30 days of Scans meme Day 9: Least favorite male character-Lex

[superfangirl1]

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Adventure Comics #6














Superman War of the Supermen #2

Comments

[crinos]

Wow.... Just....wow.

Lex Luthor is the biggest bastard ever.

[hawkmoondirge]

Usually love Luthor but doing that to his own sister, who is in hell...wow.

I prefer the Luthor who only wants to help man kind....through killing it's greatest (In their eyes) hero...

[thanekos]

he does all his best bastardry in normal clothes

truly, his power suit is more than the green and purple number with the head forcefield

[nickfury90]

Lex Luthor, you magnificent bastard you. I know its wrong, but I couldn't help but smile at "Lex giveth--and Lex taketh away". With the recent Action Comics run, I think he might have supplanted Joker as my favorite comics villain.

[leorising]

Have to agree with you, there. Superman needs a super-foil.

[retro_nouveau]

I don't know, he's pretty high up on my love-to-hate list. Clancy Brown.

[proteus_lives]

CB is forever the voice of Lex.

[thehefner]

Thing is, I kinda hate this. Lex is a magnificent bastard, but I don't see him as being so pettily evil as actually screwing over his own sister like this. This just feels to me like Johns is pulling a "Mark Waid with Dr. Doom" here, saying that this character is a petty, utterly evil bastard, and that all the complexity we've seen from him over the years is bullshit. I hate that.

The ideal Lex is the Lex who can be the person who would give all to destroy Superman, while also being the sorta-benevolent Lex who founded planet Lexor, the morally-driven Lex of LL: MAN OF STEEL, and the Clancy Brown Lex from TAS. But this Lex? This is a bastard and an asshole who needs to be put down. That's not very interesting, nor is he enduring.

[biznizzonpeyote]

It's not the first time he's pulled something like this.

Remember the New Year's issue of 52, where Lex turns off nearly all of his Everymen customers' powers, while most of them were in mid-flight?

Meanwhile, I can actually see mainstream Lex doing this to his sister. Sure, he's a complicated character, but he threw away all ties to his old life (and family) when he left Smallville. The Smallville Luthors are meaningless to him (or at the very least, merely a means to an end), and he wants Superboy to tell Superman just what he did, just to show that he's ready to make Earth into a Lexor-type world. All that's preventing it, is Superman, and Lex wants Supes to KNOW IT.

[thehefner]

That 52 thing... I always wondered, was that Johns' doing? Or Waid's? Because as I indicated in the previous comment, that so perfectly fits Waid's MO when it comes to villains.

Thing is, I much sooner see Lex saving his sister to prove that he can absolutely do what Superman can't. The whole "now I did it now I didn't" would make much more sense if he did it to someone personally close to Superman, not his own family. In doing that, he's less hurting Superman and more showing his pettiness and inhumanity.

[recognitions]

Personally, I really don't see why they can't go back to that plotline. I'm not convinced that Lex's utter bastardry in that scene doesn't eat at him to some extent. But you know it'll never get mentioned again.

[fifthie]

"morally-driven Lex of LL: MAN OF STEEL"

Didn't he kill a bunch of people for no real reason other than to make Superman look bad in the papers?

[thehefner]

I... honestly don't remember! I'll have to give the story a reread.

[fifthie]

Like, he was pretty moralizing about it, but it wasn't what you'd call moral.

It's been a while since I read it too so I could be wrong (and/or thinking of a different story entirely).

[lbd_nytetrayn]

...how does the last line end?

--LBD "Nytetrayn"

[biznizzonpeyote]

The line pretty much ends, "of Lexcorp and all of it's affiliates."

Lex helped out Lane so that he could get a presidential pardon and regain control of his company once again.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

That seems to flow a little... odd...

"Thank you. You are once again the owner of LexCorp."

"No, thank you, General."

"And you are now the owner of LexCorp and all of its affiliates."

Is General Lane saying that last part? Was he really that impressed by Lex saying "thank you"?

--LBD "Nytetrayn"

[catbird]

Comics Luthor always eventually disappoints me. He has his moments, but they're usually brief and submerged in a sea of fail.

I'm sure it's because /nothing/ can compare with the utter perfectness of Lex in JLU (and TAS). I mean, that Lex was a bastard (just see his treatment of Amazo or Tala) but he was a bastard because that was just his way, not because he was a headcase. And his bastardness did never prevent him from doing what was necessary, even if that meant alliances with the good guys. When he was insane, it was usually because of Brainiac or Darkseid messing with his brain - the rest of the time he was refreshingly down to Earth. He wasn't really obsessed with anything but himself.

Lex is simply at his most effective when he isn't crazy, or can keep that crazyness in check. He should be Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark without morals, not without sanity.

[liara_shadowsong]

Lex is simply at his most effective when he isn't crazy, or can keep that crazyness in check. He should be Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark without morals, not without sanity.

Agreed. Wholeheartedly agreed.

[liara_shadowsong]

I've liked some versions of Lex very, very much. This is not one of those versions. *mutters* Lousy bastard. You're supposed to be a sane evil genius...