When was lex luthor born

The marriage was doomed from the beginning as the two fought constantly and never loved each other. The Contessa quickly became pregnant with Lex's child and began using the unborn child to dominate Lex into doing her bidding.

Luthor's response to Contessa's actions was to use her desire to be unconscious during child birth to lock her in the basement of his corporate headquarters in a permanantly drugged unconscious state. Luthor took over as a single father to his daughter named Lena after his childhood sweetheart and vowed never to marry again, stating that he wanted to never have to share his daughter's love with anyone else. It was later implied that Lex killed the Contessa months afterword, though no body was ever found.

President of the United States Lex became the 43rd president of the United States in , winning the election on a platform of promoting technological progress his first action as president was to take a proposed moratorium on fossil-based fuels to U. Congress in hopes of putting "a flying car in every garage". Despite Luthor's more villainous traits, he was assisted by the extreme unpopularity of the previous administration due to its mishandling of the Gotham City earthquake crisis.

Ironically, Batman would ultimately learn that Luthor was involved in the mishandling of the entire Gotham City rebuilding process, resulting in Bruce to sever all military contract ties between the U.

Luthor responded in kind by ordering the murder of Batman's lover Vesper Fairchild and framing Bruce Wayne for the murder. An early triumph of his political career was the Our Worlds At War crisis, in which he coordinated the U. Army, Earth's superheroes and a number of untrustworthy alien forces to battle the story's villain, Imperiex. However, as it would later be revealed, Lex knew about the alien invasion in advance and did nothing to alert Earth's heroes to it.

Discovering Superman's Secret Identity Lex Luthor finally figured out Superman's secret identity in , when a lowly scientist was able to get a meeting with Lex and reveal top secret government documents showing the rocket containing baby Superman crashing near the farm of Martha and Jonathan Kent. Killing the scientist, Lex surprisingly decided to keep the knowledge a secret even as Clark Kent took the fall for Lois publishing proof that Lex Luthor knew of the alien invasion of "Our Worlds At War" but had opted not to make any defensive plans to save the people of Kansas from attack.

Clark was fired from the Daily Planet as a result of the flap, when another Superman villain Manchester Black used his telepathic powers on an unknowing Lex to allow him to pass an assortment of lie detector tests including Wonder Woman's lasso of truth to prove that Lois and Clark's story was a lie.

When Manchester Black tried to kill Superman and his friends and family members, Luthor surprisingly came to Superman's aid when Black tried to kill Lois. In the end, Manchester Black was defeated and as revenge for Lex helping Superman defeat him, Black erased all knowledge that Clark Kent was Superman from Lex's mind before taking his own life.

Fall From Power In , Luthor once again overplayed his hand, as his success at framing Bruce Wayne for the murder of Vesper Fairchild caused him to get arrogant. In an attempt to blame Superman for a kryptonite meteor approaching the Earth, he instead raised questions about himself as Superman and Batman uncovered a plot of Luthor's to further torment Batman that involved tricking Batman into thinking that the Superman villain Metallo was the man who killed Batman's parents.

In desperation, he used a variant combination of the "super-steroid" Venom a steroid mainly used by Batman villain Bane , liquid synthetic green kryptonite, and an Apokaliptian battlesuit to battle Superman directly.

Unfortunately, the madness that is a side effect of Venom took hold, and he revealed his true colors during the battle. He has since gone underground, leaving the presidency to his vice president, Pete Ross. Ross later abdicated, however, leaving the presidency to a man named Jonathan Horne. Among the elements of Smallville introduced into the comics' canon include Lex's problematic relationship with his wealthy father, Lionel Luthor.

Birthright also reintroduced the notion of Lex spending a portion of his youth in Smallville, as well as befriending Clark Kent. These retcons were controversial, especially with series writer Mark Waid. According to Waid, the editorial staff at DC forced him to use the Smallville version of Luthor's origin. Waid, a longtime and extremely vocal critic of the Superman reboot, had originally planned to use Birthright to purge the Byrne version of Lex Luthor's origin from canon.

DC, aware of the controversy involving Waid's outspoken criticism, opted instead to dictate to Waid that any changes made to Lex's character should be done to make him more in line with the Smallville version of Lex Luthor.

It has been alleged that Waid initially refused to go along with such a compromise, resulting in DC Comics threatening to abort the entire project before Waid gave in into DC's requests. Although the changes in Lex's character and background were slow to appear in other titles, writers Geoff Johns and Mark Verheiden have referred to Lex's time in Smallville, reinforcing Birthright's canonical status.

