Gene Hackman, who unexpectedly died this week at the age of 95, was famous for his roles in tense dramas like The Conversation, The French Connection and Unforgiven. But the two-time Oscar winner also had a flair for comedy, a talent that made him the funniest Lex Luthor in the best Superman movies to date.

Sure, others have tried. Jesse Eisenberg did a jittery, Zuckerbergian version in Justice League. Creepy Kevin Spacey took a turn in Superman Returns. Michael Rosenbaum and, somehow, Jon Cryer have played the villain in Superman’s TV adventures. Nicolaus Holt will get his shot this summer when James Gunn’s Superman hits the big screen.

But none of those actors found the intersection of comedy, menace and madness quite like Hackman. In 1978’s Superman: The Movie, his Luthor hatches an outrageous scheme right out of the campy 1960s Batman series — blow up the West Coast along the San Andreas fault,...