Lex Luthor
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Real Identity: Lex Luthor
Affiliations: LexCorp and Legion of Doom
Appearances (Movies): Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, Justice League vs. Teen Titans, and The Death of Superman
Appearances (Comics): The Death of Superman Chapter Twelve The Wake: Show Me!
Powers/Skills: Business and Knowledge of Technology
Voiced By: Steve Blum and Rainn Wilson
Lex Luthor is the CEO of LexCorp. He became obsessed with discrediting and destroying Superman over the arrogant belief that the human race should depend on itself and its own inherent genuis rather than allow alien menaces to live among them to be admired and lauded. After the Atlantean invasion, Luthor went to Belle Reve Prison and spoke with Orm. Luthor introduced himself and offered a proposition. General Sam Lane decided to save the life of a dying solider named Corben because of his perfect record. Lane contacted Lexcorp and Lex Luthor agreed to help. Corben was rebuilt as a cyborg soldier powered by Kryptonite. Then it became something else, he would be the first of a new kind of hero designed to stop Superman if he went on a rampage. The power was too much for Corben and he went crazy. Lexcorp won a military contract to build armored warsuits but Luthor merely wanted to create suits aimed to counter Superman.
Luthor had Lex Construction bid to repair the cracks in the West River Bridge. After winning the contract, crews dusted the bridge with Kryptonite and speed along cracks forming in it. A few months later, the bridge began to sag. As Luthor anticipated, Superman tried to hold up the bridge. The dust weakened him and he fell into the river. Luthor arrived in his latest Lexcorp War Suit and grandstanded him. Luthor began spouting off his rhetoric about human ingenuity over alien might. Several men pulled Superman out of the river. He noticed trace amounts of dust on his hands then used x-ray vision to scan the bridge and Luthor. After the evacuation was over, Superman caught up and accused Luthor of deliberately damaging the bridge for his own gain. Luthor implored him to prove his claim. Superman got angry and blasted the suit's chest plate with heat vision. Once the metal mesh melted into slag, a Kryptonite crystal fell out into the river. Superman later retrieved it with a lead-lined box. A few days later, he gave the box to Batman and asked him to use it if he ever went over the line and had to be stopped.
Luthor continued to seek out allies and formed a group of supervillains called the Legion of Doom. With Solomon Grundy, Cheetah, Weather Wizard, and Toymaster, Luthor launched a surprise attack on the Justice League's Hall of Justice in Metropolis on the night of its unveiling to the public. Luthor wore a Lexcorp warsuit and fought Superman one-on-one. After Luthor pinned Superman under his foot, Superman punched him into a parking lot. Superman then punched him into another building. Luthor asked if this was how he treated his guests. Superman remarked he crashed the party and called them even. Luthor uppercut him into the air, flew up, punched him twice, then threw him into the Hall. Back outside, Superman and Luthor locked hands. Superman noted to Luthor he was smarter than conducting a brazen assault. Luthor insisted superheroes attracted supervillains and he was just an innocent industrialist caught in the middle. Superman wasn't amused and emitted precise heat vision blasts all over the warsuit. He ripped the suit's arms off and the suit itself powered down and fell to pieces. Luthor vowed he would pay. Superman remarked he probably had the suit insured.