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Lex Luthor (DC Animated Universe)

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“ Everything that exists has a specific nature. Each entity exist as something in particular and possesses characteristics that are a part of what it is. A is A. And no matter what reality he calls home, Luthor is Luthor. „
~ The Question about Lex Luthor.

Lex Luthor is the is one of the two secondary antagonists (alongside Joker) of the DC Animated Universe. He is the main antagonist of Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited and one of the two main antagonists (alongside The Joker) of Justice League. He was a billionaire and a criminal mastermind. He also was one of the most brilliant minds of the Earth and one of the archenemies of Superman.

He was voiced by Clancy Brown, who also voiced Dr. Neo Cortex, Hades, Savage Opress, Surtur, Undertow, Parallax, Silas, Mr. Krabs, The Evil Entity, Smokestack, and also portrayed The Kurgan and General Wade Eiling.

Biography

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' savior, and usually invested heavily in some of the Man of Steel's greatest foes, such as Metallo and Livewire. He sought to kill Superman for shutting down his major operations and costing him a lot of money. Although Superman already 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. Lex also is shown to hate Batman as well, as he is an intellectual rival who teamed up with Superman to fight him when he and Joker teamed up, preventing Superman from being killed by Joker's kryptonite in the process. In Legacy, he was thrilled, the whole world turned against Superman when Darkseid brainwashed him and let him loose to take over and invade Earth. But Superman snapped out of it and earned the world's trust back and dismissed the charges against him.

Justice League

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 terminal form of radiation poisoning as a result of carrying around a chunk of Kryptonite for years, leaving him with only a few more months to live. He then joined up with Cheetah, Star Sapphire, Shade, Copperhead (who would be in jail and replaced by the Joker), Solomon Grundy and Ultra-Humanite, 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.

Justice League Unlimited

After being freed from prison and cleared of all charges, Luthor reestablished his company and later entered politics and ran in the U.S. Presidential Elections. 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 later exposed by Batman and the Justice League, only for Brainiac to reveal that he had been dormant inside Lex ever since the episode Ghost in the Shell. 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 thanks to The Key, Gorilla Grodd offered him membership in the newly formed Legion of Doom. Joining only to revive and refuse with Brainiac, Luthor eventually overthrew Grodd and took over the Legion (who did not oppose him after they learned Grodd's ultimate plan was to turn humanity into apes). Eventually, Lex's quest to revive Braniac lead the Legion into space, where he found a version of Brainiac that had been destroyed years earlier. However, Tala freed Grodd and he and a faction of the Legion fought Luthor and his supporters (which included the likes of Giganta, Bizarro, Toyman, Sinestro, Cheetah, Star Sapphire, Evil Star, etc.) After killing Grodd and trapping and absorbing Tala's magic to resurrect Brainiac, Lex discovers that he had accidentally resurrected Darkseid instead.

Luthor and the rest of the surviving Legion members barely escaped from Darkseid and made their way to Earth, where Luthor warned the Justice League, and he and his allies reluctantly team-up with them to fight against Darkseid and his army. Before the battle against Darkseid, Luthor points out to the Justice League that he doesn't want to help them save the world, but get revenge on Darkseid for destroying Brainiac and ruining his plans, before he and the Justice League go back in being enemies again as usual. 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. While they are presumed dead by the public, members of the Justice League have theorized they will eventually return yet again. However, both Luthor and Darkseid are now part of the Source Wall, that is the fate that occurs to all creature that solved the Anti-Life Equation, where they will remain likely for all eternity.

