[75] Reactron then kills himself, initiating a chain reaction which destroys New Krypton and all but a handful of its 100,000 Kryptonian inhabitants. Lex and Lena's mother is named Letitia and is presumed deceased. Originally hero-worshiping Superboy, teenage Lex Luthor of Smallville is determined to prove he is Earth's greatest scientist by creating artificial life. While in high school, Lex arranges for his parents to die in a car accident, after which he uses the money to travel the world. [26] Immediately, the Superman comics and the series Superman/Batman made references to the canonicity of the new origin series. His genius also extends to business (he is one of the world's wealthiest people) and politics (he was elected U.S. President, and he is often the leader of super-villain groups he has belonged to). Eventually, this affects the Superman comics as well, in the wake of the 2017 storyline "Superman Reborn"[96] Luthor's backstory from Superman: Secret Origin and large parts of his Post-Crisis continuity are restored, while the New 52 events are largely removed. He was also the husband of Lillian Luthor, the father of Lex Luthor and Lena Luthor, and the ex-lover of a late unnamed woman. [91] Public opinion of Lex Luthor becomes favorable. With the underground lab's resources, he spends weeks creating a highly destructive, flight-capable "war-suit" (later simply called a "warsuit") to finally match the Kryptonian in physical combat and counter his powers. Luthor's obsessive hatred of Superman came later in the character's development. For this and his interference with Luthor's criminal operations, the scientist businessman decides to humiliate and destroy the alien. In the Superman Adventures comic line based on the TV series of the same name, Luthor's backstory is identical to that of the Post-Crisis origin with slight changes. Soon after Luthor discovers evidence that leads him to conclude Clark Kent is Superman, the 2001 Our Worlds at War saga begins, in which Topeka, Kansas is destroyed in an attack by the alien Imperiex. Believing he's been betrayed by his hero and friend, Lex swears revenge. Employed by S.T.A.R. The two fuse and Luthor learns it evolved in the Phantom Zone and now seeks to escape, driven mad by sensing the grief and anger of the Zone prisoners. While masquerading as his own son Lex Luthor II, Lex occasionally wore high-tech "LX-20 body armor." [27] Superman: Secret Origin revised Lex's backstory so that he now again had a sister Lena. To distinguish him from the modern-day Lex Luthor, the original incarnation is shown as having kept his red hair and is retroactively given the first name Alexei. "Nasty" Luthor is an occasional thorn in Supergirl's side, at one point forming a gang called Nasty's Nasties. Although Lex is primarily depicted as a supervillain and has allied with other villains in the likes of Bizarro and Metallo, he has also been portrayed as an antihero and has allied himself with Superman and other heroes whenever situations demanded it.[5]. [14] Initially brutish and overweight, the character later evolved into a sleeker, more athletic version of his old self. He is later instrumental in the creation of the New 52 version of the Kryptonite Man, known in this world primarily as the K-Man. After Superboy and Luthor visit Lena, Luthor makes it clear he now sees Kon-El as an inherently "failed experiment" due to having 50% "wrong alien DNA." Batman learns Luthor attempted to take control of Gotham by forging deeds for its lands in his own name. Lena Thorul is told her older brother died in a mountain climbing accident. While investigating Luthor, Natasha Irons discovers he has experimented on himself with artificial metagene treatment. [59], Luthor marries Contessa Erica Alexanda Del Portenza, a near-immortal and formidable woman with her own agenda. The Green Skull. This Luthor grew up a poor child alongside Perry White, later causing his parents' death via a car accident so he can inherit their life insurance and create a better life for himself, creating LexCorp. He founds the New 52 incarnation of the Injustice League, helping Batman to free their world from the Syndicate's control and saving Superman's life from a kryptonite attack by Syndicate member Atomica. Not believing in the existence of souls, Lex agrees and is restored, regaining the physical fitness of his Lex II body but again lacking head and facial hair, and is physically approximately in his true age. His recklessness and inexperience causes a fire in his lab and he calls on Superboy to save him. [121] He has also been occasionally trained by the Amazons of Themyscira. [42] The suit vanished in 1986 after Crisis on Infinite Earths rebooted DC Comics continuity, but was reintroduced in 2004, now said to be built with a combination of Earth and alien technology (including tech from the other-dimensional world Apokolips) and armed with different forms of kryptonite in the gauntlet.