Lex Luthor


Alexander Joseph Luthor is a fictional supervillain appearing in publications by the publisher DC Comics. The character was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Lex Luthor originally appeared in Action Comics No. 23. He has since endured as the archenemy of Superman.
Lex Luthor was originally a mad scientist, but since the late 1980s, he has more often been portrayed as a power-mad business magnate, the CEO of LexCorp. He wishes to rid the world of Superman, ostensibly because Superman is a threat to humanity, but really because he envies Superman's popularity and influence. Given his high profile as a supervillain, however, he has often come into conflict with Batman and other superheroes in the DC Universe. Lex Luthor is an ordinary human and has no natural superpowers but occasionally wears his Warsuit, a suit of mechanized armor that gives him enhanced strength, flight, advanced weaponry, and other capabilities.
The character was ranked 4th on IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time and as the 8th Greatest Villain by Wizard on its 100 Greatest Villains of All Time list. Luthor is one of a few genre-crossing villains whose adventures take place "in a world in which the ordinary laws of nature are slightly suspended". Scott James Wells, Sherman Howard, John Shea, Michael Rosenbaum, and Jon Cryer have portrayed the character in television series, while Lyle Talbot, Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey, and Jesse Eisenberg have portrayed the character in films. Several actors have provided Luthor's voice in animated adaptations, including Clancy Brown, Mark Rolston and James Marsters.

Publication history

Creation and development

In his first story appearance, Action Comics No. 23, Luthor is depicted as a diabolical genius and is referred to only by his surname. He resides in a flying city suspended by a dirigible and plots to provoke a war between two European nations. Lois Lane and Clark Kent investigate, which results in Lois being kidnapped. Luthor battles Superman with a green ray but he is ultimately defeated, and Lois is rescued. Superman destroys Luthor's dirigible with him still on it, implying Luthor may have died. Stories ending with Luthor's apparent death become common in his earliest appearances, with him turning up alive later on.
No. 4.
Luthor returns in Superman No. 4 and steals a weapon from the U.S. Army capable of causing earthquakes. Superman battles and defeats Luthor, then destroys the earthquake device. The scientist who made the device commits suicide to prevent its reinvention. In a story in the same issue, Luthor creates a city on the sunken Lost continent of Pacifo and populates it with recreated prehistoric monsters he plans to unleash upon the world. Superman thwarts his plans and Luthor is seemingly killed by the dinosaurs he created. Luthor returns in Superman No. 5 with a plan to place hypnotic gas in the offices of influential people so he can throw the nation into a depression with the help of corrupt financier Moseley. The story ends with Superman defeating him.
In these early stories, Luthor's schemes are centered around financial gain or megalomaniacal ambitions; unlike most later incarnations, he demonstrates no strong animosity toward Superman beyond inevitable resentment of the hero's constant interference with his plans. Luthor's obsessive hatred of Superman came later in the character's development.
In Luthor's earliest appearances, he is shown as a middle-aged man with a full head of red hair. Less than a year later, however, an artistic mistake resulted in Luthor being depicted as completely bald in a newspaper strip. The original error is attributed to Leo Nowak, a studio artist who illustrated for the Superman dailies during this period. One hypothesis is that Nowak mistook Luthor for the Ultra-Humanite, a recurring mad scientist foe of Superman who, in his Golden Age incarnation, resembled a balding, elderly man. Other evidence suggests Luthor's design was confused with that of a stockier, bald henchman in Superman No. 4 ; Luthor's next appearance occurs in Superman No. 10, in which Nowak depicted him as significantly heavier, with visible jowls. The character's abrupt hair loss has been made reference to several times over the course of his history. In 1960, writer Jerry Siegel altered Luthor's backstory to incorporate his hair loss into his origin.
In 1944 Lex Luthor was the first character in a comic book to use an atomic bomb. The United States Department of War asked this story line be delayed from publication, which it was until 1946, to protect the secrecy of the Manhattan Project. The War Department later asked for dailies of the Superman'' comic strip to be pulled in April 1945 which depicted Lex Luthor bombarding Superman with the radiation from a cyclotron.
Luthor vanished for a long time, coming back in Superboy No. 59, in a story called "Superboy meets Amazing Man". A flying costumed bald man probably in his forties appears in Smallville and starts helping people using his fantastic inventions. He later moves his operations to the nearby town of Hadley. Superboy finds he is using his inventions to set the town up so he can rob their bank and stops him. In the last panel, Amazing Man is in jail and he tells Superboy he will regret it as sure as his name is Luthor and Superboy thinks that he will be Superman by the time Luthor gets out and that Luthor's talents might make him an archenemy.

'''Silver Age Lex Luthor'''

In 1956, DC Comics reimagined the Flash with a new secret identity, costume and origin. This led to the new Silver Age of Comics and the first DC Comics reboot, with characters across the board being reimagined or having their histories and nature redefined. The earlier Golden Age stories of Superman were later said to have taken place on Earth-Two, a parallel universe that was part of the larger DC Multiverse.
The Silver Age version of Luthor was introduced in Adventure Comics No. 271, now given the first name "Lex" and an origin story. Originally hero-worshiping Superboy, teenage Lex Luthor of Smallville is determined to prove he is Earth's greatest scientist by creating artificial life. His recklessness and inexperience causes a fire in his lab and he calls on Superboy to save him. The Boy of Steel puts out the fire but in the process accidentally destroys the artificial life form and the years of research notes that led to its creation, while fumes from the chemical fire cause Luthor's hair to fall out. Unwilling to hold himself responsible for the lab fire and the destruction of his own life's work, Luthor decides that Superboy was jealous of his intellect and caused the fire himself. Believing he's been betrayed by his hero and friend, Lex swears revenge.
This revised origin makes Luthor's fight with Superman a personal one and suggests that if events had unfolded differently, Luthor might have grown to be a more noble person. Luthor's ego preventing him from personal growth and the tragedy that he and Clark could've been a force for good together are played up in various stories throughout the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in Elliot S. Maggin's novels and Miracle Monday.
The Golden Age version of Luthor appears again as a villain still alive and well on Earth-Two. To distinguish him from the modern day Lex Luthor, the original incarnation is shown as having kept his red hair and is retroactively given the first name Alexi. In DC Comics Presents Annual #1, Alexi and Lex Luthor of Earth-One team up. It is shown that Alexi is arguable colder and more villainous, perfectly willing to destroy all of Earth in order to prove his superiority, whereas Lex hesitates to do so because he had no desire to rule a lifeless world and doesn't want his sister to die. Years later, Lex Luthor and the villain Brainiac recruit an army of super-villains during Crisis on Infinite Earths, including Alexi from Earth-Two. When Alexi argues that this army doesn't need two Luthors, Brainiac agrees and executes him.

