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Alexander Luthor (Arrowverse: Superman & Lois)

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Have you ever been in the room alone with Lex Luthor? He has this aura. It's terrifying, like you're in the presence of the Devil himself. To this day that man is the only person in the world who scares me.
— Peia Mannheim src

Lex Luthor was an unscrupulous criminal mastermind and the former CEO of Luthorcorp. He was the long-standing archenemy of Superman and Lois Lane.

Origins

Lex Luthor was born into a poor family in South Metropolis. His father walked out on him and his mother when he was seven, and his mother took out her anger against him on Lex, beating him with a belt his father had left behind. This left him unable to form emotional connections with other people. Lex left home as soon as he was old enough and founded Luthorcorp, which eventually grew into a major conglomerate with interests in multiple industries, and became very wealthy. He married an English woman named Erica and they had a daughter, Elizabeth. Luthor tried to be a better parent to Elizabeth than his own mother or father had been, and made a point to drop her off at school almost every day.[1]

In addition to being the chief executive of Luthorcorp, Lex was also the leader of a criminal syndicate that controlled most organized crime in Metropolis. His culpability in most of the crime in the city was widely known but he was never convicted or even successfully charged, despite the Daily Planet constantly trying to find evidence tying him to them. Luthor discovered Superman's weakness to Kryptonite and manufactured Kryptonite weapons which he sold on the black market to other criminals and villains. Superman and Lois could never link Luthor to the weapons either, although Lois became even more determined to stop him before he killed Superman.[2] At some point he also encountered his world's John Henry Irons.[3]

When Elizabeth was fourteen, Erica filed for divorce, blaming Luthor's emotional distance and neglect. Luthor conceded to all her demands for division of property, but insisted on maintaining primary custody of Elizabeth as Erica wanted to return to London and take Elizabeth with her, away from Luthor and his criminal dealings. Elizabeth walked in during their arbitration hearing and ran to hide in a closet. Lex assured her that their divorce was not her fault and told her that she was the best thing in his life.[1]

Luthor and rival crime lord Boss Moxie were feuding over territory in Hob's Bay when he was murdered, and Luthor was heard bragging about killing Moxie on a phone line that was being monitored by police. In reality Moxie had been killed by his lieutenant Peia, who then used her sonic powers to mimic Luthor's voice and give a false confession. Moxie's death left the way open for Peia's boyfriend Bruno Mannheim to take over Intergang.[4][5]

Prison

Lois Lane reported on the apparent evidence that Luthor had killed Moxie. Luthor went to her personally and told her that he was innocent but she did not believe him as she knew he had done far worse and wanted him in prison.[2] The media pressure she created was instrumental in driving the authorities to charge Luthor for Moxie's murder. Superman arrested him at Elizabeth's school just after he dropped her off, and Lex said he wouldn't forget.[1]

Luthor was convicted and imprisoned at Stryker's Prison in Kansas. His forces withdrew from Hob's Bay, giving Bruno a free hand to reshape the neighbourhood according to his vision.[6][7] Elizabeth wrote to him for a while from her new home in London, but eventually cut off all contact, which Luthor blamed Erica for as she refused to speak with him or let him known what Elizabeth was doing.[1]

On his first day in prison, Luthor offered to buy a set of clippers from another inmate for $5. The other prisoner demanded thousands, and he and two others beat Luthor when he refused. Luthor went to complain to the warden, who tried to solicit a bribe in exchange for protection, but Luthor instead handed him a piece of paper with a phone number on it and told him to call it. The number was the warden's home phone number, and when he called it his son begged him to do whatever Luthor wanted, as Luthor's henchmen had broken into his home and taken him and the warden's wife hostage.

The warden had the guards pull the three men out of their cells in the middle of the night and viciously beat them, leaving one of them paralysed. He then personally handed Luthor the clippers, which Luthor then used to shave his head. From that moment Lex had total control over both the guards and the prisoners: forcing the three who had assaulted him to become his personal servants, getting his food cooked to order for him, having wine delivered to his cell and making the entire cell block watch him eat at his leisure before they were allowed to get their own meals. Despite apparently being able to get whatever he wanted in prison Luthor left his cell bare, with a single picture of Elizabeth as the only decoration.[8]

Release

After he had been imprisoned for seventeen years, Lois and Clark Kent eventually realised that Luthor had been framed.[5] Bruno Mannheim was himself arrested after he broke Peia out of DoD custody. He confessed to all his crimes, including framing Luthor, in exchange for his son being released without charge. Despite the fact that Luthor had gotten away with far worse crimes than Moxie's murder, Lois felt morally obligated to report that he had been wrongly convicted. The rest of the media picked up the story and Lex was freed after seventeen years in prison.

