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Post by redsycorax on Jul 2, 2023 23:24:52 GMT
Is Lex Luthor using Superman's existence as an excuse to avoid taking responsibility for his own actions and their consequences? There's the question of whether Lex' origins, whether as a consequence of dysfunctional family circumstances or psychotropic chemical effects from the lab accident that made him bald, mean that he is using Superman's status as an existential stopgap. Without Superman, what would Lex be capable of. I provide one possible answer in my Earth-718 series, set on an alternate Earth in whose universe Krypton was uninhabited when it exploded, so Superman never existed there. Yes, Luthor becomes president... but he ends up causing a global nuclear holocaust that obliterates all life on that Earth. Which doesn't necessarily mean Lex is intrinsically evil or doomed to make bad decisions. As has been noted elsewhere, he does have a moral compass. He was deeply remorseful when he realised he'd prevented Superboy from halting Lincoln's assassination by John Wilkes Booth. He was horrified at Alexei Luthor of Earth-Two's nihilism and intention to obliterate all life on Earths-One and Two when the two alternate worlds merged. Lex isn't beyond redemption, except in imaginary stories where he does succeed in killing Superman without remorse. However, in others, killing a triumphant Lex does corrupt Superman (DCAU's Justice Lords).
Can Lex be rehabilitated? Is it possible and what would it take to reform him? If Ardora and their son had survived, would he have left villainy behind altogether and settled down on Lexor? And what then?
Is part of the current animosity that exists between him and the Joker attributable to (a) aversion at the Joker's psychosis and irrationality; (b) annoyance and anger that the aforementioned psychosis and irrationality might disrupt carefully laid plans based on his intellectual prowess; (c) morally based aversion at the possibility that the Joker's malignancy might lead him to take a step too far in the latter's obsession with Batman and lead to collateral deaths? Or (d) a fusion of each attribute. It might be something to bear in mind when it comes to writing the interaction between the two characters when they do team up against Superman and Batman.
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Post by johnreiter902 on Jul 3, 2023 10:33:16 GMT
I think there is ample evidence that the Earth-1 Luthor can reform. Just like with any reformation, the effort needs to come from within, not without. Yes, it would certainly help to have a wife and family who love him, but remember that even while happily married on Lexor he couldn't forget his hatred for Superman.
Lex needs to LET GO. He has built his entire self-perception around the hatred of Superman, until the reason for the hatred is immaterial, almost forgotten. He needs to let the hatred go. only then can he find a new direction for his life.
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Post by jonclark on Jul 3, 2023 18:40:09 GMT
I wouldn't say Lex is avoiding responsibility. Lex is just a very insecure person. While he takes great pride in his intellect and acts as if everyone else is beneath his notice, he seems quite capable of being jealous of the admiration given to Superman.
My take on the Silver Age origin is that Lex didn't hate being made bald or even the loss of his artificial lifeform. Lex was embittered by his belief that Superboy rejected him just like everyone but Lena had up until that point. The one person whose intellect put him close to Lex's level rejected him (at least in Lex's mind).
Post-Crisis Businessman Lex was threatened by Superman both outshining him and at the same time treating Lex like a run of the mill thug.
Both times it is Lex's own fear that will lose face and become an object of scorn that causes him to make Superman the embodiment of all those tears of inadequacy.
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Post by redsycorax on Jul 3, 2023 23:33:48 GMT
I think the pivotal question here is Lexor. On that world, where he made a deeply positive contribution to that planet's wellbeing and development and found the love of a good woman, even starting a family with her, he did seem to show strong potential for positive change. If he'd stayed there and settled down with his wife and child, what would have happened? If he had really let go of his enmity against Superman. he might make a new start on a world where he was unambiguously regarded as a hero, on which Superman was unknown because it had a red sun and he therefore had none of his usual abilities. More than any other Earth-One story, it showed what Lex could positively achieve without Superman in his life, where his technological genius could be harnessed for humanitarian purposes.
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Post by redsycorax on Jul 3, 2023 23:42:12 GMT
And perhaps that's the crucial difference between him and Alexei Luthor on Earth-Two. Alexei may be inhabited by the mind of the Ultra-Humanite, or had his intellect artificially boosted by him, but the consequence may well have been that Alexei suffered neurocognitive damage that led to a more or less permanent state of psychopathic derangement which resulted in his greater viciousness and lack of inhibition compared to his Earth-One counterpart. He shares the scientific prowess of Earth-One's Lex, but he doesn't have the moral compass that Lex has developed under appropriate conditions. Lex can change, but perhaps Alexei was incapable of change. There's no evidence that he was ever in a close personal relationship or won acclaim for an act of altruism or relative heroism as Lex did. The question is, how did Alexei turn out that way? Was it dysfunctional family circumstances, as was seemingly the case with the post-Crisis Lex? There's potential for an Alexei backstory there.
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Post by johnreiter902 on Jul 4, 2023 0:20:50 GMT
Alexei may be inhabited by the mind of the Ultra-Humanite, or had his intellect artificially boosted by him, but the consequence may well have been that Alexei suffered neurocognitive damage that led to a more or less permanent state of psychopathic derangement which resulted in his greater viciousness and lack of inhibition compared to his Earth-One counterpart. It's a good point that Alexei was apprenticed under the Ultra-Humanite, which Lex wasn't. It might be much simpler than UH experimenting on Luthor's mind. Maybe, in addition to training him in science, he also traumatized and conditioned him to be more sociopathic, shaping his mind to be more like the Humanite (something like how Sith masters train their apprentices in Star Wars) |
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Post by redsycorax on Jul 4, 2023 4:47:11 GMT
I suspect that in the case of Alexei's Ultra Humanite apprenticeship, either (a) Ultra would have had no scruples in using Alexei as a human test subject, or Alexei volunteered due to ambition and greed. Alternately, (b) Alexei used intelligence enhancer drugs or implants without Ultra's authorisation and gained enhanced intelligence that way. Or (c) Ultra used his body as a vessel and obliterated Alexei's own personality and existence. Either way, it did enhance his intellect but also drove him into irreversible psychopathy. Earth-One's Lex didn't have that traumatic formative experience, so he's capable of redemption.
Which does raise some questions about whether Alexei had a closer working relationship with Earth-Two's Joker than is the case on Earth-One, where Lex and the Joker mutually detest one another.
I see Dave has suggested in another thread that Alexei might have lost his son during the Depression just before he crossed paths with Superman, and that that might have been the precipitating factor that drove him over the edge. It's an interesting theory, although it leaves out some details- why was it this particular event? Although I suspect the Depression probably saw an upsurge in mental illness, opportunist crime and suicidality due to the arduous economic circumstances, homelessness and poverty during that period. It might have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back in Alexei's case. Certainly the trauma of losing one's child is a major life stressor, and that's a euphemism! Which doesn't preclude the subsequent interactions with Ultra that I suggested above.
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Post by dave on Jul 4, 2023 5:41:15 GMT
Sorry I put that post in the wrong place. I could see Ultra taking an interest in a scientist who created remoted controlled armored vehicle and pushing his Alexie's dark side.
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