Post-Crisis Reboot

Following Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC reboots its universe yet again, creating the "Post-Crisis" reality. In the 1986 limited series The Man of Steel, John Byrne redesigned Lex Luthor from scratch, intending to make him a villain that the 1980s would recognize: an evil corporate executive. Byrne intentionally chose to base this new depiction of Luthor on businessmen Donald Trump and Ted Turner. Initially brutish and overweight, the character later evolved into a sleeker, more athletic version of his old self. Luthor is no longer recounted as having lost his hair in a chemical fire; rather, his hairline is shown to be receding naturally over time. Marv Wolfman, a writer on Action Comics who had one conversation with Byrne prior to Luthor's reboot recalled:
The Modern Age Lex Luthor is a product of child abuse and early poverty. Born in the Suicide Slum district of Metropolis, he is instilled with a desire to become a self-made man. As a teenager, he takes out a large insurance policy on his parents without their knowledge, then sabotages their car's brakes, causing their deaths. Upon graduating from MIT, Luthor founds his own business, LexCorp, which grows to dominate much of Metropolis.
Luthor does not physically appear in The Man of Steel until the fourth issue, which takes place over a year after Superman's arrival in Metropolis. When Lois Lane and Clark Kent are invited to a society gala aboard Luthor's yacht, terrorists seize the ship without warning, forcing Superman to intervene. Luthor observes Superman in action, and once the gunmen are dispatched, hands the hero a personal cheque in an attempt to hire him. When Luthor admits that he had not only anticipated the attack, but had arranged for it to occur to lure Superman out, the Mayor deputizes Superman to arrest Luthor for reckless endangerment. This, coupled with the indignation that Superman is the only person he could not buy off, threaten, or otherwise control, results in Luthor's pledge to destroy Superman at any cost. As such, he is more than willing to help other businessmen destroy other superbeings. He was instrumental in the apparent death of the Swamp Thing, which jeopardized many lives as the Parliament of Trees attempted to replace him.
Despite general acceptance of Byrne's characterization, as evidenced by subsequent adaptations in other media, some writers have called for a return to Luthor's original status as a mad scientist. Regarding the character's effectiveness as a corrupt billionaire, author Neil Gaiman commented:
Luthor's romantic aspirations toward Lois Lane, established early on in the series, become a focal point of the stories immediately following it. He is shown making repeated attempts to court her during The Man of Steel, though Lois plainly does not return his feelings.
In the Superman Adventures comic line based on the TV series of the same name, Luthor's backstory is identical to that of the Modern Age origin with slight changes. Luthor is shown originating in Suicide Slum, but at an early age already aware of how his brilliance outshone other children and his plans to have all Metropolis look up to him one day. Luthor's baldness is never explained, save for a brief depiction of him with blond hair in childhood; it is assumed the hair loss was natural. Luthor's parents die during his teenage years, however their deaths were indeed accidental and with no foul play by Lex. As in the usual story, Lex uses the insurance payouts to kickstart his future by paying for his tuition to MIT and eventually starting LexCorp. His hatred of Superman is explained as the citizens of Metropolis have had more admiration for the Man of Steel than for Lex.

Modern depictions

', a limited series written by Mark Waid in 2004, offers an alternate look at Luthor's history, including his youth in Smallville, and his first encounter with Superman. The story has similarities to the 2001 television series Smallville, which follows Clark Kent's life as a teenager and into early adulthood. One plot element shared by the comic and the show is Lex Luthor's problematic relationship with his wealthy father, Lionel.
Birthright also reinvents the Silver Age concept of Luthor befriending Clark Kent as a young man. During a failed attempt to communicate with Krypton, an explosion erupts which singes off Luthor's hair. Waid's original intention was to jettison the notion of Lex Luthor being an evil businessman, restoring his status as a mad scientist. He ultimately conceded, however, that the CEO Luthor would be easier for readers to recognize. In Birthright, Luthor remains a wealthy corporate magnate; in contrast to Byrne's characterization however, LexCorp is founded upon Luthor's study of extraterrestrial life, thereby providing a link between him and Superman. In the retrospective section of the Superman: Birthright trade paperback, Waid explains:
Birthright was initially intended to establish a new origin for Superman and Luthor. To Waid's disappointment, however, the canonicity of the series was eventually discredited by stories that followed it. A concise biography for Luthor, later outlined in Action Comics No. 850, first appeared in the 2007 limited series Countdown to Final Crisis No. 34. Luthor's current origin appears to be a synthesis of aspects from the Silver Age continuity and The Man of Steel miniseries. Recent changes to DC Comics continuity were revealed to have been a result of the 2005 Infinite Crisis miniseries.
As outlined in a backup profile in the 52 weekly series, the post-Action Comics No. 850 Lex Luthor in this continuity is the son of business mogul Lionel Luthor and his socialite spouse, Leticia. As shown previously in Superman: Birthright and the Pre-Crisis stories, he spends part of his adolescence in Smallville, Kansas, where he meets Clark Kent, Lana Lang, and Pete Ross. In the 2009–2010 series ', however, Lex, his father, and his sister Lena Luthor are poor and Lionel is an abusive alcoholic.
In both versions, Lex Luthor leaves Smallville "under a cloud of rumor and suspicion", when his father is mysteriously killed. Luthor leaves behind his sister and migrates to Metropolis, where he founds LexCorp. Luthor becomes so powerful that he controls all the media in Metropolis and uses it to reinforce his public image as a wealthy benefactor. Rival newspaper Daily Planet had always stood free, condemning Luthor's actions in an outrageous editorial signed by Perry White. As a result, when Clark Kent is first inducted into the Planet, the newspaper is almost bankrupt, dilapidated, and unable to afford new reporters. Thanks to Clark Kent's appearance as Superman and Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen being given exclusive interviews and photographs, the paper's circulation increases by 700%.
The paper's return is interrupted when the U.S. Army, led by Lois's father, General Sam Lane, forcibly shuts down the business. General Lane attempts to force Lois to tell them everything she knows about Superman, who is now a fugitive after he fled a military interrogation. Thanks to Jimmy's help, Lois manages to escape to help Superman. Sam arrives and orders Superman and Lois arrested. The crowd turns on the Army, however, and Superman orders the crowd to stop, telling them that they, not the Army, not Lex Luthor, nor himself, are meant to be Metropolis's saviors. Knowing Luthor's role in the Army's attack against him, Superman confronts him and tells him that Metropolis does not belong to him: "You don't own us." Lex objects, since Superman is not from Earth. Superman replies, "This is my home", and leaves. Luthor holds Superman responsible for Luthor losing his complete grip over the people of Metropolis, a grudge that lasts for an eternity. In both JLA and 52, Grant Morrison states that Luthor's ego leads him to believe that the only reason Superman commits good deeds is to somehow strike at Luthor and prove who is better, arguing that it is impossible for Superman to be as good as he appears to be.
Many times, Luthor has stated that he could have aided the entire human race if not for Superman's interference, claiming that he gives humanity a goal that they could realistically strive to duplicate, while Superman makes them reach for the impossible. Both Superman and Conner Kent have called him out on the hypocrisy of this statement, noting that he has regularly turned down easy opportunities to willingly help others, simply because he would have sacrificed an opportunity to kill Superman by doing so. They believe this shows that Luthor's ego is more important to him than humanity. Even when Superman was depowered after the Battle of Metropolis and remained out of sight for a year, the only thing Luthor accomplished in that time was the self-sabotaged 'Everyman' project, subsequently finding a long-buried Kryptonian warship which he uses to attack Metropolis. This prompted Superman to note that he spent his year without Superman to discover "a big destructive machine so could break things" rather than achieve anything of worth to humanity, all the while claiming that Superman drove him to it. This idea of Luthor's fixation on his hatred for Superman was further reinforced when Luthor was briefly merged with a near-omnipotent entity that sought peace after its difficult 'childhood'. While merged with the entity, Luthor had the power to bring peace and bliss to the entire universe, potentially becoming a hero greater even than Superman, but Luthor fought against that power simply because he would have had to share that bliss with Superman as well.

