The Theme of Legacy in Superman (2025) Ft. Lex Luthor's Rejection of Legacy, and Clark embracing the JSA's Legacy


This is a compilation of a series of image posts I made and my comments under them discussing my theories in shorter form. This is a follow up to my first post that I made just after the teaser trailer debuted if you have not seen it, it's here on my blog as well.

Lex Luthor vs Superman

Reject or Embrace Legacy? (Luthorcorp -> Lexcorp)


A lot of people were confused or weren't fans of the change to Luthorcorp instead of Lexcorp, but actually Smallville did this first, but has Lex change it to Lexcorp after he takes over after his father Lionel.

Relating this to the theme of legacy in this film, while Clark embraces all the legacies that make him (Smallville, the Daily Planet, Krypton, past heroes like the JSA), Lex rejects his father's legacy for his own.

Their arcs are opposite to each other.

In response to someone saying they preferred a rags to riches Lex who founded the company himself:

Oh that's my personal preference too. It's what basically all the main comics origins go with. That being said, the more I think about it, the more this choice seems to really fit with and add to the theme of "Legacy" in this film.

Lex's arc of struggling with his family's legacy, only to ultimately reject it and claim it as his own out of pride, is a perfect parallel and contrast to Clark struggling with the legacies he has to live up to and embracing them while still resolving to leave one of his own.

A good compromise I guess is that Luthorcorp was near-bankrupt when Lionel died, and it's Lex who built it back up and made it reach new heights, getting it more involved with science, technology and engineering instead of real estate, oil and agriculture. Could be very meta too considering '78 Lex's real estate obsession lol.



Something I’ve discussed a lot elsewhere, but making a post specifically to discuss on here.

I think there’s a good chance the legacy of the JSA will be important for the story of James Gunn’s Superman, and it’ll be part of why “Legacy” was the film’s original subtitle and still its main theme.

I also decided to put those panels from Doomsday Clock up there because interestingly it drew parallels with Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel with how it portrayed Jonathan Kent’ hesitancy for Clark to be an open hero...until the timeline is fixed and the JSA exist in the past again. This inspires both Jonathan and Clark as a hero.

That’s just the legacy of Earth, but of course there’s the legacy of Krypton and the House of El. A topic for another post.

Here's a comment from another thread later on that sums up more of it in text form:

My theory that I’ve been discussing since the announcement and made posts about recently (1, 2) is that Michael Holt, Kendra Saunders and Guy Gardner were chosen because their identities have roots in the JSA.

  • Michael’s the second Mr. Terrific after Terry Sloane, with fellow JSA member Jim Corrigan (The Spectre) telling Holt about him and being inspired by his story

  • Guy’s the second human member of the Green Lantern Corps after Hal but the third hero from Earth to hold the title of GL and wield a green colored power ring. The first was Alan Scott.

  • Kendra specifically is both a reincarnation and grandniece of Shiera Saunders-Hall, the Golden Age Hawkgirl and wife of Carter Hall. Recently both she and Shayera Hol now exist at the same time and Kendra’s again her own person/soul. Shayera’s with Carter (Katar Hol died and Carter got resurrected) and Kendra’s free.

Basically they’re all legacy characters. In a movie that used to be Superman: Legacy, and still has legacy as a theme. So I think James Gunn’s going to tie them into that theme. These heroes know who they are and what legacy they come from. But Superman, as Clark Kent and Kal-El, still has to struggle with his.

Edit: I also think Lex will have a similar but opposite arc.









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