Lex Luthor (DC Extended Universe)

"The greatest gladiator match in the history of the world: Son of Krypton versus Bat of Gotham!"

- Lex describing the battle between Batman and Superman as a legendary gladiator match

Alexander "Lex" Joseph Luthor Jr.  or simply Lex Luthor, is the primary antagonist of the 2016 epic superhero movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the second installment of the DC Extended Universe and the sequel of 2013's Man of Steel. a megalomaniacal multi-billionaire businessman, as well as one of the smartest individuals in the world. He is the current owner and C.E.O. of LexCorp. Lex is intrigued by Kryptonians and is always quick to remind Superman that he is an alien, and not a human of Earth and also he is fixated on defeating and killing Superman.

He is portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg in his first villain portrayal of his cinematic career.

Early Life
"Lex" was born to the businessman and founder of LexCorp Industries, Alexander Luthor Sr., an East German emigre, and was subsequently named after his father.

In 2000, Luthor Sr. passed away unexpectedly, leaving his legacy of LexCorp Industries to his only son, the wunderkind Lex, who took control of the business, successfully transforming it from a petrochemical and heavy machinery dinosaur into a cutting edge technology giant. In fact, the very considerable business achievements of his father pale in comparison to the astonishingly prolific accomplishments of the younger Luthor, who thus became the youngest person ever to be named Fortune’s Businessperson of the Year and included in Fortune's list of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders. Among other things, Lex also inherited his father's world-famous collection of meteorite crystals, which, as he would later learn, included Kryptonite minerals.

Lex is known to have at one point encountered Amanda Waller and familiarized himself with her organization,A.R.G.U.S., as he subtly refers to both while conversing with Ron Troupe.

Interview with Ron Troupe
Shortly before the release of his company's revolutionary new operating system Lex/OS, Lex Luthor was approached by reporter Ron Troupe, and agreed to meet him at the Royal Penthouse Suite at the Park Metropolis Downtown. Lex was then promptly interviewed on a number of subjects, including the alien hero Superman and the Gotham City vigilante Batman. Right afterwards, Lex offers to play bowling with Troupe, confident in his ability to "destroy" the latter.

Aftermath of the Battle of Metropolis

 * "There you have it--Lex Luthor, as much a hero to Metropolis as Superman." 

"No. Not like him."
 * ―Lex Luthor to a reporter
 * After Hanford Technologies was successfully exposed by Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane, Lex arrived at a construction site of the company, and announced that LexCorp Industries was purchasing all of Hanford's holdings (including the site), as well as retaining all of Hanford's employees, as he claimed that the employees should not suffer from the immoral actions of their former CEO. Lex proceeded to admit that despite his failings, Mark Hanford had been a good CEO, whose big mistake was selling illegal Kryptonian technology.
 * Later, in the privacy of his car, with only his assistant Mercy Graves there to hear him, Lex finished - because there were so many more interesting things that could potentially be done with it. Due to Lex Luthor's prolific philanthropic efforts to help financially support the rebuilding of Metropolis (as well as his company, LexCorp Industries), local politicians and media personalities called the companies that left Metropolis traitors, while a growing number of corporations (including Kord Industries), inspired by Lex Luthor, decided to follow his example, with some of them who had previously planned to pull out of Metropolis reversing course, and others, that had never been in Metropolis at all, choosing to expand there. In fact, due to his actions, some even claimed that Lex was as much a hero to Metropolis as Superman himself.
 * Lex, however, dismissed the comparison, claiming that the alien superhero was a figure too mysterious and controversial for him to be a good comparison, but in light of Superman's debut, Lex claimed that recognizing the importance of the "ordinary" citizens of Metropolis (such as rescue workers, first responders, and countless ordinary citizens, who also helped save others in the Battle of Metropolis) had become more important than ever.

Collecting Information

 * "I'll be in here for the rest of the day. Make sure I'm not disturbed."
 * ―Lex Luthor to Mercy Graves

Lex then proceeded to return to his LexCorp facility, admitting to Mercy Graves that despite him not knowing much about Superman is in fact completely true, he has been "working on changing that." With those words, Lex enters a private room with CCTV screens (displaying the corpse of General Zod, the Fortress of Solitude, and a Kryptonian DNA double helix), asking Mercy to make sure he isn't disturbed, as he plans to spend the rest of the day in there. During this time, Lex had a woman named Teri meet with Professor Garcia and another man, who discussed the video footage of Superman saving a runaway train full of passengers. Teri spoke the words spoken to her through an earpiece by Lex (who had her appear to agree with Garcia), while the latter viewed the entire meeting from another CCTV screen.

During this time, Lex watched on as Firefly was paid to blow up a merchandise warehouse in Gotham City, in order to test out the capabilities of the infamous Batman. Lex set up another CCTV at the warehouse beforehand, in order to watch events unfold.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
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Personality
"(Lois Lane: you're 'psychotic') That is a three-syllable word for any thought too big for little minds!"

- Lex and Lois Lane

Lex Luthor has an extraordinarily brilliant mind, by far one of the greatest in the world, though it is hideously corrupted by his horrifically unstable ego and low morality. While he usually puts up a kindly facade, Lex is actually quite malevolent and believes himself a God among men, and greatly desires to be treated as such. Hence, when Lois Lane calls him "psychotic", Lex dismisses that word as merely referring to "any thought too big for little minds."