[43]. Linda Danvers (born Kara Zor-El) was the adoptive daught… Several actors have provided Luthor's voice in animated adaptations, including Clancy Brown, Mark Rolston, James Marsters and Giancarlo Esposito. Although Lex Luthor is able to devise a plan to destroy Imperiex's body, the plan is subsequently hijacked by Brainiac 13, requiring Superman to propose a new plan where Darkseid and Luthor coordinate their efforts to defeat Imperiex by sending him back in time. Lex later names his baby daughter after her. 1. Like her brother, she attends Regis High School and then later becomes a librarian. Luthor's quest involves a conversation with Death herself and finally leads him to face a powerful and deadly entity released from the Phantom Zone. In 1956, DC Comics reimagined the Flash with a new secret identity, costume and origin. Luthor is no longer recounted as having lost his hair in a chemical fire; rather, his hairline is shown to be receding naturally over time. Luthor battles Superman with a green ray but he is ultimately defeated, and Lois is rescued. The two find a kinship in both feeling like outsider and sharing a wish to explore outer space and discover alien alife, despite one resenting humanity and the other hoping to understand and be accepted by it. He possesses an eidetic memory and has mastered seemingly every known form of science, including space travel, extra-dimensional travel, biochemistry, robotics, computers, synthetic polymers, communications, mutations, transportation, holography, energy generation, spectral analysis, and time travel. Before the killer's mind reverts, Luthor has Joker use the Worlogog to revise history so that those killed no longer died. When the heroic Blackhawks attacks the operations of the Legionnaires' Club, Lex sends J'onn back home to Mars to protect him. [33], Luthor creates grandiose engineering projects to prove his superiority over the superhero, but each one fails and causes problems that Superboy then solves. Luthor does not fully appear in The Man of Steel mini-series until the fourth issue, which takes place over a year after Superman's arrival in Metropolis. He ultimately conceded, however, that the CEO Luthor would be easier for readers to recognize. [3] Given his high profile as a supervillain, however, he has often come into conflict with Batman, Supergirl, and other superheroes in the DC Universe. In 1960, writer Jerry Siegel altered Luthor's backstory to incorporate his hair loss into his origin. [87], Unknown to the U.S. military, Lex Luthor has been in contact with the "Collector of Worlds" (a version of Brainiac) and makes a deal with the alien, who wishes to collect specimens from Earth for his collection of inhabitants and artifacts from different planets. The canon says that Luthor still served in the Justice League for a time. Lena Thorul marries FBI agent Jeff Colby[102] (who had once arrested Lex) and they have a son, Val Colby. The 2009-2010 mini-series Superman: Secret Origin alters Lex's history again. [40] The warsuit was designed by George Pérez[41] as part of the Super Powers toyline in the early 1980s before being introduced into the comics in 1983. In "The World's Finest" (more commonly referred to as "Public Enemies"), a kryptonite asteroid threatens Earth with its incoming impact and intense radiation. Luthor intends to increases his power in Metropolis and to aid this he also supplies social justice blogger and journalist Clark Kent with information regarding the corrupt activities of powerful media mogul Glen Glennmorgan of Galaxy Inc. Clark is unaware his informant is Luthor, knowing him only as "Icarus. [11] The War Department later asked for dailies of the Superman comic strip to be pulled in April 1945 which depicted Lex Luthor bombarding Superman with the radiation from a cyclotron.[12]. [100], After the universal barrier known as the Source Wall is broken during the events of "No Justice," Luthor forms a new Legion Of Doom to track down the secrets that were once pursued by the Legionnaires' Club, discovering they are connected to the god-like Perpetua, Mother of Forgers. The story details how Luthor was sent to live with a foster family following the sabotage of his parents' car. Luthor coordinates the U.S. Army, Earth's superheroes, and a number of untrustworthy alien forces to battle the main villain of the story arc. [4] Lex Luthor is an ordinary human and has no natural superpowers but occasionally wears his Warsuit, a suit of mechanized armor that gives him enhanced strength, flight, advanced weaponry, and other capabilities. After Conner's death at the conclusion of the Infinite Crisis, Luthor is shown visiting a memorial statue of Conner in Metropolis and placing flowers there. A flying costumed bald man probably in his forties appears in Smallville and starts helping people using his fantastic inventions. Instead, Brainiac takes control of Luthor's body, forcing him to be a host as he attempts to destroy Superman. Luthor's popularity is assisted by the extreme unpopularity of the previous administration's mishandling of the Gotham City earthquake crisis (as depicted in the No Man's Land storyline in the Batman titles), and his own seemingly heroic efforts to rebuild Gotham before it rejoins the United States. Regarding the character being a corrupt billionaire rather than a mad scientist, author Neil Gaiman commented: It's a pity Lex Luthor has become a multinationalist; I liked him better as a bald scientist. His sister Lena was the only relative that he truly cared about. After the events of "Blackest Night'", Luthor went on to build a gynoid version of Lois Lane using Brainiac technology. Lex and J'onn form a brief friendship. The people rename the planet Lexor and it becomes a regular home base and retreat for Luthor in-between his efforts to fight Superman and take over Earth. Not long after their departure from Smallville, Jules and Arlene di… 4 and steals a weapon from the U.S. Army capable of causing earthquakes. [93], When the New God Darkseid is seemingly killed, his "Omega Effect" is contained in Lex Luthor, temporarily turning him into a God of Apokolips. 