Luthor, completely self made or from old money?

[Mat001]

I was talking about the first time. When Siegel went to fight in the war, Mort took over and a lot of what existed before Siegel's return, was Mort's ideas. Siegel did contribute his own, but the ratio of who came up with what is difficult to tell unless there has been documented proof. Which there has been in certain cases. There's also the question of ideas coming from top to be assigned to a writer to factor in.

[stk]

I agree with Mat on this one. Weisinger did change Superman while Siegel was at war, and he really turned Superman into a very different character in-between the time Siegel first left DC and when he came back in the Silver Age. Superman did a complete 180 from being an anti-establishment man of the people, into being the ultimate establishment figure himself.

[Mat001]

True. There was a lot of stories between 1943 and 1960. What was left went to Edmund Hamilton and Otto Binder, among others, but Mort was the main man. Siegel had to work within the framework of what had changed. Some of it, I'd wager that he agreed with and others, he wasn't too thrilled about. Which probably fed into his desire to reclaim the copyrights again, when the opportunity arose. Parting ways in the mid 60's didn't help, but it was a factor.

[tabo61]

I lean torwards born into old money. That way he has all the resources set up at early age to build his empire.

[stk]

True. There was a lot of stories between 1943 and 1960. What was left went to Edmund Hamilton and Otto Binder, among others, but Mort was the main man. Siegel had to work within the framework of what had changed. Some of it, I'd wager that he agreed with and others, he wasn't too thrilled about. Which probably fed into his desire to reclaim the copyrights again, when the opportunity arose.

I also think it factored into his writing the "Death" story. Maybe a little bit of wish fulfillment in destroying the creation that was his biggest achievement in life, but taken away from him and completely changed against his will, even if the story was only Imaginary.

[llozymandias]

Since Lex is a super-genius, Here are two other possible origin's for Lex's fortune:


1.) Lionel started the company (like in Smallville) but the money came from Lex's inventions.


2.) The Luthor family fortune is very old money, created under mysterious circumstances. At some point Lex travels back to the time his ancestors became rich. In the process of studying the origin of the Luthor fortune, Lex creates it.