Lex is brilliant in both science and business, and is often the smartest man in a room, but his God complex persona makes him very envious and bitter towards Superman, even going so far as openly describing the latter in infernal and diabolical terms, comparing Superman to a devil that tries to take over humanity by inducing them to admire him. Lex considers himself better than the rest of humanity and Superman, the latter of whom he feels threatened by, due to Superman's potential to easily overshadow any popularity that Lex already possesses. This belief leads Lex to expand his business and finances, creating innovative technologies to challenge Superman (ultimately obtaining Kryptonite and creating the fearsome Doomsday monster), and to garner as much power as possible, in order to become even more of a God in his own eyes. Furthermore, Lex's attempts to take power are quite immoral, as he has little care for the methods he uses or their impact on others. He puts on a kindly, witty and charming facade that he is a man of and for the people, but Lex is actually full of rage behind closed doors, truly wishing to control others and destroy those that he deems as his competition, namely Superman. To Lex, he and Superman are ultimately bitter rivals for the affections and praise of humanity.

While primarily focused on his archnemesis Superman, Lex is also quite interested in the existence of metahumans in general.

Abilities
Lex is not a supervillain with any varieties of superhuman powers or abilities. He has lots of human being abilities such as:
 * Genius-Level Intelligence: Lex is extremely intelligent, by far one of the most intelligent humans in the world with his intellect nearly unrivaled, which makes the malevolent genius a worthy opponent even for Superman himself. Given his lack of superpowers, Lex (much like Batman) often uses cunning and planning to successfully outwit stronger and more powerful foes, rather than simply "out-fighting" them, often using any of their exploitable weaknesses (such as Kryptonite in the case of Superman) to his advantage, though his approach is more ruthless. He is frequently successful in doing so, as Lex manages to learn everything about his enemies before engaging them, as is the case with both Batman and Superman. In addition, Lex also appears to have contingency plans prepared in case his plans fail, as seen when he promptly unleashed Doomsday after his initial plan of pitting Batman and Superman against each other had failed.
 * Expert Scientist: Lex is an extremely skilled scientist, as he was able to ultimately create the powerful monstrous creature Doomsday after studying the alien corpse of General Zod and reverse-engineer a highly advanced Kryptonian Genesis Chamber.
 * Expert Businessman: Lex is a brilliant wunderkind businessman, managing to successfully transform his father's company, LexCorp Industries, from a petrochemical and heavy machinery dinosaur into a cutting edge technology giant, helping the company grow and get more business partners, as well as earning himself an immense fortune, rivaled only by extreme few, like Bruce Wayne. In fact, the business achievements of his father Alexander Luthor Sr. (which were very considerable in their own right) pale in comparison to the astonishingly prolific accomplishments of the younger Luthor, who became the youngest person ever to be named Fortune’s Businessperson of the Year.[12] As a result, Lex is extremely well-respected in the business world. Unlike Bruce Wayne, however, Lex is not above secretly using cutthroat tactics, unethical practices and illegal operations to maintain the success of his business empire.
 * Leadership: Lex is an extremely skilled and prodigious leader, becoming the youngest person ever to be included in Fortune's list of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders.
 * Expert Bowler: Lex is a highly skilled bowler, confident in his ability to "destroy" Ron Troupe in a game.

Equipment
As the CEO of LexCorp Industries, Lex Luthor has earned himself an immense fortune (expanding upon that which he has inherited from his father), making himself one of the wealthiest people in the world, rivaled only by extreme few, like Bruce Wayne. His inheritance and wealth allow Lex access to some of the most sophisticated technology in the world, as well as some other useful equipment.
 * CCTVs: Many video cameras that Lex has a penchant for setting up in locations of interest, in order to watch events unfold from within his private room in the LexCorp facility. He has thus successfully spied on Batman, Professor Garcia's footage of Superman, research on the corpse of General Zod, as well as the Fortress of Solitude.
 * Kryptonite: A glowing green radioactive mineral from the planet of Krypton, eventually discovered in the world-famous collection of meteorite crystals that Lex inherited from his father ,As Kryptonite is the greatest weakness of all Kryptonians, Lex effectively wields it against Superman because of this is his own most deadly weakness.

Family

 * Alexander Luthor Sr. - father and mentor †

Allies

 * LexCorp Industries
 * Mercy Graves - assistant and bodyguard
 * Senator Finch
 * A.R.G.U.S.
 * Amanda Waller

Enemies

 * Superman - Archnemesis and pawn
 * Batman - business rival and intended pawn
 * Wonder Woman
 * Lois Lane

Trivia

 * Lex is the youngest person ever to be both named Fortune’s Businessperson of the Year and included on the magazine’s list of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders.
 * Lex is similar to Ichiro Yashida from The Wolverine: They are tech magnates who are fascinated with metahuman individuals, yet they wish to kill one in particular (Lex: Superman, Yashida: Wolverine).

Behind the Scenes

 * This is the seventh live action iteration of the character.
 * This version of Lex Luthor is inspired by the comics Adventure Comics #271 and real life Silicon Valley CEOs.
 * Lex is 31 in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, four years younger than Superman, when in most forms of media, he is either slightly or much older than Superman.
 * Actor Bryan Cranston had been linked to the role of Lex Luthor, as well as Commissioner Gordon before Eisenberg was cast. Mark Strong, Billy Zane and Joaquin Phoenix were also rumored to being considered for the part.