Alexander Luthor

Boss **Alexander Joseph** "**Lex**" **Luthor** (アレクサンダー・ジョセフ・“レックス”・ルーサー, *Arekusandā Josefu "Rekkusu" Rūsā*), is a main fictional character and one of the antagonists of the *DC* series. He is a powerful and influential businessman, and owner of LexCorp, and Superman's sworn archenemy. If the alien Superman embodies selflessness, Earth's own son Lex is selfishness personified. He uses his genius-level intellect and driving ambition only to advance himself and crush others. Even without superpowers, Lex is easily the most dangerous human being on the planet.

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

"*Everything that exists has a specific nature, and possesses characteristics that are a part of what it is. A is A... And no matter what reality he calls home, Luthor is **Luthor**.*"

—Question, on Lex Luthor.

## Appearance & Biography

*Voice Actor*: Clancy Brown (English), Jouji Nakata (Japanese), Not Known (Arabic), Not Known (Brazilian), Not Known (Chinese), Not Known (Dutch), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (French), Not Known (German), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Hebrew), Not Known (Hungarian), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (Norwegian), Not Known (Poland), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Portuguese), Not Known (Romanian), Not Known (Russian), Not Known (Serbian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (Swedish), Not Known (Thai), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese), Not Known (Canadian French), Not Known (European Spanish), Not Known (European Portuguese), Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Latin Spanish), Not Known (Spain-Spanish)

### Appearance

Lex Luthor is tall and appears to be in good shape, being moderately built. He is bald, and has green eyes and high cheekbones.

* Hair Color: N/A
* Skin Color: Not Known
* Eye Color: Green
* Age: Not Known
* Birthday: Not Known
* Height: 6'0"
* Weight: Not Known

## Personality

Lex Luthor has a conniving and Machiavellian personality. He is calm, soft-spoken, and unfailingly polite, thus manipulating unwitting people into getting his way. His soft-spoken nature and charm places him in a positive light to the public.

Despite his resplendent appearance to the public, behind the scenes, his goals are almost always motivated by profit. This amoral desire to maximize profits has typically put him on the wrong side of superheroes.

## Relationships

### Friends/Allies

* LexCorp
	+ Mercy Graves
	+ Kitty Kowalski
	+ Otis
	+ Eve Teschmacher
* Secret Society of Super-Villains
	+ Ocean Master
	+ Cheetah
	+ Weather Wizard
	+ Solomon Grundy
	+ Toymaster
	+ KGBeast
	+ Deathstroke - Captain.
* General Zod
* Brainiac

### Family

* Lachlan Luthor (grandfather, deceased)
* Eliza Luthor (grandmother, deceased)
* Lionel Luthor (father, deceased)
* Lillian Luthor (mother, deceased)
* Julian Luthor (brother, deceased)
* Lucas Luthor (half-brother)
* Tess Mercer (half-sister)
* Helen Bryce Luthor (wife, deceased)
* Lana Lang (ex-wife)
* Nasty Luthor (Niece)
* Lenny Luthor (Nephew)
* Alexis Luthor (Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Granddaughter)
* Superboy (partial clone)
* Nuclear Man (creation)
* Doomsday (Creation; deceased)

### Neutral

* Chloe Sullivan - Friend turned enemy.
* Poison Ivy
* Steel - Former employee turned enemy.
* Lois Lane - Ex-girlfriend and former employee turned enemy.
* Amanda Waller - His aid turned enemy.

### Rivals

* Gorilla Grodd - Rival and enemy.
* June Finch (deceased)

### Enemies

* Justice League
	+ Superman - Best friend turned archenemy.
	+ Batman - Enemy.
	+ Wonder Woman
	+ Aquaman
	+ The Flash
	+ Green Lantern
	+ Martian Manhunter
	+ Shazam
	+ Green Arrow - Childhood friend and enemy.
* Teen Titans
	+ Nightwing
* Martha Kent
* Perry White
* Silas Stone
* Calvin Swanwick
* Darkseid

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

* **Warsuit Powers**:
	+ **Flight**:
	+ **Energy Shield**:
	+ **Superhuman Strength**:
	+ **Superhuman Durability**:
* **Invulnerability**:

