Rumor Buster: No, Bryan Cranston Hasn’t Been Cast as Lex Luthor in ‘Batman vs. Superman’

Normally, we would just avoid this obviously fake report but since a few legitimate news outlets have run the story (notably Rolling Stone) and we're getting a lot of e-mails asking about it, we thought it was about time to address it. No, 'Breaking Bad' star Bryan Cranston has not been cast as Lex Luthor in 'Batman vs. Superman.'

Despite a headline on the Rolling Stone front page and a top article on Reddit both claiming that "Bryan Cranston Cast in Man of Steel," the actor has not signed on a multi-film deal to play legendary Superman villain Lex Luthor.

We don't want to get into where the rumor started, but an obviously fake report was published on Monday that claimed Cranston had signed a 10-picture deal for upcoming Batman/Superman films (uh, NO). If that wasn't enough of a tipoff that the news was bogus, another report in the same article from the same source, said that Matt Damon was being considered for Aquaman now that Ben Affleck was cast as Batman (uh, NOOOOO).

Now, it's entirely possible that Cranston could eventually join 'Batman vs. Superman' but that time is not now. There is no deal and he has not signed on to the film. As far as we know, there haven't even been any talks between the sides other than Cranston jokingly telling a reporter, "Give me a call, I like Lex Luthor." All that's there is that Bryan Cranston shaved his head for 'Breaking Bad' and Lex Luthor is also bad. That's the only connection. (It's also to remember, that almost all the fancasting of Batman was way off and Cranston could be a smokescreen for who Zack Snyder and Warner Bros. actually are in talks with to play Lex Luthor.)

So who do you want to play Lex Luthor? Is Bryan Cranston really the right guy for the part or is there someone else out there?