Fictional character biography

Silver Age

Teenage Lex Luthor is an aspiring scientist who resides in Smallville and greatly admires its local hero Superboy. After Lex saves him from kryptonite, the Boy of Steel builds him a private laboratory in gratitude. After "thousands of experiments," the young scientist creates an artificial life-form of "primitive protoplasm." Overjoyed, he accidentally causes a chemical fire in the lab. Superboy puts out the fire, inadvertently spilling other chemicals, destroying the artificial life-form and the accumulated research notes that led to its creation. The chemical fumes also cause Lex's hair to completely fall out. Enraged he has lost years of research but unwilling to accept responsibility for the fire, Luthor concludes Superboy intentionally sabotaged his work, jealous of the young scientist's achievements, and swears revenge.
Luthor creates grandiose engineering projects to prove his superiority over the superhero, but each one fails and causes problems that Superboy then solves. Luthor then makes his first attempt to murder the Last Son of Krypton and fails. Instead of bringing him to the authorities, Superboy declares they are even now and expresses hope Lex will "straighten out" and use his intelligence to help humanity rather than try to prove his superiority or waste time seeking power and vengeance.
Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #23 reveals the Silver Age Lex Luthor parents are Jules and Arlene and that he has a younger sister Lena. When Lex becomes a criminal, the family moves away from Smallville and changes its name to Thorul to start a new life free of him. Lena Thorul is a toddler at the time and grows up not remembering her real last name, while her parents say her older brother died in a mountain climbing accident. Lex later watches over the adult Lena, making sure she does not discover her connection to one of Earth's greatest villains.
As an adult, Lex Luthor's driving ambitions are not only to kill Superman but to rule Earth, a stepping stone to dominating the universe, believing a man of his intellect deserves such power. On several occasions he joins forces with Superman's enemy Brainiac. Lex is repeatedly imprisoned, but his genius allows him to routinely escape. He also makes it a point to be out of prison on the birthday of Albert Einstein, regarding it as a holiday. A famous non-canonical "imaginary story" from 1961 entitled "The Death of Superman" has Luthor finally succeed in killing Superman after pretending to reform and befriend him.
On a distant arid planet orbiting a red sun, Luthor challenges Superman to a fight since Kryptonians lose superhuman power when exposed to radiation of a red sun. Befriending the planet's inhabitants, Luthor aids them in rediscovering lost technology that restores the water supply and helps the society rebuild. As a result, Luthor becomes a hero in the eyes of the planet, whereas his enemy Superman is detested as a villain. The people rename the planet Lexor and it becomes a regular home base and retreat for Luthor in-between his efforts to fight Superman and take over Earth. He later meets a local woman named Ardora. The two eventually fall in love and marry.

Bronze Age

Finally deciding to retire to Lexor permanently, Luthor learns he has fathered a son by Ardora, Lex Luthor Jr. He spends the next several weeks with his new family before discovering Lexor suffers from the same planetary instability that destroyed Krypton. While creating a "Neutrarod" to deaden the planetary core's reactions, Luthor's pathological hatred for Superman resurfaces. The villain then unearths an ancient underground laboratory from Lexor's past filled with great technology. After one of Luthor's still-active satellites threatens the people of Earth, he concludes Superman will soon come to Lexor to take him back to Earth authorities. With the underground lab's resources, he creates a highly destructive, flight-capable "war-suit" so he can finally match the Kryptonian's physical strength and counter his powers. To test his suit, Luthor performs several acts of destruction on Lexor, feigning ignorance when he hears about the "mystery marauder" and telling Ardora he has no knowledge of the man.
When Superman arrives, Luthor dons his battlesuit and attacks him. The people of Lexor are shocked to realize he is the mystery marauder and doesn't care about the harm he's caused them. During the battle, Luthor releases an energy salvo that accidentally overloads the Neutrarod, resulting in the complete destruction of the planet Lexor and all its inhabitants, including Ardora and Lex Jr. Similar to how he reacted after the destruction of his lab in Smallville, Lex is unable to process his grief and accept his responsibility for Lexor's destruction. He psychologically blocks part of his own memory to convince himself Superman is at fault, renewing his need for vengeance and now often using the Lexorian warsuit in subsequent battles. The Lexorian warsuit was designed by George Pérez as part of the Super Powers toyline in the early 1980s. After not being seen for years, it was reintroduced in 2004, now said to be built with a combination of Earth and alien technology and armed with kryptonite-based weaponry.
During the 12-issue limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths, Luthor allies himself with fellow Superman foe Brainiac to recruit an army of supervillains spanning the DC Multiverse. The Golden Age version of Luthor is present and complains the army doesn't need two Luthors, so Brainiac kills him in response. At the conclusion of the series, reality is altered so that each of the different universes converge into one. Luthor is subsequently returned to prison with all his memories of the Crisis forgotten.
The Silver/Bronze Age Lex Luthor met his non-canonical end in the "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" story line that closed out the Pre-Crisis Superman chronology. Luthor found Brainiac's robotic head and was fused with it. Brainiac took control of Luthor's body and sought to destroy Superman once and for all, teaming up with the Legion of Super-Villains. Fighting Brainiac's control, Luthor begged a super-powered Lana Lang to kill him; she complied by breaking his neck. Although Luthor died, Brainiac was able to retain control of the body for a short period of time before rigor mortis set in, and his head was forced to leave it, eventually running down.