Events in this series that contradict current comics, particularly Lex Luthor's position as a legitimate businessman, make it difficult to place in context of recent continuity. Infinite Crisis Recently the situation involving Lex Luthor has taken a shocking twist. Lex Luthor has recently gone into hiding, preparing to try and activate mind control programming inside the brain of the current Superboy Conner Kent created using Lex's DNA to help him gain revenge against Earth's mightiest heroes.

He also was revealed to have orchestrated, with help from the newly created robotic Brainiac, the murder of Teen Titan member Donna Troy, who is destined to play a critical role in "Infinite Crisis".

He's also been carefully surveilling the new Supergirl, and has plans for her involving his newly-acquired black kryptonite. Alexander told Kal-L, the Earth-Two Superman that he wishes to restore his original universe the world of DC Comics' Golden Age , but his intentions seem much more sinister, as he told Superboy Kal-L would help them "whether [he] likes it or not".

The new Society exploited the villain community's fear of mind-wipes at the hands of the Justice League to recruit a literal army of villains under the guise of creating their own "mind-wipe" device designed to erase the memories of Earth's heroes as payback. However, this is just another cover for his even darker scheme involving the kidnapping heroes, each representing alternate earths, to power the giant tower being used to perform a major act of alteration to reality.

It is not yet clear whether Alex's goal is the restoration of the entire multiverse, the transformation of the DC Universe into a single universe resembling one of the pre-Crisis Earths as he told the Golden Age Superman , or something else even more complex or dangerous entirely.

Not one to sit back and watch his identity be usurped, Lex Luthor took the identity of Mockingbird and formed a super-villain version of the Secret Six, whose purpose was to subvert the Society.

He swore vengeance against the impostor for taking his place, though after finding Alex, he was forced to flee after it was revealed that Alex can subvert Lex's mind when they are in close proximity. Earth-Three In much the same way that Superman and other heroes have evil analogs on the parallel world of Earth-Three, Luthor had a heroic counterpart there. Alexander Luthor was the only superhero in that world's history, and reluctantly decided to adopt a heroic identity to combat his world's analog of the Justice League, the evil Crime Syndicate of America.

The physical appearance of this Lex resembles the Pre-Crisis Earth-One version from s Action Comics down to the battlesuit he wears.

In this version of events, the heroic Luthor travelled from his Earth located in an anti-matter universe rather than an alternate positive one to the mainstream DC Earth, and asked the Justice League to help him rebuild his world. However, since "evil always wins" in this alternate world, the attempt failed, and Luthor resigned himself to being the only noble character on his Earth until he formed the Justice Underground.

Luthor is also shown to be a very careful man, being able to cover up any illegal activities so that it appears that he is in no way involved. As in all versions in the comics, Lex is bent on destroying Superman due to his inability to control the Man of Steel as well as his resentment of the people of Metropolis for worshiping Superman instead of him. The show is also notable for introducing Mercy Graves , Lex's bodyguard and chauffeur. She became popular enough that she was brought over into the comics, and has since appeared in a number of other adaptations.

In his attempts to get rid of Superman, Lex had carried around a piece of Kryptonite with him in his pocket, only for it to give him some form of poisoning over the years. Upon being arrested for the attempted murder of Superman, Luthor forms an alliance with Ultra-Humanite and other rogues in order to destroy the Justice League, but ultimately failed and was re-incarcerated. Luthor is able to contain the poison within him by wearing a specially developed suit.

In the two-part episode, ' A Better World ' an alternate universe is presented whereby Lex Luthor becomes President of the United States, only to be later killed by that Earth's version of Superman, following the death of that Earth's Wally West at the hands of Luthor. This Earth's version of the Justice League, The Justice Lords , then travel to the show's main version of Earth in order to impose strict law to avoid the events of their Earth happening on this one - even if that means destroying this Earth's Justice League.

With the assistance of Luthor and his advanced knowledge of weapons, the Justice League are able to defeat the Justice Lords and pardon Luthor from prison. The events surrounding this episode serve as a recurring theme for much of both Justice League series. As the show developed into ' Justice League: Unlimited ', Luthor was once again used as a major villain.

