Lena Luthor


Lena Luthor is a fictional comic book character in DC Comics. She is the sister of Superman's nemesis Lex Luthor. She is played by Cassidy Freeman in the television series Smallville and by Katie McGrath in the Arrowverse series Supergirl.

Publication history

Lena Luthor first appeared in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #23 and was created by Jerry Siegel and Kurt Schaffenberger.

Fictional character biography

Pre-Crisis version

In Silver Age continuity, Lena is Lex Luthor's younger sister. After Lex began his villainous career, his family changed their last name in shame to the anagram "Thorul" and told Lena that Lex had been killed in a mountain-climbing accident. Soon after this they were killed in an auto accident. As a result, Lena never knew she had an older brother, as Lex Luthor himself worked to keep her from learning the truth. Lena appeared irregularly in DC Comics' from 1961 to 1975. Lena had psychic/empathic abilities, gained from touching a Space Brain that Luthor was experimenting on before he became a villain. In 1981, Lena lost her powers after brain surgery, and the decision was made to tell her the truth about Luthor. After the initial shock, there were signs of reconciliation after Luthor discovered he had unwittingly aided another criminal's conspiracy against Lena, and he was deeply apologetic.

Post-Crisis version

After Crisis on Infinite Earths, Lena Luthor is the daughter of Lex Luthor and Contessa Erica Del Portenza. She is named after Lex's foster sister who had been killed by their foster father, Casey Griggs. After Lena's birth, Lex takes advantage of Contessa Erica's wish to be unconscious at child birth by keeping her permanently drugged and unconscious at his corporate headquarters, not wishing to share his daughter's love with anyone else.
When Brainiac 13 arrives from the 64th century, the modern Brainiac possesses the infant Lena to escape being deleted by his future self. Even after Brainiac leaves Lena's body, Luthor trades her to Braniac 13 for control of the future technology that has transformed Metropolis.
Lena returns to visit Lex Luthor during the Our Worlds at War crossover, where she has apparently been aged to adolescence by Brainiac 13. Lena plays a sneaky role during the event, helping Luthor and his allies beat Imperiex by feeding her father information, while secretly manipulating events to benefit Brainiac 13. She is ultimately convinced at the end to side with her father. At the end of the crossover, Brainiac 13 and Imperiex are both destroyed, and Lena is regressed to infanthood and returned to her father by Superman, who tells Luthor that he now has a second chance to try to be a man instead of a god.
Following Our Worlds At War, Lena appears infrequently, sometimes shown as still having Brainiac discs on her forehead.
In the Superman's Metropolis miniseries the artificial intelligence controlling the B-13 technology believes itself to be Lena Luthor. When it creates a human body to pursue a romantic relationship with Jimmy Olsen, Superman confronts her with the real Lena Luthor, making her realize her personality is a computer simulation of Lena's.
Lena has not appeared since Luthor lost the presidency, and her current status is unknown.

Post-Infinite Crisis version

In #3, Legionnaires Polar Boy, Wildfire, and Dawnstar travel to Smallville during the 20th century, back to when Superman was still a suburban legend. The three heroes arrive to the Luthor household, where they hear a young Lex Luthor arguing with his father about his mother and sister.
In the revived Adventure Comics, Lena is Lex Luthor's younger sister and grew up alongside Lex until he left Smallville. Lex made certain to cover up his Smallville history, and that included disavowing a connection to his sister. Lena is now paralyzed, living in Smallville with her daughter Lori. Lori became friends with Superboy, but both were shocked to find Luthor on Lori's doorstep, intent on taking control of Superboy again and claiming he can cure Lena's condition. With Superboy's help Luthor indeed cures Lena, but he then undoes his cure, claiming he only helped her to prove to Superboy that he could and that so long as Superman lives, he will never reveal how he did it. Currently Lena is under the care of Wayne Enterprise doctors, thanks to Red Robin.

