45 Fun Facts About Lex Luthor

In which comic did Lex Luthor first appear?

Luthor debuted in Action Comics #23, cover-dated April 1940, two years after Superman's own debut in Action Comics #1.

Which duo created Lex Luthor?

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Superman's creators, gave him a foe with no powers at all, just brains and ambition.

What is Lex Luthor's full first name?

Lex is short for Alexander; the post-Crisis comics gave his full name as Alexander Joseph Luthor, and early Golden Age stories had called him only 'Luthor'.

What colour was Luthor's hair in his earliest appearances?

In Action Comics #23 Luthor was drawn as a middle-aged man with a full head of red hair; within two years he was bald.

Luthor's baldness began as a mistake by which Superman studio artist?

Leo Nowak, a Shuster studio artist, apparently mistook Luthor for his bald henchman from Superman #4; the bald Luthor stuck from Superman #10 in 1941.

In which 1960 comic did the Silver Age Luthor get the first name 'Lex' and a Smallville origin?

Adventure Comics #271 (April 1960), 'How Luthor Met Superboy!', was written by Jerry Siegel so the two could have been teenage rivals in Smallville.

In his Silver Age origin, which creation of teenage Lex did Superboy accidentally destroy?

Lex had created an artificial life form; Superboy's super-breath put out the lab fire but spilled chemicals that dissolved the creature and left Lex bald.

What first name was retroactively given to the red-haired Earth-Two Luthor?

The Earth-Two Luthor was named Alexei in DC Comics Presents Annual #1 (1982); Brainiac killed him in Crisis on Infinite Earths, deciding one Luthor was enough.

Luthor's Silver Age family changed its surname to what anagram after he turned to crime?

His little sister Lena grew up as Lena Thorul, never knowing her brother was a supervillain.

Which two creators reinvented Luthor as an evil corporate executive in 1986's The Man of Steel?

Marv Wolfman and John Byrne reworked him for The Man of Steel; Wolfman reasoned that a man who could afford giant robots would not need to rob banks.

In which Metropolis district was the post-Crisis Luthor born?

Post-Crisis Lex was born in Suicide Slum, Metropolis's poorest district, and grew up there alongside future Daily Planet editor Perry White.

How did the post-Crisis teenage Luthor make his first fortune?

He collected insurance money from his parents' deaths: Lex took out a large policy on them, then sabotaged their car's brakes, as told in Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography (1989).

What is the name of Luthor's Metropolis company?

LexCorp was established in the 1986 reboot as the conglomerate behind Luthor's wealth; Smallville called its counterpart LuthorCorp.

Luthor's kryptonite ring gave him cancer, costing him which body part?

The ring's radiation cost Luthor his right hand, amputated and replaced with a prosthetic; Superman later entrusted the ring to Batman as a failsafe against himself.

Luthor faked his death and returned in a cloned body posing as his own son from which country?

'Lex Luthor II' arrived from Australia with a full head of red hair and an Australian accent, and wooed the protoplasmic Supergirl, Matrix.

Which demon restored Luthor's health in exchange for his soul during Underworld Unleashed?

Neron, the demon behind Underworld Unleashed (1995), restored Luthor's body; Lex agreed because he did not believe souls existed.

Luthor's daughter Lena was born to which near-immortal wife?

Contessa Erica Del Portenza, a near-immortal, married Lex and bore Lena; he later kept her sedated and had her seemingly killed by a missile barrage.

To which office was Luthor elected in the comics at the turn of the millennium?

Luthor won the 2000 election in Superman: Lex 2000 and took office as President of the United States, having run on a platform of technological progress.

To whom did Luthor hand control of his company before entering the White House?

Talia al Ghul, as 'Talia Head', ran LexCorp during his presidency and later sold the whole company to the Wayne Foundation, leaving him with nothing.

Which Kansas city did Imperiex destroy after President Luthor sat on an advance warning?

He wanted Earth drawn into a great war so he could prove his leadership.

Which telepath wiped Luthor's knowledge of Superman's secret identity?

Manchester Black erased the secret from Luthor's mind in 2002's Ending Battle; in Action Comics #1050 (2022) Luthor killed Black to make the whole world forget again.

In 'Public Enemies', President Luthor secretly injected himself with a kryptonite-laced version of what?

Venom, Bane's super-steroid, laced with liquid kryptonite made him strong, irrational and finally a fugitive in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (2004).

Who briefly became president after Luthor fled the White House?

Clark's Smallville pal had been Luthor's vice president.

Superboy, the clone Lex covets, is a hybrid of Superman's DNA and whose?