Modern Age

As part of the continuity changes which followed The Man of Steel and Superman: Secret Origin, Luthor is shown actively participating in the creation of three Superman villains, Parasite, Bizarro, and the cyborg Metallo. Upon discovering that Metallo is powered by a 'heart' of kryptonite rock in Superman No. 2, Luthor steals it to fashion a kryptonite ring for himself. He wears the alien ore around his finger as a symbol that he is untouchable, even to the Man of Steel, after carrying out a series of kidnappings to try to determine the nature of the connection between Superman and Clark Kent.
Although computer analysis of the assembled data revealed that Clark Kent and Superman were the same person, Luthor dismissed the results because he believed that someone as powerful as Superman would never choose to live a normal human life. Luthor eventually suffered from severe cancer brought on by long-term radiation exposure from the ring; before this, kryptonite was mistakenly assumed to produce a safe radiation that is harmless to humans. His hand requires amputation to prevent the cancer's spread, but by then it has already metastasized, and his condition is terminal.
Luthor decides to fake his own death by piloting a prototype jet on a proposed trip around the world and crashing it in the Andes; this is merely a cover for the removal of his brain from his cancer-ridden body and the growth of a cloned body around it, whereupon he passes himself off as his hitherto unknown, illegitimate 21-year-old son and heir, Lex Luthor II. His deception is benefited by a vibrant new body with a beard and full head of red hair, as well as assuming an Australian accent as part of his fake backstory. As Luthor II, he inherits control of LexCorp and seduces Supergirl, due to his resemblance to her creator. Luthor's clone body eventually begins to deteriorate and age at a rapid rate, a side-effect of a disease that affects all clones. Meanwhile, Lois Lane discovers proof of Luthor's clone harvesting and false identity; with help from Superman, she exposes the truth, and a despondent Superman helps to apprehend Luthor. In the end, Luthor becomes a permanent prisoner in his own body, unable to even blink, and swearing vengeance on Superman.
Aid comes in the form of the demon Neron; Luthor is offered full health and vitality in exchange for services and his soul. Not believing in the existence of souls, he agrees. Returning to Metropolis, Luthor freely turns himself over to the police and is put on trial. He is acquitted on all counts when Luthor claims to have been kidnapped by renegade scientists from Cadmus Labs, who replaced him with a violent clone that is allegedly responsible for all the crimes with which Luthor is charged.

President of the United States

Deciding to turn to politics, Luthor becomes President of the United States, winning the election on a platform of promoting technological progress. His first action as president was to take a proposed moratorium on fossil-based fuels to the U.S. Congress.
Luthor is assisted by the extreme unpopularity of the previous administration's mishandling of the Gotham City earthquake crisis, and his own seemingly heroic efforts to rebuild Gotham. After six months, Gotham is restored and rejoins America. Batman ultimately learns that the entire debacle was the fault of Luthor alone, as he attempted to take control of Gotham by forging deeds for the land in his name. This results in Bruce Wayne severing all commercial ties between the U.S. government and his company, Wayne Enterprises, in protest of Luthor's election as President. With Luthor having reacquired the kryptonite ring he once used against Superman, Superman, Batman and Lois Lane trick Luthor into thinking that he has thwarted their attempts to replace the ring with a fake when in reality he has been left with the fake. In response to Wayne Enterprises severing ties with his government, Luthor arranges the murder of Wayne's lover, Vesper Fairchild, and frames Wayne for the murder, the plan being more successful than Luthor anticipated when his chosen assassin of David Cain realized Wayne's identity as Batman and set up a complex frame that also implicated Batman in the crime rather than just framing 'Bruce Wayne'.
An early triumph of Luthor's first term occurs around the time of the 2001 "Our Worlds at War" storyline, in which he discovers Clark Kent's secret identity and in which he coordinates the U.S. Army, Earth's superheroes, and a number of untrustworthy alien forces to battle the main villain of the story arc, Imperiex. As it is eventually revealed, however, Luthor knew about the alien invasion in advance and did nothing to alert Earth's heroes. This leads to the destruction of Topeka, Kansas, by an Imperiex probe and Luthor takes command of the crisis, hoping to establish his legacy as a great leader. Although Lex Luthor is able to devise a plan to destroy Imperiex's body, the plan is subsequently hijacked by Brainiac 13, requiring Superman to propose a new plan where Darkseid and Luthor coordinate their efforts to create a time portal so that a super-charged Superman can send Imperiex back in time to the moment after the Big Bang.
Presidential appointees
;Cabinet officials
;Other appointments
OfficeNameTerm
United States Secretary of Metahuman AffairsAmanda Waller2001–2003
White House Press SecretaryCat Grant2001–2003

Removal from office

The initial story arc of the Superman/Batman ongoing series depicts the fall of Luthor's reign as U.S. President. In "The World's Finest", a cadre of superheroes eventually break ranks from the Justice League to oppose Luthor. Superman and Batman, who had previously forbidden any attempt to unseat Luthor from office by force, led the storming of the White House. This was predicated by an attempt on Luthor's part to link Superman to a kryptonite asteroid that is hurtling toward Earth, claiming that he had 'evidence'—which he declined to share while claiming that it would make the public laud his actions if they knew it—that the asteroid was being drawn to Earth by Superman, offering a billion dollar reward for Superman's capture that pitted Superman and Batman against an army of supervillains, all of whom they defeated. Luthor even attempted to send a team of superheroes after them under the leadership of Captain Atom—the team consisting of Major Force, Black Lightning, Power Girl, Starfire, Katana and Green Lantern, but this plan failed when Katana and Power Girl quickly sided with Superman and Batman and Major Force was apparently killed, Power Girl noting that Luthor had assumed in his arrogance that the heroes would obey him simply because he was President. When the Justice Society's forced attempt to stop them by sending Hawkman and Captain Marvel against them met with failure and resulted in Superman and Batman briefly infiltrating the White House, Luthor, in an enraged and desperate gambit after Superman's rapid defeats of his plans, used a variant combination of the "super-steroid" Venom, liquid synthetic kryptonite, and an Apokoliptian battlesuit to fight Superman directly.
The madness that is a side effect of Venom takes hold, and during the ensuing fight with Superman and Batman, Luthor admits he had traded the creature Doomsday to Darkseid in return for weapons during the Our Worlds at War crisis; in doing so, he inadvertently provides a confession which is captured on video by Batman. Returning to the LexCorp building to regroup after Superman damaged his battlesuit, Luthor finds that the acting CEO, Talia Head, has sold the entire company to the Wayne Foundation, forcing Luthor to escape and go into hiding. Following Luthor's bankruptcy and total disgrace, Vice President Pete Ross briefly assumes his place as President. Luthor serves fewer than three years.
In 2009, the story of Luthor's rise and fall as U.S. President was adapted as a direct-to-video animated film entitled .

''Infinite Crisis''

returned to the DC Universe along with other survivors from Crisis on Infinite Earths as part of a scheme to create a perfect Earth, under the pretense of restoring Earth-Two. To this end, he assumed Luthor's identity and created a new Secret Society of Super Villains. In response, the real Luthor took on the identity of Mockingbird and formed the third incarnation of the Secret Six to counter Alexander's organization.
Luthor confronts his impostor in Infinite Crisis No. 3, but is intercepted by Superboy-Prime, who is allied with Alexander. After discovering that his hybrid clone/"son" Conner Kent was injured by Prime, Luthor contacts Robin and gives him the means to help Superboy recover. Later Luthor himself goes to Titans Tower and slips Conner a crystal shard which shows the location of Alexander's Arctic Fortress. At the end of Infinite Crisis No. 7, Luthor oversees Alexander's execution at the hands of the Joker.