In this series, Luthor is shown to be a main financial contributor to Project Cadmus aimed to provide a contingency plan for the United States in the even that the Justice League goes rogue which was previously seen in the series finale of Superman: The Animated Series when Clark attacked Earth under the influence of Darkseid's mind-control. Attempting to stop project Cadmus, the Justice League in their confrontation with Lex witness Brainiac emerge from inside Lex Brainiac had planted pieces of his computer in Lex during Superman: The Animated Series when Brainiac had taken Luthor prisoner in order to force him to repair his body.

This new hybrid of Brainiac and Lex then aim to destroy Earth and take all the data of Earth along with it. The Flash is able to stop Brainiac's plan, and Luthor is once again imprisoned. Luthor, now separated from Brainiac begins to feel withdrawal symptoms.

Lex had previously had shared Brainiac's knowledge when they were bonded, but was now desperate to find Brainiac once more and share the information.

Seeking the site where Brainiac's main body was destroyed by the Justice League , Luthor, hoping to revive Brainiac inadvertently revives Darkseid also destroyed by the Justice League.

The newly revived Darkseid then seeks to conquer Earth. Luthor and his Injustice League then join forces with the rest of the Justice League in order to save their world from the hands of Darkseid.

Luthor then discovers Metron watching the battle and demands to know what Metron knows, and is later brought to the Source Wall. Meanwhile, it seems as though all is lost for Earth as Darkseid is able to defeat Superman, but before he is able to kill Superman, Luthor reappears and offers to share the Anti-Life Equation with Darkseid. Darkseid accepts, and they both vanish. Lex Luthor had saved the world. Luthor appears in the animated film Superman: Doomsday as one of the antagonists of the film, voiced by James Marsters.

After Superman's supposed death, it is revealed that Lex had created multiple clones of Superman, including one that fully took on the role of Superman, albeit in a more deadly and serious demeanor. Lex Luthor has been elected as president of the United States as attempts to stop Superman and Batman from preventing a large meteor of Kryptonite from hitting and destroying the Earth.

An alternate version of Lex is a central character of the animated film Crisis on Two Earths , voiced by Chris Noth. As an opposite of Superman's infamous nemesis, Lex is the last surviving member and leader of his world's Justice League, who have all been killed by the Crime Syndicate and travels to an alternate reality to recruit assistance. This version of Lex is much more heroic than his counterpart, and is just as intelligent as he was the one to discover and develop travel between alternate Earths.

He also employs a suit of powered armour that provides enhanced strength, flight, energy blasts, force fields and durability.

The Lex of the main Earth makes a small cameo when Superman uses his vision to find Lex's whereabouts. Luthor appears in the animated film All-Star Superman , based off of the Grant Morrison comic book of the same name. Luthor has been sentenced to death against crimes against humanity but manages to replicate Superman's powers for himself by a serum of which he created.

He was voiced by Anthony LaPaglia. This version of Luthor has been changed slightly due to the events of Flashpoint, and he appears to be apart of Deathstroke's crew as they sail through the remains of Paris in attempt to locate Aquaman's base. However, Aquaman and his army attack the ship they are on and manage to kill everyone on the ship-Luthor included. He was voiced by Steve Blum. Micheal Rosenbaum played Lex in several seasons of Smallville , one of the longest superhero television shows in history.

There were a handful of episodes that Lex was played by another actor usually as a child like Matthew Munn, Wayne Dalgish, and Lucas Grabeel. Lex, in an effort to avoid being hit by bailing wire that had fallen off a transport truck accidentally hits Clark, who had just found out he was an alien and was debating running away, and is standing on the Smallville bridge. Clark's abilities allow him to survive the crash and he uses his strength for the first time to tear the roof off of Lex's car to save him, pulling him to shore and giving him CPR.

From that point on Lex and Clark are pretty much inseparable despite the disapproval of both of their fathers. Over the course of several years a rift begins to form between them as Lex, who always tries to do what's right in a big picture sense, often forgetting or ignoring the ethical implications, and Clark who always tries to do the right thing on a small scale but constantly lies to his friends in an effort to do so, become more and more opposed in their lifestyles.

Lex, who values honesty above all other things, can never forgive or forget that Clark has lied to him about who and what he is and has often directly interfered with Lex's search for the truth, going so far as to let Lex be forcibly incarcerated in a mental institution and given electroshock therapy in an effort to hide his secrets when Lex sees Clark display his abilities. Clark, who values his privacy, cannot forgive that Lex puts his secret and family in jeopardy in his relentless pursuit of the truth.

