re: In retrospect how much of a frickup was Lex Luthor?

Yeah, making Luthor into a young tech geek who has Joker-esque traits was a huge mistake. I always liked Luthor being older and more mature. It's a great contrast to Superman who is usually much younger.

They've made a ton of mistakes with the new Superman movies. They overreacted to Superman Returns and made a mistake of completely abandoning what worked for the original Reeve movies.

There was some rumor during the filming of BvS that there was going to be a scene stolen from the comics that took place in a diner where Luthor basically mindfvcks some waitress. Forgot the details but it sounded like a great way to show just how manipulative and intelligent he was. In the end, the diner location on the set turned in out to be where Martha Kent worked.