Lex Luthor Original and Limited Edition Art
Lex Luthor was born in the poverty stricken area of Metropolis known as Suicide Slum to abusive and neglectful parents. From a young age, Luthor possessed the fierce desire to better himself and his station in life. As a teenager, he devised the deaths of his parents in order to profit off a large life insurance policy that he had taken out on them. With the money, Luthor created his own company, Lexcorp, which he built into a multi-billion dollar corporation that would dominate Metropolis.
Luthor dominated Metropolis, pushing to become the undisputed master of the city. He had business dealings and connections with the criminal underground of Metropolis while keeping blackmail files on them all. He also had controlling interests in many legitimate businesses and industries, ranging from telephone companies to personal gaming devices to military weapons. However, all of Luthor's plans were brought to a halt when Superman arrived in Metropolis.
Superman's constant interference in Luthor's criminal activities have placed the two at odds against each other. Lex Luthor has spent a great amount of time and money to become Metropolis's favorite son, a position that was quickly usurped by the heroic actions of Superman. The two have become mortal enemies. Luthor's hatred of Superman was so great, he spent millions to acquire one of the few pieces of Kryptonite in the world. Luthor had the kryptonite fashioned into a ring which he wore at all times, eventually contracting terminal cancer from the radiative rock. He eventually manages to overcome the disease and continues to antagonize Superman to this day.
Luthor is power-hungry, sadistic and ruthless. He sees every person as a tool to be manipulated or an enemy to be destroyed. He despises Superman even since the Man of Steel replaced Luthor as Metropolis's savior. He believes himself to be a hero while Superman is a villain, claiming that Superman is preventing Luthor from bettering mankind. Despite all of his crimes, Luthor maintains the public image of a benevolent philanthropist and savvy businessman and generally enjoys a positive reputation. This is, in part, because he has controlling interest in all of Metropolis' news outlets. In battle, Luthor generally uses his warsuit, a sophisticated suit of armor built on Apokolips. With it, Luthor can fight one-on-one with Superman using a variety of technology.
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