While the latest Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice trailer put to rest some rumors and confirmed some others, we had a chance to see more of Jesse Eisenberg as the new Lex Luthor - and while some fans may find this new take on the iconic supervillain a fresh and much needed one, some others cannot get over the idea of the scrawny The Social Network star becoming Superman's greatest foe.

What kind of a threat can he pose against the Man of Steel?

Well, this article will tackle a rumor which said that Lex Luthor is, in fact, a Kryptonian himself - or rather a Kryptonian descendant, we might say. This is a twist that could potentially anger everybody waiting for this movie - simply because it sounds like an unneeded twist, a shock just for the sake of it.

But we beg to differ. This would be a modern Lex, the Junior (oh, you didn't know that in the DC Expanded Universe he is the second Lex Luthor?) who has the most chances of actually taking down Superman and, why not, the entire Justice League.

In this article, we will try to explain how this rumor has appeared and what chances it has of actually being true. So without further ado, let's check out the origins of the rumor!

A short history of Warner Bros trying to adapt Lex

The Gene Hackman portrayal of Lex Luthor still remains the best one to date (even if Kevin Spacey did his best in the failed Superman Returns reboot). Making use of oftentimes considered convoluted plots, the character actually managed to pose a serious (albeit not direct) threat to what Superman stood for.

And Warner Bros attempted to change that on several occasions. In other words, the studio wanted to make Lex Luthor a physical threat for the Man of Steel. But while in the comics the villain uses a super powerful Mech suit to lay a beating on his nemesis (suit which was rumored to be featured in Batman v Superman also), the studio tried different approaches.

For example, the failed Tim Burton Superman Lives was supposed to have Lex Luthor merging with Brainiac (which was also rumored to be the big baddie uniting the Justice League in the DCEU) into a being called either Luthiac either Lexiac - maybe it is better this didn't happen.

Then J. J. Abrams also wrote a script for a reboot, called Superman Flyby, which is a pretty interesting (though odd) title. While several elements from this script were eventually used in Man of Steel (for example, elements concerning the politics of Krypton, as well as a similar villainous plot), what seemed to most interesting was Lex's backstory.

Superman Flyby was supposed to have a geeky Lex (which is nothing new, apparently), obsessed with UFOs. His main focus would have been on a crashed Kryptonian ships, which was supposed to be revealed as being his in the end of the movie.

As you can see, there were at least two instances in which Warner Bros wanted to revamp Lex - and the latter seems the most interesting one, especially since Zack Snyder dressed Superman as a Jedi and shot Stormtroopers being arrested by the Gotham PD.

The crashed Kryptonian ship

As said, if this proves to be true, this isn't the first time when Warner Bros tried to make Lex Luthor a Kryptonian (or a Kryptonian descendent). And, if this proves to be true, the studio actually has set this up in Man of Steel.

While Batman v Superman is regarded as the kick-off point of the DCEU, Man of Steel had its fair share of Easter-Eggs. And one of them was in the Fortress of Solitude itself - the opened hibernation pod. Of course, everybody believed that the pod might just introduce Supergirl into this shared universe - but this makes no sense, since this means having two basically identical superheroes in the DCEU. So what if that pod contained another Kryptonian, who found a way out and blended with all the Earthlings?

While Man of Steel can be considered a flawed movie, we can't believe that Zack Snyder placed such a huge Easter-Egg without having at least the intention of going somewhere with it. And since it doesn't make sense having Supergirl, what if"¦?

What if the Kryptonian in that pod married and Earth woman, had kids, and those kids had their own kids, and so on? This would be a pretty good origin story, which would explain how such a young Lex Luthor (Jr.) leads one of the most powerful tech-based organizations on Earth. He already had the advanced Kryptonian knowledge in his blood - all he needed to do is access it.

A reason for the twist

Don't get too angry, though - this isn't just a twist for the sake of shock and it doesn't mean at all (just yet) that Lex can be a physical threat. It just means that there is a reason why such a young Jr. is the leader of a tech behemoth company.

And, in this way, this twist doesn't undermine the whole idea of Lex Luthor, the man who made it on its own and who challenged the gods. From a physical point of view, he is still scrawny. He just happened to inherit the means of creating and developing technology ahead of its time.

This also explains how he was able to manipulate genetically the corpse of Zod and transform it into Doomsday. First he needed a way to penetrate the impenetrable skin, then he needed the knowledge to actually break down the Kryptonian genetic code and tamper with it - as far as we know, Jr. might just be the descendent of a brilliant scientist.

The rivalry between him and Superman is also explained at this point. If traditionally the battle is between man and god, now it becomes something else - the battle between the one supposed to inherit the world and his challenger. At a certain degree, it is like a battle between brothers. And this is something we have seen before - so, in a way, might please some fans.

Marketing campaign

There is another piece of information which could suggest that this theory is true - and this info comes via the viral marketing campaign. Fortune Magazine published an interview with Lex Luthor a couple of month ago, an interview in which basically praised the Jr. as being the man of tomorrow.

Looking back at that article, from the perspective of the Kryptonian descendant theory, it all makes sense - what seemed to be just an adulatory piece now resembles more and more as being hidden messages concerning the origins of the current Lex Luthor. When you have a superhuman feat and you are called both down to Earth and the prodigal son, it literally spells it out - Lex Luthor is a Kryptonian!

Furthermore, and as a possible nod to the revival of Zod as Doomsday, the marketing campaign for Batman v Superman also says that LexCorp will reveal technology that will change the world. Of course, this can also be a nod to some other kinds of inventions as well - and we wouldn't count out just yet the appearance of Lex's iconic Mech suit.

Fitting the theory in the Batman v Superman

While the latest trailer for Batman v Superman did reveal a bit more about Lex Luthor (such as the fact that he does know who Clark Kent really is), the character still remains a mystery. But we can always go back to the previous trailers and see that Jr. sees himself as a savior. The whole line devils come from the sky seems to suggest both that Superman is a peril for the world, just like it seems to suggest that Lex considers himself a fallen angel who came to save the world from other fallen angels.

And this looks like a classic case in which the villain considers himself a hero and justifies all his actions in this belief. Furthermore, if we take a look at all the religious imageries from Man of Steel, having Luthor as a second fallen angel is something Zack Snyder would certainly approve.

Then there is also the fact that Lex knows something about Kryptonite - how can he know that this piece of rock is potentially lethal to a Kryptonian, if he hadn't tested it in some way? Sure enough, he might have done some experiments on Zod - but we hardly believe that. After all, he knows to keep the kryptonite sealed in a box"¦

As a conclusion"¦

This theory has the best chances of being actually true - unlike all the other shocking theories, which have already been debunked (for example, Joker being a former Robin). Warner Bros has already considered presenting a different Lex Luthor on the big screens, but those projects died off - Man of Steel, on the other hand, laid the perfect ground for a new type of Luthor.

And while having a traditional supervillain, who has resisted decades or so without being drastically altered, does bring its advantages, maybe a change should be made.

Warner Bros and the DCEU might lose some fans if indeed Lex is a Kryptonian. But, at the same time, it will show that it isn't afraid of making bets and playing its cards until the end.

For the moment, we are still in the dark though. But we wouldn't be too surprised if this rumored origin story turns out to be true (after all, a mocked theory concerning the origins of Doomsday in the DCEU was revealed to be spot-on).