Lex Luthor - the necessary evil?

[Buried Alien]

Since the Golden Age of Comics, the Lex Luthor character has been the nemesis of Superman in particular and the DC Universe in general. More so than any other villain, Luthor has been the thorn in the side of the DC superheroes...often leading and directing the efforts of other villains.

But in many ways, Luthor is the villain that the heroes and their world cannot do without: he is the necessary evil.

For all the dastardly crimes he has committed, how many times has Luthor (in the comics, in the SUPERMAN movies, and even the JUSTICE LEAGUE animated series) also been the world's savior?

1. In SUPERMAN II (film), Luthor was instrumental in enabling Superman to deceive and defeat General Zod and his lackeys.

2. In CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, Alexander Luthor of Earth-Three played a significant role in defeating the Anti-Monitor and saving the universe.

3. In THE FINAL NIGHT, Luthor rallied the resources necessary to preserve the world and devised the solution to the Sun-Eater problem (although it was Hal Jordan who actually made the sacrifice to save the Earth).

4. In the JUSTICE LEAGUE and JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED animated series, the Justice League needed Luthor to help them defeat the Justice Lords and, on a later occassion, Darkseid.

Even when Luthor helps the heroes, he always has an ulterior motive, but nevertheless, it seems that the heroes sometimes cannot do without Luthor.

The DC Universe does not have a Reed Richards type character: a super scientific genius and leader type wrapped in one package. Thus, Luthor often must assume the dual role of villainous enemy leader AND scientific savior.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[IamtheRock3]

I dont know if Superman and others didnt have to fight Luthor all the time they may be able to focuse on other things


But Luthor brains does help. But think DC got some brains they could put to work if push came to shove..just chose not to

but lex may be the smarter though..not sure

depends on how he written.


they havent said if it wasnt for his hatred for superman, he would create a utopia

[lonewolf23k]

Well, it definetly fits Lex's ego that in spite of his evil and how many times he's tried to kill him, Superman does turn to him when he's really desperate...

[marshal99]

And in that russian Zod story , it was Luthor that saved Superman and assemble the villains army needed to save earth from Zod.

[brundlefly]

Plus, as President, he helped save the world from Imperiex in OUR WORLDS AT WAR (with a little insider knowledge and help from Darkseid, Lena, and the General Zod from Pokolistan), then turned around and teamed with Supes, as marshal99 noted, to take out Zod when he became a major threat.

What I love about Lex is that he doesn't see himself as evil and, in fact, does a lot of good in order to justify that perception of himself (his philanthropy in Metropolis, his actual good & noble deeds while President, his scientific aid in times of crisis, etc.). He also rationalizes his feud with Superman as being for the good of humanity (i.e. eliminating their "crutch" so that they can grow and reach their potential) so that he can devote massive amounts of time, money, and effort into it and then be able to look at it objectively as something more than just a personal vendetta. Since he sees himself as a role model & protector of Earth and humanity in general, it's relatively easy for Lex to ally himself with Superman and the JLA temporarily against an alien/cosmic menace (since he views them as pawns in a battle, helping him to save his planet) and likewise, for them to ally themselves with him since Lex is a human and the "devil they know" as opposed to evil, inhuman threats like Imperiex, the Sun Eater, Braniac 13, etc., that have no redeeming qualities and can't be reasoned with.

[TheTen-EyedMan]

Lex thinks what he is doing is right.

If he was a mustache twirling Snidley Whiplash type, it wouldn't work.

[Matt K]

Plus, as President, he helped save the world from Imperiex in OUR WORLDS AT WAR (with a little insider knowledge and help from Darkseid, Lena, and the General Zod from Pokolistan), then turned around and teamed with Supes, as marshal99 noted, to take out Zod when he became a major threat.