The warden arranged for Luthor to leave prison early in the morning to avoid the media. He walked alone from the prison to the Kent Farm in Smallville to confront Lois and ordered her to retire from journalism as he blamed her for his imprisonment, obliquely threatening that he would harm her or her children if she didn't. He was picked up in a limousine by his henchman Otis, who drove him back to Metropolis. Luthor had heard of Mannheim's experiments with creating metahumans and that he had captured Bizarro, and went to the ruins of Mannheim's lab to see it for himself. They found Bizarro, alive but reduced to a feral state. Bizarro attacked Otis in a frenzy of rage and tried to eat him.[8]

Luthor shot and killed Bizarro with an X-Kryptonite laser, but the creature returned to life. Intrigued, Luthor killed him again and saw Bizarro not only return to life, but his flesh ripple and change as he did. Luthor realised that Bizarro became stronger every time he came back to life. He chained Bizarro up and offered to "help" him by killing him over and over until he became so strong that he was unstoppable and Bizarro seemed to agree. Luthor and his men spent the next thirty-three days sealed in Mannheim's bunker, repeatedly killing Bizarro in as many ways as possible. As a result, Bizarro gradually mutated into a hulking monster who could resist the most powerful weapons they had.

Lois did not retire as Luthor had ordered her to, and so he murdered the judge who had sentenced him and left her body in an alley near the Daily Planet to send a message to Lois. Luthor knew he would need to eliminate Superman and Sam Lane to get to Lois and so sent Gretchen Kelley, one of his employees who he had previously had a relationship with, to date Sam. When he believed Bizarro was ready he had Gretchen kidnap Sam and deliver his ELT, a device Sam used to summon Superman, to him. Luthor returned to the Kent Farm, where Superman flew down and confronted him. Superman repeatedly asked where General Lane was, but Luthor refused to answer and told Superman he was just a fool in a cape. He summoned Bizarro and set the monster on Superman; the two of them battled across Smallville, Metropolis and into space.[7]

The Death and Return of Superman

Luthor purchased and moved into the abandoned Poloma Hotel across the street from the Smallville Gazette. His assistant Amanda also told him that Elizabeth had disappeared when he was released from prison. The next morning, he went to the Gazette to confront Lois. She demanded to know where her father was, but he simply told her that Sam and Superman could no longer protect her. Lois said she would make sure he died in prison if he hurt Sam, and he revealed that he had moved in across the street in an attempt to intimidate her.

He then went to the town's diner and attempted to intimidate the Kent twins. He told them that Lois had sent him to prison for a crime he didn't commit and showed them his picture of Elizabeth, saying that nobody in his life had ever loved him except for her. Jon Kent said that it sounded like he was the problem and Luthor momentarily lost his self control, banging his fist on the table. The townspeople in the diner stood up to defend the boys and Jordan stared Luthor down. Luthor left as the boys were refusing to show fear of him, but warned them that everything that was coming was Lois' fault.

That night, Luthor went to the warehouse where Gretchen and Otis were holding Sam Lane. As Sam had tried to escape, Luthor decided to have him buried alive rather than simply killed. Luthor showed Sam the Smallville Gazette, which had the story about Superman's fight with Bizarro on the front page, claiming that Lois cared more about Superman that he father; but Sam simply mocked Luthor, saying that at least his daughters still spoke to him. Luthor yelled at Sam in a rage and told him nobody was coming to save him, then pushed him into an open grave which Otis began filling in. However, Gretchen and Otis later told him that Lois and a new teen superhero known as "Superboy" had rescued Sam. Later that night, Bizarro returned to Earth and delivered Superman's heart to Luthor.[2]

Despite Luthorcorp's board of directors calling for him to return to Metropolis and take control of the company, Luthor refused to leave Smallville even after Superman's death. The next day, while he was meeting with an executive named Bash in a bar, Superboy stormed in and demanded Superman's heart. Luthor recognised Superboy as Lois' son Jordan Kent, and realised that Clark Kent had been Superman. Luthor was not intimidated by Jordan and accurately predicted that he was not willing to kill him. After a moment, Jordan withdrew. Luthor returned to the Poloma and Lois and Jon followed him in. Lois confronted Luthor, swearing to send him to prison for the rest of his life. However, Luthor revealed that Jordan had come after him that day and he knew her family's secret.