The New 52/DC Rebirth

In The New 52, Lena Luthor is paralyzed as a result of a childhood illness, with Luthor initially claiming to Bizarro that he never tried to save her because he was afraid of failure, only to admit privately later that he actually tried and failed to save her and instead left her paralyzed. He was eventually able to treat her paralysis, but delayed the treatment as it involved technology he did not invent himself, leaving Lena enraged that he expected her to be forever under his shadow.

Other versions

''Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade''

Lena Thorul is a main character in the series. She is Lex Luthor's thirteen-year-old sister who attends the same boarding school as Supergirl. Lena hates superheroes, and specifically blames Supergirl for the recent misfortune that has befallen her brother. Unaware that Linda Lee is really Supergirl just as Linda is unaware that Lena Thorul is related to Lex Luthor, the two become best friends and roommates. Though sweet and fun when interacting with Linda, Lena is hostile and suspicious towards everyone else. This is particularly true in regards to Linda's evil doppelganger Belinda Zee. As the series progresses, Lena's xenophobia becomes increasingly apparent. It is revealed that Lena is in secret communication with her older brother, waiting for the correct time to enact a complicated revenge scheme against Superman. When Linda'a identity is inadvertently exposed to Lena by the time-lost duplicate of Supergirl known as Supragirl, Lena goes over the edge and takes control of the minds of half the students in the school. Lena begins to question her hatred when confronted by the manipulations of reality by Mister Mxyzptlk and by Supergirl's willingness to save all of reality from the 5th dimensional imp. While Supergirl is battling Mxyzptlk, Lena is critically injured. Supergirl forces a truce between Luthor and Superman so that they can save Lena. Luthor saves his little sister, but the cost of her survival is that her hatred is now directed at her own brother. At the series end, Lena is referenced to be recovering in the hospital.

Lena Luthor (Earth-9)

A variation of the character appears in Tangent Comics: Wonder Woman #1. Lena Thorul was an Element Girl scientist who saw the inevitable futility of the gender war between the Element Girl and Beast Boy Gothamites, in which she felt the Gothamites had lost touch with each other and with their true potential. That they were stronger as a race when the two sexes truly comprehend each other. Thorul sought to create a symbol of what the Gothamites could be if they were united as a people, through the use of outlawed technology, she successfully created a unique and powerful female Gothamite with the attributes of both the Element Girls and Beast Boys which she named her as Wanda. Upon revealing Wanda to the Gothamites as a symbol of unity, however, this was greeted with revulsion from the Gothamites who ironically agreed together that Wanda was an abomination and Thorul was immediately killed for creating her.

In other media

Live action

as Tess Mercer in Smallville.
at Comic Con France 2010.
Lena Luthor appears in the second Robot Chicken DC Comics Special , voiced by Sarah Hyland, and is portrayed as Lex Luthor's daughter, instead of his sister. Lex Luthor has her interning at the Legion of Doom's coffee shop called "Hall of Doom Coffee" during spring break since the court order says that Lex gets custody of Lena on weekends and holidays. Her plight of having to work on spring break and not being with her boyfriend is understood by Gorilla Grodd as they follow each other on a social network. When Lex finds out that Lena has snuck away to go to spring break to be with her boyfriend upon finding Scarecrow's nephew Calvin working in Lena's place, Lex pilots the Hall of Doom to a beach location to find her while the other Legion of Doom members take advantage by taking a vacation. Lex finds out that Lena's boyfriend is Superboy when he finds her after an incident where some of the Legion of Doom members mistook the Justice League's private beach for a nude beach. As Lex tells Lena that she is not to see Superboy again, Superman tells Superboy never to see Lena again. Both Lena and Superboy tell about their love romance for each other to the other heroes and villains in a song parody of "Summer Nights". As the Justice League and the Legion of Doom argue about Superboy and Lena's relationship, the group is attacked by an enlarged Starro. Starro attacked both sides and overwhelmed them until seeing Lena and Superboy in a romantic moment and stopped attacking which ended with Starro getting killed upon Green Lantern sending a boat construct with Batman in it through Starro. Lena and Superboy are later seen at the wedding of Gorilla Grodd and Bizarro.