What I love about Lex is that he doesn't see himself as evil and, in fact, does a lot of good in order to justify that perception of himself (his philanthropy in Metropolis, his actual good & noble deeds while President, his scientific aid in times of crisis, etc.). He also rationalizes his feud with Superman as being for the good of humanity (i.e. eliminating their "crutch" so that they can grow and reach their potential) so that he can devote massive amounts of time, money, and effort into it and then be able to look at it objectively as something more than just a personal vendetta. Since he sees himself as a role model & protector of Earth and humanity in general, it's relatively easy for Lex to ally himself with Superman and the JLA temporarily against an alien/cosmic menace (since he views them as pawns in a battle, helping him to save his planet) and likewise, for them to ally themselves with him since Lex is a human and the "devil they know" as opposed to evil, inhuman threats like Imperiex, the Sun Eater, Braniac 13, etc., that have no redeeming qualities and can't be reasoned with.

That's exactly why I love Lex Luthor.

[Person Man]

Same, although I wonder how much of it is going to apply post-IC? They are going back to Silver Age ideas, and while we had Maggin's Luthor, we also had the general looney who idolized Hitler and various mobsters.

[brundlefly]

Same, although I wonder how much of it is going to apply post-IC? They are going back to Silver Age ideas, and while we had Maggin's Luthor, we also had the general looney who idolized Hitler and various mobsters.

Eh, I view the whole "drag everyone back to the Silver Age" craze as just another phase in comics; it's a fad, and eventually DC writers will tire of it. They're obviously keeping LexCorp around in the Supes titles (what with Lana running it now), which will make it even easier for us to eventually get the nuanced, well-developed LexCorp CEO back in place, instead of the straight-from-SuperFriends fugitive nutcase who hates Superman for making him bald. :D

[Adaptoid]

I don't think it's so much an attempt to drag us into the Silver Age as it is an attempt to re-capture the quality of the writing and creativity from that era. Seems to me the creative talent has thinned out considerably with just glimmerings of quality here and there.

An example is the JLU animated series. The use and development of Luthor was critical to the quality of the show. The show went back to the basics and re-captured the quality story-telling reminicent of the Silver Age. But I do not for a moment think it was a throwback to the Silver Age.

Didn't Luthor play the key role in overcoming Amazo too? Didn't Luthor answer Amazo's question at the level of God/Job? Quite a nice bit of writing. The whole JLU series was the best comic book writing I'm aware of since Alan Moore published "Watchmen."

If the mainstream comics had the quality and nuance of the JLU writing team - we'd have a Platinum Age -- or whatever the label is on comics today.

Luthor is necessary to the extent he was written well and was a key element in the story. A well-written antagonist by any name would make such evil necessary. The unnecessary evils in the comics are universally the result of bad writing.

[brundlefly]

I don't think it's so much an attempt to drag us into the Silver Age as it is an attempt to re-capture the quality of the writing and creativity from that era. Seems to me the creative talent has thinned out considerably with just glimmerings of quality here and there.

By that, I meant the forced reversions of some characters to one-dimensional stereotypes (the attempt in UP UP AND AWAY to devolve Lex back into Just Another Mad Scientist, Harvey Dent reverting from a somewhat-reformed grey area character back to Insane Bat-Rogue) and the shameless resurrections of Silver Age icons (Hal Jordan, Ollie Queen, etc.), which seem to me to be more about nostalgia and less about creativity or doing something new. Agreed with you that there was a lot of creativity and good writing from the period, but the current Silver Age fad, as I see it, has been about character reversions for nostalgia's sake without incorporating any of the creativity of the Silver Age (Morrison's All-Star Superman being the exception).

An example is the JLU animated series. The use and development of Luthor was critical to the quality of the show. The show went back to the basics and re-captured the quality story-telling reminicent of the Silver Age. But I do not for a moment think it was a throwback to the Silver Age.

I caught a few episodes of JLU here and there before it got canned and was very, very pleasantly surprised at the writing quality. Definitely not the goofy SuperFriends stereotype of superhero cartoons and more along the lines of the current JUSTICE title.

[Adaptoid]

A lot of times they just use the old characters occasionally to preserve the copyright. A throw-away use of characters is obviously not good writing.

