With current box office approaching $250 million to date, the new Superman movie from James Gunn — the linchpin of a rebooted DC Universe timeline that will join together a host of upcoming movies and TV shows — is enjoying rave reviews and huge pop culture interest.
As a lifelong DC fan, I grew up on Christopher Reeve’s Superman, suffered through the depressing Extended Universe years and welcomed the new movie with open arms.
As someone who loves real estate, I cringe at the property damage on display in superhero movies, including this one. (Any guesses on property values, infrastructure projects and homeowners’ insurance rates in Metropolis and Gotham City?) Between ongoing interstellar invaders and the machinations of Superman’s arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor, there’s always uncertainty to deal with in the DC fictional landscape.
As it turns out, Lex Luthor is a real estate villain
I didn’t realize how closely tied Superman’s world is to real estate until I read a recent breakdown of Lex Luthor’s motivations in the live-action movie versions of the Man of Steel. As it turns out, beginning with Gene Hackman’s 70s-era turn and continuing through Nicholas Hoult’s latest Luthor, the villain of the story has always been land speculation and real estate fraud, for a variety of reasons.
Note: Mild spoilers ahead
Gene Hackman: Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980)
Luthor’s love for real estate and its wealth-building potential is well established throughout both movies, but especially in the first one where he buys huge swathes of desert with a plan to detonate a nuclear weapon in the San Andreas Fault, sinking California into the ocean and making his desert land, which he calls Luthorville, into oceanfront property.
Kevin Spacey: Superman Returns (2006)
We all know the famous real estate mantra, “Buy land. They’re not making any more of it.” Luthor leans on this truism in this movie, using Kryptonian technology to submerge parts of North America, create a new continent and sell parcels to the highest bidders.
Michael Rosenbaum: Smallville (2001–2011)
True to its name, the Luthor we see in the TV version of Superman’s origin story from the early 2000s leans on smaller-scale land fraud, seizing family farms for industrial purposes, using the LuthorCorp real estate arm to expand his influence and focusing on urban renewal and shady development projects to make his fortune.
Jesse Eisenberg: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
In this version of the superhero story, Luthor secures land not for its intrinsic value, but for control of government contracts and access to alien technology. This gives him leverage over both physical infrastructure and institutional entities.
Nicholas Hoult: Superman (2025)
Hoult’s Luthor manipulates people and governments in an attempt to gain land that’s rich in natural resources, hoping to become the de facto ruler of his own country through economic control.
So if Luthor’s a real estate villain, who does that make you?
One of the best things about the new Superman movie is how positive and hopeful it is. The tone, the colors, the acting — it’s all a return to a kinder, gentler, happier version of the superhero story, with a Superman who’s all about truth and justice instead of angst.
Real estate has had a tough few years, and public perception of the industry has taken a hit. That means that every time you educate yourself, every time you help someone make their real estate dreams come true, every time you stand up for what’s right in your community, you’re taking on that heroic role in the lives of your neighbors, colleagues and clients.
Not all heroes wear capes, but sometimes they carry the keys to new beginnings. What will you do to be super today?