''52''

In the opening weeks of the 2006 – 2007 series 52, the Gotham City Police Department finds what appears to be Luthor's body in an alley. John Henry Irons examines the body at S.T.A.R. Labs and notes that the corpse was altered postmortem to make it resemble Lex Luthor. During a press conference, the genuine Luthor publicly states that the body is that of an impostor from another Earth, and the true culprit of the crimes with which Luthor is being charged. Although Alexander's body had a missing finger and a different appearance from Lex at the time of his death, 52 editor Stephen Wacker has confirmed that the body found in Gotham is indeed Alex, and that Luthor had it altered before the police discovered it.
Luthor immediately sets out to build a church, which he names the Luthoran Church; he becomes spokesman for a new procedure, created by the Everyman Project, that engineers ordinary citizens to develop superpowers. During the autopsy of Alexander Luthor Jr., he secretly exposes John Henry Irons to the chemicals involved in his creating his new army of superheroes, turning John into a literal man of steel. When approached by John's niece Natasha Irons, Luthor gladly allows her to be one of his first test subjects. Using Natasha and several other volunteers, Luthor forms his own team of superheroes which are introduced as the new Infinity Inc. In Week 21, Infinity Inc. is in the midst of a battle with Blockbuster, when he demonstrates that he can 'shut off' the powers of each of his agents; this results in the death of his speedster, Trajectory.
At the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, Luthor sets in motion a calculated plot to discredit Supernova, a new hero who has taken over defending Metropolis in Superman's absence. Luthor triggers a mass-shutdown of the powers of everyone who has undertaken the Everyman program, except for the members of Infinity Inc. As multiple flight-powered Everymen plummet to their deaths, underground gas mains rupture from the impact, which adds civilians to the death toll. Millions of dollars worth of damage is caused. Luthor's plot ultimately fails when Supernova is able to minimize the disaster with a spectacular rescue.
While investigating Luthor to root out his motive, Natasha Irons discovers that Luthor has been testing himself to see if he is compatible with the artificial metagene treatment. John Henry Irons leads an assault on Luthor's building; despite the destruction of his armor during the fight, Irons confronts Luthor — only to find himself badly outclassed, as Luthor demonstrates nearly all of Superman's powers. Luthor considers conquering Earth and renaming it Lexor. However, Natasha uses her uncle's hammer to trigger an electromagnetic pulse which shuts down the synthetic metagene long enough for Steel to knock Lex unconscious. Lex is disgraced as a result, and later faces indictment when the members of the Everyman Project realize they have been used.

''One Year Later'' and ''Countdown''

One year after the events of "Infinite Crisis", during the "One Year Later" storyline, Luthor is cleared of over 120 criminal counts ranging from malfeasance to first-degree murder relating to the New Year's Eve massacre from 52. However, his role in the massacre has permanently ruined his public image and thanks to the machinations of Doctor Sivana, he has lost most of his wealth and all of his control over his newly reformed LexCorp, which is now being run by Lana Lang. He blames Clark Kent for writing several articles unraveling his schemes and pledges vengeance on Metropolis after an angry mob jeers him on the courthouse steps. After amassing large quantities of kryptonite, including kidnapping the supervillains Metallo and the Kryptonite Man, Lex uses it to power a Kryptonian battleship controlled through a "sunstone" crystal. Superman manages to destroy the kryptonite-powered ship and recover the crystal, simultaneously confronting Lex with the fact that, despite his claims that Superman has prevented him from helping humanity, the only thing he accomplished with Superman being absent for a year was to find a large robot that he used to try to destroy Metropolis. Lex manages to escape custody yet again.
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, leaving Superman alive to provide assistance simply because he believed that this 'invasion' was proof that he had been right about Superman all along and he wanted Superman to live with that knowledge.
In JLA, Luthor gathers together a new "Injustice League" and, outfitted in a new version of his warsuit, sets out to destroy the Justice League with them. On a related note during this period, 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 series 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 Darkseid'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 No. 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 No. 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 is an honor, but he does not look very pleased. Libra later figures out Luthor had been the mole in the Society of Super Villains. Luthor, in league with Doctor Sivana, seemingly destroys Libra and overturns the Anti-Life Equation being broadcast into the Justifiers' helmets. He subsequently assists Superman in leading the assault against Darkseid's forces, noting that Superman can consider this a legendary first team-up between 'good' and 'bad'- with Luthor's side taking the credit for the win, and Superman accepting the deal due to the stakes. Luthor later assists Superman and his remaining allies in constructing the new Miracle Machine to reset the universe and recreate the universe without Darkseid.

''New Krypton''

Luthor ended up imprisoned for his crimes, but rather than 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. 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 on board 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. Lex quickly returns to Smallville, where it is revealed that his physically and mentally handicapped sister Lena Luthor is still alive, and living with her daughter Lori. In an effort to mockingly prove his abilities to Superboy, Lex agrees to cure his sister's illness. With Superboy's aid, Luthor manages to cure Lena, allowing her to walk and think logically again for a brief moment, before he then quickly reverses the process, leaving Lena completely catatonic, and informs Superboy that so long as Superman is alive, he will never reveal how he did it. Luthor escapes with Brainiac, leaving Superboy, Lori, and Krypto horrified at his cruelty. Because Luthor now sees Superboy as a failed experiment of using the "wrong alien DNA", he and Brainiac create another binary clone with their own genetics for another plan against the entire House of El.

''Last Stand of New Krypton'' and ''War of the Supermen''

As part of his participation in Project 7734, Luthor sends a robot double of himself with Brainiac on a mission to attack New Krypton. While there, the Luthor robot tampers with the body chemistry of the previously captured Reactron. Shortly thereafter, Reactron kills himself, initiating a chain reaction which ultimately destroys New Krypton and all but a handful of its 100,000 Kryptonian inhabitants. Supergirl's mother Alura is among the casualties. For his efforts, Luthor receives a presidential pardon for his past crimes.