Teen Titans (2003) revealed Conner Kent was grown from Superman's DNA and Lex's own; Luthor later used a mental trigger to turn him against the Titans.

On which pre-Crisis planet was Luthor hailed as a hero?

Lexor, introduced in Superman #164 (1963), was a world that revered Luthor; he married Ardora there, and the planet was destroyed in Action Comics #544 (1983).

In Final Crisis, Luthor helped override which Darkseid broadcast?

Luthor and Dr Sivana hacked the Justifier helmets to cut off Darkseid's Anti-Life Equation broadcast; Lex called it a legendary first team-up of 'good' and 'bad'.

In the New 52, Luthor fed Clark Kent tips under which codename?

As 'Icarus', Luthor leaked tips to Clark Kent in Grant Morrison's Action Comics (2011) while secretly dealing with the Collector of Worlds to shrink Metropolis.

Which super-team did Luthor join after helping defeat the Crime Syndicate in Forever Evil?

Luthor joined the Justice League in 2014 after Forever Evil, having led the villains who beat the Crime Syndicate; the League figured membership would make him easier to watch.

In Year of the Villain, Luthor was reborn as a Martian-human hybrid called what?

Perpetua remade him as Apex Lex, a Martian-human hybrid, in Year of the Villain (2019); the gift came with a Martian's vulnerability to fire.

In the Elseworlds tale Speeding Bullets, a disfigured Luthor adopts which identity?

In Speeding Bullets (1993) an explosion disfigures Luthor, who re-emerges as that world's Joker; Kal-El there was raised by Thomas and Martha Wayne.

In Superman: Red Son, Luthor is married to which character?

In Red Son (2003) Lois Lane is Lois Luthor, Lex's wife; he ends the story as mankind's saviour after the Soviet Superman fakes his death.

In Amalgam Comics, Luthor merged with a Captain America villain to become what?

The Green Skull, Luthor merged with Captain America's foe the Red Skull, fought Super-Soldier in Amalgam's Super-Soldier #1 (1996).

Where did IGN rank Luthor on its 2009 list of the 100 greatest comic villains?

IGN placed Luthor at #4 on its 2009 list, behind Magneto, the Joker and Doctor Doom.

Who played Luthor opposite Christopher Reeve's Superman, starting in 1978?

Gene Hackman played Luthor as a comedic foil in Superman (1978), Superman II and Superman IV, plus the 2006 Donner Cut of II.

Who played Luthor in 2006's Superman Returns?

Kevin Spacey played Luthor in Superman Returns (2006) with a drier, more straightforward take that kept a humorous streak.

Who played Luthor in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice?

Jesse Eisenberg played a young tech-mogul Luthor in Batman v Superman (2016); his casting, announced in January 2014, surprised fans expecting an older actor.

Who played Luthor in the 2025 film Superman?

Nicholas Hoult played Luthor in James Gunn's Superman (2025) as a tech mogul consumed by envy of the hero.

Who played Lex Luthor for seven seasons of Smallville?

Michael Rosenbaum played Lex from 2001 to 2008, starting as an amicable 21-year-old who befriended Clark after Clark pulled him from a car crash.

Which sitcom veteran played Luthor on Supergirl and in Crisis on Infinite Earths?

Jon Cryer, of Two and a Half Men, played Lex from Supergirl's fourth season in 2019; his Luthor had been jailed for turning the sun red to depower Superman.

Who voices Luthor across the DC Animated Universe, starting with Superman: The Animated Series?

Clancy Brown voiced Luthor from Superman: The Animated Series (1996) through Justice League Unlimited, and again in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies and the Lego games.

Which bodyguard serves Luthor in the DC Animated Universe?

Mercy Graves was created for Superman: The Animated Series in 1996 as Luthor's bodyguard and chauffeur, and later migrated into the comics.

Who played Luthor in the 1950 serial Atom Man vs. Superman?

Lyle Talbot played a bald Luthor, the first on screen, who ran a television station as cover and masked up as the Atom Man; the name 'Lex' came only in 1960.

In Smallville, who played Lex's father Lionel Luthor?

John Glover played Lionel Luthor across Smallville's first seven seasons; he also voiced the Riddler in Batman: The Animated Series.

Which Superman villain did Luthor's scientists create in a failed attempt to clone Superman?

Bizarro was the result of LexCorp's Dr Teng trying to clone Superman in The Man of Steel #5 (1986); the imperfect duplicate degraded and crumbled to dust.

In Kingdom Come, the older Luthor leads which group against Superman's militarised heroes?

Luthor's Mankind Liberation Front, with Vandal Savage and a brainwashed Captain Marvel, opposed the superhumans in Mark Waid and Alex Ross's 1996 Kingdom Come.