It hasn’t been that long since we watched Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor cause trouble in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Jon Cryer’s Lex Luthor make Kara Zor-El’s life hell in Supergirl, but now there’s yet another live-action version of Superman’s arch-nemesis in the mix. Bosch’s Titus Welliver is appearing in Titans Season 4 as a bearded Lex Luthor, and a new trailer has shed more light on how this criminal mastermind fits into the next batch of episodes HBO Max subscribers will be able to stream. This includes the tidbit that in this DC universe, Luthor is “the only man Bruce Wayne was ever afraid of.”
Titus Welliver’s Lex Luthor was already one of the things I’m most excited to see in Titans Season 4, particularly his connection with Conner Kent, a.k.a. Superboy, since like in the comics, Conner is a genetic clone of Luthor and Superman. However, until today, I assumed Luthor would be a side threat in this new season, i.e. his machinations would be completely separate from what Joseph Morgan’s Brother Blood (who we got our first look at earlier this month) and Franka Potente’s Mother Mayhem are plotting. Not so, as the trailer reveals that Luthor is very much tied into the occult happenings this season.
Through reasons made unclear in the Titans Season 4 trailer, Lex Luthor has been given control of the Temple of Azarath run by the Church of Blood, the group that worships Trigon, Raven’s father. While Luthor is primarily a man of science and technology, there have been times in the comics he’s dabbled in magic, and now Titus Welliver’s version of the character has taken his first steps into the “ancient world.” So what does Luthor intend to with the occult forces now at his disposal? We’ll have to watch Season 4 to learn that information, although whatever it is, it won’t be good, and we should especially be worried about what’s going to happen to Superboy.
To backtrack a little, it is interesting that Dick Grayson described Lex Luthor as “the only man Bruce Wayne was ever afraid of.” Although Bruce killed The Joker in the Titans Season 3 premiere in retaliation for murdering Jason Todd, I would have thought that the Clown Prince of Crime was easily slotted in the #1 spot of people Bruce feared the most. So what’s the deal? Did Luthor somehow learn that Bruce was Batman and threatened to expose his secret identity if he ever interfered in his affairs? Or was Bruce worried about Luthor’s capability of eliminating him, Superman and Earth’s other greatest protectors? Hopefully this is cleared up during the season.
Other highlights from the Titans Season 4 trailer include teasing how Joseph Morgan’s Sebastian Blood transitions into the antagonistic Brother Blood, Lisa Ambalavanar’s Jinx being set up as a begrudging ally for the Titans, “strange things” happening to Beast Boy and Tim Drake getting rather close with an unidentified man. Well, he’s unidentified in the trailer, but TV Insider revealed that this individual is Bernard, the director of Special Projects at S.T.A.R. Labs who’s being played by You and Fire Island’s James Scully. So just like the comics started doing, Titans will be exploring Tim’s bisexuality.
The first two episodes of Titans Season 4 premiere Thursday, November 3 on HBO Max. One episode per week will follow until December 1, and an addition six episodes will be released in 2023. Keep your eyes peeled on CinemaBlend for updates on what Titans has coming up.