''Blackest Night''

During the Blackest Night storyline, when the public learned that everyone who has died are rising as undead Black Lanterns, Luthor isolates himself in his safehouse in fear that all the people he had murdered over the years would also reanimate and seek revenge on him. His fear is justified as his victims, including his deceased father, arrive, seeking to feast on his avarice-filled heart. However, Luthor escapes after receiving a power ring fueled by the orange light of avarice and becomes a deputy of the Orange Lanterns. Luthor arrives at Coast City and joins the battle against the Black Lantern Corps. Luthor engages battle with the Black Lantern versions of Superman and Superboy. However, Agent Orange Larfleeze wants Luthor's ring off, as the alien does not want to share his power with him, resulting in them battling each other for it despite all of the dangers around them. Luthor is able to use the essences of all of the people he has killed as his own Orange Lanterns, and seeks to add Superman to their numbers. Luthor is quickly overwhelmed by his greed, and sets out to steal the rings of his fellow inducted Lanterns, taking Scarecrow's yellow ring and attempting to steal Mera's red one, but is held back by the Atom and the Flash wearing a Blue Lantern Ring. When deputy Violet Lantern Wonder Woman uses her magical lasso to restrain Luthor, under its spell of truth, Luthor is forced to confess that he secretly wants to be Superman. When Nekron is defeated, Larfleeze takes the ring from Luthor, leaving him powerless, and allows Luthor to remain on Earth with the Green Lanterns.
In the aftermath of the crisis, Luthor, craving the power of the orange light, recovers and operates on several Black Lantern remains in an attempt to find one with a ring still on its finger. He is then visited by Larfleeze, who demands to know what is important to the people of Earth. Luthor responds with "power", which Larfleeze already possesses, and "land", which intrigues the alien.

''Brightest Day'': ''Action Comics''-"The Black Ring"

After the conclusion of the New Krypton event, Luthor became the lead character in Action Comics and will remain so until issue No. 900. Written by Paul Cornell, the first story entitled "The Black Ring" explores Luthor's more aggressive lust for power in the wake of his exposure to a power ring in the Blackest Night event. After being infused with the Orange Light of Avarice, Luthor begins a universal quest to locate the energy of the Black Lantern Corps.
During the midst of the Brightest Day event, Deathstroke and his new team of are hired to assassinate Luthor while he is visiting Midway City with Nava Mendelssohn, his new personal assistant and bodyguard. When the Titans ambush Lex's convoy and begin killing his hired mercenaries, Nava takes him into the sewers, where she is shot and apparently killed by Deathstroke. It is then revealed that Luthor himself had paid the Titans to fake an attempt on his life, in hopes that it would draw out conspirators within LexCorp. Nava's injuries soon heal, and she reveals herself to be a shapeshifter named Facade, who had murdered and impersonated the real Nava to get close enough to Lex to kill him. After a massive battle, Deathstroke and Osiris are able to defeat Facade, and then turn him over to Lex. In the end, LexCorp scientists are shown performing experiments on the captured Facade, while Luthor assembles his staff and reveals that he knows that it was one of his employees who had hired the creature in the first place. Luthor warns them not to try such a tactic again, as he will turn them into his next morbid experiment if they do.
While searching for the energy of the Black Lantern-simultaneously sending various Doomsday 'clones' created from the original after the other members of the Superman family to distract them, and having been advised by a robotic duplicate of Lois Lane-Luthor encountered Brainiac in space while attempting to alter the last of the Black Lantern energy, acting upon an unspoken theory of his. Brainiac revealed that Loisbot was an unwilling pawn in his bid to hijack Luthor's quest. Luthor then replied that he had anticipated this for some time, and he then attacked Brainiac and snapped his neck, temporarily incapacitating him. Loisbot pleaded for Lex's forgiveness, and he accepted her apology. However, after he altered the four remaining black spheres, he opened a Phantom Zone portal which unleashed an extremely powerful, monstrously large being which prepared to kill all life in the universe, because the negative emotions of sentient creatures hurt it. Luthor promptly impaled Loisbot's head, allowing himself to be infected with Kryptonian technology which he used to engage the monster on a mental plane of existence. Grappling with the creature, Luthor's body and mental essence suddenly fused with it, learning that it evolved in the Phantom Zone and now seeks to escape from the grief and anger of the Zone prisoners. Using his new power, Luthor draws Superman to him, attempting to drive Superman mad by forcing him to experience the human emotions that he believes the alien merely fakes to blend in. However, Luthor is outraged when he learns not only about Clark Kent being Superman, but that his defining moment of tragedy is the loss of his human father. Luthor is unable to cope with the fact his greatest enemy was raised by humans, nor his having had a father he would actually mourn, compared to the anguish Luthor endured in his own relationship with his family. As Luthor becomes one with the creature, Superman and Mr. Mind who has been aiding Luthor's search realise that the creature allows Luthor to create a feeling of peace and bliss throughout the entire universe, at the cost of never allowing him to cause any harm to another being at the same time. Superman attempts to appeal to Luthor about the potential of doing something even he never accomplished, but Luthor is unable to let go of his hate for Superman, costing him control of the entity, as well as his memory of everything he learned or did while he was merged with it, and it departs for another part of the universe. Luthor was finally and truly beaten when he falls into one of the Phantom Zone portals created by the creature, thus disappearing apparently forever in this timeline, as shortly after, Barry Allen, the original Flash, shattered history in a time-travelling attempt to save his mother, and his reversal of this ended up creating a whole new timeline.

''The New 52''

