Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor is Superman's sworn archenemy. If the alien Superman embodies selflessness, Earth's own son Luthor is selfishness personified. He uses his genius-level intellect and driving ambition only to advance himself and crush others. Even without superpowers, Lex is easily the most dangerous human being on the planet.

Luthor believes that rules based on morality are pointless and serve only the weak to hold back the strong. As such he reasons that they do not apply to him due to his superior intellect.

Background
Alexander "Lex" Luthor was born to the Luthor family; a family who were among the pilgrims who founded the city of Metropolis. Over the centuries, the Luthor family became millionaire industrialists at the beginning of the 20th Century. However, the family lost their fortune in the stock market crash of 1929 and Lex's great-grandfather, Wallace Luthor, went to his grave a pauper.

Alexander Luthor was born the son of abusive alcoholic Lionel Luthor and his wife Letitia, in the town of Smallville. Born with a superior intellect and an ambition to return his family's greatness, which he felt he had a right too, Lex cared little for his parents, though he did love his sister Lena. Taking an interest in space travel and astrophysiciology, Lex spent his school years learning the sciences and mapping the stars. Seeking an escape from the "small minded" town, he pondered the existence of aliens and fantasized about what it would be like if one came to befriend him. Bullied and marked as an outsider by his peers due to his interests, physically and emotionally abused by his father for his ambitions and with no support or help from his mother, Lex developed a cynical and bitter perspective on life; summarizing that kindness was weakness, that one can gain what they want by exploiting other people. He also developed a vengeful streak, turning against anyone who slighted or refused his ambitions.

Finally having enough, Lex leaves Smallville after his father is killed in "mysterious circumstances". Lex made certain to cover-up his Smallville history, and that included disavowing a connection to his sister whom he abandoned to live with their aunt. After graduating from MIT he returns to Metropolis and develops and founds the aerospace engineering company LexCorp, which very quickly became a multinational conglomerate with a wide range of divisions, mostly but not exclusive relating to science and technology, as well as the media. He uses LexCorp to transform the city of Metropolis into a futuristic "kingdom" with LexCorp at its center by attracting the best and brightest scientists in the world to his company. To cement his company's survival and success, Lex also forms an underground syndicate to attack rival companies and uses his grip on various media outlets to protect or enhance his public image as a philanthropist.

Becoming the unchallenged master of Metropolis, Lex's "rule" of the city ended with the arrival of Superman; who encouraged the people to follow their own hopes and ambitions. When Luthor tried to hire Superman as a bodyguard by orchestrating an attack on a public gala to gauge the hero's abilities, the city's mayor deputized Superman to arrest Luthor for reckless endangerment. Publicly arrested but avoiding imprisonment, Luthor vowed to destroy Superman for this humiliation, and he has since devoted much time and energy to that goal.

An early attempt to combat Superman through power led to the creation of an imperfect clone known as Bizarro. Another attempt led to Luthor marshaling a team of similar genetic mutation "experiments" (Metallo and Parasite) as well as creating his own independent security force. Superman survived subsequent attempts Luthor made on his life, but he had never been able to prove Luthor's role in the attacks.

As a further defense, Luthor began carrying a Kryptonite ring on his person after learning of the hero's weakness. Continued exposure to the rock's radiation causes cancer to begin developing in Lex's hand, resulting in him amputating the limb and replacing it with a prosthetic. But unfortunately the cancer had already metastasized and was determined to be terminal. Faking his death, Lex has his brain transferred to a younger clone body and poses as his own son and heir to retake his company. However, while attempting to seduce Supergirl (Matrix), his body began to degenerate and his identity and criminal activities were exposed by Lois Lane. Trapped in a vegetative state, Lex is restored to full health after selling his soul to the demon Neron.

Returning to Metropolis, Lex was acquitted of all crimes after claiming to have been kidnapped by renegade scientists and replaced with a clone who was responsible for all the crimes he was charged with.

