Lex Luthor's Least Favorite Conversation -
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 17 апр 2022
- One year before he’d meet Clark Kent for the first time, Lex Luthor had a conversation with an old friend that would, for some a while at least, stand as his least favorite interaction in his entire life. This is that conversation.
Victor Zsasz first appears in SUPERMAN: AMERICAN ALIEN #3.
Making a canon announcement! The final story of the #KryptonianEpic is now officially revealed as Green Lantern: Outbound Flight! Set at one year after Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, Green Lantern: Outbound Flight tells a story seeking out the mysterious “green lanterns,” who we first saw in American alien issues number six, who again appear in Superman: The Starlight Emperor.
Functioning both as a side adventure and an epilogue that answers a remaining lingering question, Green Lantern: Outbound Flight will be the absolute final story of the epic.
What a ride it’s been!
![Young Nudy - John Wayne (feat. Metro Boomin) [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/NY8HnYYo2fo/mqdefault.jpg)
Hey, I figure if a conversation has three acts, why not try to make it its own little mini movie? Thanks for watching and for participating in my experiments on here!
Making a canon announcement! The final story of the #KryptonianEpic is now officially revealed as Green Lantern: Outbound Flight! Set at the same time as Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, Green Lantern: Outbound Flight tells a story seeking out the mysterious “green lanterns,” who we first saw in American alien issues number six, who again appear in Superman: The Starlight Emperor.
Functioning both as a side adventure and an epilogue that answers a remaining lingering question, Green Lantern: Outbound Flight will be the absolute final story of the epic.
Hopefully all the superman stuff will be wrapped up about one year from today!
What a ride it’s been!
You into Machine Man?
More livestreams for the love of Christ. Love from Zuma Beach 🏖
Exciting stuff!
I’m always curious about the more mystical and the more sci-fi characters in a world that- as has been said before- is more grounded.
Although it feels like the majority of things in this universe have the Made In Krypton stamp on the bottom. XD
I don't want it to be over tho
"Lex, if there are 'good' people out there... you better hope they don't find out about us..." *chef's kiss*
This may be the most interesting piece of the whole epic to me, the fact that victor was able to so succinctly sum up the whole arching theme of good v evil from an objective perspective only to be unceremoniously killed and atomized. And then finishing with one of the "good" people, Oliver, being thought dead only to be miraculously resurrected, almost as if by karma or "fate".
The way he simultaneously forgives, gaslights, compares and contrasts, and sympathizes with Lex's crimes, it's no wonder Lex decided to kill him. There can be no questions or philosophy over Lex's actions, only power and will.
Another incredible addition🙌
This comment!!!
This is the best comment this video got. Bravo!
@@paulwright1814 Thank you very much!!
@@Uptomyknees Hijacking to ask if Mercy's manipulating or otherwise influencing Luthor's megalomania.
@@NateThe_Great24 she's saying and doing everything she has to to stay off the burn list.
“Are you saying you’ve killed someone? Is that a yes or a no? Have you killed more than one person?” What a killer set up! Just gold! Victor’s reaction… just amazing.
"I think kindness matters." - Lex Luthor.
of course, because any and all damage lex does on his way to "saving humanity from itself" is justified and will be forgiven once he's the supreme ruler of the species.
I love how Lex gets all confident and loud only after he "sucker punches" him. Fits in with how Lex is really just a coward.
I mean, don't monologue until your opponent is dead.
@@WilliamSyler "You sly dog! You got me monologing!"
Easily my favorite version of Victor Zsasz. Amazing commentary on wealth and how far removed some people can be from society because of it. Being so nonchalant about literal child murder? CHILLS. You’ve outdone yourself with this one, Max. Truly.
Also not to mention this is a brilliant look into Lex’s psyche. At the end, he manages to sound crazier than the literal serial killer!
@@TheConMan861 Thank you man glad to hear it! Big Lex fully comes out there at the end...
@@Uptomyknees So is it safe to say this Zsasz has never encountered Batman?
