Lex Facts

Are you a fan of the smartest man on Earth? Well, we got One Dozen Lex Luthor Facts for you!

1. While Superman has remained a lasting symbol of hope and truth, Lex Luthor's designs and character have evolved over the years as writers modernized his evil intentions. In the 1940's Lex was a mad scientist because American culture hadn't known a lot about science and so writers could use this unknown source of knowledge as a potential threat to humanity. In the 80's Lex became the corporate capitalist in a suit and tie we know him as today, focusing on the corrupt big-business company owners who "run the world" today. Even during the Bush Administration when the American people doubted his skills as a leader, Lex Luthor had become President of The United States in the DCU for about a year. Showing his brand of corruption and involvement could not be interrupted even by Superman.

2. While the modern Lex Luthor went bald as a personal choice, early versions of Lex had a lot of orange hair. The original story behind his baldness was an incident when he was a teenager working with chemicals that caused a fire in his school lab. Superman-as a teen-used his super breath to put out the fire, but the mixture of wind pressure and chemicals caused Lex's hair to fly off and never return. Other versions stated Lex's early exposure to Kryptonite resulted in radiation making his hair fall out.

3. Lex Luthor was a founding member of The Injustice League, as well as spin-off groups like The Injustice Gang and The Secret Society of Super-Villains. In animated form he was also the leader of The Legion of Doom. Only a few years ago was Luthor a member of The Justice League. This happened after he helped save the world from an evil Justice League in "Forever Evil" and used Batman's secret identity as leverage. He even entered a brief partnership with Superman after another version of Superman died and Lex felt he had to take his place. As the new Superman, Lex wore a power armor similar to his usual one, but with a Superman color scheme and the cape of the last Superman. Recently though he has returned to being a villain.

4. From the same Earth as the evil Justice League (The Crime Syndicate) there came Alexander Luthor Junior, that world's version of Lex Luthor. That version of Lex was much more heroic, but in a paranoid way. He had red hair and gold armor. After becoming locked in a paradise dimension with two alternate versions of Superman and an alternate version of Lois Lane, Lex watched the DCU become darker and fail more, so he manipulated events that led to the event "Infinite Crisis". This version of Lex also secret led a team called The Secret Six, but was later murdered by The Joker.

5. In the 1990's, Lex Luthor faked his death in an airplane accident so he could secretly remove his own brain and put it in a clone body. He did this because his own body was dying from Kryptonite exposure and he needed a new body to live. When he returned in a clone body he was younger and had red hair again, now going by Alexander Luthor II. He told the public he was Lex's bastard son come to take over the family business. This wouldn't be the first time Lex dealt with clones as the organization Cadmus created a clone of Superman, but they needed human DNA for the project to be a success. This resulted in Connor Kent/Superboy having DNA from Superman and Lex Luthor. Some versions of Bizarro Superman are also clones created by Lex Luthor.

6. Luthor's clone body eventually degenerates like his old one and the lie about him was revealed by Lois Lane and Superman, leaving Lex locked up and dying. To save himself he made a deal with the demon Neron, his soul in exchange for perfect health. Lex didn't believe in souls. He then made up a lie about being replaced by red-haired clone while he was locked up in Cadmus Labs.

7. During his red-haired period Lex shaked up with Matrix/Supergirl. This version of Supergirl came from a world where Superman died and an invasion of evil Kryptonians inspired that world's Lex Luthor to create an artificial human from protoplasm and model her into Supergirl. That world was destroyed, but that Supergirl came into the main DCU and fell in love with Lex Luthor.

8. In some stories Lex has claimed to have cured cancer and AIDS, but hasn't released the cure as he is waiting for their value to build up. During his time on The Justice League, Superman challenged Lex to create a cure for cancer on the spot when a virus began plaguing Metropolis.

9. In the New 52 we saw another version of Alexander Luthor Jr from Earth 3 who had the powers of Shazam was known as Mazahs, an insane and dangerous anti-hero. On Earth C-populated by animal versions of characters-there lives Lex Lemur the archenemy of Super Squirrel. In "Multiversity" Alexis Luthor is the daughter of a deceased Lex Luthor and she is "involved" with Damian Wayne/Batman. On Earth 50, Lex becomes President and murders Wally West/The Flash. This-in turn-makes Superman kill Lex and usher in the tyrannical leadership of The Justice Lords. In Frank Millar's "The Dark Knight Strikes Again" which takes place in the future, Lex Luthor and Brainiac puppeteer a hologram President and lead a lawful strike on superpowered people, as well as controlling Superman via holding the Bottled City of Kandor hostage. In the world of "Kingdom Come"-another story in the future-Lex runs a team called The Mankind Liberation Front to protect people from superheroes, he also uses mind-controlling worms to control Shazam. In "Superman: Red Son" where Superman landed in Russia instead of Kansas, Lex is a scientist who eventually marries Lois Lane and becomes President. While Lois divorces him, Lex convinces the communist Superman that he is stripping humanity of their freedom. Superman fakes his death and hides among society as Clark Kent while Lex leads the free world into the future. A millenia in the future Earth becomes planet Krypton and-nearing planetary destruction-sends Kal-El into space, through a black hole, and he ends up back in time to land in Russia again.

10. During his time as President, Lex had Amanda Waller (founder of The Suicide Squad) as his Secretary of Metahuman Affairs, Pete Ross (Superman's childhood friend) as his Vice President, Sam Lane (Lois Lane's father) as his Secretary of Defense, Jefferson Pierce (the hero Black Lightning) as The Secretary of Education, and Frank Rock as Chairman of Chief Joints of Staff. Frank Rock was also known as Sgt. Rock, DC Comic's best known war hero from World War II. It is unknown whether this Sgt. Rock was a clone or a robot or time displaced, but DC Comics insists Sgt. Rock died back in 1945. During his running he also framed Bruce Wayne for murder. As President he labeled Superman and Batman as criminals because a giant meteor of Kryptonite was heading towards Earth and Lex blamed Superman. 

11. In 2006, Lex started The Everyman Project and Infinity Inc. The project was to give superpowers to everyday citizens by genetic experiments and Infinity Inc was a team of those people. One member of the team was Steel's niece, Natasha Irons. After superpowered people start losing their powers and falling out of the sky, Steel and Natasha learn it was all a distraction so Lex could create metagenes equal to Superman and inject himself with them. With Superman level strength Lex couldn't be defeated, but Natasha managed to deactivate the genes long enough for Steel to defeat Lex.

12. During "Blackest Night", Lex Luthor receives an Orange Power Ring sent by The Guardians of The Universe, who send one of each Power Ring to Earth to assign deputies to battle the Black Lantern Zombies. Lex's Orange Ring is fueled by Avarice/Greed and he uses it to construct battle armor and destroy Black Lantern zombies off all the people he has murdered, including his own father. The Orange Ring also allows the user to create light construct slaves of the people the user has killed and Lex uses those slaves to battle Black Lantern Superman and Superboy and battle Larfleeze-the only member of The Orange Lantern Corps-himself. He also tries to steal the Yellow Ring of Fear from Scarecrow and the Red Ring of Rage from Mera, but Blue Lantern Flash, Indigo Lantern Atom, and Violent Lantern Wonder Woman stop him. When ensnared by Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth, Lex reveals he wants to be Superman.

Thanks for reading!