Alexander Luthor, Jr. (Earth-Three)

Alexander Luthor was born in the alternate universe that contained Earth-Three. On Earth-Three, there were numerous super-villains but only one hero. Earth-Three was for years terrorized by its equivalent to the JLA, an evil organization known as the Crime Syndicate of America. The only man to successfully defend that earth from the Syndicate was Alexander Luthor, that Earth's only super-hero. During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Earth-Three and the rest of its universe were attacked by the Anti-Monitor in his quest to overwhelm his matter-based counterpart and recreate the universe in his own evil image. Though the Anti-Monitor succeeded in destroying Earth-Three, Luthor and his wife, the Lois Lane of that reality, managed to protect and save their only son, the infant Alexander, Jr. Placing him in a special experimental transportation capsule, Luthor, Sr. managed to send his son through the dimensional barriers and the anti-matter wave and into the relative safety of the Earth-One universe, where Luthor had previously met the Justice League and other heroes. There, the infant Luthor materialized on the abandoned Justice League Satellite, where he was discovered and taken by Harbinger at the behest of The Monitor.

Crisis on Infinite Earths

The Monitor soon discovered that Luthor's passage through the anti-matter storm had granted him power over both matter and anti-matter, while also dramatically accelerating the child's aging process. Within days, Luthor had both the body and mental faculties of a young adult. He also had the power to serve as a human bridge between universes, an ability that would become critical when the heroes of the various positive-matter universes needed to enter the Anti-Monitor's realm and defeat him. Following the Monitor's death, Alexander Luthor (along with Harbinger and Pariah) led the heroes and villains of six universes against the Anti-Monitor, badly injuring him (though ultimately not killing him).

Luthor's final act of heroism would also prove to be his undoing. After the surviving universes had been merged and their history altered, a resurgent Anti-Monitor was only defeated after Luthor was used as a vessel for Darkseid's Omega Effect and the Earth-Two Superman finally pounded the weakened Anti-Monitor into submission. After the Anti-Monitor's death, and with destruction for the remaining heroes approaching, Luthor revealed to Superman that he had saved Superman's wife, Lois Lane-Kent, from being erased from existence as so many others had. The threesome, as well as the Superboy of Earth-Prime, no longer had a place in the new Post-Crisisuniverse, but could live eternally in a paradise-like dimension that Luthor transported them to using what he believed to be the last of his dimensional powers.

Witnesses to New Earth

From Luthor's "paradise," the four un-aging refugees of the Pre-Crisis universe were able to watch the events that occurred on New Earth for many years. However, their paradise was anything but. As time passed on, the four could watch everything from their world and could easily change their surroundings within their world. However, Kal-L found out that Lois was dying of old age and that, despite his best efforts, couldn't revitalize her within this world. As well, Superboy-Prime was becoming more and more angry at the world and his fate. This was coupled with Alexander's jealousy of Prime and Kal-L - Prime for having a childhood he could never have and Kal-L for having the future he could never have. After witnessing Superboy-Prime smash one of the walls, causing history on New Earth to be altered, he set his plans in motion. He told Prime of the fact that, on the day that they escaped into their paradise, he had seen a hellish world - which turned out to be Apokolips itself - and that they could have used that to return to Earth. After showing the death of Prime's parents and girlfriend, he was able to convince him to change New Earth and the two of them escaped their world.

Beginning of the Infinite Crisis

Escaping from the false paradise, Luthor set in motion a master plan that would have devastating consequences for the universe. Luthor secretly had Superboy move entire planets in an effort to shift the center of the universe away from Oa, subsequently provoking galactic war between Rann and Thanagar. Using the resources of a commandeered Brother Eye, Luthor gathered intelligence on the super-powered community of the new combined universe and mustered the forces of the OMACs in attacking an increasingly-fragmented heroic community. Meanwhile, while disguising himself as the Lex Luthor of the current reality, Luthor preyed upon the fears of the super-villain community in order to form a new Society of Villains which, united, could bring down the heroes of New Earth, and build the machines Luthor would need to fulfill his ambitions. Finally, Luthor struck at the mystical forces of the universe by manipulating the Spectre (currently untethered by a human host), into hunting down and destroying magic itself.

During this time, he would return to their "paradise", convincing Kal-L and Lois that they hadn't left until it was the right time and allowing the four of them to permanently escape their world. During this time, he convinced Kal-L that this plan would result in Lois's restored health.

