Lex Luthor in other media


Lex Luthor is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. As Superman's archenemy, he has been portrayed in almost every Superman media franchise and adaptation.
Lex Luthor is a major character within the Superman mythos and has appeared in many of Superman's adaptations into other media. The character is originally depicted as a mad scientist and later depicted as a wealthy, power-mad American business magnate running the technology company LexCorp which is based in the city of Metropolis. His portrayal in feature films ranges from being a vain criminal interested in real estate development to that of a genius who heads LexCorp.

Television

Live-action

  • A young Lex Luthor appears in Superboy, portrayed by Scott James Wells in the first season and subsequently by Sherman Howard. This version was raised by an abusive father and neglectful mother before becoming rich after taking out an insurance policy on his parents and killing them. By the time he enters college, he became a minor criminal preoccupied with outdoing Superboy. Additionally, he goes bald while being rescued from a lab fire by Superboy. Vowing revenge, Luthor kills businessman Warren Eckworth and tries unsuccessfully to use Eckworth's "Superboy Gun" project to kill Superboy.
  • Lex Luthor appears in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, portrayed by John Shea. This version is the third-richest person in the world and a philanderer who publicly masquerades as a beloved humanitarian with assistance from Nigel St. John. In the first season finale, amidst his wedding to Lois Lane, his criminal nature is exposed and Luthor commits suicide to avoid prison. In the second season, Luthor's ex-wife Arianna Carlin steals his body from the coroner's office before his personal physician Gretchen Kelly freezes him so she can eventually revive him. While she succeeds, he is rendered temporarily bald until the third season, in which he loses his wealth and is forced to work for Intergang. He later murders Gretchen before Superman sends Luthor to prison to serve a double life sentence. After using a clone of the President to grant himself a pardon, Luthor regains his wealth and attempts to ruin Clark Kent and Lois' wedding with a clone of Lois, finding out Superman's true identity in the process, only to die in the destruction of his underground subway hideout. Additionally, his illegitimate children, computer geek billionaire Jaxon Xavier and the deformed Lex Luthor Jr. appear in the episodes "Virtually Destroyed", "Faster Than a Speeding Vixen", "Shadow of a Doubt", and "Voice from the Past", portrayed by Andy Berman and Keith Brunsmann, respectively.
  • Lex Luthor appears in Smallville, portrayed by Michael Rosenbaum.
  • Lex Luthor appears in media set in the Arrowverse, portrayed by Jon Cryer as an adult and Aidan Fink as a child. He primarily appears in the TV series Supergirl and makes an additional appearance in the crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths".
  • Lex Luthor was meant to appear in Metropolis, in which he and Lois Lane would have worked together to investigate fringe science and expose the eponymous city's secrets. The series was to be developed by Gotham producers John Stephens and Danny Cannon and Warner Bros. Television as of 2018, but no further news came of the project's status.
  • Lex Luthor appears in Titans, portrayed by Payne Novak as a child and Titus Welliver as an adult. This version is in his late 60s and sports a long beard. Additionally, his father Lionel claims that Lex and Clark Kent used to be good friends.
  • Lex Luthor appears in Superman & Lois, portrayed by Michael Cudlitz.
  • The DCU version of Lex Luthor appears in the Peacemaker episode "Ignorance Is Chris", portrayed again by Nicholas Hoult.

Animation

Film

Live-action

Animation

Video games

''Lego'' series

Miscellaneous