Bob Galt
Bored
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2022
- Messages
- 11
- Reaction score
- 5
- Points
- 3
Lex Luthor has changed a lot throughout his long, long history in the comics. Most people know something of a story: he was a red-headed mad scientist and an artist either 1) confused him with UItra-Humanite or 2) drew the word bubble to the wrong character in a panel panel, and he ended up a bald mad scientist. Later on it's revealed he used to be pals with Superboy back in Smallville.
In post-Crisis they tried to develop a more "realistic" Lex, he became a corrupt and amoral businessman focused on personal power and vanity. His personality was, if anything, more sinister than pre-crisis Luthor, who had cartoonishly fantastic plots and plans but wasn't completely vicious in his execution. Then he was cloned/possessed his clone, and the clone started to degenerate, and a demon restored his youthful body (albeit bald) before he died. He was cleared of all charges, etc.
The vigorous, hairless Luthor, who is both a mad scientist with ridiculous schemes and a corrupt businessman, was created around the late 90s and early 2000s, and this last version of Luthor is the most influential on Smallville. The Rosenbaum Luthor is essentially the 'City of Tomorrow' era Luthor as a young man, with the Pre-Crisis Superboy-Luthor connection brought in.
Luthor from Lois & Clark is a major but briefly present character: he resembles the Byrne character, somewhat, though he's less boorish than the late 1980s Luthor, and has some of the youth and sophistication shown in the clone and later versions of comic book Luthor.
Ruby Spears Superman has a Luthor who's a combination of the purple-green weirdo and the evil businessman.
Luthor in the Superboy TV series was replaced after one episode, and I can't recall much of that series, anyway.
Luthor in the Superman Animated series is clearly similar to the Smallville Luthor (albeit older), as well as the late 90s/2000s Luthor. He's a physically fit caricature of a Nietzschean, a rich bald guy, and considers himself sophisticated but is really quite petty and vain. I think this version works so well because it's a physical contrast with Superman as well as a very different sort of motivation: adulation makes Superman uncomfortable, even when he arguably deserves it; Luthor is obsessed with controlling what other people think about him, especially if it's untrue!
In post-Crisis they tried to develop a more "realistic" Lex, he became a corrupt and amoral businessman focused on personal power and vanity. His personality was, if anything, more sinister than pre-crisis Luthor, who had cartoonishly fantastic plots and plans but wasn't completely vicious in his execution. Then he was cloned/possessed his clone, and the clone started to degenerate, and a demon restored his youthful body (albeit bald) before he died. He was cleared of all charges, etc.
The vigorous, hairless Luthor, who is both a mad scientist with ridiculous schemes and a corrupt businessman, was created around the late 90s and early 2000s, and this last version of Luthor is the most influential on Smallville. The Rosenbaum Luthor is essentially the 'City of Tomorrow' era Luthor as a young man, with the Pre-Crisis Superboy-Luthor connection brought in.
Luthor from Lois & Clark is a major but briefly present character: he resembles the Byrne character, somewhat, though he's less boorish than the late 1980s Luthor, and has some of the youth and sophistication shown in the clone and later versions of comic book Luthor.
Ruby Spears Superman has a Luthor who's a combination of the purple-green weirdo and the evil businessman.
Luthor in the Superboy TV series was replaced after one episode, and I can't recall much of that series, anyway.
Luthor in the Superman Animated series is clearly similar to the Smallville Luthor (albeit older), as well as the late 90s/2000s Luthor. He's a physically fit caricature of a Nietzschean, a rich bald guy, and considers himself sophisticated but is really quite petty and vain. I think this version works so well because it's a physical contrast with Superman as well as a very different sort of motivation: adulation makes Superman uncomfortable, even when he arguably deserves it; Luthor is obsessed with controlling what other people think about him, especially if it's untrue!