That night, Luthor set up a sadistic game to torment the Kent family. He used a recording of Superman's heartbeat to lure Jordan into a trap in Metropolis; then very publicly went to the diner and left the hotel unlocked so Jonathan would be tempted to sneak in and search his room. The Kent boys each took the bait. Lana came in and pulled Sarah aside to talk when she saw Luthor; while they were distracted, Luthor left and went to Metropolis docks to deal with Jordan. He called Lois' phone, spoofing Clark Kent's phone number and using a voice modulator to sound like Clark. He told her that both her boys were about to die, although in reality Jon was perfectly safe, and then passed her to an automated voice that gave her ten seconds to choose which one she loved more and pick who would live. Lois screamed at him to stop, but when the countdown reached one she picked Jonathan, believing that he was more vulnerable that Jordan. At the docks, Luthor incapacitated and tortured Jordan with a hypersonic device that overwhelmed his super-hearing. He crushed Superman's heart in front of Jordan but did not kill him.

When Luthor returned to Smallville, Amanda told him that a mole inside the DoD had told her that Elizabeth had gone to General Lane just before Luthor was released and Lane had helped her disappear.[9] Luthor told her to have the mole get Elizabeth's whereabouts out of Lane.

The next day he went to the Kent Farm while Jordan was alone and played him a recording of the call he had made to Lois, including Lois choosing to save Jonathan instead of him. Luthor told Jordan that his mother loved Jonathan more than him to drive a wedge in the Kent family.

Luthor's agent in the DoD wasn't able to force Sam to tell him where Elizabeth was, and so Luthor dispatched Bizarro to attack the DoD. Sam ordered all soldiers to stand down and refused to tell Luthor what he wanted to know, allowing Bizarro to kill him.[10]

Superman returned to life, revealing himself again to the world when he intervened in a fight between one of Luthor's henchmen and Jon Kent.[11] As Luthor was driving back to Smallville from Metropolis, Superman landed in the middle of the road in front of his car. He attempted to reason with Lex, asking him to leave his family alone and telling him that revenge would not make up for the time he had lost with his daughter; but Luthor refused to change course or let go of his anger.

When he returned to Smallville, Amanda called and told him that Lois had been spotted in France with Elizabeth. Luthor stormed across the street and demanded to know when Elizabeth is, but in fact she was in the Gazette building as Lois had convinced her to speak with him. Lex also learned that Elizabeth was pregnant. They went to the diner across the street to talk.

The conversation started poorly as Lex refused to admit responsibility for any of his crimes, claiming that they were all lies spread by Lois. Elizabeth told him that she believed the father he had been in her childhood was an act, but Lex insisted that was not true and told her that he just wanted a chance to be her dad again. He then showed her the picture of her which he had held on to throughout his time in prison, but when Lex still refused to admit to the things he had done she stormed out. However, she returned later and they kept talking.

Lex confided in Elizabeth about how his mother had abused him, something he had never told her before. He told her that the hardest part of being in Stryker's was not knowing if she needed him, and she admitted that she had. He asked her to let him be there for her now, and they held hands. Elizabeth warmed up to Lex and they started having a real conversation, but when she asked him about Metropolis he said he hadn't been back yet. She realised that he was staying in Smallville to get revenge on the Kents. Elizabeth told Lex that if he didn't break away from his cycle of anger he couldn't be part of her life, but Lex simply said that Lois had to pay for the time he had lost. Elizabeth left for good, saying that her mother had been right about him.

Just after Elizabeth left, Amanda called Lex and told him that Bizarro had disappeared. Security footage showed him reacting to a hypersonic noise and speeding off; and Luthor realised Lois was behind it.[1] Luthor returned to the hotel and destroyed his room in a rage, then burned his photo of Elizabeth and the letters he had received from her in prison.

The next morning Amanda came to the hotel and saw the wreckage, but when she asked what had happened he simply asked for an update on their purchase of a plot of farmland to build a new Luthorcorp headquarters on. She told him that Mayor Lang was stonewalling their planning application and he said he would deal with it. Lex then gave Amanda a design for red solar lamps and told her to get them manufactured and secretly installed in Smallville's main street. He then went to Lana's office and attempted to intimidate her into removing the bureaucratic roadblocks she had set up, saying that he would build it no matter what. Lana refused and said that that her job was to protect Smallville from people like him. Luthor left, but not before threatening Lana.