It is this that finally puts the nail in the coffin of their friendship as Clark discovers and entire room dedicated to him in Lex's home, where Lex tries to put together the pieces of what he knows of Clark and find the right answer. In current continuity, Lex is presumed dead after an attack on him by Green Arrow and the prototype Justice League, but it is shown that a young man is being kept on life support by various machines.

It is implied that it is Braniac who is keeping Lex alive as both Lord Zod and Brainiac have taken an interest in Lex in the past, Zod going so far as to take over Lex's body against his will and try and persuade Lex to join him in his quest to destroy Kal-El and take over earth, an offer that was refused by Lex. Lex Luthor made few appearances with his face obscured or had his presence felt by way of clones, or constant mentions of his intertwined destiny with Clark Kent.

Michael Rosenbaum reprised his role of Lex Luthor in the two-hour Smallville series finale, which aired on May 13, , in which the memory of his immoral life is erased by his half sister Lustessa Lena Luthor before she dies.

Seven years later in a flash-forward sequence it is revealed that the new Luthor is the President of the United States and has donned his White Suit and Black Glove. Whether or not he has reverted back to his darker side is unknown. Lex Luthor is the main antagonist of the second half of the fourth season.

Prior to the events of the series. Lex Luthor has frequently clashed with Superman. His last attempt before imprisonment was putting the entire world under a red sun. Jon Cryer portrays the character. Behind the facade of honest business, Luthor also organized black market arms trades and other shady deals. He informed them that the three heroes had been apprehended and asked what to do with them. Luthor ordered him to clone them.

This plan ultimately came to naught, and the heroes broke out with Superboy , after terminating Desmond's regime. Luthor dismissed Vandal Savage 's concerns about leaving Guardian in charge of Cadmus without the influence of the Genomorphs, claiming that they had subtler means of control.

However, he expressed some apprehension with the Justice League employing youth to do their "dirty work". Luthor was brought in as an independent arbitrator in the peace talks between North and South Rhelasia , but he was not impartial: together with Ra's al Ghul , he planned an intricate gambit that would reunite the two under the Light's "guidance". The League of Shadows would attack the summit, driving the two feuding leaders together. Red Arrow became an unwitting pawn in this game, as he was tracking the assassin Cheshire at the time.

Luthor dragged him further into it and even offered to hire him, but Red Arrow refused. After the summit was saved by Red Arrow, Aqualad and one precision shot from Luthor's driver and bodyguard Mercy, both Rhelasians signed the treaty and multiple Lex Corp contracts as well. The Light was quite pleased. After the arrest of the Injustice League , Luthor was present with the other members of the Light to hear Vandal Savage 's view of the Kobra Venom Plant test and the heroes believing they had exposed the Secret Society.

Lex Luthor was attending a video conference, along with the rest of the members of the Light, when the Riddler and Sportsmaster arrived with the regenerated remains of the echinoderm. Lex Luthor contacted Superboy with an ultrasound frequency; because Superman was off-planet, Superboy would be the only one to hear. Luthor wanted to meet him in East Potomac Park. Luthor told Superboy, how he, as new director of of Cadmus, had discovered there was another super-clone. This caused Superboy to investigate.

However, Luthor full-well knew about "Match"; he simply lured Superboy back to Cadmus make him investigate missing genomorphs. In the process, he wanted to make Superboy dependent on him.

Special Shields could suppress these genes and give Superboy his full potential. Superboy eventually found out that he had been played, but Luthor had still won. He not only revealed that he himself was the donor of Superboy's human DNA, but confronted Superboy with the fact that Superman would never accept him with that pedigree. Superboy was about to assault Luthor when he managed to escape by speaking a code word, "Red Sun".

Lex makes a brief appearance in Justice League Throne of Atlantis , at the end cutscene where Orm is in prison, and Lex says that he has a proposition for him. Steve Blum reprises his role. In the film, he is paralyzed by an unspecified illness, and by the end of the film, he gets around in a special device resembling the Mobius Chair. He plays a key role in helping the Justice League defeat Will Magnus , the true villain of the film. In a not so distant future, Lex is approached by Brainiac who, as always is seeking to remove Superman so he can continue his hunt for information.

Lex agrees to make the attempt with the promise of Earth being allowed to live afterwards with him as it's ruler.

