The problem there is that the truly iconic villain of each series needs to show up eventually. So are you suggesting they bring in someone else and then go with Luthor for the second one? The proble with Superman always ends up being that there is really no even match, unless they start bringing some random alien to the table.
It doesn't match completely with your suggestion, but I think a decent option might be to start out with General Zod. Yeah, it's been done before, but I don't think most will think of him right away.