@@TheConMan861 And never will.
So many writers fail to get what's interesting about Zsasz. It's not that he's crazy, it's not that he tally's himself, it's that he's rich. He's so far above everyone, he's so pampered and spoiled that he loses all touch with humanity. I love the Arkham City testimonies of his perspective and I love it here. In Gotham he was a fun character but he wasn't Mr. Zsasz. Separately, I've always grappled with the concept that everyone is the main character in their own story. There are many times in life where I make the mistake of slotting someone in a role the same way I do characters on shows I watch, some are side-kicks, some are guest stars, some are extras. We don't need to concern ourselves with extras, they don't even have names. I will find myself in this headspace and then suddenly wake up and see the world from their perspective for a moment and realize how focused I've gotten on my own story, as if I'm somehow owed a consistent story structure with setups and payoffs and a satisfying ending but I may just be a guest star in someone else's story. Maybe I'm the extra.
This might be the ultimate example of the difference between Lawful Evil and Chaotic Evil. Probably my favorite of your work in front of the camera yet
Mercy is such an enigma.
Is she a true believer of Luthor's vision? Is she a survivalist who knows that the only way to survive Luthor is to serve him? Or is she playing him for her own gains?
Only thing I'm sure of is that Mercy's a badass.
These interesting side conversations that flesh out the characters are the best part of the Epic for me. Lex is such a good depiction of powerful men who want to leave a legacy by any means necessary, viewing everyone around them as side characters and their own lives as the main plot.
This is incredibly dense! Am I correct in assuming that aspects of this mirror "Superman can't kill people"? The coolest part is that this doesn't just create the clear ideological divide of "Clark do good, Lex do bad". It actually positions Clark and Lex as relating to each other in ways. Both never being in a fist fight, and both ultimately enjoying the power they have. The divide is that Clark can feel shame, learn, and have accountability for himself while also not being so binary in his thinking.
Just some really inspired writing and acting choices here. Now I've got to go rewatch the Epic again with this in mind
Fuck yeah dude!
Legit jumped in my chair at the conclusion. I knew something like that had to be coming but the nonchalantness of it was fantastic.
Also, I love how you continue to show that, with good writing & some heart, you can rewrite a previously well-known character into a completely separate circumstance & still make it work. I never would have thought Zsasz would work as a billionaire!
Then again, maybe that says something about how detached from reality both echelons are? Super-rich or painfully destitute, they’re both still on the outmost fringes.
I agree with your analysis. Well said. Though I will say that the painfully destitute aren't detached from reality. More like they are rarely in a position to share their stories. This isn't the case with the super rich.
@@jakemckenzie7757 Very true. Looking back on it “painfully destitute” wasn’t the best choice of words. I had to get the comment out while it was still fresh in my head or I’d never write it.
This is now, just slightly behind Byrne's "900 Miles," my second favorite Lex Luthor moment of all time. Well done.
I really dig how - even if he clearly killed Zsasz because he was questioning and judging him - you just know that Lex told to himself that Big-Lex couldn't let people like that walk on the streets. So Little-Lex had to get rid of this problem-person, so that Big-Lex could one day build utopia freeing the world from people like Zsasz. Savage, monstrous bad people (who judge him and think they're better than him). And it's really cool that I kinda rooted for him during this, and wanted him to scare Zsasz before he killed him to feel catharsis, even if I know some things about who this Lex is and what he's capable of (even tho I'm pretty sure he'll go thru more change when... the three lights will come to place...), but the way it happens tells more about this man at this moment in time, like others have pointed out in the comments.
As always: looking forward to what comes next!
I understand that urge, but the principal difference in the homicidality of the two characters is that while Lex takes pleasure in killing, he would never kill for pleasure.
I really like how Lex gets shaken up when Zsasz gets into the nitty-gritty aspect of killing and brutalizing people but he's completely fine with it as long as he isn't directly involved with said acts. He has all these lofty goals but no conviction to see them through.