When Gotham City, following a major terrorist attack by Ra's al Ghul, is destroyed by an earthquake and is declared a "No Man's Land" by the United States government. Luthor organizes a massive rescue and rejuvenation effort in defiance of Congress. Through his efforts the city is restored and returns to the United States. With this, and his reputation as a benevolent philanthropist and innovator, Lex gains enough popular support to become President of the United States. Luthor's Presidency is marked by numerous criminal dealings and public attempts to control the planet's superhero community, as well as many attacks by alien forces, but he is in many ways a successful President as America's economy booms under his leadership and many scientific advances are made and funded. However, when a Kryptonite meteor is discovered to be heading towards Earth, Lex publicly blames this on Superman and puts a bounty on the hero's head. In preparation for a showdown with the hero, Lex begins taking the super-steroid Venom and becomes increasingly irrational. After being publicly defeated, Luthor is removed from Presidency and his company stock is sold to Wayne Enterprises

Lex retreated into recluse and attempted to enact revenge on the hero community by activating a mind control program in the brain of Superboy and the Outsider Indigo. During the eruption of the Infinite Crisis and the revelation that a version of Lex from another reality was impersonating him to unite the villain community, Lex assembled his own team and tracked down the doppelganger after his defeat to kill him, using the corpse as evidence that an impostor was responsible for his current criminal convictions. He was once again cleared of all criminal actions.

With the disappearance of Superman after the crisis, Lex returned to public promotion and enacted the Everyman Project; a scientific process that could grant superhuman powers to common citizens. However, after the discovery that Lex had the ability to turn the given powers on and off and was using that power to benefit the project's media image through the drama of the newly created heroes dying in combat, Steel confronts Luthor and had him arrested, however, once again, he is cleared of all criminal actions when it is revealed that one of the newly powered citizens had the ability to shape shift and was posing as him.

Lex currently heads the Secret Society of Super-Villains alongside the Joker and Circe in a scheme to better organize the villain community against the hero community.

Combat Statistics

 * Lex Luthor (Legends PvP)
 * Lex Luthor (Brainiac Harvester Ship)
 * Lex Luthor (S.T.A.R. Labs Research Facility (Little Bohemia))
 * Lex Luthor (S.T.A.R. Labs Facility)
 * Lex Luthor (Hall of Doom)
 * Lex Luthor (Fortress of Solitude: The Chasm)
 * Lex Luthor (Fortress of Solitude: Power Core)
 * Lex Luthor (Fortress of Solitude: Sunstone Matrix)

Villains

 * When the players choose a Villainous Meta character in their Character Creation, they will apprentice with Luthor and get missions from him.
 * Around levels 13-15, you will receive a mission to infiltrate a STAR LABS building for crucial exobyte data. However, Superman will attempt to intervene. You must activate special devices which contain Kryptonite in order to weaken him, and give you an advantage in battle, while Luthor distracts him. ((incomplete))
 * Luthor shows up at the end of the It's a Big Scary World Out There! mission to help the new exobyte villain fight off a large wave of Brainiac Minions.

Heroes

 * Heroes who have chosen Superman as their Mentor will fight him twice, when they are level 15 in STAR Labs, assisted by Superman, and when they are level 30.

Trivia

 * Lex Luthor first appeared in Action Comics #23 (April 1940)
 * Lex Luthor is voiced by James Marsters.
 * Lex has been married eight times. While his previous seven marriages were hinted to have been based on love, Luthor's eighth marriage to Contessa Erica Alexandra Del Portenza was based on mutual manipulation and greed. When the Contessa became pregnant with Lex's child, Luthor put her in a permanently-drugged state and took their daughter (named Lena after his sister) to raise but later sacrificed her to Brainiac in exchange for technology. Although she was returned to her father by Superman Lena's current fate is unknown.
 * Luthor's presidency lasted for a 3-year term.
 * During his time in Smallville, Lex occasionally spent time with fellow loner Clark Kent as well as Lana Lang and Pete Ross.
 * Lex has accused Superman of being an "enemy of humanity". He argues that Superman, with his phenomenal power, sets an unreasonably high standard for humanity to compete with, whereas Lex offers scientific advances that everyone can enjoy.
 * He also claims that Superman's heroism is an act as he believes that no one can be that heroic and altruistic without alternate intent. He believes that "the alien" is actually trying to steal Lex's glory due to personal envy and that his presence is causing humanity to be dependent on him and is thusly becoming impotent. Much of his feud with Superman rests on his notion that he, the smartest and most successful man on the planet, is the real "Super-man".

Gallery
Lex Luthor Gallery Page