In 2011, DC Comics implemented The New 52, a relaunch of its titles and a reboot of its fictional continuity. Following this, Lex Luthor appears as a representative the government has recruited to investigate and bring down Superman. Based on background signage seen throughout the New 52 books, LexCorp also exists. In Justice League No. 2, Batman notes that he and Superman have at least one thing in common: both of them speak openly of their distaste for Luthor. In the New 52 Action Comics, Luthor is hired by General Sam Lane to capture Superman by setting a train accident as a trap for him. The younger Superman, who is weaker and inexperienced, barely stops the train and is left unconscious. Lex collects Superman and subjects him to a series of tests to ascertain his strengths and weaknesses. He tortures Superman until the latter manages to escape. Lex is later revealed to have obtained contact with the "Collector of Worlds" through unknown means and was told to say the word "Krypton" to Superman. He later appears when the Collector abducts New Troy as one of the residents in the area. He along with Lois and Jimmy go into Glen Glenmorgan's hotel where Lex calls the Collector and it is revealed that Lex had made a deal with him. It is later revealed that Lex Luthor was the secret caller named "Icarus" that was giving secret information on Glen Glenmorgan to Clark Kent.
Sometime later, after his connection with the Collector was exposed, Luthor was fired as a consultant to the U.S. military by General Lane himself. Luthor explained that they had no evidence, and that they needed his expertise as their consultant. Lane refuses to listen and has Luthor thrown off the base, but Luthor was confident that he will be asked back. After Superman's encounter with the K-Man, it was revealed that Lex Luthor had played a major role in the K-Man's creation, also, that he had stolen kryptonite crystals from the government while being employed by them. Luthor then muses about the potential uses of kryptonite on Superman.
One year before the ongoing modern continuity, Luthor arranged an illegal smuggling of war machines in Qurac. Knowing that Superman would intervene, Luthor laces the weapons with kryptonite and nanite technology to acquire a sample of Superman's DNA to create a monster based on the genetic structure of Superman known as the Hybrid. As Superman seemingly defeats the monster with his ice breath, it is later found out that the Hybrid is attacking Metropolis – whilst also having infected civilians with a virus, as Luthor had intended. The plan by Luthor was to show the people of Metropolis that Superman is indeed an alien menace, and only Luthor can save them from the Man of Steel. The final confrontation between Kal-El and Luthor, of course resulting in the defeat of Lex, was, chronologically, the first fight between two of DC's most famous characters. Luthor was arrested for the Hybrid crisis he orchestrated and now later appears in a one-man prison created by the U.S. government.
During the "Trinity War" storyline, Pandora visits Lex Luthor in his jail cell as she tries to get him to open the box. Before Pandora can give it to Lex Luthor, Wonder Woman and her group arrives to retrieve the box. Seeing Wonder Woman's interest in the box, Lex Luthor attempts to grab it, but Wonder Woman gets to it first claiming "I have the box." After being taken over by the box, Wonder Woman quotes "And the box has me!"
Lex plays a big part as one of the protagonists of the "Forever Evil" storyline, having founded the New 52 incarnation of the Injustice League. The members consist of Black Adam, Sinestro, Captain Cold, Subject B-Zero, Deathstroke, Black Manta and Catwoman. After the Injustice League and Batman defeated the Crime Syndicate and Lex saves Superman's life from the kryptonite shard Atomica infected him with, Lex deduces that Bruce Wayne is Batman, because of his connection to Dick Grayson.
. Art by Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, and Rod Reis.
In January 2014, Geoff Johns announced that Lex Luthor and Captain Cold would be joining the Justice League. In the wake of the Crime Syndicate's invasion, public opinion of Lex Luthor was incredibly favorable, and he decided that he liked it. Another reason was he believed the entity that destroyed the Earth from the alternate universe which the Crime Syndicate came from was the larger threat and might eventually become a threat to their universe and wanted the Justice League to be prepared for that possibility beforehand. In an effort to continue being regarded as a hero, he tried to convince the Justice League to recruit him, but was initially unsuccessful. The Justice League eventually talked about how Luthor was going to keep on his crusade with or without the help of the Justice League. They let Luthor join the Justice League knowing he could find out information that could put all of them in danger, but Batman figured at least they could keep a close watch on Luthor and LexCorp, and much to the chagrin of Superman, Luthor secured a place in the Justice League, even building a new Watchtower for them and recruiting Shazam onto the team.
In the opening chapter of the storyline, when Doomsday was being caught, Luthor intervened, telling that the monster was becoming strong and saying that Doomsday wanted to get stronger using Superman, encouraging Superman to stay away from Earth.
After the death of Darkseid, Darkseid's Omega effect is contained in Lex Luthor, turning him into the God of Apokolips.
When Superman's identity is exposed as part of Vandal Savage's plot to drain his powers, Superman consults Luthor for help, but Luthor expresses disbelief at the idea that Superman could ever be someone like Clark Kent, going along with Superman's request for help just to find out the 'real' plan.

''DC Rebirth''

In DC's 2016 line-wide relaunch DC Rebirth, following the death of the New 52 Superman, Luthor decides to assume Superman's symbol in a new suit of battle armor to protect Metropolis, but he is confronted by the Pre-Flashpoint Superman, who refuses to believe that Luthor's intentions are as noble. This results in a brief conflict between the two, Luthor claiming that Superman's 'unprovoked' attack proves that he is an impostor while Superman counters that Luthor's brutal response proves him right, but the fight is cut short when Doomsday appears. Luthor agrees to help Superman by focusing on evacuating civilians while Superman deals with Doomsday. After the crisis is over, Superman agrees to allow Luthor to continue using his symbol, as Superman concedes that he has no evidence that this Luthor has engaged in criminal activity. Luthor is later attacked by an alien warrior whose visions of the future show him who will commit various acts of death and violence, but Superman appeals to him to let Luthor free by arguing that the future is always changing and he will do his best to ensure that the dark future they foresaw for Luthor will never come to pass.
In the 2017–2018 Watchmen sequel Doomsday Clock, Ozymandias goes to LexCorp to enlist Lex Luthor to help him locate Doctor Manhattan. Both of them are attacked by a seemingly-revived Comedian. After Ozymandias flees from the fight with Comedian, Lex Luthor undergoes surgery at Metropolis General Hospital while "his attacker remains in serious but stable conditions." When Lois goes to confront a recovering Lex Luthor about his role in this, he reveals not only is he not behind this conspiracy but he has also been looking into it himself, learning that the person who created these metahumans for the government is not only a metahuman themselves, but also a former member of the Justice League. When Superman gets in a coma after Firestorm's incident in Russia, Lex sneaks into Lois' office to give her the footage about the Justice Society of America, the heroes that "never were".

Year of the Villain

After the Source Wall broke from the events of "No Justice," Luthor formed a new Legion Of Doom where they spent almost a year of issues to get the new elements/forces. In the Year of the Villain special, Luthor committed suicide by self-destructing LexCorp HQ while still inside in order to gain initiation from Perpetua, the Mother of Foragers, and was resurrected by her as her acolyte/child, becoming Apex Lex, a martian/human hybrid, alongside a resurrected Anti-Monitor who was in his pre-Flashpoint form. Apex Lex would set out to offer gifts of power to almost all villains of the DC Universe.

Relationships and family

Pre-''Crisis'' continuity

In the Pre-Crisis continuity, Luthor is shown as having very few personal attachments. Shamed by his crimes, his parents Jules and Arlene disown him, move away and cut off all ties to Smallville, and change their name to the anagram "Thorul." Jules and Arlene take their younger child Lena with them, who is only a toddler at the time and later does not remember her real last name. Lena Thorul is told her older brother died in a mountain climbing accident. Not long after their departure from Smallville, Jules and Arlene die in a car accident, leaving Lena to grow up alone. Like her brother, she attends Regis High School and then later becomes a librarian. Lena meets Lois Lane, who plans to mention the young woman in a story but is then warned not to by Lex Luthor. Superman and Lois discover the truth, but agree to Lex's request that Lena not learn about their connection. Later on, Lena moves to Midvale and befriends Supergirl, who also winds up aiding Superman and Lex in keeping Lena from learning the truth about her brother.
Exposure to one of Luthor's inventions later grants Lena ESP, making her an empath. Lena Thorul marries FBI agent Jeff Colby and the have a son, Val Colby. Jeff Colby dies some time later. After Lena has brain surgery the decision is made to reveal the truth about Luthor to her. There is some reconciliation between them when Luthor discovers he was an unwitting party to a conspiracy against Lena masterminded by his own cellmate "Sam", who wanted revenge against Colby. He is deeply apologetic to Lena.
The Pre-Crisis Luthor also has a niece named Nasthalthia Luthor, the child of an older unamed sister of Lex's who had run away and eloped in Europe when she was a teenager. "Nasty" Luthor is an occasional thorn in Supergirl's side, at one point forming a gang called Nasty's Nasties. Nasthalthia is removed from canon following the reboot of Crisis on Infinite Earths, but does appear in the critically acclaimed All-Star Superman.
Lex Luthor himself later marries Ardora of the planet Lexor and, in Action Comics No. 544, learns he has an infant son by Ardora, Lex Luthor, Jr.. A short time later, Lexor is destroyed and both Ardora and Lex, Jr. die as a direct result.