Equipment and Abilities

Former Powers

  • Scientific Deity Physiology: In order to Transcend his own mortality and limitations, Lex Luthor bargained to fuse with Brainiac, so that Brainiac can grant him all of his knowledge, powers, and immortality; and Lex Luthor can allow Brainiac to transcend his programming's limitations. However, a fully empowered Flash was able to destroy Brainiac and separate Lex form it, returning Lex back to normal with a damaged sanity.
    • Superhuman Strength: Even before transcending into a complete Scientific Deity, Brainiac endowed Lex with incredible superhuman strength, being able to lift up large objects and toss them easily. He could even take down Batman with his brute strength alone and rag-dolled The Question until the Question had sustained multiple painful injuries.
    • Superhuman Speed: The fusion of Lex and Brainiac can react and move at super speeds. He was able to grab Batman's Batarang and it didn't leave any marks when it explodes. However, Lex/Brainiac couldn't keep up with the fully empowered Flash.
    • Superhuman Durability: The fusion of Lex and Brainiac could take the strongest and focused strikes of Superman with little damage. However, powerful blows from a fully empowered Flash was able to destroy Brainiac and all the cybernetics of his body.
    • Superhuman Intelligence: The fusion of Lex and Brainiac had the collective knowledge of Brainiac as well as Lex Luthor's innovative faculties, allowing Brainiac to transcend his limitations and become extremely powerful. Brainiac himself also possessed all the knowledge and history from several thousand planets/worlds before he came to earth.
    • Regenerative Healing: The fusion of Lex and Brainiac can regenerate at a fast pace. Brainiac was able to heal both his technological parts as well as Lex's biological parts. Brainiac was also able to augment/increase Lex's health to supernaturally to cure Lex of his Kryptonite-poising cancer. When Brainiac what shot in the face by Amanda Waller he quickly regenerates his face.
      • Immortality: Even before transcending into a complete Scientific Deity, Hamilton also stated that Lex had a body of a 20-year-old. Lex has stated that he has finally become immortal and can live forever. 
    • Technology Manipulation: The fusion of Lex and Brainiac can manipulate and absorb technology into their database as well as instantaneously understand its operations, no matter how advanced. Brainiac was also able to assemble the Dark Heart nano-technology. The fusion of Lex and Brainiac can even create constructs and objects out of nanotechnology such as soldiers, a copy of the Justice Lords as well as a Shotgun to try to execute The Flash.
    • Energy Projection: The fusion of Lex and Brainiac can project powerful blasts of energy which could even bypass the near invulnerability of Superman.

Abilities

  • Genius-Level Intellect: Lex's most primary asset is his astounding genius-level intellect which is barely rivaled by Mr. Terrific and Batman. He can hack into the Justice League Watchtower's cannon and frame them for committing attacks on the government as well as creating complex plans and strategies. He also has a photographic memory and was able to instantly memorize all of the details of the Amazo Android's blueprints after reading them once and recreating an android of the same design for himself. He even orchestrated a false presidential campaign to gain more political and financial resources as well as manipulate the entire press into defaming Superman.
    • Influential Speaker: Another one of Lex's primary assets is his charismatic and influential nature of speaking. Lex alone was able to calm down and bestow wisdom upon Amazo for having an immortality crisis. Lex was even able to convince Brainiac to do something outside of his programming and he even negotiated with Darkseid to spare the heroes and Earth in exchange for the Anti-Life Equation. 
  • Near-Inexhaustible Wealth: Another one of Lex's assets is his near inexhaustible financial and technological resources as well as his incredible level of influence over big businesses, education institutions, tech giants, and even governments and criminal organizations.
  • Advanced Technologies: Lex Luthor has a vast array of technology available at his command. He can even create armors, weapons, and other equipment for his fights against the Justice League. He was even able to build himself a body similar to Amazo to gain superpowers.

Former Weaknesses

  • Kryptonite-induced Cancer: His extremely long exposure to Kryptonite's radiation has given him an unknown form of cancer which also involves blood poisoning. While he wore a high tech vest/chest plate to act as life support and suppress the disease in his body, it was Brainiac who healed his cancer and gave him some upgrades.
  • Mental Instability: After his separation from Brainiac, Lex Luthor suffered from hallucinations of Brainiac and he believed that it's as Brainiac always by his side, advising him and calling out to him. Once Darkseid was resurrected, the hallucinations stopped.

Relationships

Friends and Allies

Enemies

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Trivia

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