Jesse Eisenberg

Noted Comic-Con hater, actor and apparently now writer, Jesse Eisenberg, appeared on NBC’s Today to promote his upcoming book of short stories “Bream Gives Me Hiccups” and talk eventually turned to Batman vs. Superman. It was at this point that Eisenberg, who plays Lex Luthor in the upcoming superhero movie, assured us all that not only is Batman vs. Superman a “phenomenal” movie, but that’s it’s also a “very serious” movie. To which, the entire universe responded with a resounding, no freaking duh.

ScreenCrush’s Comic Strip is a weekly roundup of the hottest superhero movie/TV news items. From Marvel to DC and points in between, if it pertains to costumed comic book heroes, we’re covering it here, bringing you our expert analysis. This week, explore the party that is the Suicide Squad set, ponder some odd Michael Shannon comments, and parse the latest Marvel movie news.

When you type the words “Jesse Eisenberg bad interview” into Google, you get over 2 million results.

A late August release date typically means one of two things: A movie is terrible or a movie is weird — and therefore difficult to market. American Ultra is a classic example of the latter. The trailers and posters mostly sell it as a wacky stoner action comedy, but drug humor actually plays a fairly small part in the film, which cycles through scenes of bloody horror, government conspiracy, and sincere relationship melodrama. Audiences might go in to American Ultra expecting The Bourne Identity meets Half Baked. They’re going to find something much stranger and more interesting (with a bunch of First Blood and a smidge of rom-com tossed in the mix).

Following the Batman vs. Superman info dump that came out of Comic-Con, we thought it might be a while before we saw or heard anything from the upcoming superhero movie. After all, we did get an extended new trailer, new images and a new poster. But today, we have three new Batman vs. Superman pics each showing off one of the film’s three main characters: Batman, Superman and Lex Luthor.

While some of you may scoff at the notion of Jesse Eisenberg playing Lex Luthor, here’s a role he’s undoubtedly well-suited to play: a stoner convenience store clerk. Okay, except he’s also a sleeper agent for a secret government program, and in the latest trailer for American Ultra, he kills two guys with a spoon. A spoon.

Last week we got an extended sneak peek at Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice via the Comic-Con trailer, but that won’t be the trailer you see in theaters — IMAX theaters, to be more specific. A new, alternate version of the trailer has dropped online, so if you don’t make it out to your local IMAX theater in the next couple of weeks, you can watch it right here.

When I watched the Comic-Con panel for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, I thought to myself, “Man, Jesse Eisenberg does not look happy to be here.”

The nice thing about missing Comic-Con is that studios are making it possible for you to enjoy (some of) the fun from the comfort of your home. If you aren’t in San Diego (or you couldn’t get into Hall H today), you can now watch the full Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice panel online. Did you miss out on hearing Ben Affleck talk about the hilarious advice he received from previous Batman Christian Bale? Now you can hear it for yourself.

ScreenCrush’s Comic Strip is a weekly roundup of the hottest superhero movie/TV news items. From Marvel to DC and points in between, if it pertains to costumed comic book heroes, we’re covering it here, bringing you our expert analysis. This week, dive into the latest news about Lex Luthor and the Joker, ponder whether Ava DuVernay is actually directing Black Panther, and see which Marvel heroes are getting new comic series.