Lex Luthor (Prime Earth)

"*I figured out way back, if God is all-powerful, he cannot be all-good. And if He is all-good, then He cannot be all powerful. And neither can you be. They need to see the fraud you are. With their eyes. The blood on your hands.*"
―Lex Luthor to Superman[src]
**Alexander Joseph "Lex" Luthor** is a megalomaniacal multi-billionaire businessman, as well as one of the smartest individuals, if not the smartest, in the world. He is the former CEO of LexCorp Industries.

Lex Luthor also becomes the greatest arch nemesis of Superman, whose more or less very existence makes Lex feel extremely threatened, which makes the relentlessly ambitious supergenius go out of his way to expose the godlike alien superhero as a fraud, and to subsequently destroy him, by first pitting Superman against Batman in a duel to the death, which ultimately fails as neither Superman or Batman kill the other like Lex hoped by settling their differences, and then his bleeding edge creation Metallo.

## Personality

"*The bittersweet pain among men is having knowledge with no power... because that is paradoxical!*"
―Lex Luthor[src]
Being extremely intelligent, eccentric, self-conscious, ambitious, courageous, and charismatic, Lex is actually the ultimate living personification of intellectualism, quite possibly the greatest mind in the world (in many ways considerably intellectually superior to even most geniuses), using this tremendous power as an altruistic humanist, a man of and for the people (with Lex comparing himself to the enlightening gift-giving figure of Prometheus, and supporting it well with his superb demagogic skills). While he would appear an ideal image of human perfection, this nature of his is tainted to a hideous degree by his horrifically unstable ego deriving from his high horse and his low morality deriving from his cruel and traumatic upbringing, meaning he has little inhibition about seeing the world prosper only as he sees fit. Lex's ultimate wish aside from the power he seeks to better humanity according to his own wisdom is to destroy those that he deems as his competition - namely his nemesis Superman.

## Abilities

"*You've lost."
"I don't know how to lose.*"
―Superman and Lex Luthor[src]
* **Genius-Level Intellect**: Lex Luthor is a supergenius of phenomenally outstanding, wunderkind level intellect (famous for being a polymath and bibliophile with the highest level of mastery over numerous eclectic fields, making numerous eclectic references), quite possibly the most intelligent human being in the world, with his phenomenally eclectic intellect virtually unrivaled.
	+ **Master Tactician**: Lex Luthor is a phenomenally formidable tactical and strategic supergenius. Given his lack of metahuman powers, Lex, much like Batman, often uses cunning and planning to successfully outwit stronger and more powerful foes, gaining leverage over them rather than simply out-fighting them, often using any of their exploitable weaknesses (such as kryptonite, Lois Lane, and Martha Kent in the case of Superman and manipulation-inducing tunnel vision in the case of Batman) to his advantage.
	+ **Master Deceiver**: Lex Luthor is phenomenally skilled in deception, outclassing even deceptive genius Batman himself in that regard, as he was, notably able to successfully hide his extremism under a kindly and altruistic façade, which was convincing enough to initially fool John Corben, the insightful and brilliant reporters Superman and Lois Lane, and even the extremely experienced tactical and detective genius Batman, with none of them initially suspecting him to be hellbent on ending the Man of Steel.
	+ **Master Manipulator**: Lex Luthor is a terrifyingly accomplished manipulator, perhaps even rivaling the infamous Joker in this regard, as he was capable of steadily, with remarkable ease, turning Superman and Batman against one another by orchestrating several events capable of swiftly inciting their rage, with this ability also aiding Lex in gaining the many criminal allies that help him maintain the success of his oligarchical business empire.
	+ **Master Detective**: Lex Luthor, although applying this talent for malicious purposes, has proven himself to be an extraordinarily masterful detective, being able to deduce both Batman and Superman secret identitites.
	+ **Master Demagogue**: Lex Luthor is a superbly skilled demagogic supergenius (more so than even Batman or Amanda Waller and comparable to Ares), as his intention is to come off as an altruistic humanist of and for the people.
	+ **Master Social Intuit**: Lex Luthor, as a very outspoken humanist, has an incredible degree of social confidence and mastery in intuitively determining how to interact with others, gain their respect and get his point across with a calmness, eloquence, and charisma that belie his actual emotional state.
	+ **Master Mathematician**: Lex Luthor is a phenomenally skilled supergenius mathematician being able to pick up on patterns almost all others do not notice, such as with Euclid's triangle inequality in relation to Lois Lane and Superman.
	+ **Master Scientist**: Lex Luthor is an extraordinarily brilliant supergenius scientist, phenomenally skilled and knowledgeable in a vast array of scientific fields (including physics, chemistry, biology, genetics, neuroscience, computer science, psychology, and many others), even more so after absorbing new knowledge from the Fortress of Solitude's Kryptonian archives (of 100,000 alien worlds).
	+ **Master Engineer**: Lex Luthor is a phenomenally brilliant and prolific supergenius engineer, computer scientist, computer programmer, cryptographer and robotics technician. He was the head engineer on the creation of Metallo. A wunderkind prodigy as a child, since his company, LexCorp Industries is the world's premiere one in high-technology defense innovation.
	+ **Master Hacker**: Lex Luthor, as a prolific computer scientist and programmer, is an immensely formidable supergenius hacker, cryptographer and cybercriminal, notable for his phenomenal skills of intelligence gathering, and data interpretation, his ability to hack into most computer systems without tripping any firewalls or security, as well as his superb pattern recognition and analysis skills, with Lex therefore being able to pick up on patterns others do not notice.
	+ **Cryptography**: Lex Luthor is a phenomenally skilled cryptographer supergenius.
	+ **Master Businessman**: Lex Luthor is a phenomenally brilliant, supergenius oligarchical businessman, a wunderkind prodigy, easily the best currently alive in the world, managing to successfully transform his father's company, LexCorp Industries, from a petrochemical and heavy machinery dinosaur into a cutting-edge technology giant.
	+ **Leadership**: Lex Luthor is a phenomenally skilled and brilliantly talented leader, a wunderkind prodigy, having been able to spearhead LexCorp Industries with consistently tremendous effectiveness that eventually led to it being the most prominent company in the world, having the most amount of contracts even compared to the also extremely illustrious Wayne Enterprises, Kord Industries, Stagg Industries, and Queen Industries.
	+ **Literary**: Lex Luthor, as a famous bibliophile, has an encyclopedic knowledge of literary works, possessing vast quantities of books in his own private study.
	+ **Theology and Mythology**: Lex Luthor, despite being a militant misotheist, has an encyclopedic knowledge of both pagan (particularly Egyptian and Greco-Roman) and biblical creeds, myths, and theology.
	+ **Political Sciencet**: Lex Luthor, as an oligarchical supergenius businessman, has a phenomenal understanding of political science, such as the inner workings and intended goals of both political structures and intelligence agencies.
	+ **Networking**: Lex Luthor, as a supergenius manipulator, deceiver, and oligarch, uses a vastly dense network of professional and social contacts to further both his business and supervillain ambitions with outstanding skill.
	+ **Criminology**: Lex Luthor, quite ironically, is a phenomenally skilled and knowledgeable criminologist, outclassing even Batman himself in that regard, since he was able to quickly gain tremendous insight into and understanding of Gotham City's criminals and their mindsets.
	+ **Eidetic Memory**: Lex Luthor, as a supergenius, has a photographic memory and perfect recall, which greatly aided him in mastering a vast array of eclectic fields to the highest level as a polymath.