Silver age icons are icons for a reason. There is a very nice volume in print presenting the Green Lantern/Green Arrow run by Neal Adams and Dennis O'Neil. If they bring them back at that level of quality, great. (ISBN: 1-56389-639-7 for anyone that wants to order it at their local bookstore)

The "evil" antagonists are "real world" and they brought a lot of humanity into the story lines. Plus the book itself is primo quality. The art is reproduced in full color correctly in my opinion -- better than the Marvel Masterworks or DC Archive glossy reproductions.

Here and there in the comic world there are flashes of true greatness. The JLU Lex was one such flash. Of all the incarnations the G.D. cartoon producers/writers did the best job. Go figure.

[brundlefly]

A lot of times they just use the old characters occasionally to preserve the copyright. A throw-away use of characters is obviously not good writing.

Yeah, but they were already actively using the Green Lantern and Green Arrow names with Kyle Rayner and Connor Hawke, so it's not like those names were on the shelf and in danger of losing copyright. I didn't care one way or another about Rayner, but I much preferred Hawke as GA to the hokey resurrection of the overbearing Ollie Queen, brought about by Kevin Smith's nostaliga for the character.

Silver age icons are icons for a reason. There is a very nice volume in print presenting the Green Lantern/Green Arrow run by Neal Adams and Dennis O'Neil. If they bring them back at that level of quality, great. (ISBN: 1-56389-639-7 for anyone that wants to order it at their local bookstore)

The "evil" antagonists are "real world" and they brought a lot of humanity into the story lines. Plus the book itself is primo quality. The art is reproduced in full color correctly in my opinion -- better than the Marvel Masterworks or DC Archive glossy reproductions.

No argument with you there; love the Silver Age GL/GA adventures and both those guys are comic book icons. I just saw the unnecessary resurrections of both Ollie and Hal as being symptomatic of Smith and Johns' nostalgia and not an attempt to be creative or let new characters develop and tell new stories. Plus, what with Bucky and Jason Todd also crawling out of the grave recently, death truly has no meaning in comics anymore (if it ever did; just seems even moreso now). I'm sure Barry Allen, Uncle Ben, and Thomas and Martha Wayne will all rise from the grave any moment now. :D

Here and there in the comic world there are flashes of true greatness. The JLU Lex was one such flash. Of all the incarnations the G.D. cartoon producers/writers did the best job. Go figure.

John Byrne, Grant Morrison, Roger Stern, and most recently Brian Azzarello (LEX LUTHOR: MAN OF STEEL) have all done great work with the modern-day comics incarnation of Lex, just to name a few. But the deplorable SUPERMAN/BATMAN: PUBLIC ENEMIES arc by Jeph Loeb, followed by the overexposure of two Luthors in Infinite Crisis, and then the character regression of UP UP AND AWAY have certainly damaged the character. Hopefully the right writer can rehab him and get him back on track.

I will have to check out JLU in its entirety on DVD, as I did not realize Lex had such a large recurring role (only caught 2 or 3 episodes on Adult Swim).

[Person Man]

Well, Uncle Ben is kind of back...

Silver Age Lex could be complex in the right hands as well. Certainly the motive was fairly similar - reading "Lex Luthor: Man of Steel," it felt a lot like the sixth chapter of Maggin's "Last Son of Krypton," where he has Lex start comparing himself to Brutus, Lincoln, and the man who invented the wheel. It could be argued that, as said in the Justice League cartoon, "A is A. Luthor is Luthor" - but of course, that depends on the writer. I think Kurt's good enough that he probably has something planned in that regard.

[The Batman]

I don't know that Luthor is a necessary evil but what he's able to accomplish when he's not pre-occupied with a) self-agrandizment or b) destroying Superman makes him seem like a tragic figure in a way because he can't get over his personal demons. I think that that's far more interesting than a character who is evil for the sake of being evil or mustache twirlingly evil or Hitler idolizingly evil or what have you. I think tha the Justice League cartoon has shown that Luthor can go the mad scientist route or the business man route and still be complex and layered so it's just a matter of preference there.

btw my favourite line from the finale belonged to Luthor. When arriving to defeat Darkseid he says something to the effect of "Sorry I'm late. I had to stop and get my power suit." Of course he's wearing the black three piece suit he wore since TAS.