Malcolm Barnes was an employee of LuthorCorp and the main antagonist of the 2-parter Smallville comic book story "Chimera".
Biography[]
Early life[]
Malcolm Barnes was a classmate of Lex Luthor as both attended the same prep school Excelsior Academy, but Malcolm could only attend through a scholarship. Malcolm was a mathematician major but after graduating, he had financial difficulties. Lex would later give him a job studying hieroglyphics from the Kawatche Caves.
Chimera, Part 1[]
After the recent shooting of Lionel Luthor, Lex went to Metropolis to visit with his prep school friend, Malcolm. To his shock, he arrived to find Malcolm had been murdered, on the floor, with one of Lex's knives in his chest and some letters that were planted to frame him for the murder.
Suddenly the SWAT team blew through the window and doors, surrounding them then took Lex away. In the van, men claiming to be government agents asked Lex why he killed one of their agents. They beat Lex soundly, but Lex knew nothing. They asked him why his bank account was empty. Clark managed to find and rescue Lex who then went to confront his father.
Chimera, Part 2[]
Lex held a gun on Lionel believing that he emptied his Swiss bank account. Lionel insisted that he had nothing to do with that or the death of his friend. He was shortly escorted out of the building after discovering that his account is now being emptied while speaking to his father.
Outside, Lex figures out that the security guards were actually a part of the thugs that killed his friends. He fought his way out, and as the van chases him, it flips and wrecks. Lex returned to the crime scene to find his murdered friend Malcolm Barnes alive brandishing a gun; realizing he was double-crossed. Malcolm revealed he only pretended to be Lex's friend in hopes of financial benefits. Malcolm continued to reveal the truth about his associate, a man who he didn't know but had a British accent, secretly Dominic Sanatori.
Together, they plotted to steal the contents of Lex's Swiss bank account, and Dominic in turn would gain control of LuthorCorp. Malcolm set up his own murder, and left behind fake letters implying that Lex killed him. He then hired actors posing as FBI agents who would insist that Lex used money from his account for terrorist purposes. Malcolm tired to fire on Lex only to realize the gun had blanks. Lex left Malcolm to confront Dominic. Afterwards, Malcolm was arrested, and the stolen money was returned to Lex.
