Lex Luthor is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. As Superman's archenemy, he has been portrayed in almost every Superman media franchise and adaptation.Lex Luthor "Comic Vine"
Lex Luthor is a major character within the Superman mythos and has appeared in many of Superman's adaptations into other media. The character is originally depicted as a mad scientist and later depicted as a wealthy, power-mad American business magnate running the technology company LexCorp (or LuthorCorp) which is based in the city of Metropolis. His portrayal in feature films ranges from being a vain criminal interested in real estate development to that of a genius who heads LexCorp.
Television Live-action A young Lex Luthor appears in Superboy (1988), portrayed by Scott James Wells in the first season and subsequently by Sherman Howard. This version was raised by an abusive father and neglectful mother before becoming rich after taking out an insurance policy on his parents and killing them. By the time he enters college, he became a minor criminal preoccupied with outdoing Superboy. Additionally, he goes bald while being rescued from a lab fire by Superboy. Vowing revenge, Luthor kills businessman Warren Eckworth and tries unsuccessfully to use Eckworth's "Superboy Gun" project to kill Superboy.
Lex Luthor appears in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, portrayed by John Shea. This version is the third-richest person in the world and a philanderer who publicly masquerades as a beloved humanitarian with assistance from Nigel St. John (portrayed by Tony Jay). In the first season finale, amidst his wedding to Lois Lane, his criminal nature is exposed and Luthor commits suicide to avoid prison. In the second season, Luthor's ex-wife Arianna Carlin steals his body from the coroner's office before his personal physician Gretchen Kelly freezes him so she can eventually revive him. While she succeeds, he is rendered temporarily bald until the third season, in which he loses his wealth and is forced to work for Intergang. He later murders Gretchen before Superman sends Luthor to prison to serve a double life sentence. After using a clone of the President to grant himself a pardon, Luthor regains his wealth and attempts to ruin Clark Kent and Lois' wedding with a clone of Lois, finding out Superman's true identity in the process, only to die in the destruction of his underground subway hideout. Additionally, his illegitimate children, computer geek billionaire Jaxon Xavier and the deformed Lex Luthor Jr. appear in the episodes "Virtually Destroyed", "Faster Than a Speeding Vixen", "Shadow of a Doubt", and "Voice from the Past", portrayed by Andy Berman and Keith Brunsmann, respectively.
Lex Luthor appears in Smallville, portrayed by Michael Rosenbaum. He begins the series as an amicable 21 year old son of merciless billionaire Lionel Luthor (Portrayed by John Glover), having been sent to Smallville, to reprioritize the production of the Smallville power plant, seemingly as punishment by his father for past aggressions. He soon becomes quick friends with a teenage Clark Kent (Portrayed by Tom Welling), the future Superman, after an incident in which he saved his life after a car accident. Their friendship continues over multiple years and he ends up helping with many dilemmas Clark comes across in his personal life and while dealing with threats, but never learning the truth about his friend until much later on. However, as the series goes along, Lex’s anger and resentment towards Clark and Lionel leads him further towards villainy and competition with the future Man of Steel, with their rivalry being cemented to each other by the finale.
Lex Luthor appears in media set in the Arrowverse, portrayed by Jon Cryer as an adult and Aidan Fink as a child. He primarily appears in the TV series Supergirl and makes an additional appearance in the crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths". Lex appears throughout the last 3 seasons of the show as a major antagonist after being alluded to in prior seasons.
Lex Luthor was meant to appear in Metropolis, in which he and Lois Lane would have worked together to investigate fringe science and expose the eponymous city's secrets. The series was to be developed by Gotham producers John Stephens and Danny Cannon and Warner Bros. Television as of 2018, but no further news came of the project's status.
Lex Luthor appears in Titans, portrayed by Payne Novak as a child and Titus Welliver as an adult. He is depicted in his late 60s, slowly dying from Kryptonite poisoning and aware of Superman’s identity as Clark Kent, wishing to form a bond with his biological clone son Connor. His father Lionel claims that Lex and Clark Kent used to be good friends. After meeting with Connor and making plans with him, he is killed by May Bennett, who he was working with in the past until he disagreed with her plan. For the rest of season, Connor grieves his father and attempts to mimic his behavior as he goes after May and her son Sebastian. Lex Luthor appears in Superman & Lois, portrayed by Michael Cudlitz. Simiarly to the Arrowverse incarnation, Lex is depicted as being in jail prior to the start of the series, framed for the death of a rival crime boss Boss Moxie. He is depicted as more of a manipulative crime lord criminal with a sadistic edge, with less of the traditional super intelligence of the character. He is first mentioned in Season 1 as an alias an alternate universe John Henry Irons, is forced to use when operating a power suit previously owned by an alternate Lex. After his return near the end of Season 3, Lex becomes the main villain of the final season, being responsible for transforming an alternate Bizarro Superman into Doomsday and successfully killing Superman. Following on from this, he gets into conflict with the Kent family and a revived Clark, stealing and taking control of Iron’s suit to fight them, with the series ending on him being defeated and sent back to jail.