With his plans set in motion, Luthor became confident enough to finally reveal his presence to Kal-L's cousin, Power Girl, who had until recently not remembered that she was also a survivor of the former Earth-Two. Luthor told her that the current reality was corrupt because it had used Earth-One as a template, and that, with her help, he and her cousin could re-form the universe with Earth-Two as its basis. Claiming that this new reality would help Lois Lane-Kent recover from her illness, he was able to convince a distraught Kal-L to go along with his plans, even though Power Girl and Lois herself remained unsure.

Master Plan

As his schemes reached fruition, Alexander Luthor was finally ready to reveal his ultimate plan. By using the databases of the Brother Eye, Luthor had managed to determine which of the modern reality's super-powered beings had originally come from the various "infinite Earths" of the pre-Crisis universe, and which beings could be used to direct the outcome of Luthor's own universe. He used the Society to build a massive dimensional "tuning fork" (which the villains mistakenly believed would be used to erase the memories of their enemies), that would allow Luthor to take advantage of the raw power brought about by the change in the nature of magic that had occurred during the Spectre's war against sorcery. Focusing the device on the new center of the universe (a point concurrent with the center of the former Earth-Two's universe), Luthor would be able to split the universe into a multiverse once again, and then sift through the realities to take the pieces he wished to retain and destroy those he wished removed from existence.

Ultimate Failure

With the massive device activated (and representatives from various realities chained to it), Luthor began taking the steps he believed would result in the creation of a new universe formed by his own will. Though he appeared to be successful in recreating the multiverse, his multiverse was not, in fact, the reality that had existed before the previous Crisis. The recreated Earth-Two was a barren and unpopulated husk, and ultimately proved unable to save the life of Lois Lane-Kent. It was this revelation that finally snapped Kal-L out of his deluded megalomania. Meanwhile, Superboy-Prime learned that his own universe would not and could not be brought back, and that, in fact, that had never been Luthor's true intention. This caused him to go on a mad spree of destruction that could not be stopped by Luthor or anyone else.

Luthor was then discovered by several heroes, including Batman, who briefly considered killing him after the latter blasted and seriously injured Nightwing. Wonder Woman, still reeling from the repercussions of her pre-meditated killing of Maxwell Lord, managed to stop Batman from making the same mistake she had, and the heroes left Luthor alone as another group of heroes attempted to stop the murderous rampage of Superboy-Prime. Meanwhile, Luthor's plan was ultimately defeated when the Superboy of new Earth sacrificed his life in destroying Luthor's machinery and freeing the people Luthor had kidnapped and exploited.

Unable to attain his goal and apparently de-powered, Luthor went into hiding, but his respite would be brief. The Joker, angry at having been ignored during the events of the past year and not allowed to "play" with the Society, joined with Lex Luthor in tracking Alexander down. Lex taunted Alexander, stating that the latter's biggest mistake had been in underestimating him. The Joker then proceeded to severely burn half of Alexander's face with his trademark acid, and apparently killed Alexander by shooting him in the face.

Aftermath

Lex later used Alexander's corpse as a cover for Lex's own criminal activities. Having modified Alexander's corpse so that it would more closely resemble Lex's own body, and after planting colored contact lenses in his eyes, Lex Luthor revealed Alexander to the press and explained that Alex was an extradimensional being who had been impersonating Lex for some time. Having effectively disposed of the criminal charges and bad press that had arisen during the end of Luthor's presidency, Lex was able to return to his civilian guise of a generally law-abiding businessman and scientist.

Blackest Night

As the Black Lantern rings head to Earth, one of them stops in Alexander Luthor's tomb within the Justice League's HQ. Taking over his body, Alexander prepares to join the other Black Lanterns, but stops and heads for Earth-Prime. There, he confronts Kal-El Prime, who's busy trying to figure out his fate. Alexander attacks Prime, though he's wise to what he is. To sweeten the deal to steal his heart and gain its power, he restores Prime's Superboy armor, leading the Kryptonian to attack. As he does, Alexander taunts Prime, calling him nothing more than an inside joke. He, then, has help arrive in the form of those Superboy-Prime killed since their release, telling Prime that he will die. When Prime escaped to New York City, Luthor joined the other Black Lanterns and, ironically, rescued the workers within the DC Comics office building from Prime's wrath as he teleported them back to Prime's basement. Before they could kill Prime, Prime grabbed a Black Lantern Ring, "killing" him and using its power to attack back before the White Light would destroy them and Luthor for good.