"*I cannot let you win.*"
―Lex Luthor to Superman[src]
* **Indomitable Will**: Lex Luthor, much like his archenemy Superman, has tremendous determination, fearlessness, and strength of will, since he absolutely refuses to ever hunker down and give up, even when placed against seemingly insurmountable odds, with Lex mastering almost any situation with his numerous tactical contingencies, and even going so far as to claim that he doesn't know how to lose.

## Equipment

As the CEO of LexCorp Industries, which under his leadership has become the world's largest tech conglomerate, Lex Luthor has earned himself a phenomenally large fortune, his wealth being that of $37 billion, vastly surpassing even the wealth of the other five tech conglomerates on the list of the six highest tech conglomerates in the world, such as his business rival Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen of Queen Industries.

* **Kryptonite**: A glowing green radioactive xenomineral from the planet of Krypton, discovered in the Indian Ocean, a side effect of the World Engine's attack. As kryptonite is the greatest weakness of all Kryptonians, Lex effectively wields it against them.

## Relationships

* Mother
* Superboy - genetic relative and former ally

Allies* LexCorp
	+ Mercy Graves - personal assistant, confidant, and bodyguard.
	+ John Corben/Metallo - creation
* A.R.G.U.S.
	+ Amanda Waller - acquaintance
* Batman
* Project Cadmus
	+ T.O. Morrow
* Daily Planet
	+ Lois Lane - exploited prisoner and exposer

## Trivia

* Lex coined the terms "Metahumans" and "Kryptonite".
* Lex, Superman, Deathstroke, and Shazam share the same middle name: "Joseph."
* This version of Lex Luthor is inspired by the comics *Adventure Comics* #271 and *Superman: Birthright* as well as real life Silicon Valley CEOs.

## External links

* Lex Luthor (Prime Earth) on DC Database
* Lex Luthor on DC Extended Universe Wiki
* Lex Luthor on Wikipedia