The Luthors - A Family History

[Alex Childress]

So, I thought I would do a cool thing and create a Fan-Fic that anyone can contribute to. I had too much time on my hands lately, and thought a family history of the Luthor Family/Metropolis would be cool. I've finished some things and left a lot open, so if you're creative and want to add onto the Luthor Family Legend, go right ahead

Btw, this is based on as many incarnations of the Superman myth to create a modernized one - you can use any of the movies, any of the comics, any of the cartoons to add on to the myth - the point being that its somewhat original and modernized to today!

All ages are adjusted to 2008 being early in the careers of Superman, Lex Luthor, etc (or, the Justice League has not yet formed, but will soon, for what it's worth).

I'll start backwards, but add on whatever you choose -

Lex Luthor (b. 1970 -?)
Scientist, Genius, Billionaire, Menace.
Lex Luthor was born in 1970 to Alicia and Lionel Luthor. Lionel had, by this time, spent ten years as one of the heads of Intergang, and was notorious to the press. When Lex was 2, Lionel was arrested and taken to jail for five years. The resulting trial and confiscation of assets left Alicia alone, broke, with one toddler and a baby on the way. They moved into the tough Suicide Slum neighborhood.
When Lionel was released five years later, Lex was already a recognized genius capable of functioning at a high-school level. He had just recently made a perfect score on the SATs when the first of many beatings at the hands of a drunken Lionel began. This, and life in the Slum, were Lex’s introduction to facts of the world – might makes right. When he was eight, his brother, Julian, died of pneumonia when Lionel refused to pay the heating bill. Beginning experiments in hard light structures, and new motherboard designs, he eventually was able to patent one of his designs when Star Labs expressed interest. Lionel felt that he had a right to decide for Lex, and to negotiate the terms of the money. In a rare expression of defiance, Alicia stood up for Lex’s independence. Lionel struck her, knocking her into a counter and accidentally killing her.
Lex was removed from the home, and represented himself in the case for his emancipation, which he won. At 14, he would return home to visit Lionel again for his final revenge. What he came to discover was an implant near Lionel’s heart – a device that was powered by his heartbeat and would release transmission of all of Intergang’s secrets. Lex deduced that it was how he stayed alive, discovered the locations of the files and stole them. Making it look like a break-in, he shot his father in the face.
What’s more, Lex now had the information and leverage to begin a brand-new criminal enterprise – use the money and his technology as the shadow boss of Intergang, while the profits fund his ever more lucrative scientific experiments.
By the age of 22, Lex Luthor was Time’s Man of the Year for a new invention aiding space travel. He perfected himself, became a celebrity figure and a multi-billionaire (actually, combined with his illicit funds, possibly the world’s first Trillionaire). With contracts from the city of Metropolis, he rebuilt most of the city following the recession of the early 90s, provided private public works and supplied jobs to more than 58% of the citizens of Metropolis. Unable to escape the shadow of his father’s past, he is constantly grilled on questions about Intergang. To stave them off, he appoints Russian mobster Bruno Manheim (a gruff man with all of Lionel Luthor’s attention getting bluster) as the head of Intergang to take attention away from him.
Rid of his direct connections with the mob, by the early 2000s, Lex Luthor is seen as a saint to some, satan himself to others. He is notorious for Machiavellian schemes that lead his victims to their own dooms, he can adapt almost any technological device into a useful tool or weapon, he has connections to the most powerful people on the planet, and has a history of quietly eliminating anyone who stands in his way. An egotist with his initials on everything, Lex trusts only Mercy Graves – his personal bodyguard.

 

[ironman29758]

That was so awsome! I have a question? will superman be in this.

I found this and it has his family

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lex_Luthor

http://smallville.wikia.com/wiki/Julian_Luthor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LexCorp

http://smallville.wikia.com/wiki/LexCorp#LexCorp

http://www.supermantv.net/smallville/origins/lexluthor.htm


http://www.dccomics.com/heroes_and_villains/?hv=origin_stories/lex_luthor

will Lena Luthor, Lucas Luthor, Jullian Luthor and other member of his family in this too.

mabye this story should feature this whole lives from Lionel's father to Lex Luthor

 

[Alex Childress]

Well, it didn't immediately occur to me, but I could easily see the Luthors hiding out in Smallville for a time from a potential hit. As for the family members, I'm not sure exactly. I may pick aspects of each one, but not necessarily the same names. All new, never before seen people.

