Fan Casting President Wilkes in Michael Dougherty's The Man of Steel

A respected, mid-40s U.S. president caught in an impossible crisis, Wilkes survives a terrorist kidnapping engineered by Lex Luthor to manipulate him. Grateful for Lex’s “rescue,” Wilkes reluctantly authorizes the use of Lex’s advanced weaponry and antidote to combat Kem-L’s attacks. He is a decent man making compromises out of desperation, not malice. When he watches a mob attack Superman on live television, his conflicted face reveals his moral turmoil. Wilkes represents the fragility of democratic leadership when faced with existential threats.