Post-''Crisis'' continuity

In the Post-Crisis continuity, Lena is the name of Lex's adopted sister when he was living in a foster home. She is accidentally killed by their foster father when she refuses to try to trick Lex out of his inheritance. Lex later names his baby daughter after her.
Following the events of the Infinite Crisis, Luthor's history was again altered, re-introducing Lena as his sister. Unlike the Pre-Crisis version, Lena is well aware of her history with Lex, having grown up alongside him, with only an abusive father. Lex and Lena's mother is named Letitia and is presumed deceased. She has no empathic abilities, and is a paraplegic with a teenaged daughter, Lori, both of whom still live in Smallville. Unlike his Pre-Crisis version, Lex has little love for his sister, having abandoned her with an unnamed aunt after their father dies of a heart attack. Lex even goes so far as to cure Lena's illness, and then immediately undoes the process, leaving her completely catatonic, solely to make a mocking point to Superboy and Superman. Lena is currently under the care of the best doctors from Wayne Enterprises, hired by Red Robin.
In the post-The Man of Steel continuity, Luthor is childhood friends with Perry White and it is revealed that Luthor is the biological father of Perry's dead son Jerry White, conceived during a period when Perry was believed dead, although Luthor, Perry and Alice only learned the truth shortly before Jerry was killed by a gang war that Luthor had triggered due to the timing of events. Lex Luthor has been married eight times, though the first seven marriages occurred off-panel in Luthor's past. His eighth marriage to Contessa Erica Alexandra Del Portenza is based on mutual greed; the Contessa buys controlling interest in LexCorp after Luthor is indicted, compelling him to marry her in order to regain control of his company. The Contessa becomes pregnant and starts using the unborn child to dominate Lex into doing her bidding. Luthor's response is to imprison her while she is drugged during childbirth, keeping her in a permanently unconscious state. The Contessa later escapes to an island mansion, but upon being elected President, Luthor targets her home with a barrage of missiles and destroys it. Luthor's daughter Lena was the avatar of The Tech, the remnant cyberware of Metropolis after Brainiac 13's advancing the city to a futuristic state was undone.
James D. Hudnall's further expands on Luthor's origin. The story details how Luthor was sent to live with a foster family following the sabotage of his parents' car. His foster parents, Casey and Emily Griggs, conspire to embezzle his insurance, and coerce their daughter, Lena, into seducing Lex to learn the location of the money. Due to her own romantic feelings toward Lex, Lena refuses, and is beaten to death by her father. Lex is absent from the home at the time of the murder, having been talked into going to a football game by his schoolmate Perry White. Once he has established his preeminence in Metropolis, Luthor takes vengeance on Griggs, secretly hiring him to assassinate Frank Berkowitz, the city's popular four-term mayor, who refuses to knuckle under to Luthor's dominance, then personally killing him once the deed is done.
As an adult, Perry's unwitting 'role' in Lena's death motivates Luthor to begin an affair with Perry's wife, Alice, during a period when Perry is missing and assumed dead. Alice becomes pregnant shortly afterward, though the timing of the conception means an equal possibility of either Luthor or White being the father. The child, Jerry White, later learns of his true parentage during his late teens, shortly before being killed by a local street gang he is associated with. The loss of a potential heir weighs heavily on Luthor's mind, particularly when he is dying of cancer; while mulling over his fate, Luthor visits Jerry's gravesite.
Luthor has shown an unusual level of compassion for Conner Kent, a hybrid clone created from the DNA of Superman and Luthor himself. After Conner's death at the conclusion of the Infinite Crisis, Luthor is shown visiting a memorial statue of Conner in Metropolis and placing flowers there. More than once Luthor addresses Conner as his son. Following Conner's resurrection, Luthor is shocked and decides to locate him. When Brainiac accuses him of showing paternal feelings for Conner though, Luthor denies it, saying that he only wants his property back, and has no fatherly feelings towards Superboy. Apparently, Luthor is no longer affectionate to the Boy of Steel after the event at his sister's house, and now seeing Superboy as a "failed experiment" due to using "a wrong alien DNA" to combine with his own. Luthor creates another binary clone with Brainiac using their genetics, which implies that it would become a threat to Superboy.
In the alternate future timeline of Titans Tomorrow, in which Conner still exists but, along with his fellow Titans, has become an uncompromising and dictatorial successor to Superman, Luthor acts as a caring, fatherly figure to him.
During the "Blackest Night" storyline, Lex Luthor's father Lionel Luthor was featured where it was revealed that he died of an allergic reaction to his medicine during Clark Kent's days as Superboy. He is reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps where he is amongst its members that try to attack Lex Luthor. After the events of "Blackest Night'", Luthor went on to build a gynoid version of Lois Lane using Brainiac technology. His primary purpose for creating her was to have a companion which voiced honest opinions about his plans, and to give him an extra voice of reason to counsel him on his obsessive quest for the Black Lantern energy. Luthor also had a pseudo-romantic relationship with the "Loisbot", and regularly slept with it.

Powers and abilities

Lex Luthor has the physical capabilities of a normal adult human with no metahuman abilities. However, for virtually his entire publication history, he has been depicted as the most intelligent human in the DC Universe, and one of the most intelligent beings of any planet. He possesses an eidetic memory and has mastered seemingly every known form of science, including space travel, extra-dimensional travel, biochemistry, robotics, computers, synthetic polymers, communications, mutations, transportation, holography, energy generation, spectral analysis, and time travel. With the possible exception of the extraterrestrial entity known as Brainiac, and occasionally Batman, Luthor does not view any other being as an intellectual peer.
His genius also extends to business and politics. Luthor has had some training in hand-to-hand combat, specifically, Karate.

Weaponry

Over the years, Luthor has made liberal use of kryptonite weapons capable of injuring Superman and other Kryptonians. Since the Bronze Age, he has also utilized various battlesuits in many stories. In current continuity, his suit grants him incredible superhuman strength and durability, and is equipped with rocket-boosters that enable him to fly for days on end. Additionally, it generates a powerful invisible energy shield that protects his entire suit from a majority of physical attacks. The suit is also armed with a collapsible kryptonite sword, axe and staff-cannon, along with dual kryptonite energy cannons. Consequently, Luthor has become extremely skilled in close-range combat.
Additionally, Luthor often wore a kryptonite ring on his right hand in Post-Crisis stories, but abandoned this tactic after prolonged exposure to its radiation resulted in the loss of his hand and poisoned his entire body, leading to terminal cancer and requiring him to transplant his brain into a cloned body to survive. During the Blackest Night crossover, he wore an orange power ring of avarice created by Ganthet, a former member of the Guardians of the Universe.

Other versions

In other media