By Michael Moreno
Throughout the three current seasons of The CW series “Superman & Lois,” Superman has battled a few adversaries that challenged not only his physical powers, but his intellect as well – villains such as the Eradicator, Bizarro, the Parasite, and Bruno Mannheim. However, his greatest challenge and adversary recently made his debut in the final two episodes of Season 3 of the series, and he promises to bring more dismay to the Man of Steel in the show’s upcoming fourth season. In this article, I will be reviewing what we know so far of Superman’s arch nemesis, Lex Luthor.
Prior to Season 3, Lex Luthor’s name was mentioned from time to time, letting the audience know that the character existed in this version of the story. At first, it was believed that actor Wolé Parks was an alternate version of Lex Luthor from another universe, who had come to Superman’s world in order to kill the Man of Steel because of a hatred of him, or rather a hatred of an alternate version of him who had killed his wife Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch). It was later revealed that his true identity was not that of Lex Luthor, but that of John Henry Irons a.k.a. “Steel”. John Henry had used technology that belonged to the Lex Luthor of his planet Earth. After John Henry had made his peace with Superman (Tyler Heochlin), the threat of the real Lex Luthor (played by actor Michael Cudlitz, best known to fans as Abraham from “The Walking Dead” series) still loomed in the shadows. And, after years of false imprisonment, that threat has now surfaced. For 17 years, Lex Luthor had been in prison, framed by Bruno Mannheim (Chad L. Coleman) and his wife Peia (Daya Vaidya) a.k.a. supervillain Onomatopoeia. With evidence that they used to frame him, the pair had convinced Lois Lane that Lex was behind the murder of crime boss Moxie (Artine Tony Brown). Lois used that evidence to write an article that helped convict Luthor of a crime he didn’t commit.
As time went on, Lex became a king in the prison that he was sent to. At first he was met with hostility by his fellow inmates, but then he became their master by using his leverage on the prison warden, threatening the warden’s family. Lex had acquired the warden’s home phone number, and when he told the warden to call home, the warden was shocked to find out that Lex had help from thugs outside the prison walls. From that moment on, the warden became Lex Luthor’s servant, and all the guards within the prison walls were at Lex Luthor’s command. Any inmate that had threatened or assaulted Lex prior to his meeting with the warden, was severely beaten down and made into Luthor’s slave. As time went on, Lex’s hatred for Lois Lane grew, as he blamed her for his time spent in prison. In particular, he was angered by thoughts of the time lost with his daughter, who was only a teenager at the time of his imprisonment, and who no longer speaks to him.
When Lex Luthor received the news that he would be released due to his false imprisonment, he started walking from the prison grounds and headed straight for Smallville to the Kent family farm house, seeking revenge on not only Lois Lane, but also on Superman. Reasons for Lex wanting revenge on the Man of Steel are currently unknown, but his hatred for Superman is made very clear in his actions by turning the zombified Bizarro (who was experimented on by Bruno Mannheim in his failed attempt to cure his dying wife Peia) into the creature known as “Doomsday”. As Lex Luthor tortures and kills Bizarro over and over again, Bizarro only grows in size and strength, ultimately mutating into a shell of his former self (“Doomsday”). As Luthor continues to torment the poor creature, he makes a pact with it – Luthor will make it so that nothing can kill the creature ever again, on the condition that he kills Superman.
To further his ambitious plan on revenge, Lex kidnaps Lois Lane’s father, retired General Sam Lane (Dylan Walsh), and confiscates the general’s supersonic pager in order to call the beast on command, with the goal of killing the Man of Steel. As Lex confronts Superman at the Kent farm, he pages Doomsday and orders it to take Superman’s heart. As of now, there is no further information on what will happen next with this version of Lex Luthor. If Doomsday fails (which he will), then it is most certain that Lex Luthor will devise another scheme to destroy the Man of Steel and those he loves.