Rasberry Ghoul is just brilliant
Watching a Max Landis video makes one feel like you're an executive at a meeting meant for only the most brilliant of minds. A sneak peek into the inner workings of genius.
but max landis subscribers are the most brilliant of minds
@@henkdachief LOL, I ain't one of them.
I always wondered if you would pick this thread back up. I remember seeing Zsasz on the yacht for the first time in American Alien #3. Lex basically had to kill Victor in that moment. Everything that Lex believes in was ripped apart by Victor and Lex couldn’t let that stand. Especially because, Luthor at least at the time, valued Victor’s opinion about as much as it’s possible for Luthor to value someone else’s opinion. Luthor had to annihilate that point of view from his world. I would also imagine that this is the last time Lex even attempted to have a conversation like this. It’s Lex’s world and woe be unto them who stand in his way.
"We've all got to believe we're decent deep down, don't we?"
Fucking loved this MAX.
Seen a bit of this on your Instagram story and loved it.
"It's okay, Lex. You did the right thing"
- probably luthor
Also, though I know that Lex Luthor going on his rant AFTER shooting Zsasz is intentional, I'd honestly kinda like to see Zsasz reacting in earnest to Lex's rant and seeing that he, himself, this time, is the Main Character that's getting himself killed just like that, in spite of how untouchable he believes his standing makes him
That's just me though
He'd probably just stand up and leave if Luthor raised his voice, and not talk to Luthor for a few weeks. Then, in about eight months, he'd meet a man named Floyd Lawton. Very briefly. Most introductions to Floyd Lawton last very little time at all.
But I just realized that you actually will get a version of this with a different character!!!
The coolest thing about this is these are both black and white villains without any grey areas or antihero qualities, yet they are strikingly contrasted.
One believes there is no such thing as good or evil or morality, that there is only acting on desires simply because they exist. The other is so far on the other side, where they believe staunchly in good and evil, and that anything they do is good, regardless of it's true morality, simply because he deems it necessary.
It's two completely different types of justifications for the same purely evil motives. Really compelling stuff. Also, big time Patrick Bateman vibes from Victor, but somehow comes off even more evil.
Mercy is so damn awesome. Just this cold, efficient right-hand. (Who would you cast as her, given the choice?)
It's fascinating to see this Luthor as opposed to where he is the last time we viewers saw him.
Luthor should have etched one more tally mark on the man's arm... after all, he dug his own grave with that smug little tirade of his.
Babe, wake up, Max posted again
It's pretty wild that you've managed to fold in parts of people you've encountered into the established characters and make them fresh and interesting
"I NEED you to know that I have an Armenian coat"
Also its god dam hilarious to me that Batman villains who torment him for years, manipulating playing the shadows, mind games with Bruce. Those guys? Get mowed down by a Gatling gun. Like OF COURSE they would. Can't pull any of that crazy magic if I shoot your whole temple Apocalypse Now style.
Also I image the Green Lanterns come down going, "UH HEY we need some help fighting a giant robot on your plant?"
SUPERMAN "I'M IN, you had me at GIANT ROBOT"
i will never tire of these videos, Max. they are genius. every single one of them.
“We’re billionaires born to billionaires Lex, we might as well be aliens.” might well be the best sentence in the epic thus far.
I just got in to the Kryptonian epic a few days ago, and already a new video drops. Excellent.
I like how Lex felt it was important to mention he wore an Armani brand coat.
This was such a great experience. Really unsettling to sit through in all the best ways, good shit man
Max, I just want you to know that I think this is amazing - a truly inspired, high-quality work of writing (and acting!) So excited for more TKE and for Ghostbusters!
The irony of hearing zzasz say "you're always safe with me" is jarring lol
Edit--spoke too soon
Your version of Zsasz has got to be the most interesting version of the character I’ve seen…period.
I really liked this interaction. Kind of a really good foil for lex other than superman himself.
Ok this actually makes me want to understand Mercy’s ideology. Like why she is such a Luther enthusiast?
It's bit of a Bruce timm cliche. If you want a powerful immoral male villain give him badass arm candy.
