Lex Luthor (Arrowverse)
Alexander Joseph Luthor, also going by Lex Luthor, is a fictional character and a supervillain in The CW's Arrowverse franchise of TV series, first introduced in the 2017 episode "Luthors", of the "Supergirl", based on the character of the same name, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and was adapted for television in 2017 by Glen Winter and Greg Berlanti. The character of Lex Luthor is the nemesis of Superman, and is only the fourth time that the character has been adapted to a live action television series. In the Arrowverse, Lex Luthor is an  independent businessman, who runs the LuthorCorp. At some point he met Superman and became friends but lost his trust when he wouldn't adopt his violent and chaotic thinking. He became obsessed with him, and that led him to prison. Afterwards, he sees Supergirl as a threat that stops his plan to kill her cousin and focuses on her. Concept and creation. Lex Luthor is one of the most recognizable and most prominent supervillain character in the DC Comics. He made his debut in "Action Comics" #23, in 1940, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. According to IGN, he  comes fourth, in a list of one hundred supervillains, across media. The character had previously been portrayed in live-action TV three other times, with those being in "Superboy", "" and "Smallville", by Scott James Wells and Sherman Howard in the firs, John Shea in the second and by Michael Rosenbaum in the third mentioned show. The character has also appeared in movies, like "Atom Man vs. Superman", "Superman", "Superman II", , "Superman Returns", "" and "Justice League," portrayed by Lyle Talbot, Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey and Jesse Eisenberg. With the announcement of a "Supergirl" TV show, speculation arose as to whether the  he would appear. The character made an appearance in the episode, "Luthors" of "Supergirl"'s season 2, in 2017, portrayed by Aidan Fink as a young Lex Luthor. Eventually, Cryer appeared in season 4 as the adult version, in a recurring capacity, as the "big bad" of the season He would later return for season 5 and season 6, again as a recurring character and the "big bad" of them. He, also, played a crucial role in the Arrowverse crossover event, titled "Crisis on Infinite Earths" in 2019. Characterization. Cryer was cast as Lex Luthor in 2017, and was the  only choice by producers Robert Rovner and Jessica Queller, who admitted of being "enormous" fans of his. When asked about his portrayal, he responded by saying that it is a "lovely" experience, and that he wanted to do justice for the character in the show. Queller also stated that "I don’t think we could have possibly done better in our casting, and I mean, we’re just thrilled". According to Cryer, he believes that Lex Luthor is a sociopath, with only one link to reality, that being his sister, Lena Luthor. He also highlighted his intelligence and focus on  science, while stating that his narcissism is a problem for all the others. When asked about how it is to play a villain, he said "[I'm] still getting my sea legs." and that it is a hard character. Cryer also pointed out the fact that Lex has a manipulative behavior towards others in the series, with viewing other people like chest pieces, and inferior to him. About his character's development in season 6, in which he falls in love with another character of the show, Nyxlygsptlnz, said that he was scared about removing his "dark side", something that  brought up to producer Queller, saying that "Why? Why would Lex fall in love? He is Lex Luthor.". Cryer revealed that he enjoy playing the character, to the point he phone called the head of Warner Bros. Television Studios, Peter Roth, and asked him to play a part in "Crisis on Infinite Earths", with the studio not having plans to use him, describing the event as "humiliating" for him. For the role, Cryer admitted to have read DC comic books to prepare, even though he describes himself as a "geek", with already having vast knowledge of the character. Cryer was  a strong advocate of Lex eventually defeating Supergirl, something that he pitched numerous times to the producers of the show. Fictional character biography. Early life. Lex Luthor was born sometime after 1983 in Metropolis, to billionaires Lionel and Lillian Luthor. Since early childhood, Lex exhibited an extremely high intellect. As a child he shown anti-social behaviour. In 1997, the illegitimate daughter of Lionel and half-sister of his, Lena, was