Lana convinced the landowner, Aidy Manning, to pull out of the deal. They met with Luthor at a bar in Smallville, and he tried to badger Aidy into selling while Lana encouraged her to stay strong. Luthor doubled the offer, and then said he would give everyone in the bar ten million dollars each if she sold, hoping to pressure her into taking the deal. However to his surprise the townspeople told Aidy to turn Luthor down and he left when Clark came in.

That night, Luthor sent Otis to break into Lana's house and murder her; however he was stopped by Lana's teenaged daughter, who beat him with a bat. Furious, Clark Kent went to the hotel and called Luthor out. He told Luthor that he was going to end him and Luthor activated the red sun lamps to take away his powers. He gloated that Clark had nothing on him and said that he wouldn't stop until his family was destroyed, and Clark punched him full force in the face. They brawled in the street and Luthor at first got the upper hand, but Clark eventually overpowered him, beating his face bloody and then choking him. Luthor saw Lois and the twins nearby and laughed, amused that he had made Clark resort to such brutal violence in front of his family. Clark ordered Luthor to leave Smallville and punched him out. Realising that he could not take over Smallville as he had planned, Luthor returned to Metropolis and moved back into his penthouse. Amanda told him that he had gone about his vendetta the wrong way.[3]

Luthor told Emmitt Pergande, a man who he had done time with and Clark had previously run out of Smallville, that Clark was Superman. Pergande returned to Smallville and publicly confronted Clark. He shot Clark in front of a crowd and the bullet bounced off, revealing the truth. Realising Luthor would send others, Clark revealed his secret identity to the world on television.[12]

Amanda's plan was to clean up Luthor's public image by first having him shave his beard and change into business suits in order to appear more presentable; and then do a softball interview with hack talk show host Gordon Godfrey, despite Luthor's discomfort at being on TV. In the interview, Luthor claimed that Lois had been aligned with Peia Mannheim and Intergang all along, and had helped the Mannheims frame him for Moxie's murder. He then publicly challenged Lois to a debate at his penthouse on Godfrey's evening show. He also had Otis killed in prison to prevent him testifying and sent someone to Smallville to throw a brick through the Smallville Gazette's window to drive her to want to respond and show up to the debate.

Luthor had a panic attack at Godfrey's crew being in his home and almost called the debate off, but Lois showed up at the last moment with Clark. During the debate, accused Clark of assaulting him unprovoked and denied that he had tried to have Lana killed. He also denied that Otis had worked for him, claiming that Otis had assaulted him in prison, and also denied having him killed. He also played an edited tape of Clark calling him out that made it look like Clark was the aggressor. Lois revealed that Elizabeth was prepared to back up her side of the story, and called her live on air.

Before Elizabeth could answer Amanda had Milton, a hacker working for Luthor, hack into John Henry Irons' computer systems and take control of the Irons' warsuits. Milton trapped John Henry inside his own armour and flew it directly at the penthouse to disrupt the debate and potentially kill Lois. Clark flew out to intercept it, ending the interview. Godfrey ended the episode with a segment directly attacking Lois and referring to Luthor as a philanthropist. Luthor's public sympathy was bolstered massively by the events.

Milton managed to get the armour away from Superman and sent it back to his secret lab. Lex and Amanda went to the lab, where Milton was already modifying the suit for Luthor's use.[13] Luthor also started a relationship with Amanda and had Gretchen murdered to tie up loose ends.

Superman came to Lex and tried to rile him up by telling him it looked like Amanda was the one calling the shots between them. Lex tried to act like it hadn't bothered him and threatened Lois and the twins, but as soon as Superman left Lex angrily ripped off the tie and jacket Amanda had dressed him in and decided to break from her plans to assert his independence. He decided not to attend a board of directors meeting Amanda had set up, then tried to placate her by making her the second largest shareholder in Luthorcorp.

Milton called Luthor and revealed that while working on the armour he had found files on a "Project Doomsday", which was the DoD's attempt to track Bizarro. Included in the files was an interview with Lois where she mentioned that the portal to the inverse world was in the Shuster mines in Smallville. Luthor realised Bizarro would be in the mines and returned to Smallville, telling Milton to send the armour after him as soon as it was ready. Lois spotted him as he was walking back into the Poloma and confronted him, saying he should not have come back. He told her he was only back in town to pick up one thing and obliquely threatened her.