However during the attempt Lex is horribly wounded, loosing an eye, his legs and left arm. Brainac, still in need of Lex, converts Luthor into a cyborg in order to save his life by replacing his lost limbs and eye with cybernetic implants. After Lex returns to Earth,Luthor uses his wounds to sway public opinion against Superman and in favor of himself. When Brainiac temporarily bottles up the Daily Planet and releases his exobyte technology on the people inside, including Lois Lane, Lex is quick at hand to offer support swaying some of the newly empowered citizens to his side.

As seen in the opening video of the game, the heroes and villains all end up in a massive destructive battle leaving most of them dead as a result. Battered and exhausted, Luthor claims victory after killing Superman with a kryptonite headed spear, only to see Brainiac's massive fleet of space ships appear over him, realizing that Brainiac never intended to uphold their bargain. Fleeing the scene Luthor eventually meets up with the battered Batman, both of them realizing that their world was lost hatch a plan to prevent the events of the present from ever becoming real.

The pair journey to the Fortress of Solitude, where a time machine is located. Luthor however betrays Batman as Brainacs forces attack the Fortress. Batman swears vengeance on Luthor as he battles the robots while Luthor makes his escape into the past.

Arriving there he informs the League of the coming apocalypse and that he had already taken steps to halt Brainiac, by releasing exobytes all over the planet; creating thousands of new superheroes and villains. However, Lex refrains from mentioning that he is still planning on being the ultimate victor when the dust settles. Used by his parents and alienated by his peers, Lex Luthor grew to become a sociopath who continually seeks to use his supreme intellect and skills for power and influence without regard for the pain and suffering he causes.

Ever since Superman openly accused Luthor of being a criminal mastermind, Luthor has done everything in his power to discredit and defeat the alien. However in his moment of victory Brainiac launched an invasion of Earth, which quickly fell without any Heroes or Villians to fight back.

Lurking in the shadows, Luthor managed to steal Brainiac's Exobyte technology, which contained the powers of Earth's defeated Heroes and Villians. Traveling back in time the Future Luthor warned the Justice League and Society of Brainiacs plot, and seeded the Earth with the stolen Exobytes to create a new generation of Heroes and Villians.

He then disappeared to continue his plan in secret. Luthor appears in Injustice Gods Among Us. He is shown as a supposed friend of Superman's after he takes over the planet, but is revealed to be undercover, secretly working with Batman and the Insurgency. He devises the plan to save the original Batman from Strykers Island, then fixes the Kryptonite Gun made to incapacitate Superman. Superman flies down at top speed, but a malfunction in Luthor's suit causes him to lose his shot, and Superman crashes right into him from space, killing Luthor and destroying the gun.

After the final battle, a grave is made for Luthor in the middle of a large fountain, which Cyborg adorns with flowers. This edit will also create new pages on Comic Vine for:. Until you earn points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Comic Vine users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.

Lex Luthor appears in issues View all. Foiled Again? In Issue 9 Upon confronting Lex Luthor, who had been selected over him by Brainiac as field commander of their amassed gathering, Alexei stated to all present, "I'm better than that labrat!

You don't need two Luthors! Silver Age Success! Blaming Superboy With the new lab equipment at his disposal, Luthor set about experimenting with his many chemical solutions. Revamped in Action Comics - Luthor Unleashed! Lex Luthor II Luthor tried many times to end the "alien menace", but was thwarted by Superman every time.

Luthor with Supergirl In the aftermath of Superman's apparent death, Lex planned on replacing Superman with a clone. President Luthor Realizing the need to silence his detractors in the fourth estate, Luthor bought the Daily Planet and sold it to Perry White.

True Colors Revealed In desperation, he used a variant combination of the "super-steroid" Venom a steroid mainly used by Batman villain Bane , liquid synthetic green Kryptonite, and an Apokaliptian battle-suit to battle Superman directly. One Year Later and Countdown One year after the events of Infinite Crisis, Luthor has been cleared of over criminal counts ranging from malfeasance to first-degree murder relating to the New Year's Eve massacre from Others more commonly explain Lex as a ruthless tycoon.

In the comics series, Lex used his money and natural genius to create the multinational corporation "LexCorp" that would ultimately come to dominate the city of Metropolis.

