Jesse Eisenberg believes Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice 'genuinely hurt his career'

Jesse Eisenberg believes his involvement in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice "hurt (his) career in a real way".

The Social Network actor received mixed reviews for his portrayal of iconic comic book villain Lex Luthor in the 2016 DC movie, which starred Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill in the title roles. The film was slated by critics, as was the 2017 follow-up Justice League, in which Eisenberg made a brief post-credits appearance.

On the Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard podcast, Eisenberg claimed that the reception to the film and his performance damaged his career prospects.

"The Batman movie was so poorly received and I was so poorly received. I've never said this before and it's kind of embarrassing to admit but I genuinely think it actually hurt my career in a real way," he confessed. "Because I was poorly received in something so public. I've been in poorly received things that just don't see the light of day (so) for the most part no one knows, but this was so public.

"In the industry, if you're in a huge huge movie and not seen as good, the people who are choosing who to put next in their movie are just not going to select you. You're just associated with something."

The Zombieland star noted that he enjoyed his role and the filmmaking experience so he felt like he only had himself to blame.

"I'm not like they did me wrong. I'm like, 'Oh, I guess I did something wrong there,'" he added.

Eisenberg explained that he started writing and directing his own films because he felt like he hadn't been "getting good movie parts" or been in a film "that people really liked" for a while.

He made his feature directorial debut in 2022 with When You Finish Saving the World and is currently promoting his second effort, A Real Pain, which opens in U.K. cinemas on 10 January.

Lex Luthor will next be portrayed by Nicholas Hoult in James Gunn's Superman, which will be released in July 2025.