Words cannot begin to describe how much I LOVE TO HATE Nicholas Hoult's portrayal of Lex Luthor, and that Russian Roulette with Malik did for his version of Luthor what the "LOOK AT ME!" scene did for Heath Ledger's Joker.
It truly captures what makes Lex Luthor a great Superman antagonist: a megalomaniacal capitalist pig driven by a lethal cocktail of pettiness and psychopathy; a man who postures himself as a saviour of humanity who doesn't have a trace of humanity in him.
He could've taunted Superman with all the tragedies in Metropolis and the world that he could've stopped if he wasn't imprisoned, and just left it at that. But he went further. He abducted an ordinary man whose only crime was offering Clark some food to eat and forced him to witness the hero he looked up to at his lowest point. Breaking both Malik and Clark in one fell swoop. But he went further.
He could've just shot him then and there, but what does he do? He turns it into a game of chance. And when he actually ends up murdering him, he gets bummed out that it couldn't go on longer!
All of this to destroy someone who others treat as a god just so he can keep pretending to be one.