Resurrection

On Earth-0 in the Hall of Justice, the Justice League is attacked by the Antimatter Universe's Crime Syndicate of America. They join forces with Doctor Impossible's team to steal Alexander Luthor's corpse, intending to resurrect him. While the other Crime Syndicate members keep the JLA busy, Owlman sneaks off to allow Dr. Impossible access to the resurrection device. At the last moment, Dr. Impossible apparently betrays the Syndicate and substitutes Alexander's corpse for himself to resurrect Darkseid. Unfortunately, the machine instead gave birth to a new villain, known as Omega Man.^[1] Alex is temporarily resurrected by a Green Lantern , allowing him to atone for his past misdeeds by helping to defeat the Omega Man and CSA.^[2]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Matter/Anti-Matter Manipulation

Energy Bursts
Shape-Shifting
Duplication
Matter Recreation/Duplication
Inter-Dimensional Portals: The trip through the antimatter wall of the Anti-Monitor during the first Crisis combined with the protection of his father's devices resulted in Alexander having control over matter and anti-matter. He was able to use these powers to act as a dimensional bridge that allowed positive-matter beings to cross into the anti-matter universe and survive. His powers could also be used offensively, as bursts of energy, and allowed Luthor to change the molecules of his own body in order to alter his appearance. he apparently also had the ability to create duplicates of himself that could exist independently of the his "main" identity.

By using the residual energies of the Anti-Monitor's corpse as well as the raw magic that had been freed during the Spectre's rampage, Luthor was able to build dimensional machinery that increased his native power to a massive extent. He became able to create planets that corresponded to the various alternate Earths that had existed prior to destruction of the multiverse, and was able to transport the original inhabitants of those realities to his duplicates.

Abilities

Genius-Level Intellect: Like the Luthors of many other realities, Alexander was brilliant. He was not only able to penetrate the mysteries of the post-Crisis reality, but was able to create the machinery needed to alter reality as we know it.

Weaknesses

Limitations: Luthor could not actually change history or bring back the original versions of the Earths that existed before the Crisis. Though Luthor was able to create many facsimiles of the infinite realities, these "Earths" were brittle and fragile, and many were completely devoid of life. The duplicates of his reality's people were also imperfect, and it seemed that Luthor did not have the ability to truly physically alter the actual individuals who existed post-Crisis.

Overuse of his powers would cause Luthor to weaken. ^{[citation needed]}

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Luthor seized the satellite Brother Eye, which had been created by Batman to monitor superhuman activity. He also created various devices of his own, most notably an inter-dimensional "tuning fork" that was built from the remains of the Anti-Monitor and powered by raw magical energy.

Transportation

Luthor's devices allowed him and others to travel vast distances at great speeds. He also had the native ability to travel between dimensions.

Weapons

At times Luthor employed various destructive devices in addition to his own super powers.
Black Lantern Ring (Formerly)

Notes

The character of Alexander Luthor was created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez specifically for the Crisis On Infinite Earths series. His origin is deliberately evocative of Superman's, as would make sense for the "backward" reality of Earth-Three.

Though Alexander Luthor was not revealed to be the main villain of Infinite Crisis until that series began, clues that he was not in fact the Lex Luthor of the current reality began appearing over a year prior. Appearances of Alexander Luthor in the lead-up to Infinite Crisis can be distinguished from appearances of Lex Luthor by the fact that Alexander's eyes were colored blue rather than green.

The general populace of "New" Earth believes Alexander Luthor to have been an extradimensional being, based on statements made by Lex Luthor in order to clear the latter of recent criminal charges.

Alexander Luthor's name was revealed on his memorial vault placard at the JLA Hall of Justice in Blackest Night #3. However, the issue refers to him as New Earth Lex Luthor's own doppelganger- an erroneous claim, as he is the son of the doppelganger.

Trivia

Marv Wolfman had initially shown displeasure at Alexander Luthor being the villain of Infinite Crisis after being the hero of the Crisis on Infinite Earths. However, he came to realize that the circumstances that made him a hero were the ideal reasons to turn him into the villain.