| “ | That's how you know I'm Luthor. When I augmented your powers, I also made sure I can override your abilities. Would anyone else care to try me? | „ |
| ~ Lex to the Legion of Doom when Polaris tries to betray him. |
| “ | President? Do you know how much power I'd have to give up to be president? That's right, conspiracy buff. I spent $75,000,000 dollars on a fake presidential campaign, all just to tick Superman off. | „ |
| ~ Lex while beating up the Question. |
Lex Luthor is the main antagonist of the DC Animated Universe, specifically serving as the main antagonist of Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League and one of the two main antagonists (alongside Brainiac) of Justice League Unlimited. He was a billionaire as well as a brilliant criminal mastermind, being one of Superman's greatest enemies.
He was voiced by Clancy Brown, who also voiced The Splotch from The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants.
What Makes Him Magnificent?[]
- Clancy Brown's voice-acting for him is great as always, with Lex Luthor being one of his most iconic roles to date, and is even regarded as the Lex Luthor.
- He runs for president while posing as a reformed charity-goer towards the general public, even baiting Superman into destroying Lexor City (which he thought had a bomb underground) and fighting Captain Marvel all on camera.
- He honored his deal with Superman after helping defeat the Justice Lords rather than betraying him, earning himself a full pardon for his crimes.
- He stops an enraged Amazo from possibly destroying the world by simply talking him down, telling him to go find his purpose in life.
- During this, he photographically memorized the Atom's blueprints for the android so that he can build himself a duplicate body for himself later, hoping to become immortal. If it wasn't for Amanda Waller, this goal would've succeeded.
- He survives the Question's assassination attempt on him by beating the crap out of him with his bare hands alone. He does the same to Batman when he sneaks into LexCorp and tries to destroy the Amazo duplicate.
- He's the only organic being that Brainiac is actually friends with, and togther, they defeat most of the Justice League during their brief alliance.
- He becomes the Legion of Doom's new leader by usurping Gorilla Grodd after seeing his boring plan to turn all of humanity into apes, having powerful primed backups ready for him to counter the attacks of any and all future traitors, such as Dr. Polaris and Tala.
- His side wins the attempted mutiny against Grodd, and then survives Darkseid blowing up their entire base by the skin of their teeth.
- When he ended up in The Flash's body, something he could not possibly have expected, he immediately gives the whole Justice League the fight of their lives by using the Flash's super-speed in creative and devastating ways.
- Due to being "overqualified" as a 12th-level intellect, Lex survives getting the Anti-Life Equation from the Source Wall, which he then uses to sacrifice himself by teleporting Darkseid away right when he's about to cut out Superman's heart, thus saving the world yet again (although it was mainly to get his revenge for destroying Brainiac).
What Makes Him a Baddie?[]
- In Superman: The Animated Series, he was responsible for creating Metallo and Bizarro, two members of Superman's rogues gallery.
- He hacks the Justice League's Watchtower and uses its superlaser to fire on Project Cadmus' base. While it's explicitly stated that Waller suffered no casualties on her side since they were somewhere else, the same is never confirmed for the civilians.
- He teams up with Brainiac so they can nearly destroy the entire Earth in one fell swoop before targeting the rest of the universe, planning to recreate it in their own image with all the information absorbed.
- During this, he tries to execute a defenseless Flash with a shotgun out of revenge for foiling his plans (even stating that he's going to enjoy it) just to recreate the tragedy that happened in the Justice Lords' universe, and then nearly causes his death as he unleashes the Speed Force by repeatedly running around the globe to destroy Brainiac's outer shell.
- He personally attempts to kill Grodd by sucking him out of the airlock into space, and then has the surviving mutineers from his side executed via being frozen by Killer Frost (who switches sides to save herself).
- He admits that he would've killed Tala to bring back Brainiac even if she didn't betray him, and that he's a sick person too.
Trivia[]
- In Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League, Lex selfishly abandoned Lois Lane and Mercy Graves in crumbling buildings to save his own skin, and begged for mercy when Amazo turned the tables on him in "Tabula Rasa". His plans also always backfired due to underestimating the world's heroes and sometimes fellow villains; he even gave himself cancer by messing with Kryptonite too much. Therefore, he only earned his MB status after Justice League Unlimited.
- He, Kyodai Ken, King Barlowe and Vandal Savage are the only villains from the DC Animated Universe to count as Magnificent Baddies.
External Links[]
- Lex Luthor at the Villains wiki
- Lex Luthor at the DC Database wiki
- Lex Luthor at the DC Animated Universe wiki
- Lex Luthor at the Inconsistently Heinous wiki
- Lex Luthor at the Inconsistently Admirable wiki