890 and Beyond @ DC's The Source", The Justice League Watchtower – Lex Luthor, Invisible Kid (Lyle Norg and Jacques Foccart), Triplicate Girl/Duo Damsel/Duplicate Damsel, Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century, Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League – Cosmic Clash, List of Legion of Super-Heroes publications, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lex_Luthor&oldid=1023115352, Fictional presidents of the United States, Supervillains with their own comic book titles, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, United States Secretary of Metahuman Affairs, Proficient engineer with exceptional technological prowess, Superhuman strength, speed and durability, This page was last edited on 14 May 2021, at 13:14. The two eventually fall in love and marry.[39]. With aid from trusted assistants, the now physically 21-year-old Luthor presents himself to the world as his own hitherto unknown, illegitimate son and heir from Australia, Lex Luthor II, who only wishes to do good and can't be judged by the actions of his father. Apparently not one to be flustered by surprise babies, Lex ecstatically announces he’s done fighting Superman—Lex Luthor is … In the 2006 – 2007 series 52, Lex takes advantage of the presence of Alexander Jr.'s body. [9] The original error is attributed to Leo Nowak, a studio artist who illustrated for the Superman dailies during this period. [31], At times, Lex has been shown evidence that Clark Kent is Superman and almost always he denies this possibility, unable to imagine a man of such power spending half his time pretending to be average since in his mind, such a possibility would be too humiliating to bear. Pocket Universe. Jules and Arlene take their younger child Lena with them, who is only a toddler at the time and later does not remember her real last name. At the last moment, when Lex was about to pull the trigger, he found the strength of will to restrain himself. History Original multiverse "The Luthors are smart and dangerous.You don't want to go up against them." After the Kryptonian villains kill Luthor and all other life forms on Earth, the pocket universe Supergirl makes a new home on the mainstream DC Comics Earth, where she becomes a hero. The point of Elseworlds stories is to reimagine familiar characters in new settings. Lex has been knocked unconscious more times than any other character on Smallville a total of 49 times as of Season Seven. But after Infinite Crisis ended in 2006, new stories discredited parts of it and it was officially replaced by the 2009–2010 series Superman: Secret Origin. When Superman appears, Luthor takes advantage of a terrorist attack to see the hero in action and then attempts to make him an employee. In his late teens, he spent time in Smallville, Kansas, under the care of his Aunt Lena. During the 12-issue limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths, Luthor allies himself with fellow Superman Luthor infuses himself with Kryptonian technology and grapples with the creature. The machine then explodes and Luthor survives but loses his hair as a result of radiation. After Lex saves him from kryptonite, the Boy of Steel builds him a private laboratory in gratitude. He psychologically blocks part of his own memory to convince himself Superman is at fault, renewing his need for vengeance. He marries and divorces several times and desires a romance with Lois Lane. Alexander "Lex" Luthor was the first child born to billionaire Lionel Luthor. Powered by red solar radiation, the suit can also deliver red solar beams to directly weaken Superman. [104] After Lena has brain surgery, the decision is made to reveal the truth about Luthor to her. When Superman and others form a new, powerful version of the Justice League of America, Lex decides this is Superman's direct challenge to his own power, so he creates a new Injustice Gang in response. During the night, Lex woke up from a thunderstorm and found that Helen and the pilot were gone and that the plane was about to crash. Luthor's baldness is never explained, save for a brief depiction of him with blond hair in childhood; it is assumed the hair loss was natural. In the 1986 limited series The Man of Steel, John Byrne redesigned Lex Luthor from scratch, intending to make him a villain that the 1980s would recognize: an evil corporate executive. As an adult, Lex Luthor's driving ambitions are to kill Superman and rule Earth, a stepping stone to dominating the universe, believing a man of his intellect deserves such power. He masquerades as the mainstream Lex Luthor and creates a new Secret Society of Super Villains. In Silver Age continuity, Lena is Lex Luthor's younger sister. Amassing large quantities of kryptonite and kidnapping the super-villains Metallo and the Kryptonite Man, Lex uses them to power a Kryptonian warship controlled through a "sunstone" crystal. When Lex confronted her about selling Clark's blood to Lionel, she admitted that she did that in order to get him out of their lives. [73] Forming an alliance, Brainiac promises Luthor can have Earth when he is done with it. In response, the real Luthor takes on the identity of Mockingbird and forms the third incarnation of the Secret Six to counter the Society. Although Luthor is released from jail quickly and has the charges dropped, the humiliation of being publicly arrested and processed, coupled with indignation that Superman refused to work for him, results in the villain pledging to destroy Superman simply to prove his power. 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