The DCU version of Lex Luthor appears in the Peacemaker episode "Ignorance Is Chris", portrayed again by Nicholas Hoult.
Animation Lex Luthor appears in The New Adventures of Superman, voiced by Ray Owens. This version is stated to be "the world's greatest criminal scientist" and temporarily sports a slimmer physique in the third season. Lex Luthor appears in the Super Friends franchise, voiced by Stanley Jones. This version is the leader of the Legion of Doom. He first appears in Challenge of the Superfriends and makes subsequent appearances in The World's Greatest Super Friends episode "Lex Luthor Strikes Back", Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians. Lex Luthor appears in the Sunnyland Refining Company Superman Peanut Butter commercial. Lex Luthor appears in Superman (1988), voiced by Michael Bell. Montana Max (voiced by Danny Cooksey) assumes the role of "Wex Wuthor" in the Tiny Toon Adventures segments "Superbabs" and "New Class Day". Lex Luthor appears in series set in the DC Animated Universe (DCAU), voiced by Clancy Brown. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. First appearing in Superman: The Animated Series, Luthor is a corrupt businessman who controls most of Metropolis with assistance from Mercy Graves. Despite coming into conflict with and being foiled by Superman numerous times, he avoids imprisonment due to lack of evidence. In Justice League, Luthor loses LexCorp after Batman, Green Lantern, and J'onn J'onzz of the eponymous League expose his criminal activities. Additionally, he discovers he is suffering from terminal blood cancer caused by long-term exposure to Kryptonite. While in prison, he bribes the Ultra-Humanite into freeing him, developing a powered suit to delay his cancer, and helping him form the Injustice Gang to combat the League. However, the Ultra-Humanite eventually betrays Luthor. Following a failed attempt to use Amazo to fight the League, Luthor helps them defeat the Justice Lords, receives a pardon, and considers entering politics. In Justice League Unlimited, Luthor mounts a presidential campaign to enrage Superman while secretly funding Project Cadmus to acquire their technology and build an android body inspired by Amazo for himself. While he is thwarted by Amanda Waller and the League's founding members, Brainiac emerges from within Luthor's body, having laid dormant within him for years, and fuses with him in an attempt to recreate the universe. However, they are defeated by the Flash before Luthor is re-arrested. After escaping prison, Luthor becomes obsessed with resurrecting Brainiac and regaining his lost "godhood". In pursuit of this, he joins and eventually takes over the Secret Society, only for his efforts to culminate in Darkseid killing most of them. Luthor leads the survivors in helping the League foil Darkseid's invasion, during which he gains Metron's help in obtaining the Anti-Life Equation and uses it on himself and Darkseid. Lex Luthor appears in Robot Chicken, voiced initially by Seth Green and later by Donald Faison (in "Toyz in the Hood"), Jim Cummings (in "Due to Constraints of Time and Budget"), and Alfred Molina (in the DC Comics specials and "Triple Hot Dog Sandwich on Wheat"). In the Robot Chicken DC Comics Special, Robot Chicken DC Comics Special 2: Villains in Paradise, and Robot Chicken DC Comics Special III: Magical Friendship, Luthor serves as leader of the Legion of Doom, formed a band called "Sexx Luthor" when he was in high school, and joined several of his multiversal doppelgangers to form a boy band called "Sexx II Men". Lex Luthor appears in the Krypto the Superdog, voiced by Brian Dobson. This version has a pet iguana named Ignatius (voiced by Scott McNeil) who shares his intelligence, vanity, and moral ambivalence. A distant relative of Lex Luthor's named Alexis Luthor appears in Legion of Super Heroes, voiced by Tara Strong. Similarly to Luthor, she possesses skill with machinery and access to a corporation and is stated to be the "richest girl in the galaxy". Additionally, she loses her hair while fighting the Legion. Lex Luthor appears in The Batman two-part episode "The Batman/Superman Story", voiced again by Clancy Brown. Lex Luthor appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson. This version is the leader of the Legion of Doom. Additionally, an original character based on Luthor, an alien mad scientist from the planet Zur-En-Arrh called Rohtul, appears in the episode "The Super-Batman of Planet X!", voiced by Clancy Brown. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. He is depicted as the archenemy of the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh. Lex Luthor appears in the Mad segment "Zeke and Lex Luthor". Lex Luthor appears in Young Justice, voiced by Mark Rolston. This version is a leading member of the Light who later becomes Secretary-General of the United Nations during the third season before being ousted from his position in the finale. Elmer Fudd (voiced by Billy West) assumes the role of Lex Luthor in The Looney Tunes Show episode "Super Rabbit". Lex Luthor appears in Justice League Action, voiced by James Woods. This version, in addition to his traditional warsuit, wields several other armors, including a grey variant that can generate red sun radiation and a black and purple nanotechnology-based suit that can repel anything in a surrounding radius, under which he is known as Repulse.