METROPOLIS -The history of the Luthor family is inexorably connected to the history of Metropolis since Linus Luthor emigrated to America from Scotland in the mid 1800s to present day. Let us go over some of the more significant attributes of Metropolis-
Metropolis is located in Maryland between Baltimore and Wilmington, DE. A bustling city in an Eastern gulf, it was founded as a shipping port in the 1700s. It wasn’t until the invention of the transistor, however, that the unique properties of soil around Metropolis was found to be useful in the creation of better functioning computer chips. By the 1940s, Metropolis was known to have the largest number of scientific and developmental labs in the country. The most notable among them was S.T.A.R. Labs, the chief brand in advanced electronics. The city was a model of American, postwar possibilities.
So abundant was the Science Boom, that many scientists of various fields found their work rejected. Banding together with the help of infamous Boston mob boss Harry Halloran, in 1951 several scientists formed the first incarnation of Intergang and launched a crime wave the likes of which the city had never seen.
Faced with a threat, the Mayor forms the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit – designed specifically for threats involving science and technology. They were led by such famous Metropolis lawmen as Inspector Bill Henderson, the famous detective Slam Bradley, Co. Sheriff ‘Shotgun’ Smith, and scientific advisor Johann Jones (later revealed to be the Martian Manhunter having escaped from Area 51).
[FONT=&quot]One of the founding members of Intergang was Lionel Luthor. [/FONT]

 

[Alex Childress]

Lionel Luthor (b.1930 – d.1986) –
The Greatest Criminal Mind of Our Time
Lionel Luthor grew up destitute in the great depression and resentful of his alcoholic father. With an aptitude for science, he was taking college courses in his teens. Needing money for an elaborate experiment involving gravity rays, he had his father killed for the insurance money.

Succeeding with his experiment, Lionel went onto become a star academic at The University of Metropolis – but that wasn’t enough. Around the early 1950s, the notorious Metropolis gang Intergang came to prominence (acting more as an army or government than a criminal organization, they commit steady crimes while also resorting to high-end heists). Intergang became famous throughout the world for its famous fugitive scientist – a former Nazi named Savage who made weaponry – making Intergang the world’s first criminal organization with its own specially designed arsenal.

Recognizing opportunity, Lionel established a relationship with then Intergang Lieutenant Vincent Edge. Together, they created weapons that Intergang used to perform thefts into the billions of dollars.

Lionel loved the spotlight. Coming to call himself ‘The Greatest Criminal Mind of Our Time’, he was notorious for being acquitted of crimes, and then immediately confessing to the press that he had done them (due to double jeopardy, he can’t be charged twice). Eventually Lionel married, and had two children, one of whom died at an early age.

Having reigned as Intergang’s #3 man for more than 15 years, he and the first incarnation of the gang was dismantled in the early 70s on drug charges by famous Metropolitan lawman Slam Bradley.

Lionel would serve 10 years in federal penitentiary (it was his genius in representing himself that didn’t get him worse). He was paroled after only 5, but was mercilessly preyed upon each day. Victimized to the point of oblivion, Lionel left prison to find his family living in a two bedroom in the Suicide Slum neighborhood of Metropolis.

Despondent, Lionel took to taking medications and alcohol, and became abusive to his wife and young son, Alexander. By the age of 10, there was a dispute over whom should own one of Alexander’s patents and the money from it. Lionel demanded complete control over his son’s genius. A fight ensued, in which Lionel accidentally knocked his wife into a counter, killing her. Alexander left the house, and sought emancipation (having also represented himself at age 11).

The details of Lionel’s death are officially unknown. There is great speculation that he was killed by his son.

 

[ironman29758]

Are you going to make the clark/lex relationship like smallville, John Bryne's man of steel miniseries, or superman birthright/post infinitie crisis.

 

[Alex Childress]

Well, I haven't figured out for the life of me how Lex knows Clark so well in the future yet can't put two and two together, so probably not exactly like Smallville. I haven't really gone that far into detail yet. Going back farther than the 30s is tough, so I'll leave that for another author.

I'd considered re-vamping Superman's origin as well, but that would take some epic time. And also, going any further into Luthor's story around when Superman arrives is kinda telling Superman stories. At this point, Luthor becomes obsessed. In his psyche, he's worked long and hard to make himself what he is, he struggled and survived to not only become rich and famous, but respected and feared - a legendary name. All Superman had to do was be born an orphan. Luthor resents him on that basis, and on the basis that he pretends to have no desire whatsoever to take over the planet with all of that power.

Luthor finds Superman to be a fraud, struggling desperately to hide the fact that he could kill us all far easier than he allows us to know. Every villain is the hero of his own story, and Superman remains a ticking time bomb - a potentially deadly, duplicitous, santimonious, alien threat. No one knows what a serious solar flare could do to Superman's powers. How many other kinds of radiation affect him, and in what ways? Luthor hates the secrecy and that Superman's only response is 'trust me.'