### Abilities

* **Charisma**: Lex spent a long time developing a "silver-tongue", mostly to earn the trust and respect of those around him. The Luthor name has earned an unsavory reputation in the town of Smallville and Lex has devoted a lot of energy towards reconciling relationships thrown into disarray due to the actions of his father. In later years, Lex's demeanor darkened and he spent less time trying to earn the trust of those around him.
* **Fencing**: Lex is quite proficient in the art of fencing, though he is by no means an expert. He has trained with a professional and often sparred against his own father, who has proven himself to be more skillful with a fencing blade than his son.
* **Eidetic Memory**:
* **Electrical Engineering**: Based on stolen CADMUS property, Lex Luthor developed technology to take control of the Justice League Watchtower's Binary Fusion Generator orbital cannon and force it to fire at Earth.
* **Genius Level Intellect**: Lex reprogrammed various satellites in order to freeze polar ice caps to increase landmass that he already owns.
	+ **Leadership**: Lex is the leader of the Legion of Doom. He has orchestrated countless attempts at global domination and has drawn the attention of the Justice League every time.
	+ **Business Management**: Lex started his own company which monetarily rivals that of Wayne Enterprises. Lex ran a false campaign for the presidency and spent millions of dollars just to gain more political and monetary power.
	+ **Disguise**:
	+ **Political Science**:
	+ **Tactical Analysis**:
	+ **Gadgetry**: Using his incredible intellect, he can create gadgets to suit his purposes such as creating force fields.
	+ **Mechanical Aptitude**:
	+ **Mechanical Engineering**:
	+ **Science**:
		- **Genetics**:
	+ **Computer Operation**:
* **Intimidation**:
* **Multilingualism**: Able to speak both English and Japanese.
* **Deception**:
* **Near-Inexhaustible Wealth**: Another one of Lex's greatest assets is his nearly limitless financial and technological resources.

### Weaknesses

* **Obsession**:
* **Multiple Personalities**:

### Equipment

* **Lex-O-Skeleton 3000**: A battlesuit that enabled him to fly, amplify the user's physical strength, has storage compartments/utility casings and surface layer force field projector, giving him some level of physical protection.
	+ **Superhuman Strength**:
	+ **Superhuman Durability**:
	+ **Flight**:
	+ **Energy Projection**:
	+ **Force Field**:
* **Advanced Technologies**: Lex has created many technologies ranging from nano machines which can destroy a black hole to powerful explosives to exoskeletons harnessing the speed and time manipulating powers of the Speed Force.

### Weapons

* **Energy Stick**
* **Kryptonite**: Luthor carried a brick of kryptonite with him at all times; this eventually gave him cancer.
* **Yellow Lantern Ring** (Formerly):
* **Deconstructor:** Designed and developed by LexCorp, the Deconstructor is powered by Kryptonite. The device emits a unique type of energy which is absorbed so quickly by shiny black objects, in essence pulling them apart.

### Transportation

* **Trans-Dimensional Teleporter Device**:
* **Lexportation**: a device that allows the user to teleport to wherever they want.

## History

### Past

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

Alexander Luthor was born the son of abusive alcoholic Lionel Luthor and his wife Letitia, in the town of Smallville.

Born with a superior intellect and an ambition to return his family's greatness, which he felt he had a right too, Lex cared little for his parents, though he did love his sister Lena.

Taking an interest in space travel and astrophysiology, Lex spent his school years learning the sciences and mapping the stars. Seeking an escape from the "small minded" town, he pondered the existence of aliens and fantasized about what it would be like if one came to befriend him.

Bullied and marked as an outsider by his peers due to his interests, physically and emotionally abused by his father for his ambitions and with no support or help from his mother, Lex developed a cynical and bitter perspective on life; summarizing that kindness was weakness, that one can gain what they want by exploiting other people. He also developed a vengeful streak, turning against anyone who slighted or refused his ambitions.

Finally having enough, Lex leaves Smallville after his father is killed in "mysterious circumstances".
Lex made certain to cover-up his Smallville history, and that included disavowing a connection to his sister whom he abandoned to live with their aunt.