@@TheMovieCave 100% get that, right now I just feel like this is the perfect opportunity to explain the “why”
@@TheMovieCave Arm candy? Mercy is a BODYGUARD. Interestingly, Luthor is surrounded by extremely powerful women. Diana, Zatanna, Barbara Minerva and Mercy are all in Luthor's deadly, dangerous orbit. The men he keeps close are less threatening, and generally caught up in their own narratives, controlled with money or false promises. This pattern leads ultimately to his mistake of underestimating Victor, Barry, and of course, Clark Kent.
@@dishonesthonest1327 If I had to take a guess it's because when you can get the best body guard money can buy you get someone who isn't really doing it for the money. Mercy doesn't idolize lex personally, what she worships is professionalism. It's not that she believes lex is good or bad, none of that matters when you are focused on every possible threat.
@@Uptomyknees Sure and in kryptonian epic that's an important distinction but being real here in most of bruce timm's creations it's not. The bad guy has a supermodel or three posing in front him at all times. Like the ice maidens are completely inappropriate for freeze's character, he hired 3 suspiciously familiar looking ice themed hench women and gave them skimpy uniforms. But you gotta have them or else bruce doesn't get to draw a naked hourglass and color over it, bless him.
Always look forward to your uploads
Lex Luthor giving an evil monologue AFTER he kills someone is...wow. I don't have words.
One of my favourites. Right next to the Deposition of Barry Allen.
I'm really digging this and all the other content you make around the various pitches you've done in the past. Your ability to tell a really engaging story, that I can imagine playing out in my head, gives me more entertainment than watching most movies.
I'd love to see some of this in the Marvel universe if there are characters or ideas that are interesting to you. But I'll still be looking forward to what you put out in general. Great stuff!
This makes Victor's brief cameo on Bruce's boat more awesome.
To make myself a little vulnerable, I come back to this video so many times because it's a great representation of my own aspirations of control and wresting influence from my environment
And yet, I temper myself by this example of Lex and Victor, to know that if I ever tried to express my own desire to "remove" physical entities to another person, even another crazy person, it would and should sound ridiculous and self-indulgent.
Tl:dr: watch this when you're feeling like being extreme to solve a problem
Gatling gun refers to a particular brand of gun made by John Gatling himself. That line of weaponry ended with the dawn of the 20th century and newer automatic and semi-automatic technology. The modern equivalent would be the Minigun.
Great and interesting fact, but actually, believe it or not, this mistake was deliberate! Luthor doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about; see how he says "like an action movie?" But yes! Like so many nouns, Gatling is in fact a brand!
Of course Lex is the smartest man in the room, he just ranted at a dead man.
Thank you for these
I loved the conversation. I love it when Victor says that they already rule the world.
This sort of felt like hostel 2 with DC characters this was good really really good thanks max ❤
Oh so that's where Ra's was... yeah that answers my question
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG
Absolutely CHILLING
I knew as soon as he said he was lex's peer he was in trouble.
Man, I'm the exact amount of high to be very disturbed and creeped out by Zsasz and I love it.
these music cues are the best part of this
Let’s go
Victor szasz in the building!!!!!!
Crazy. Got chills, then I got chills on those chills.
I really like these kinds of videos. Your acting really draws me in to every word and movement.
By the way, have you mentioned The Question yet? I'm interested to see what your take is on a character like that, if you have one.
Sadly The Question does not appear~! But thank you!
Yet another masterpiece Max absolutely brilliant.
That was a wild ride!
You make me clap at Lex Luthor and then immediately regret it.
Razz berry ghoul!
Ok real shoutout to Mercy for being a real homie. She’s fully on board for his plan. Where’d he find a real one like that?
Will we get some more Mercy, Max? She's always been one of my favourites!