Amanda had learned what he was doing and also came to Smallville. She warned him that he could not control Bizarro and he told her that he didn't need to, as he was going to unleash the monster on the town as revenge for them turning their backs on him. She told him that was insane and he should have spoken to her first as they were partners. In response he screamed at her that he was in control. Luthor realised she had been speaking to Lois, but he then got a call from Milton telling him the armour was ready. He summoned it and jetted off to the mines, despite Amanda begging him to stop.

He flew into the mines and found Bizarro attempting to tunnel his way back to his own universe. He told Bizarro that Lois had confused him, but he was there to put him back on his path. Luthor shot Bizarro with Kryptonite missiles that exploded and killed him one last time, fully transforming him into a mindless, hulking monster. Bizarro attacked Superman and Luthor stayed watching from the sky, wanting to see Superman die with his own eyes.[14]

Superman and John Henry Irons were able to kill Bizarro again and Superman flew him into space to destroy him in the sun. Luthor tracked Amanda fleeing Smallville and attempted to blow up her car for betraying him, but the Kent twins pulled her out just before she was killed. Lois attempted to have Amanda livestream a full confession, and Luthor swooped in to stop it. The twins tried to stop him but he quickly dispatched Jon with an energy blast and started choking Jordan to death. Lois confronted him, calling him a coward for needing a warsuit to fight a boy and goaded him into attacking her, saying he was scared of her. Lex released Jordan and advanced on Lois, but she slapped a bomb on the armour and it detonated, damaging the armour but not destroying it.

Superman, who had heard Jordan's cries for help, flew back down to Earth and attacked Luthor. They battled through the air and Luthor fired his ultimate weapon at Superman: motorized Kryptonite screws that were designed to burrow into his body and destroy his heart. Superman was able to pull the screws out of his body and destroy them, and Luthor flew into a violent frenzy. He repeatedly charged at Superman in a rage, but Superman simply repeatedly punched him away, eventually destroying the warsuit. Superman let Luthor fall to Earth but saved him just before he hit the ground.

Luthor was arrested and charged for his crimes. He received a life sentence and, after his appeal was denied, was once again incarcerated at Stryker's. Luthor expected to return to his position of power over the inmates and guards; however he found that he no longer commanded the same level of fear and that Bruno Mannheim was now the king of the cellblock with the warden in his pocket. Mannheim told Luthor that he would enslave him as he had previously enslaved his fellow inmates and make Luthor into his "chair".

When Superman died thirty-one years later, he encountered Luthor in the afterlife and silently forgave his old enemy.[15]


Abilities

  • Genius Level Intellect
    • Mechanical Engineering: Lex is shown to have some traditional sense of science and mechanics, as he was able to create highly detailed blueprints for Red Sun emitting lamp bulbs in just one night before sending them to be developed by Milton.[3]
    • Business Management:As the CEO of Luthor Corp, Lex is an exceptional businessman; even while he was in prison, he continued to make profits.
    • Tactical Analysis[9]
  • Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic)[3]
  • Intimidation: Luthor has a naturally intimidating presence and is skilled at identifying and exploiting people's weaknesses. Peia Mannheim, a powerful metahuman, was afraid to be alone with him even though Luthor had no powers of his own.[16] The other inmates and even guards were afraid of him in prison.[8]

Other Characteristics

  • Obsession: Luthor is obsessed with maintaining absolute control over his life and surroundings, likely as a result of his abusive childhood. Being in a situation where he feels that are too many variables outside his control causes him panic attacks.[13]

Equipment

Weapons


Related

External Links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Superman & Lois: "Break the Cycle"
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Superman & Lois: "The End & The Beginning"
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Superman & Lois: "When the Lights Come On"
  4. ↑ Superman & Lois: "Forever and Always"
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Superman & Lois: "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"
  6. ↑ Superman & Lois: "Too Close to Home"
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Superman & Lois: "What Kills You Only Makes You Stronger"
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Superman & Lois: "Injustice"
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Superman & Lois: "A World Without"
  10. ↑ Superman & Lois: "Always My Hero"
  11. ↑ Superman & Lois: "A Perfectly Good Wedding"
  12. ↑ Superman & Lois: "A Regular Guy"
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Superman & Lois: "Sharp Dressed Man"
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Superman & Lois: "To Live and Die Again"
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 Superman & Lois: "It Went By So Fast"
  16. ↑ Superman & Lois: "Collision Course"
Superman Villain(s)

This character has been primarily an enemy of Superman in any of his various incarnations, or members of the Superman Family. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Superman Villains category."

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