One of his earliest projects was an experimental airplane and other similar cutting-edge enterprises would be the hallmark of LexCorp's high-tech output. Several months after Superman first appeared on the scene, terrorists attacked a society gala aboard Lex Luthor's yacht. But when Luthor admitted that he'd not only anticipated the attack but also had arranged for it to occur in order to lure Superman out, Mayor Berkowitz deputized Superman to arrest Luthor for reckless endangerment.

Luthor's temporary incarceration left him seething, and he swore to make Superman pay for the humiliation. He has since devoted much time and energy to that goal. Luthor's motive for hating Superman varies over time.

Contemporary stories portray Luthor as a man who sees himself as mankind's last best hope, and Superman as the threat. He was a man driven to succeed on his own, coming from nothing in a harsh environment; Conversely, Superman was granted power by random fate. Whatever his motivations, Luthor's hatred for the Man of Steel remains constant; When Superman was apparently "killed" in a battle with the alien monstrosity Doomsday , Luthor felt "cheated" that a "lifeless monster" had robbed him of his life's work, [7] and sank into a chronic depression until the 'reborn' Superman debuted again.

Luthor acquired his first prized sample of Kryptonite from the cyborg Metallo , who was powered by a Kryptonite rock. Fashioning a ring from the alien ore deadly to Superman, Luthor wore it as a symbol that he was untouchable, even to the man of steel. Luthor eventually suffered from a severe cancer in the s, caused by long-term radiation exposure to his Kryptonite ring.

Luthor's hand required amputation to prevent the cancer's spread, but by then it had already metastasized; it was determined that his condition was terminal. Luthor faked his own death shortly afterward by taking his personally designed jet, the Lexwing, on a proposed trip around the world and crashing it in the Andes , using this as cover for the transplant of his brain into a healthy clone of himself which he then passed off as his hitherto unknown, illegitimate Australian son and heir, Lex Luthor II; his deception helped by his vibrant new body and full head of red hair.

Luthor retook control of LexCorp and seduced Supergirl , [10] so as to continue to torment Superman. However, Luthor's new clone body began to deteriorate and age at a rapid rate a side-effect of a disease that affected all clones. Meanwhile, Lois Lane discovered proof that Lex Luthor had years earlier murdered a female LexCorp employee and framed an innocent man for the murder. Luthor retaliated by trying to systematically destroy Lois' career, but Lois fought back and, with help from Superman, exposed the truth about Lex Luthor's faked death and criminal activities.

During a last-ditch battle with Superman, one of Lex's employees snapped and accidentally triggered the activation of a LexCorp "failsafe": A barrage of missiles let loose on Metropolis, causing nearly the entire city to be leveled. However, aid would come in the form of the demon Neron ; Luthor promptly sold his soul in exchange for Neron restoring his body to vibrant health, although he once more loses his hair.

Lex Luthor had cultivated a popular image as a great philanthropist. He had been instrumental in reverse-engineering alien technology for use in general consumer goods, upgrading Metropolis into a true "city of tomorrow.

Later, when Gotham City was destroyed by an earthquake and then abandoned by the American government in the early s, it was LexCorp that took up the massive task of rebuilding the city. Unbeknownst to the populace, Luthor also took the opportunity to destroy property records so he could seize any land he wanted. By gaining a foothold in Gotham, Luthor made an enemy in Bruce Wayne , who publically denounced him.

Despite his desire for revenge against Lois Lane for temporarily bringing down his empire, Lex has an unspoken love for her. On several occasions Luthor has commented that had Superman not arrived in Metropolis, Lex would have used his time and energy instead to win Lois and marry her indeed, in his very first post-Crisis appearance he is actively pursuing her; Marv Wolfman originally planned for the two to have been actually romantically involved, with Lois leaving him for Superman, giving Luthor another reason to hate his foe, but Byrne modified the plan when he wrote the actual issue.

The post-Crisis Lex Luthor has been married eight times, though the first seven marriages occurred off-panel in Luthor's past. While his previous seven marriages were hinted to have been based on love or as close to the concept of love as Lex Luthor understands it Luthor's eighth marriage to Contessa Erica Alexandra Del Portenza [15] or "The Contessa" as the characters call her was a marriage that was based on mutual manipulation and greed.

The Contessa had bought controlling interest in LexCorp after Luthor was exposed as a criminal, forcing Lex into a marriage with her in order to regain control over the company. The marriage was seemingly doomed from the beginning; The Contessa became pregnant by Lex [16] and began using the unborn child to dominate Lex into doing her bidding.