After graduating from MIT he arrives at Metropolis amidst the city's recession. Looking for a way to start making money, Lex starts by finding employment within the only industry still making money; the criminal industry. Working his way into working management within Intergang, Lex's intelligence comes to the attention of Darkseid, who lets him find his way to Apokolips through one of Intergang's teleportation doorways and forces him to work at the Scientwisticon as the new Scientwister. Convincing Darkseid's minions to give him access to their weapon power cores; Lex attempts to kill Darkseid with a weapon of his own design and take over his throne but fails. Escaping Apokolips, Lex returns to Metropolis and uses stolen Apokoliptian technology to develop the aerospace engineering company LexCorp, which very quickly became a multinational conglomerate with a wide range of divisions, mostly but not exclusive relating to science and technology, as well as the media. He uses LexCorp to transform the city of Metropolis into a futuristic "kingdom" with LexCorp at its center by attracting the best and brightest scientists in the world to his company.

To cement his company's survival and success, Lex also forms an underground syndicate to attack rival companies and uses his grip on various media outlets to protect or enhance his public image as a philanthropist.

Becoming the unchallenged master of Metropolis, Lex's "rule" of the city ended with the arrival of Superman; who encouraged the people to follow their own hopes and ambitions.

When Lex tried to hire Superman as a bodyguard by orchestrating an attack on a public gala to gauge the hero's abilities, the city's mayor deputized Superman to arrest Luthor for reckless endangerment. Publicly arrested but avoiding imprisonment, Luthor vowed to destroy Superman for this humiliation, and he has since devoted much time and energy to that goal.

## See also

* LexCorp Salvation
* LexCorp
* Secret Society of Super-Villains
* Future Lex Luthor

## External links

* Lex Luthor *Wikipedia*
* Lex Luthor *DC Database*
* Lex Luthor *Batman Wiki*
* Lex Luthor *YJ WIKI*
* Lex Luthor *Arkham Wiki*

## Notes & Trivia

* Lex Luthor first appeared in Action Comics #23 (April 1940).
* Lex has been married eight times. While his previous seven marriages were hinted to have been based on love, Luthor's eighth marriage to Contessa Erica Alexandra Del Portenza was based on mutual manipulation and greed. When the Contessa became pregnant with Lex's child, Luthor put her in a permanently-drugged state and took their daughter (named Lena after his sister) to raise but later sacrificed her to Brainiac in exchange for technology. Although she was returned to her father by Superman Lena's current fate is unknown.
* Luthor's presidency lasted for a 3-year term.
* During his time in Smallville, Lex occasionally spent time with fellow loner Clark Kent as well as Lana Lang and Pete Ross.
* Luthor's battle suit is known as a "LexCore Battle Armour" and was forged with Apokoliptian technology.
* Lex has accused Superman of being an "enemy of humanity". He argues that Superman, with his phenomenal power, sets an unreasonably high standard for humanity to compete with, whereas Lex offers scientific advances that everyone can enjoy.
* He also claims that Superman's heroism is an act as he believes that no one can be that heroic and altruistic without alternate intent. He believes that "the alien" is actually trying to steal Lex's glory due to personal envy and that his presence is causing humanity to be dependent on him and is thusly becoming impotent. Much of his feud with Superman rests on his notion that he, the smartest and most successful man on the planet, is the real "Super-man".
* While developing LexCorp, Lex sought out Rā's al Ghūl and became his apprentice for a little over six months. From Ra's Lex learned of the pestilence that humanity was to the world but theorized that the population could be led to being better, instead of killed en masse. While offering his daughters and his right as heir to al Ghūl's empire, Lex ultimately failed to overcome his own self-serving interests and, after being killed by al Ghūl in a duel; was resurrected in a Lazarus Pit and abandoned.
* Lex regularly maintains multiple false identities as prominent scientists, businessmen, and even artists; and uses these identities to raise the money necessary for the equipment and hired minions his world-conquering and Superman-busting schemes require.
* Lex Luthor has a 8-9th level intellect and is considered one of the smartest humans on the Earth. For comparison, the average intellect level of Earth is 6 while Brainiac possesses a 12th level intellect.