Lex Luthor

Golden Age Lex Luthor / Alexei Luthor  

Only a bit is known about the history of Luthor before he rose to power and took control of several minor European nations prior to World War II through his super-scientific machinations. He intended to plunge all of the European countries into war starting with the small countries of Galonia and Toran, and used his scientific genius to sabotage a peace conference, but was defeated by Kal-L, the hero known as Superman.

Alexei escaped and later plagued Kal-L with a gigantic Kryptonite meteor after learning about Superman's weakness from Dan Rivers. Unable to defeat Superman, Alexei took solace in publicly revealing Superman's weakness to the world, causing trouble for Kal-L from other various foes.

Alexei would return time and time again with elaborate plans to kill Superman, but was defeated each time.

Silver Age Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor grew up in the suburbs of Smallville, Kansas with his parents and sister, Lena. Although forced to live the life of a farmer's son, he never acquired a farmer’s heart. Instead, Luthor's lifelong ambition was to become the world's greatest scientist.

As a teenager, Luthor learned about the existence of Smallville's own hometown hero – Superboy. He followed Superboy's adventures with great zeal and soon became the young Kryptonian's greatest fan. Through excessive compulsion and pleading, Lex was able to convince his parents to move to Smallville in order to allow Lex to be close to his hero.

Afterward, Luthor invited Superboy back to his workshop. Superboy found a veritable shrine erected in his honor, with walls and benches decorated with various souvenirs from Superboy's many exploits. To show his gratitude, Superboy constructed a brand new state-of-the art laboratory for the eager would-be scientist.

With the new lab equipment at his disposal, Luthor set about experimenting with his many chemical solutions. He even created a non-sentient protoplasmic entity out of some of the more rare chemicals that Superboy provided him. Using the protoplasm as a template, Luthor sought to create an antidote to Kryptonite poisoning. It was his intention to present the antidote to Superboy as a gift, as a means of solidifying their friendship. He succeeded in creating the antidote, but in his excitement, he knocked over a beaker, which set the laboratory ablaze.

 

Lex soon began acting on his criminal impulses to attack Superboy with his ever-increasing array of weapons and devices. But despite their fearsome powers, Superboy always managed to defeat Lex and send him to the Smallvile Juvenile Detention Center. Fearing that their son would never reform his ways, Lex's parents decided to move away from Smallville and changed their name to "Thorul" in hopes to raise their daughter in a relatively peaceful life away from the evil Lex. Despite this name change, Lex would later find his sister and find some sort of reconciliation with her and her children despite his evil nature.

Luthor continued in his plans to dominate the Earth and known universe even during the Crisis on Infinite Earths where he once again teamed up with his known ally Brainiac who had by this time adopted a more robotic form. It would be at this time that he would witness the death of his Earth-Two counterpart Alexei who dared to challenge Brainiac's and Lex's ambitions. Lex and the surviving villains would once again decide to side with the heroes temporarily when the Anti-Monitor resurfaced after being nearly killed by the efforts of the Flash (Barry Allen) and Supergirl who were both killed by the Anti-Monitor.

Modern Age Lex Luthor

Alienated Origin

For his parents, one look at their son's I.Q. test results was enough to convince them that he would make them wealthy. Their determination for him to excel however, helped to destroy his soul and create a sociopath.

Lex spent years searching for extraterrestrial life and as part of his hunt went to Smallville, Kansas when he was 18. While there, Lex befriended another alienated young man, Clark Kent (Superman). When a fire destroyed his laboratory and his scientific achievements, he refused to take any of the blame. Instead he blamed the people of Smallville for "letting the Luthors burn." To this day, he refuses to acknowledge he has ever been to Smallville.

The Rise of Lex Luthor

Years later, Lex appeared in Metropolis and built his technology company, Lexcorp. The company grew by leaps and bounds. With financial success comes political power and soon Luthor was considered to be the most powerful man in Metropolis. Then came the day when the people looked beyond Luthor's skyscraper to see a man in the skies above. With the arrival of Superman, Luthor's world was turned upside-down. Superman openly accused Lex of his criminal behavior, shattering the humanitarian image Lex had created. Luthor was unable (or unwilling) to link the "meddling alien" with the boy he knew years before.

Kryptonite Ring

Luthor tried many times to end the "alien menace", but was thwarted by Superman every time. Lex even fashioned a ring

 

from kryptonite to use. The constant exposure to kryptonite radiation gave Lex cancer. Lex eventually faked his death and had his brain transferred to a healthy clone body. He assumed the role of his own, hitherto unknown, heir. He resumed his battle with Superman with the same lack of success.

Metropolis In Ruins

When Lois Lane exposed his criminal dealings, Luthor showed his true colors. He triggered explosive devices throughout the city. Metropolis was virtually destroyed by the explosions. Superman and his fellow heroes helped in the reconstruction and the battle between them continued.