adopted by the Luthors, something that angered Lex. Eventually, the two of them became close friends. During his teenage years, he shown signs of psychopathy. As his father distanced  himself from Lex, this resulted into hating him. After Lionel's death, he inherited the family company, Luthor Corp. At some point he met Superman and the two of them worked together on stopping alien invasions, but his technics were too brutal. Superman and he had a fall out, and Lex started believing that Superman was the reason for the invasions. His obsession with Superman caused the fracture of his relationship with his sister. Scheme to kill Supergirl. After several years and various brutal encounters resulting in numerous fatalities, Lex and Superman had a final confrontation in early 2016, prior  to which Lex turned Earth's yellow sun, red in an attempt to de-power the Kryptonian, consequently causing destruction on a global scale. The police found him, but he escaped, only to be later captured by Superman. He went to trial but killed all the judge and all the people inside the chamber. He was later incarcerated for thirty-one consecutive life terms and sent to Stryker's Island Penitentiary. Inside the prison, he hired the assassin John Corben to kill his sister, after she took the Luthor Corp, later changed to L-Corp. His plan failed after Superman  and Supergirl intervened. While in prison, Lex spent the next few years planning his escape. In 2018, the Kaznian's Minister of Defence informed Lex about the existence of a copy of Supergirl. That excited him, and left with the Minister to Kaznia, to meet her, and begin her training. After months of training, he took her to National City, to give her an idea of how Supergirl lives. At some point, the copy develops a sickness and to save her, he enters a radioactive chamber to cause his organism cancer, so that he could talk to his sister. His  plan worked, and asked for her help. Freed from prison on a mercy furlough, Lex was transported to his mansion. He puts his assassin and love interest, Eve Teschmacher, to shoot James Olsen, to distract Lena. As Lena goes to the hospital, Lex cuts its electricity, forcing her to inject James with an experimental vaccine to save him. If it would work, it would also save Lex from cancer. After Lena realizes that he was behind the black-out, she goes to confront him, only to discover he was cured by the vaccine too, developing superhuman powers. He then flees , and battles Supergirl. A few hours later he arrived to Kaznia and gave the copy blood transfusion in order to restore her health, calling her "Red Daughter". He directs her to kill Supergirl's mother, Eliza Danvers, to "kill" her heart. The Red Daughter goes to Eliza's house and forces her to call Kara. Supergirl arrived and the two fought, and the copy lost. During all of this, Lex arrived in the White House and meets with President Baker, reminding him of everything he had done for his political career. Then he received a phone call from a Kaznian  General and gave them the green light for Kaznia to attack the United States. As the attack was happening, Lex, in a suit called "Lexosuit", and Red Daughter attacked the Kaznian troops annihilating them. Red Daughter tells him that she killed Supergirl, and then he shoots her, seemingly killing her. Afterwards, he transported her to a special cell, designed to extract energy from her alien powers and convert it into a power source. Later on, Lex began supplying energy to the houses that had been damaged by the Kaznian bombings, with the President announcing his upcoming appointment as Secretary of  the United States Department of Alien Affairs. After Supergirl being dead, and having the President on his hand, his plan to overtake American succeeded. His ambitions didn't stop there, laying out a plan on invading the planet and home of Superman, Argo City, and kill him. He tried to activate the plan, but the Superfriends (Supergirl's team), stopped it. He went to the Shelley Island, where the team was, wearing his Lexosuit, to kill them. There, he battles Supergirl, only to fail, destroying his suit in the process. He went to the cabin where he and Lena were  spending their vacations. There, Lena extracted the serum, resulting to his death. Joining the Crisis. With the beginning of the Anti-Monitor invasion of the Multiverse, the Monitor brought back Lex from the dead, to assist the heroes, and in return Lex asked him to for Lena to maintain her Pre-Crisis memories. The Monitor brought him