Lex Luthor (DC Animated Universe)

Lex Luthor is the tertiary antagonist in the DC Animated Universe. He debuted on Superman: The Animated Series, and later made appearances in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.

He was voiced by Clancy Brown.

Superman: The Animated Series
Lex Luthor is the founder and CEO of LexCorp. He grew to resent Superman when he stole his spotlight as Metropolis' saviour, and usually invested heavily in some of the Man of Steel's greatest foes, such as Metallo and Livewire. He seeked to kill Superman for shutting down his major operations and costing him a lot of money. Although Superman manned to put away many of Luthor's co-conspirators, he could never convict Luthor himself due to lack of evidence. He was also known for his betrayals on many associates, causing many to leave LexCorp; the only one left was Mercy Graves. Their was another superhero that got to Lex the most besides, Superman. It is Batman, he was that close to putting Luthor behind bars when he worked with the joker to kill Superman. That backfired and he lost of a lot of money and was investigated by the District attorney again, but he beat the system again. In Legacy, he was thrilled, the whole world turned against Superman when Darkseid brainwashed him and let him loose to take invade earth. But Superman snapped out of it, but the whole world was against him. But Superman earned their trust again and dismiss the charges again.

Justice League and Justice League Unlimited
Luthor later fought the Justice League, but was subsequently defeated, exposed as a crook, and sentenced to prison. He also learned that he had a form of radiation poisoning as a result of carrying around a chunk of Kryptonite for years. He then joined up with other villains, forming the Injustice Gang, in an attempt take down the Justice League, but failed.

Luthor later redeemed himself by aiding the Justice League in defeating the Justice Lords and was given a full pardon. After that, he entered politics and ran for the US Presidency. However, still bent on destroying Superman, he created Project Cadmus and succeeded in ruining the Justice League's reputation twice: once by causing Superman and Captain Marvel to fight each other, causing great destruction in the city, and again by taking control of the Watchtower's orbital cannon and causing it to fire on a Cadmus-related building in New Mexico.

Luthor's malevolent plans were exposed by Batman, only for Brainiac to reveal that he had been dormant inside Lex for some time. Luthor later convinced Brainiac to fuse with him because they both could reach their ultimate goals. He then battled the Justice League, proving to be one of the group's most difficult foes. However, the Flash was able to separate the two after tapping into the Speed Force.

Luthor went back to jail with a damaged psyche. After Luthor escaped prison again and eluded the cops, Gorilla Grodd offered for him to become a major player for the newly formed Legion of Doom. Joining only to revive Brainiac, Luthor eventually overthrew Grodd and led the Legion into space, where he found a version of Brainiac that had been destroyed years earlier. Trapping and absorbing Tala's magic to resurrect Brainiac, he had accidentally resurrected Darkseid instead.

Luthor and the rest of the Legion barely escaped from Darkseid and made their way to Earth, where Luthor warned the Justice League, and he and his allies joined them to fight against Darkseid and his army. He later left the battle with Metron and discovered the Anti-Life Equation. Returning to Earth with the Equation, he offered to share the knowledge with Darkseid, and they both disappeared in a spark of light.