Lex Luthor: What He Was, What He Became, and What it Meant
Just as comic-book superheroes often undergo many re-inventions throughout time, so, too, do their arch-nemeses. An example of a particularly strong re-invention is that of Superman’s arch nemesis, Lex Luthor orinally conceived by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Lex Luthor has undergone a number of re-inventions but the most significant was done by John Bryne in the 1986 series Men of Steel.
Prior to this re-invention, Lex Luthor was a fairly overt villain, a mad evil-genius scientist. He was the mastermind of various nefarious schemes, was obsessed with power and wealth, global domination, and, in some adaptations, had a personal revenge-driving history with Superman. He was typically portrayed in and surrounded by very bright, ostentatious colors.
The new Luthor was someone immediately recognizeable to the general public. He is generally believed to be based off several real people including Donald Trump. Like the old luthor he is oppressive, power-hungry, and money-obsessed but this time in the form of an ordinary human corporate executive with exceptional charisma, intelligence, and perseverance.
He has no powers, but his genius is so great that he is on an equal level with Superman nonetheless. He is also revealed to have grown up in poverty and been abused as a child, and is a philanthropist, adding complexity to his characterization. Unlike the original Luthor, he is portrayed in expensive black suits and surrounded by unassuming and sleek black, white, and dark blue signifying his wealth and the change to a more covert, real-world villain.
Though some may claim that this was a total re-start on the character, Bryne kept pieces of the original portrayal in his re-invention: an evil-genius, mind over strength, an obsession with domination and money, an antithesis to Superman’s fight against oppression. He re-interpreted those key pieces into a real-world context and added a backstory that set up a psychologically fascinating and ultimately understandable villain. This fits best into Harold Blooms’ Tessera revisionary ratio (though I’ll admit I was also on the fence of it fitting best into Clinamen since it could also be said that Bryne believed that Lex Luthor worked up to a point but his obviousness and lack of interesting purpose undermined the interest so he swerved to correct that in this way) which can be defined as when a new poet takes the pieces of the old poets work, re-interprets them, and adds a finishing touch.
The strength of this revision is supported by the fact that this version of Luthor has been the dominant one in the DC universe since 1986. Though he has changed in certain ways since his new conception, he has kept the same basic traits.
The transformation of Luther into someone imaginable, and even, perhaps, obviously present, in the real world have allowed for the exploration of what makes such a corrupt person, that person’s own beliefs surrounding their actions, and what allows them to retain their power. There are three separate issues in which Luthor is accepted by the public and elected as President.
This re-invention took the idea of an evil genius and adapted it to be meaningful. While the orignal Lex Luthor allowed for certain psycological explorations in terms of his backstory with Superman, there was not nearly as much to unpack in terms of significance to society. Lex Luthor as a CEO created an avenue for social commentary on issues that are still highly prevalent today including oppression of the lower class, the power of manipulation in times of fear, and the difficulty of removing those in power despite obvious corruption.