 

[Alex Childress]

Also, I'd never liked the name 'LuthorCorp.' and always much preferred 'LexCorp.', so decided that Lex should be the only corporate billionaire. Using Gene Hackman's famous line from S:TM, I decided the earlier Luthor could be a sort of 'teflon don' of high-science crime. Metropolis has a reputation for being a positive and sunny sort of place, so I imagined that they wouldn't have serious organized crime until the 1950s. There must be some reason why Metropolis has so many mad scientists, technological advancements. Instead of a sillicon valley, its more like Metropolis:Technology :: New York:Commerce, Los Angeles:Entertainment, Houston:Energy/Oil, etc.

 

[Alex Childress]

Intergang - est. 1951

When former Nazi scientist Vandal Savage approached Mob boss Harry Halloran in 1949, it was to plan the heist of seized Nazi gold being transferred to the Soviet Union. In what was to be the boldest international theft perpetrated by an American criminal (pre Lex Luthor), Halloran, Savage, and a team of former Nazi commandos seized three tons of gold using walking, winged robots.

Returning to the U.S. in 1950, Halloran settled in Metropolis and rescued a young arrogant scientist named Ernest Alemán (nee the Ultra-Humanite). Combining his technology with what he took from Vandal Savage, they united with the protection of state senator Henry Ballard, Lionel Luthor of the University of Metropolis, Dr. Kahman Abhood of Syria, and a host of lower level, lifelong criminals. Using all of their combined technology and might, they formed the first incarnation of Intergang. From 1951 to 1955, no law enforcement agency in the country could find a way to defeat them.

In 1956, Mayor Joseph Siegel announced the formation of The Special Crimes Unit of the Metro P.D. Equivalent in many ways to Eliot Ness and the Untouchables, the SCU was led by Inspector Bill Henderson, and included the famous 'Slam' Bradley as his 2nd in command. From 1958 to 1971, the SCU launched attack after attack on the massive Intergang, having charged each of its founding fathers multiple times (and attempted to have Vandal Savage captured in South America).

Flustered but never defeated, Intergang always re-couped. When the Vietnam War began, it was Lionel Luthor who recognized the massive profit to be gained in cheap narcotics. Against Harry's approval, Lionel and Alemán (by now having suffered the unfortunate accident of having his mind transferred into the body of a giant, white ape) arranged to have massive amounts of narcotics teleported from Vietnam. With their tight reign on the market, Intergang became the sole supplier of heavy drugs into Metropolis, and the aging Halloran couldn't complain.

In 1971, however, a special process that Luthor used to superficially purify it and sell it for a higher price was discovered. With an informant's testimony and Luthor's own chemical design serving as a scientific fingerprint, Intergang was crushed. Halloran would serve out his time in prison, the Ultra Humanite would be imprisoned to repeatedly escape, Luthor spent 5 years in jail.

In the mid-80s, a series of robberies, assassinations, and an increase in drug traffic signified the return of Intergang. Mysteriously, they re-emerged, bringing in massive quantities of narcotics, using mind control devices for confidence scams and racketeering, and having an epic number of computer hackers on payroll. It is estimated that, by 1991, Intergang was responsible for 16 million dollars worth of cyber-theft. In 1993, it was leaked to the media that Bruno Manheim, a known member, was actually Capo di Tutti Capo of Intergang. A flashy figure of almost blustering confidence, Manheim was known as a vicious bruiser who would wipe out all trace of anyone who crossed him - not only would he kill someone's entire family and friends, he would vaporize them with high-end weapons, leaving not even a cell or hair follicle behind.

As of 2008, Bruno Manheim is currently the leader of Intergang, having served a 4 year prison sentence for possession of weapons-grade Kryptonite, and surviving numerous assassination attempts.

 

[Alex Childress]

Continuing on..

Lennox Luthor (b.1899 – d.1948)
Lennox Luthor was a police officer instrumental in foiling the plot of Letitia Whiteacre (nee Luthor) to overthrow the U.S. government. Letitia would eventually kidnap Lennox, and forcibly get him addicted to opium and other turn of the century drugs.
Hopelessly addicted after the ordeal, Lennox moved to Suicide Slum and lived out the remainder of his days there. His only asset appeared to be a large insurance policy that he was largely unaware of, as it had been begun by his mother. It is suspected that he was murdered by his son, Lionel.

 

[Alex Childress]

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