Top work as always!
yes
Just realize something This max how you were talking about how big Lex and little Lex existed together at the same time mentally. From when Lex was a child if he aspired to be perfect people would have to get out of the way because big Lex is perfect. Here I feel as though they still exist mentally only down now that Alexander Luthor is an adult he has temper tantrum she still prone to those. He has moments of nativity even though he is a genius billionaire philanthropist. And also like most children he manipulates through his emotions or “the act of emotions”. And the cherry on top is he knows he still not perfect so in theory he still not big Lex yet.
Damn, knowing that Lex eventually does get into fights, I NEED to know what his reaction was to getting punched in the face for the first time.
interestingly: He's been punched in the face hundred of times. Luthor is an expert martial artist. By "never been in a fist fight" he means like a street fight, or a fight for his life. Luthor has sparred with the best in the world and taken some fucking smashes to the head at this point of his life, but always from people he was paying to do exactly that.
We see Luthor physically fight only a few times in the Epic, once in TOYMAN against Dick Grayson, and then again in several later stories. Each time, he can more than hold his own. Luthor's defeats are always emotional, never physical. Hurting him just frustrates him; even getting beat up outside a bar wouldn't effect his ego, he'd just find a way to kill that person at some point or ruin their life somehow and that would be a new hobby.
the way mercys lip twitches when she's saying the right things👌🧑🍳
I like that Zsasz feels like a character who would be friends with Patrick Bateman.
8:16 by far this part is definitely the one that really shakes me to the core with Zsasz saying that some of the people he’s killed and marked himself with that some of them were kids I mean jeez
"This was when i was fourteen" & "I started tallying when I lost count"
_What the f*** kind of The Omen bulls*** is this!?_
*Yes* this is exactly the kind of Zsasz we should have gotten in the movies and shows, not a hitman styled character but an absolute rich scumbag, a real Pattrick Bateman type
He's done it again
Oh hell yeah more Kryptonioan Epic
Gat dayum... diabolical. Phenomenal. Perfect.
Just a question... we are going to get a super-cut of the #KryptonianEpic videos, right? RUclips video length caps at 12 hrs, so...
Been waiting for you to upload. What I really would like to see if you include Hawkman and Shazam I know you’ve only tap ever so slightly into the magical elements of the story but I would love to see those two as well as scarecrow black canary vixen and black manta
Hawkman does not appear except as a brief joke reference kind of in Constantine's issue of Z! The Magical Girl (#3). Scarecrow appears often in the epic, and his gas is pivotal in SUPERMAN: FOR ALL MANKIND, as well as reappearing in subsequent stories. Stephen Shin, the Black Manta, appears in AQUAMAN: AT THE DEPTHS OF MADNESS and then again in various ways in the epic. Black Canary sort of exists in GREEN ARROW: THE QUEEN PRINCE. Vixen: no.
@@Uptomyknees much love max awesome
@@Uptomyknees If Thanagarians still exist (from AA issue #7) would it be okay if you made them not humanoid? (Like Kryptonians) Can they literally look like birds? Also if you had complete control in AA, would you have made Czarnians, Ungarans, Xudarans non-humanoid as well? I'm so curious.
Oh by the way, which songs did you use for the background party music? They kinda bang ngl
Okay, this may be my favorite recent drop.
GO ON
Wonderful dialogue! Great job dissecting the motivations and world view of two very differently unhinged monsters.
Good use of Zsasz to serve the story. I assume Ras Al Ghul is more of an Easter egg - I don’t see how he quite fits in with the bigger picture and it feels like there’s a lot going on already?
Glad you enjoyed it! Ra's isn't quite an Easter Egg, just more a very minor character. He appears in American Alien #3 and is mentioned once or twice elsewhere, but his character is just "Scottish Ninja Who Trained Bruce Wayne To Be Good At...Batman and then Luthor killed him" and not more than that.
Max I love what you do your mind is amazing. If I wanted to do this where would I start?
Fucking hell, Max. This is the most effective video so far in the Epic. I instantly felt for Lex. Reminds me so much of characters like Jamie Lannister or Snape.
