” and laments how he’s “become the focal point of the world’s conversation.” There are other external factors at play, such as the government objecting to Superman’s unsanctioned activities, but that Lex-Clark animosity seems to be the core of the film’s conflict.

While there were a lot of major reveals in the latest trailer, there is a blink-and-you-miss-it sH๏τ of Eve Teschmacher (Sampaio), Lex’s ᴀssistant and girlfriend. In the clip, she is taking a selfie while the Hammer of Boravia destroys Metropolis in the background. Given Lex’s importance in Superman, Eve has the potential to be a major supporting character in her own right. Despite first appearing in the iconic Superman: The Movie, Eve isn’t as well known to modern audiences, having been ignored or eclipsed by other characters in most modern Superman media.

Eve Teschmacher Has A Long History In DC Media

Miss Teschmacher Was Created For Superman: The Movie

Interestingly, Eve has no comic origin. As stated, she first appeared in the 1978 Superman film, where she was played by Valerie Perrine. Eve is something of a sympathetic character for two major reasons: Lex is constantly verbally abusing her, and she has a conscience. Throughout the movie, she provides a mix of comedic relief—a role shared with Ned Beatty’s Otis—and visual appeal. In fact, her attractiveness is used as part of Lex’s plan at one point.

Nonetheless, Superman goes out of its way to establish that Lex does not view her as an equal, with him yelling “Miss Teschmacher” at the top of his lungs and frequently insulting her. Towards the climax of the film, Lex threatens to target a California fault line as well as Hackensack, New Jersey as part of a real estate scheme. The problem is that Eve’s mother lives in Hackensack. After Lex ignores this, Eve decides to set free a captive Superman, so long as he promises to save her mother first. After a somewhat uncomfortable kiss, she then laments why she can’t seem to fall for a good guy.

Unfortunately, Eve goes right back to helping Lex in Superman II, so her hint of a redemption arc is short-lived. She’s given less to do in this film, and that’s the last we see of Perrine in the role. Since then, her only live-action appearance was in The CW’s Supergirl, where she worked as a double agent for Lex, with whom she was in love. In this storyline, she also turns against Lex. Additonally, she has appeared a few times throughout various Superman and Jimmy Olsen comics.

Eve Teschmacher’s DC Legacy

Miss Teschmacher Primarily Appears In The Donnerverse, But She Inspired Many Superman Characters

Lex and Kity Kowalski n Superman Returns

Though Eve herself only has a handful of live-action appearances, her presence can be felt throughout Superman media. She inspired more than a few Lex love interests and devotees in the 47 years since her debut. To start, there’s Lex’s revenge-obsessed ex-wife, Arianna Carlin, from Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, who targets Superman in retaliation for Lex’s death. Her life is more tragic as she enacts her complicated revenge against Lois and Clark and her efforts lead to Lex’s revival, but she is imprisoned, and there is no indication they ever meet again.

Another Eve-inspired character is Kitty Kowalski from Superman Returns. Played by The White Lotus’ Parker Posey, she is, in-effect, an Eve stand-in. The film was made almost 30 years after Superman, so all major characters were recast. However, instead of recasting Eve, the writers created Kitty, who goes through the same general beats: starts a toxic relationship with Lex, realizes he doesn’t care about her, helps Superman, and develops an unrequited crush on the hero.

Smallville’s most significant reference to Eve is the creation of Tess Mercer.

With regard to Eve, Smallville is an interesting case. Despite heavily focusing on Lex, she never makes an appearance, at least not as the character was previously portrayed. Elements of her story are felt in Lex’s toxic relationship with Lana Lang, but the most significant reference to Eve is the creation of Tess Mercer. Played by Cᴀssidy Freeman, Tess was conceptualized as a hybrid of Eve and Lex’s female bodyguard, Mercy Graves. Like Eve, she was depicted as having obessive feelings towards Lex, before finding out that he was using her and defecting to Clark’s side.

Later in the series, Tess is actually revealed to be an adaptation of Lena Luthor, Lex’s sister. Smallville handwaves Tess’ implied crush on Lex by acknowledging she didn’t know they were siblings and ignoring it altogether in season 10. Regardless, she still fills a similar role as a Lex henchwoman who betrays him in favor of Clark.

How Eve Teschmacher Fits Into James Gunn’s Superman

Actress Sara Sampaio Unpacks Her Take On Miss Teschmacher

With such a long history and influence, it makes sense that James Gunn’s Superman would adapt Eve. The film draws heavily from the Reeve era of Superman, and including its original characters is a natural way to do so. Recently, Sampaio discussed her version of the character, joking that “everyone is just yelling at [her] the whole movie.” She then opened up about how she wanted to honor the previous movie portrayal of Eve:

There was a lot of liberty to play with her because you kind of only see her in those couple of movies. […]So what I’ve wanted to bring from those movies, it’s that childlike nature. Like, even though she’s part of the bad guys, she kind of has this kindness to her.

As for how Eve and Lex’s relationship develops, Sampaio stated: “Lex just wants to take down Superman, and [Eve is] just happy that [her] boyfriend is rich and takes [her] to all these places. […] But [she does] have a heart, and […] can actually tell what’s right from wrong-ish.” The model-turned-actress added: “I’m just so happy that [Gunn] saw something in me and trusted me with Eve.” Per Sampaio’s description, her Eve will check a lot of similar boxes to Perrine’s portrayal, though how she factors into the broader plot is still unknown.

Why Eve Teschmacher Is Different Than Other Lex Luthor Right-Hand Women

Lex’s Other Best Known Right Hand Is Mercy Graves

While Eve is iconic in her own way, she has been somewhat overshadowed by a more recent addition to the Superman canon: Mercy Graves. Created for Superman: The Animated Series, Mercy is Lex’s bodyguard and right-hand woman. Generally, she is depicted as more physically capable than Eve, and Lex places more trust in her. Their relationship is also usually platonic. Unlike Eve, she made the leap into the mainstream DC Comics universe and other expanded media, including appearing briefly in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and as part of a longer arc in Supergirl.

As noted, Mercy is the other original inspiration for Tess, and because of that, the latter is depicted as more ruthless and business-savvy than Eve. In order to fully compare Eve, Tess, and Mercy, Lena also has to be factored in. Now most known for her appearance in Supergirl, she is the morally grey younger sister of Lex who tends to skew more towards the side of good than her brother. Eve is easily the gentlest of these women, and her feelings toward Lex derive more from romantic love.

There is a second Lena Luthor in DC Comics, who is Lex’s daughter and named after his sister.

As for why Gunn chose Eve over Lex’s other henchwomen, the most likely answer is twofold. Firstly, her inclusion is a tribute to 1978’s Superman. Secondly and more importantly, Lex’s female bodyguard appears to be Angela Spica/the Engineer based on the trailer, which would make Mercy’s inclusion redundant. Including Eve rounds out Lex’s supporting cast more effectively because she serves a different function in the narrative, and either Mercy or Lena can always appear down the line in the DCU. Regardless, it will be interesting to see how Eve evolves in Superman.