President Luthor

Realizing the need to silence his detractors in the fourth estate, Luthor bought the Daily Planet and sold it to Perry White. The

 

sale came with a string, that Lois killed one story of his choosing. Feeling safe from exposure, Luthor ran for President of the United States to gain the power to bring Superman down. He served the U.S.'s interests surprisingly well, forging links with Atlantis and Russia and rallying troops for the Imperiex Invasion.

Stop The Press

The tenacious Lois found out that Luthor had known about the threat from Imperiex much earlier than stated. This was the article Luthor tried to kill, however Lois gave her notes to Clark who produced a scathing report.

Descent Into Madness

 

One Year Later and Countdown

Lex later sends Bizarro after the newly arrived "Superboy" only for the creature to be defeated by Superman. Undaunted, Luthor gathers together a new Revenge Squad to fight against invading Kryptonians led by General Zod.

In JLA, Luthor (alongside Joker and Cheetah III) gathers together a new " Injustice League" and, outfitted in a new version of his warsuit (although still green and purple, it no longer has clear design derivations from the pre-Crisis warsuit as the McGuinness design did), sets out to destroy the Justice League with them. On a related note during this section, he was responsible for creating the third Shaggy Man and the third Blockbuster.

Luthor plays a large role in the Countdown to Final Crisis tie-in event, Salvation Run. Having been sent to the prison planet

 

after his Injustice League was defeated, Lex quickly assumes control of the amassed villains, receiving competition only from Joker and Gorilla Grodd, who convince half of the villains to join them. He does fight the Joker until the battle was interrupted by an attack by Desaad's Parademons. After the attack, Luthor manages to get the villains off the planet with a makeshift teleporter, secretly powered by Neutron, Heatmonger, Plasmus, Warp and Thunder and Lightning. When called a "monster" by Thunder, Luthor claims it is the ones who sent them there who are the real monsters, and that he is the hero. He later sets the teleporter to self-destruct after he uses it, killing the attacking Parademons, and his living batteries.

Final Crisis

In Justice League of America (vol. 2) #21, Luthor can be seen associating with Libra's Secret Society of Super Villains and

placed in its Inner Circle. Lex Luthor wanted Libra to prove himself, so Libra sends Clayface to blow up the Daily Planet building. As Lex Luthor attempts to ambush Libra after learning that he is a prophet of Darkseid, Lex Luthor soon ends up surrounded by Justifiers. Libra tells Lex Luthor to make a final choice... swear an oath to Darkseid or become a mindless slave. In Final Crisis #5, Lex Luthor is seen when Libra blames Calculator for cracking the computer codes that will help the resistance. Lex Luthor is silent on the matter, but has been picked to lead the rearguard action against the heroes at Blüdhaven. He assumes it's an honor, but he doesn't look very pleased. During Final Crisis #6, Libra figures out Luthor had been the mole in the Society of Supervillains. Luthor, in league with Doctor Sivana, seemingly destroys Libra and overturns the Anti-Life Equation being broadcast into the Justifiers' helmets.  
 
 

New Krypton

 

Luthor ended up imprisoned for his crimes, but rather that going to jail General Sam Lane had him serve out his sentence working for the secretive Project 7734. While still forced to wear chains, Luthor was assigned the job of accessing the knowledge stored within the captured Brainiac who had recently been defeated by Superman (as seen during the Brainiac storyline). Luthor successfully accessed Brainiac’s brain and after Metallo and Reactron were taken to Kandor as prisoners of the Kryptonians who had now settled on Earth he used Brainiac to reactivate the Coluan’s ship that was also being held in Kandor. Brainiac’s robots attacked the Kryptonians, providing a distraction as Metallo and Reactron used their Kryptonite hearts to kill their captors and murder Zor-El.

After his success with Brainiac, Luthor was given the seemingly dead body of Doomsday, who had been defeated by the Kryptonians, to study as it had “potential”.

Luthor later manages to use Brainiac's connection to his ship to kill the soldiers assigned to watch him. Brainiac manages to free himself from Luthor's control, forcing him onboard the ship, and the two make their escape.The two are later shown to have entered into an alliance, with Brainiac promising Luthor the Earth when he is done with it. While reading newspapers to catch up on what happened during his imprisonment, Luthor learns of the resurrection of Superboy. 
 

Blackest Night

 In Blackest Night #6,when Ganthet summons a ring from each of the corps leaders Larfleeze's ring finds Lex Luthor. With the ring saying that he wants it all,Lex Luthor becomes an Orange Lantern.

 

Alternate Versions

Earth-Two

 

Earth-Three

Earth-31 (Dark Knight Strikes Again)

Videogames