| “ | I'm a respectable businessman -- I don't make deals with criminal madmen… but the way I see it, after tonight -- you owe me! Oh, and, Joker -- I always collect my debts. | „ |
| ~ Lex Luthor to the Joker. |
| “ | Long before you appeared on the scene, I was here. I built Metropolis up from an ordinary "town" into the most powerful city in the world. Enjoy the public's little infatuation with their new mascot while you can. Fame is fleeting… but Lex Luthor is forever. | „ |
| ~ Lex Luthor to Superman. |
Alexander Joseph "Lex" Luthor is one of the main antagonists of the DC Universe, specifically serving as one of the main antagonists of both the Superman and Justice League franchises.
He is the arch-nemesis of Superman and one of the most iconic members of the Man of Steel's rogues gallery, alongside General Zod, Brainiac, Doomsday, and Darkseid. He also serves as a recurring foil to the Justice League, being the leader of many supervillain groups, most notably, the Legion of Doom and the Secret Society of Super Villains.
Over the years, Luthor's characterization has often shifted from being a ruthless mastermind and at other times, a misguided anti-hero/anti-villain. However, his unwavering animosity towards Superman has remained constant throughout. His high profile as a supervillain has also put him into conflict with many other heroes of the DC Universe, including Batman and various members of the Justice League.
What Makes Him Magnificent?[]
- For starters, he has an 11th-level intellect, 225 IQ, a photographic memory, is a master aviator, biochemist and information technologist, multilingual, and legally owns 78% of Metropolis as the wealthiest man in the world. Only Batman and Brainiac can even hope to rival him in terms of sheer intelligence, the latter of which is far from MB due to being too awful of a villain, and the former being fairly close but ultimately not making the cut due to not being shady enough.
- While his origin and motive varies across numerous continuities, Lex nonetheless manages to be fairly likable in each of them:
- In Pre-Crisis, Lex blames Superboy for going bald before eventually deciding to retire with his family and the millions of other people who love him on the planet Lexor. Just then, however, when Superman shows up in an attempt to bring Lex back to Earth to disarm a device that could massive damage, Lex refuses to go with him and fights Superman with his iconic battle armor. During the fight, Lex accidentally overloads a device linked to the planet's core called the Neutrarod, thus destroying the planet and killing everyone there, including Lex's wife and child. From that point on, Lex resumed hating the Man of Steel.
- In Post-Crisis, he grew up poor and killed his abusive alcoholic parents at age 13 by sabotaging the breaks on their car, receiving a $300,000 insurance settlement before his aunt Lena adopted him. Once he was of age, Lex decided to travel the world and even earned himself the nickname "The Atomic Charles Lindbergh", setting world records in aviation before building LexCorp Tower, Earth's tallest structure ever. His entire vendetta against Superman stems from Lex's personal envy towards him, wishing he was as lucky and globally beloved as him while deluding himself into thinking Superman's a menace.
- In the New 52, his mother claims that he was a gifted pianist since he was four.
- He wins 2000's presidential election, manipulating such events as "saving" Metropolis from Brainiac 13 and rebuilding Gotham City to gain public support while Superman and Batman are helpless to stop it. His term was less than three years long.
- In Last Stand of New Krypton, he gets rewarded for his actions with a presidential pardon from General Sam Lane.
- Lex also used a robot decoy during the attack on Kandor just in case Brainiac tried to betray and murder him, which he of course did.
- During The Black Ring, Lex:
- Resists Mr. Mind's brainwashing before soccer-kicking him off the roof.
- Fights Deathstroke in his portable power suit, even scaring him into quitting.
- Electrocutes Gorilla Grodd into unconsciousness when he tries to eat his robot decoy's decapitated head, even using said head to upload Gorilla City's door lock security codes.
- Blackmails Vandal Savage into servitude for trying to destroy his company, even chewing gum to make a shield bubble.
- Breaks Brainiac's neck in a fight.
- Succeeds in becoming a space god by absorbing Negative Zone radiation, only preparedly giving up his new powers in yet another attempt to kill Superman.
- In Forever Evil, he assembles all of his world's supervillains to fight off the Crime Syndicate with the Justice League suddenly missing. He also uncovers Batman's secret identity as Bruce Wayne by sheer analysis, later using it for blackmail to join the Justice League.
- While Lex is objectively a cold-hearted megalomaniac whose hatred of Superman is extremely petty, there are factors preventing him from being too disgusting:
- First off, it's DC Comics; there are far worse haters to be seen throughout the franchise. Take Eobard Thawne and Black Manta for example. He's been up against Pure Evil villains before as well.
- When the situation calls for it, Lex is willing to team up with Superman to take down far more dangerous foes (albeit for completely self-serving reasons), like General Zod in Last Son.
- He respects Albert Einstein and Abraham Lincoln, celebrating the former's birthday and showing instant remorse after accidentally causing the latter's assassination. He also seems to draw the line at rape and child murder/slavery.
- Despite having villainous breakdowns often, he always recovers by the next comic.
What Makes Him a Baddie?[]
- Overall, tragic as he may be for it, Lex is a not-so-well-intentioned extremist if there ever was one. Despite claiming to have humanity's best interests at heart, it's made repeatedly and abundantly clear that he could use the incredible power and knowledge he already has for good if only it mattered to him, instead maintaining his monomaniacal obsession with destroying Superman while also hypocritically blaming him for his own problems.
- He's shown to be an awful family man by:
- Selling his 1-year-old daughter to Brainiac 13 for power, albeit remorsefully.
- Killing his own wife with missiles while she's in the hospital.
- Curing his paraplegic sister Lena's illness and then giving it right back, only agreeing to cure her again if Superboy dies.
- In Our Worlds at War, it's revealed that he let the Imperiex invade Earth just to boost his own reputation as president.
- In The Death of Superman, he kills his training instructor for embarrassing him in front of his staff. He also tries to destroy Metropolis with missiles just to cover his tracks.
- He partakes in a genocidal attack on New Krypton, destroying the planet and killing 100,000 Kryptonians via Reactron.
External Links[]
- Lex Luthor at the DC wiki
- Lex Luthor at the Villains wiki