During the DC FanDome 2020 Event, many teasers and trailers for upcoming DC Extended Universe Projects were revealed. Wonder Woman 1984, The Batman, Black Adam, and of course James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad were star attractions. The sequel to the first movie of the same name, The Suicide Sqaud brings back a few legacy characters like Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag and Viola Davis’ Amaanda Waller for the second movie. There are introductions of all new villains into the second chapter. Idris Elba is coming into the DCEU as Bloodsport, the purported successor to Will Smith’s Deadshot. And believe it or not, he is opening the gates for a major DCEU Villain to make his return. The Suicide Squad’s Bloodsport is the ticket for Lex Luthor to make his eventual return.
Bloodsport’s inclusion in the movie might have opened a lot of opportunities for Warner Brothers and DC Films. A very old Superman Villain, Idris Elba’s Bloodsport has ties and connections to major Superman adversaries from the Man of Steel’s Rogues Gallery. Lex Luthor in particular has major connections to Bloodsport’s past.
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It was in 1987’s Superman #4 that Robert DuBois debuted for the first time in DC Comics. John Byrne was rebooting the entire Superman lore within the DC Universe after the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths during the years of 1985 and 1986. Robert DuBois made an epic entrance. He entered a cafe and massacred 25 people in cold blood. Robert DuBois was originally shown to be a Vietnam Veteran but that was later revealed to be a plot misdirection DC wantonly inserted into the story arc. The actual truth was revealed in later issues.
Jimmy Olsen, Superman’s greatest pal and ally, was in the vicinity when Bloodsport killed those people in the cafe. It was his plan to use the massacre as a diversion to draw the attention of Superman. Olsen called the Man of Steel. While Superman was on his way, DuBois entered a bowling alley and killed more than 50 people. Superman finally confronted DuBois. It looked like his murdering spree was over. But it turns out there was one final score to add to that tally. The actual target was Superman. Bloodsport had been creating diversions all around the city so that he could attract the Man of Steel. The trap was set in place. The bait worked.
As Superman came nearer, Bloodsport revealed a needle gun that shot a kryptonite bullet into the Man of Steel’s body. Robert DuBois is one of the few individuals who has taken out Superman in a fire fight.
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The person who gave Robert DuBois the rare Kryptonite bullet was none other than Lex Luthor. Luthor had been re-imagined as a successful businessman and inventor. He had recently fallen on the wrong side of the Man of Steel. Using different ways to manipulate Robert DuBois, he had successfully turned the former Vietnam War Veteran into a human weapon. He then set him loose and Bloodsport went straight for Superman’s neck. But when Luthor heard of the massacres, he realized he had unwittingly created his own Frankenstein’s Monster. Luthor then sent his own men to take down DuBois. This created quite a lot of confusion in the arc.
As always, it was Jimmy Olsen (back in those days, the writers had a strange fixation of making Jimmy Olsen Superman’s saviour) who saved the day. He had come forward to reveal Mickey DuBois, Robert DuBois’ brother, and the actual person who Luthor mistook Robert to be. Mickey lost both his arms and legs in the Vietnam War. Broken and distraught, he revealed to his brother that America lost the war and he gave up his limbs for nothing. Robert then went insane, conscripted into the army, and then ran away to Canada. He pretended to be his brother and hopped from one mental asylum to another.
In the first Suicide Squad movie, we are shown how the many super villain members of Task Force X ended in prison in the first place. Deadshot was captured by Batman. Captain Boomerang was put in prison by the Flash. Harley Quinn’s history with the Joker was also explored in depth before she became a part of the team. Robert DuBois’ had a history with Luthor. It was only after he met him and was manipulated by him that he ended up in prison. Luthor was the one who gave him the kryptonite bullet to take down Superman. If the previous movie’s modus operandi is followed, then DuBois’ background story will also be a subject of exploration in The Suicide Squad.
That is where Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor comes in.
While he may not be included into the DC Extended Universe’s present timeline, The Suicide Squad can make it look like a flashback. A flashback sequence could show Eisenberg’s Luthor from Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice give a splinter of kryptonite to Bloodsport. The sequence could also show us a glimpse of the manipulations Luthor did to DuBois to do his bidding.
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Jesse Eisenberg’s Portrayal of Lex Luthor was not something that fans could be said to have universally acclaimed. The crazy and eccentric manner in which Eisenberg played the role of Superman’s primary villain was poles apart from how his comic book counterpart carries himself in the DC Universe. We know that Zack Snyder had big plans for Jesse Eisenberg’s Luthor. He was supposed to pull the strings from behind the curtains in the future Snyder-Verse DCEU movies. After Snyder left, his brain-child cinematic universe was thrown into the bin. But Eisenberg’s Luthor may not be given the same treatment.
The Suicide Squad is taking traditional villains from the Justice League rogues gallery. There are sure to be multiple connections between many of the members of the Suicide Squad with prominent DC Extended Universe Superheroes. Considering the star power Idris Elba’s Bloodsport brings to The Suicide Squad, his character will have a more in-depth exploration compared to the rest. Eisenberg’s Luthor just might be making his way back to the DC Extended Universe. We can thank/blame James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad for what is about to come.
