Lionel Luthor

## Relevant Pages

“

> **Lionel:** You know, Clark in certain cultures, when a father presents his son with a knife it represents a rite of passage.[…] Let me help you. Clark, please. You don't have to make this decision alone.
> **Clark:** There's nothing you or anybody else can do.
> **Lionel:** Don't underestimate me, son.
>
>
>

”

—Lionel Luthor to Clark Kent

**Lionel Luthor** is a character in the fanon universe of ABC's *Once Upon a Time*.

He is based on the character of the same name from the television series *Smallville* and Jules Luthor from the *Superman* comics

## History

Lionel Luthor marries Lillian Luthor and two sons with her: Julian and Lex. He later had multiple affairs, having been in romantic relationships with Elizabeth Walsh and Rachel Dunleavy and having two additional children: Lena and Lucas. After Elizabeth dies drowning, Lionel adopted Lena and took her home. Lillian was reluctant to have a child of her husband's affairs in the house. However, when Lex and Lena bonded, Lillian allowed the girl to live with them.

During the meteor shower of 2006, Lionel and Lex went to Smallville that ended in disaster. Lex was effected by the meteors that was brought with Kal-El, which resulted in him losing all his hair.

* Current Timeline
* Original timeline
 After watching the senatorial election on TV, Mr. Luthor calls to congratulate Jonathan after he wins and wants to meet him. At the Kent barn, Lionel insists partnership in the future their could be beneficial because they both have a common interest in protecting Clark and Kara. He does this by showing Jonathan a picture of Clark coming out of an explosion unscathed, revealing he is aware of the boy's powers. Jonathan mistook it for blackmail, causing a fight between the two. After being knocked down, Jonathan swears to Lionel that he will never ruin his family and warns him to stay away from his family. After Jonathan tells him to get off his property, the fight with Lionel puts a strain on Jonathan's heart, and he shortly dies from cardiac arrest. Following this, Lionel takes the picture he shows Jonathan and flees.
Out of respect for his rival, Lionel attends Jonathan's funeral. As he leaves the cemetery, he watches a grieving Martha and Clark, showing regret for what he has done to them both.

Lionel watches the news and sees that Jonathan won the senatorial election. Calling to congratulate the newly appointed Senator of Kansas, Mr. Luthor asks to meet afterward. However, Jonathan never shows due to Lana dying in a fatal car accident with Lex.

Jonathan told Clark that Lionel knew his secret, which Clark had been trying to avoid for the last four years. With his dad's warning in mind, Clark tried to warn Martha that Lionel knew his secret, However, Lionel shows up at the front door. Clark, afraid, hesitates and instead, confided in Lena and Chloe about his father's warning. ("Void")

Sometime after this, Lionel steps down as CEO of LuthorCorp when Lex threatens to tell Kara, Clark, and Martha that Lionel was there the night Jonathan died. Reluctantly agreeing, Lionel stays on as a consulting businessman. His daughter's and Kara's business partner, Andrea Rojas, attacks him in his office and is on the verge of killing him. However, Clark saves Lionel at the last minute, but Andrea disappears. Despite wondering why Clark rescued him, Lionel thanks him for saving his life. He later visits Martha to check in on her after losing her husband. Lionel tells her he knows about her predicament of being the next senator in Jonathan's place. However, Martha decides to become the next state senator.

Because of his father's warning, Clark and Lionel remain on terrible terms. It bothers Clark even more when Lionel keeps showing up at his house. After a talk with Chloe, Clark finally told Martha that Lionel knew his secret. He told her they should keep it between them until they knew what Lionel was up to. However, Martha leaves Kent Farm unsure of what to do. Later, a deranged man who wanted revenge on Lionel for costing him his job kidnapped him and Martha. She was horrified by Lionel's past relationship with Lex as Lionel acknowledged that he wasn't the father Jonathan was. Being given an ultimatum of shooting himself or Martha, Lionel chose the former and told Martha to take his life instead because Clark was a special boy and needed his mother now that Jonathan was gone. After being rescued, Clark confronts Lionel at LuthorCorp. After addressing Clark as "son," he backlashes and tells Lionel never to refer to him as such. Lionel insists that Clark will trust him eventually and that he would never take Jonathan's place as his father. Clark reaffirms this and warns him to stay away from Martha. ("Mercy")

## Relationships

### Family

* Lachlan Luthor † - father
* Eliza Luthor † - mother
* Lillian Luthor † - wife
* Lex Luthor - son
* Lena Luthor - daughter
* Lucas Luthor - son
* Julian Luthor † - son
* Conner Kent - genetic son

### Allies

* Elizabeth Walsh - ex-lover
* Rachel Dunleavey - ex-lover
* Kara Danvers - friend
* Clark Kent - friend former enemy

## Trivia

### Character notes

* Lionel used to drink alcohol.
* It is heavily implied Lionel has a better relationship with his daughter, Lena, who states her father adored her when he and Lillian "adopted" her. He was strained from Lex.
* After Jonathan's death, there was a romance between Martha and Lionel that only lasted for three days. Lois questioned if Martha harbored romantic feelings for him but they both deny it.
* Lionel refers to Clark as "son" in a similar manner that Jonathan did *("Mercy", "Vengeance")*
* Interestingly, thrwe of Lionel's children preferred names start with the letter "L." Lex, Lena and Lucas.

### Production Information

* Lionel Luthor became such a popular character during Smallville's airing, Jules was renamed "Lionel Luthor" in honor of the character.