Alexander Luthor (DC Animated Universe)

Alexander Luthor


Alias(es)	Lex Luthor
Appeared in	The Batman/Superman Movie Superman: The Last Son of Krypton Superman: Legacy Justice League Unlimited: Destroyer Justice League Unlimited: CADMUS Crisis
Status	Unknown
Actor	Clancy Brown

Alexander "Lex" Luthor is Superman's archenemy.

Biography[]

The Batman/Superman Movie[]

To be added

TV Movies[]

Superman: The Last Son of Krypton[]

Little is known about Lex Luthor's origins, but he was an admirably self-made man. With the aid of his natural genius and his general lack of conscience, Luthor assembled a vast fortune and founded LexCorp. Through a combination of Luthor's ruthless business tactics and genuine ingenuity, LexCorp quickly became one of the largest corporations in the United States. Now clearly the most powerful man in Metropolis, Luthor's ego and pride drove him to try and position himself as the face of the city, donating millions to charity and erecting libraries, schools, and hospitals in his name.

However, at heart, Luthor was a devious, shrewd, and cold man. Metropolis was to be an empire, with Luthor as its absolute ruler. LexCorp forced virtual monopolies on public works, technology, transportation, and even became a major defense contractor — all with the underlying goal of collecting more and more power for the greedy Luthor.

It was this lust for power that eventually made him the sworn enemy to Superman. From the start, the very idea of an alien who appeared to be human possessing incredible power disturbed Lex. However, that reasonable suspicion soon erupted into personal jealousy and malicious intent. The fact that Luthor could not bribe or hire the newcomer, or alter the public's perception of Superman's actions, angered Lex all the more.

Superman: Legacy[]

To be added

Justice League Unlimited: CADMUS Crisis[]

However, he later said his bid for president was nothing more than ploy to antagonize Superman and destroy the League. During this time he teamed with Amanda Waller and funded Project Cadmus. This plot failed when Luthor destroyed Cadmus HQ and tried, unsuccessfully, to frame the League.

All of this was to distract the League long enough for Luthor to create an android based on Amazo to spend the rest of eternity in. However, Batman convinced Waller of Luthor's intentions, and she destroyed the android. Planning to kill Waller, he was confronted by the founding members of the Justice League, who came to arrest him. However, at that point, Brainiac emerged from within Luthor.

It was revealed that Brainiac had placed a nanite copy of himself within Luthor years ago, and protected Luthor until Brainiac was ready to be transferred to another body. Escaping from the League, Luthor asked Brainiac what he intended to do. When he learned that Brainiac merely intended to acquire all knowledge, Luthor offered to merge with Brainiac and use that knowledge to achieve true godhood. They broke into Cadmus and assimilated the Dark Heart technology into their database. This way, he could control the nano-assemblers into converting any raw material into whatever they wished. Given his failed liaison with Darkseid, Brainiac didn't fully trust Luthor, so they agreed to completely merge into one single being, using the nanotech.

From there on, Luthor/Brainiac set off to build a machine that would absorb the information of the entire Earth, then the galaxy, and finally reshape the universe to their will. When the Justice League stepped in, Luthor/Brainiac created nanotechnologic duplicates of the Justice Lords to hold them off. Even though the League overpowered their counterparts, Brainiac/Luthor managed to subdue them, except for Flash. While attempting to reassemble his absorption apparatus, Luthor/Brainiac was engaged by the Flash, who had reached a state of Speed Force, and managed to destroy every piece of Brainiac in Luthor, returning Luthor to normal.

Justice League Unlimited: Destroyer[]

Luthor's obsession for reviving Brainiac made him distant from the rest of the Legion. He soon learned of the remnants of Brainiac's old base in outer space and modified the Legion's base into a faster-than-light spacecraft. However, Tala had released Grodd, who lead a schism in the Legion. The insurrection was put down and Luthor jettisoned Grodd into space. He then placed Tala in a machine specifically meant to use her to reconstruct Brainiac. However, Luthor's attempt failed as Tala, in a last act of revenge on him, used the last of her magic strength to interfere with the process and caused it to instead revive Darkseid, fused with Brainiac technology. Reluctantly teaming with arch-rivals Superman and Batman to stop Darkseid, Luthor was recruited by Metron of New Genesis, who directed Luthor towards the resting place of Darkseid's most valued prize: the Anti-Life Equation. Using the power of the cosmic Anti-Life Equation, Luthor stopped Darkseid from killing Superman, and in effect saved the Earth. In doing so, he and Darkseid vanished completely in an explosion of light and energy

Relationships[]

Superman - Archenemy.
Steel - Former employee-turned-enemy.
Brainiac - Ally and obsession.
Lois Lane - Ex-girlfriend.
Mercy Graves - Assistant.
Legion of Doom
- Gorilla Grodd - Rival-turned-enemy and victim; deceased.
- Tala - Stalker and enemy; deceased.
- Fastball - Teammate-turned-human shield and enemy; deceased.
- Electrocutioner - Teammate-turned-enemy; deceased.
Metron - Observer.
Darkseid - Enemy.