Luthor's response to imprison her while she was drugged during childbirth and lock her up, keeping her in a permanently drugged unconscious state. Luthor took over as single parent to his daughter named Lena after his childhood sweetheart and vowed never to marry again, stating that he refused to share his daughter's affection with anyone else. The Contessa later escaped to an island mansion, [17] but upon being elected President, Luthor ordered her home targeted by missiles and destroyed.

Lex became the president of the United States in , winning the election on a platform of promoting technological progress his first action as president was to take a proposed moratorium on fossil-based fuels to U. Despite Luthor's more unsavory traits, he was assisted by the extreme unpopularity of the previous administration due to its mishandling of the Gotham City earthquake crisis.

Ironically, Batman would ultimately learn that the mishandling of the entire Gotham City rebuilding process was the fault of Luthor alone, resulting with Bruce Wayne severing all military contract ties between the U. Luthor responded in turn by ordering the murder of Wayne's lover Vesper Fairchild and framing Bruce Wayne for the murder. An early triumph of his political career was the Our Worlds At War crisis, in which he coordinated the U.

Army, Earth's superheroes and a number of untrustworthy alien forces to battle the story's villain, Imperiex. However, as it would later be revealed, Lex knew about the alien invasion in advance and did nothing to alert Earth's heroes to it.

Clark Kent took the fall for Lois when she published proof of President Luthor's unwillingness to provide advance warning, which led to Kansas being burned to the ground. In , Luthor once again overplayed his hand, as his success at framing Bruce Wayne for the murder of Vesper Fairchild caused him to get arrogant.

In an attempt to blame Superman for a Kryptonite meteor approaching the Earth, he instead raised questions about himself as Superman and Batman uncovered a plot of Luthor's to further torment Batman that involved tricking Batman into thinking that the Superman villain Metallo was the man who killed Batman's parents. In desperation, he used a variant combination of the "super-steroid" Venom a steroid mainly used by Batman villain Bane , liquid synthetic green Kryptonite, and an Apokaliptian battlesuit to battle Superman directly.

Unfortunately, the madness that is a side effect of Venom took hold, and he revealed his true colors during the battle. Superman and Batman were able to gain evidence by Luthor, via a mad confession during the battle on recorded to video, that Lex had traded arms with Darkseid on Apokolips, giving them the creature Doomsday in return for his aid during the "Our Worlds At War" crisis.

Luthor has since gone underground, leaving the presidency to his vice president , Pete Ross. Ross later resigned, however, leaving the presidency to a man named Jonathan Horne.

The issue limited series Superman: Birthright once again altered aspects of Luthor's history, such as Luthor's youth in Metropolis and his first encounter with Superman, in favor of introducing elements from the television series Smallville. Among the elements of Smallville introduced into the comics' canon include Lex's problematic relationship with his wealthy father, Lionel Luthor. Birthright also reintroduced the notion of Lex spending a portion of his youth in Smallville, as well as befriending Clark Kent, who shares his interest in astronomy.

Birthright emphasizes Luthor's wasted talents, as well as his ill-fated friendship with Clark Kent. Despite being poised for greatness, Lex is fundamentally disturbed and alienated from people. During a failed experiment to communicate with a lost alien civilization Krypton , an explosion erupts which singes off Lex's hair and kills his father. Lex refuses to take responsibility for the blaze and leaves Smallville forever, erasing any trace that he was ever there. By the time Clark meets him again in Metropolis, Lex has launched a billion-dollar business and is the foremost astrobiologist in the world, but has also become a corrupt sadist bent on acquiring power.

The changes in Lex's character and background were initially controversial among fans given contradictions with established Luthor history, but were quickly accepted when it was made public by Mark Waid that editorial had forced him to craft a new origin for Luthor that incorporated aspects from the Smallville television series.

Waid has gone on the record as stating that his original outline for "Birthright" had Waid restoring Luthor's pre-crisis background as a mad scientist, jettisoning the entire notion of Luthor being a respected but evil businessman. In the retrospective section of the published " Birthright " graphic novel, Waid describes his view that Luthor operating free and unchallenged in Metropolis for years makes Superman look ineffectual. Waid's disdain for the Post-Crisis Lex Luthor is well-known amongst comic fans, as was his opposition to the original post-crisis reboot.

Unfortunately for Waid, he was overruled by DC Editors, who ordered that any changes made to Lex Luthor's history must resemble his Smallville incarnation, due to the popularity of the show.