to the Waverider, and Lex met a furious Kara Danvers and Kate Kane / Batwoman. After that, he found the Book of Destiny, and leaves the ship to kill as many Supermen as he could. He first visited Earth-75, and killed that universe's  Superman. He then travels to Earth-167, with the same intentions, but learns that that Clark Kent gave up his powers, forcing him to leave him alive. Then, he goes to Earth-96, and brainwashes, with the Book of Destiny, that Clark Kent / Superman to fight his universe's Superman, who went there to stop Lex. The two Supermen fight, but Lois Lane of Lex's universe knocked him out, stopping the brainwash. Lex was locked in the Waverider, until he takes on his hands the Book again, using it to save himself from the anti-matter wave that destroyed the Waverider , and the whole Multiverse, placing his name as the Paragon of Truth, transporting himself to the Vanishing Point. In the Vanishing Point, he tried to open a portal to reality with a machine, with the help of Ryan Choi, but failed. Then, Barry Allen / The Flash returned from the Speed Force, unable to find a way out of the Point. Afterwards, Oliver Queen / Spectre appeared and helped Barry unlock his full potential, sending Lex, Kara and Ryan to the past, in the planet Maltus, 10,000 years before Monitor created the Anti-Monitor. There, Lex tried to backstab his team, and  take the Monitor on his side, but failed. The three of them were transported to the Dawn of Time, where the Anti-Monitor was, to fight him. Lex and the Paragons fought the Anti-Monitor's army, with Oliver sacrificing himself to recreate the Multiverse. In the new Multiverse, Lex's Earth merged with Earth-1 and Jefferson Pierce / Black Lightning's Earth, resulting into Lex being seen by the public as a good guy, something that Supergirl doubts. In the new reality he was the owner of the LexCorp and of the Department of Extranormal Operations (now a subsidiary of  his company), and became a Nobel Peace Prize winner. Manipulating Brainiac and Obsidian Tech. At some point, he met with his mother, Lillian now the head of the Luthor Foundation, and started scheming about destroying the Fortress of Solitude. To win Lena over, Lex used a truth-inducing organism on his arm, to prove his honesty. At a "Man of Tomorrow" event held by the Luthor family, reporter William Dey privately talked to Kara voicing his suspicion that they did away with Russell Rogers when they bought out his company. Brainiac 5 later visited him about Leviathan as he shows  him a picture of a possible doppelganger that resembles Winn Schott. Lex Luthor visits Gamemnae / Gemma Cooper, and persuades her to arrange a collaboration between LuthorCorp and Obsidian Tech. After Brainiac 5 becomes the new Director of the D.E.O. following Alex Danvers's resignation, he gives Lex the information he needs from the alternate Winn Schott / Toyman's A.I. hacking. Lex then tracks down Gemma and offers a partnership between LuthorCorp and Obsidian Tech. From day one of Earth-Prime, Lex had manipulated Eve Teschmacher into being his inside person in Leviathan where he had her orchestrate the events caused  by Amy Sapphire and Richard Bates as well as tricking her into killing Jeremiah Danvers. While Kara Danvers / Supergirl was preventing a Sun-Eater released by a Morae on Leviathan's side from eating the Sun, Lex went to the scene of where those who were trapped in virtual reality were being held and freed them while killing Margot Morrison. Gemma confronted Lex about his actions, and he states that she should focus her anger towards their mutual enemy, Supergirl. Later that night, Lex revealed to Eve that the people he had protecting her mother will dispose of her should  she go against him. He also has the footage of Eve killing Jeremiah which he advises her to not be on the other side of Supergirl's eye beams. When Eve states that he is worse than Leviathan, Lex states that he is better than Leviathan. After a talk with his mother, Lex uses Lena's transportation watch to head to the Fortress of Solitude. Lex visited Lena at Stryker's Island where her Non Nocere project malfunctioned. After the incident was thwarted, Lex noted that her project would fail anyway causing Lena to see that Kara was right about  him. After getting a call from Gemma that Rama Khan succeeded in his mission to obtain the Kryptonite from the D.E.O., Lex informs Brainy that they now have access to Leviathan's ship. When he enters the ship, Lex is given a special pin by Gemma to keep him safe from