Bouncing off that theme from Joker's final speech with Lois (at least in its form a year ago), Victor just completely deflates all of the hope and grandeur in the battle between good vs. evil. The brutal truth is revealed. The elite are so far removed from mortals that Lex's plans will have next to no effect. They see him as an equal and yet... are blindsided by their assumption.
Lex has been playing a fool's game of twisted optimism, you could almost say the same for Clark and his merry band. But fuck that... man will become myth. Self-fulfilling prophecy, baby. The scales are gonna be balanced come STARLIGHT EMPEROR... I can't wait.
Great job, Max.
Thank you so much!
Great scene, Max!
Thank you!
So cool watching all the little Easter eggs from your story appear all in one movie. 🍿 That was.. woah... Just so very cool to watch. Idk why you always say you're bad at acting.
ended exactly how I thought it should lol
Damn, all of that was scary.
I know it's my gun 'tisms acting up, but I feel like Lex would refer to a Gattling Gun more accurately as either a vulcan cannon or minigun.
this is fire
It’s really good, it just feels out of character for Lex Luthor to say “I think there are good people, I think kindness matters”.
Random question: will you explain how Clark's new found celebrity works in ES? Like the brand deals and general "hey that dude is Superman" of it all? I'm very interested in getting any more on that in whatever form it takes
OH YEAH
This is how billionaires literally act.
I keep coming back to what is over Lex's line here, and its a lovely flavor on megalomania for a character who has really needed it.
Forgive me, but this gives Lex some tones of Dr. Doom.
I expect ZtMG to expose the worst of the suffering he is willing to inflict, but even then what we know already reveals that it is all power and purpose, no base pleasure.
Is Lex *already* of the Brainiac? Has he been the whole time?
The interplay of what or who is the view point character has always been interesting to me.
Zaz is correct, every person he's murdered in one way or another felt that they were the protagonist of reality, their whole lives were from their perspective and so when these terrible things were happening to them it is only natural to ask "well this isn't going to be how I die, the story that is my life can't just stop here..."
In the time it's taken me to write this someone somewhere is having the worst day of their life and has died, a few others have been born. This is true all day of everyday. People I have never met lived full lives I will never know and are now dead only to be remembered by those they did know, or who did care about them.
And then just as unceremoniously when thinking about what sort of racing horse he intends to by Zaz is himself cut short by someone else who to them their position as the protagonist of reality is everything. The universe may as well of be created fully formed the moment of his birth and just as quickly collapse into dust should Lex Luthor ever die, as far as he's concerned.
Obviously intentional, I look forward to seeing all of this stringed together into the cohesive narrative it deserves to be
beautiful comment!
I wonder if Lex would have let Victor live had the word “Peer” never been mentioned?
Lex seems to have a considerable blind spot for the moral/ethical shortcomings of the people he surrounds himself with… Assuming they know their place under him and never question it.
That music...
"They just disappear into mist! Like they weren't even there at all!"
...hmm...
So, Victor says Rhodesia? Is Zsasz referring to Zimbabwe and just wrong? Also, fantastic, btw. Zsasz is fascinating as a way to force little Lex to look at himself in a way that makes big Lex seem impossible. Which is why he needs Mercy to come in and help him reaffirm his worldview. I’m also surprised I didn’t see the symbolism about Lex trying to make Zsasz seem like he never existed as a way to make his “least favorite conversation” feel like it never happened until my second viewing.
Okay... now I need to know where Lex met Mercy.
Zsasz confirmed the Landis-verse Martian Manhunter
Everyone connected to Lex I want to see what’s next for them John Constantine zatana and vandal savage I swear
John got exploded on the island of the Amazons. Z right now is riding high as a global popstar entering THE SOCIETY: ENDANGERED SPECIES. And the last time we saw old Vandal was a one shot when he came poking around Kent farm. Hmm...
@@Uptomyknees man max that vandal you did …. Man creeped me out
good lord.
Overdelivering as always Max!! 👍🏻🙏🏻
and you're not even having fun!?
Is Mercy more than you’re letting on? Do we find more or her story?