the ship's defenses. The two of them begin their plot involving the Unity Festival. When Supergirl enters it, Lex advises Gemma to send one of Leviathan's assassins after Supergirl's physical body in order to appease whoever she answers to. After Brainiac 5 enters the code that  leads to him bottling Rama Khan, Tezumak, and Sela, Gemma briefly shuts down causing Lex to go after Brainiac 5. He finds a weakened Brainiac 5 on Leviathan's ship and claims the bottle containing Rama Khan, Tezumak, and Sela. After getting away, he gives the bottle to Lillian to begin their next plot. Final plan against Supergirl. Lex goes ahead with his next phase of his plan by having Lillian copying the powers of the Leviathan members into him, while her also warning him of the outcome. During the fight at the Fortress of Solitude with Supergirl, Lex was  managed to use the Phantom Zone Projector to send Supergirl into the Phantom Zone. He was arrested and sent to trial. While incarcerated at National City Prison, Lex was visited by Lillian who stated that she told him so. Lena then arrives and uses the brainwashing machine, Myriad, to erase their memories of Supergirl's identity from their minds. In the trial, Lena testified against him, revealing that he used brainwashing technology to appeal to the jury. The verdict was that he was innocent, something that shocked him, as he didn't expect that. After that, Lex and Lena fought  for the control of LuthorCorp. Lex sent his bodyguard, Otis Graves, sabotage the new children's wing at the hospital and noting that killing him won't change anything, Lena told Lex that she is leaving LuthorCorp. He later visited the future where he befriended and fell in love with a future Nyxlygsptlnz "Nyxly". Together they mixed science with magic. However, Nyxly made a fatal mistake with the Totems, that killed her. Lex preserved the mind of Nyxly in A.I. form and placed it in a Lexosuit that he sent to the present Nyxly, to stop her death. However, present  Nyxly didn't want anything to do with him. Lex reunited with Otis, and suggested that if Nyxly loved him before, Lex should try again. Lex quickly devised a plan to get the Love Totem to her. However, Nyxly wasn't happy with the assistance and the Superfriends got the totem. Lex saved Nyxly from being imprisoned, revealing their future romance and that he was trying to save her. After the Nyxly A.I. helped Nyxly obtain the Dream Totem, Lex appeared to her and assisted in obtaining the remaining Totems, that have infinity power. Supergirl and her team managed to  get the other pieces of the Totems. In the final battle between him and Nyxly against the Superfriends, they created brought back as magic constructs enemies like Kara Danvers / Overgirl, Red Tornado, Metallo and dragons. After they were defeated, he opens a portal to the Phantom Zone allowing Phantoms to attack them, but since the Phantoms attack those who feel fear, they instead drag Lex and Nyxly into the Phantom Zone, as Supergirl and her allies had rallied the people of National City to have courage while Lex and Nyxly were hiding their own fear. Reception. Cryer was cast to  portray Lex Luthor on November 16, 2018, on the CW show "Supergirl" in a recurring role. Many fans started to pointing comparisons and differences between his version, and Jesse Eisenberg's version, with many suggesting that he is at the right age, he is better at manipulation and he tends on being more comic accurate, an important factor set by the fans, while on the other hand claiming that he lucks clear direction. Comparations also began with Michael Rosenbaum's version, this time citing that his dynamic with Superman is never shown and he is not as relatable as expected . On an interview with the website "CBR.com", he claimed that the ending of "Supergirl"'s season 6 was intentionally left open for a potential return of his character in another Arrowverse or another DC show in the future, because of the overwhelming support from the fans. IGN supported the idea that his version was the definitive one and his performance hijacked "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and "Supergirl's" season 5. In other media. The character appears in the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" tie-in comic book one-shot, titled "Crisis on Infinite Earths Giant #1". During the later one, Lex  joins other universes Lexes, and together form the Council of Luthors, with the common of killing all Supermen, and defeat the Council of Supermen. His Council fails.