HMD - How's My Driving?
Anonymous on, Screening on, ISP Logging off.
Application for Cape and Cowl
[PLAYER INFO]
NAME: Reg
AGE: 24
JOURNAL: regasssa
IM: regasssa
E-MAIL: regasssa@hotmail.com or alternately an in game message.
RETURNING: Yes
[CHARACTER INFO]
CHARACTER NAME: Alexander (Lex) Luthor
FANDOM: Smallville DC AU/TV Series. Smallville establishes its own alternate universe versions of characters, which take prompts from across the board of DC comics, but resembles none of them. For the purposes of interaction, headcanon dictates that the SV universe is chronologically linked to the Nolanverse AU, so a business magnate like Lex will know about the Wayne family.
CHRONOLOGY: The end of season ten; Finale Part II. At the end of the episode Lex has his memories wiped by his sister, Lutessa, however he will be taken from just before that moment, when he's perhaps at his most dangerous; memories intact, and with his goals clear to him.
CLASS: Villain. Lex Luthor's villainy is written in stone. He says to Clark that 'every villain is only as great as his hero,' and he intends to be that villain; the arch nemesis to his superhero. However Lex is an extremely flexible villain, and being the only character hailing from his AU, he may well pull the good guy act while he finds his feet and attempts to restart his empire.
SUPERHERO NAME: Odysseus - One of the first gifts that Lionel Luthor ever bought his son was a model of the city of Troy, complete with toy armies and a Trojan horse. He told Clark that it was never a toy, it was a teaching device, and recounted the story of the Trojan horse to him. Odysseus, as a strategist and a keen thinker, would immediately come to mind.
ALTER EGO: Lex Luthor, CEO and businessman
BACKGROUND:
"I'm the villain of this story."
To begin with, setting wise, it's important to bare in mind the geographical differences of Smallville's version of the world. The most glaring, perhaps, is that while Metropolis is still across the 'bay' from Gotham, it's now in Kansas. The town of Smallville*, where more than half of the series is set, is an hour's drive away from the city. It is a world not much unlike our own, except that - thanks to a couple of long-dead space aliens who thought to send their son to grow up on a farm - all manner of extraterrestrial shenanigans occur there. Inclusive of cities like New York and Los Angeles, Smallville's world also includes completely fictional places like Keystone, Coast City, etc.
* Where Smallville* refers to the town, and Smallville refers to the series.
Metropolis is - in comics canon - considered to be one of the best places in the world to live, but in this pre-Superman setting is much less than that; a rough diamond that first needs to be shaped and polished. It still has all the crime and dark corners, the corruption and sin, which makes it such a prime location for Darkseid to send his minions to, but it's obvious that it has the building blocks now to become that comicbook city.
Smallville* on the other hand is a town of merely a few thousand people that - before the meteor shower - could proudly proclaim that it was the creamed corn capital of the world; sleepy and rural is the name of the game here, at least until green rocks rained from the sky. Since then radiation from those rocks has been responsible for everything from mind-readers to kids who think they're aliens to tattooed people who can phase through walls. These plot related meta-humans are so frequent that half way into the first series they were nicknamed 'freaks of the week', and the term hopped over to the comicbook world too. (It may just have been borrowed from Buffy in the first place, though, let's face it.)
The canon stands alone because of jarring differences. Most important of these are the following: Lex was brought up by his father, Lionel, who was neither a drunkard nor poor. He inherited vast fortunes after helping incarcerate his father. He was also the first person to ever be saved by Clark Kent, and they became close friends. The first six seasons of Smallville is the story of that friendship building then crashing into a bazillion pieces. Oh, around about the time that Lex dropped a Fortress on their heads. Also notable is that the inimitable Lexcorp of DC Universe fame is in Smallville Luthorcorp, at least until Lex's last scene where Apokolips crashing from the sky pulls half the letters off. It does appear as Lexcorp in early seasons, until Luthorcorp buys it out and crushes Lex's attempt at a breakaway.
Confused yet?
Back to the beginning. Smallville is the story of (epic friendship and epic betrayal) a Kryptonian boy who is sent by his parents from his dying planet to live on Earth. In later seasons an enormous retcon disguised as a redirection takes place as a result of previous Superman actor Christopher Reeve's untimely death. Previously intended to portray Jor-El, the writers had to pull something out of the hat, and they did, creating the storyline that Jor-El had come to earth and trusted the knowledge of his sons future arrival to the Queens, the Teagues, the Swanns and the Luthors; Veritas. Originally the Queens were supposed to be Waynes, but because of legal issues, Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) was brought in to form the Justice League with Clark instead of Batman. Veritas, in turn, was written to be a creepy group of rich people who knew where and when Kal was going to land, and have tried to influence his life since. Later seasons revealed that Lionel - learning that Veritas possessed a device that Jor-El left 'control the Traveller' in case he lost control - killed the Queens, Teagues and Swanns in an effort to take it, and Clark's power, for himself. Lex then goes after this device, but it turns out to be something that strips Clark of all his powers, rather than a super-remote control.
Jor-El, because he's kooky like that, left in the trust of a group of shapeshifters a cave painted with Kryptonian pictographs, which both Clark and Lex become addicted to puzzling out the secrets of. It portrays Kal coming to Earth, and that he will have a great enemy--Lex begins to see himself as this enemy, but in later reference it is the story of Doomsday instead. The caves are so important to Lex that he even tries to buy them.
Lex Luthor was raised in Metropolis by his father Lionel Luthor, a billionaire with his own global business - Luthorcorp. He attended boarding school with Oliver Queen. He is seen visiting Smallville* with his father as a child, while Lionel speaks to Mr. Ross about his fertiliser plant (as of the retcon he is buying the plant because he wants the rights to the Traveller, re. Veritas) Lex wanders off into a cornfield, running into a scarecrow - a boy tied up as a prank by the local high school football team. That's when the meteors start falling from the sky. Found hairless and catatonic shortly thereafter, Lionel carries his son away, stumbling onto a road and waving down John and Martha Kent (who have a little alien boy wrapped up in a blanket and a spaceship under the tarp on their roof.) On the car ride to the hospital he assures them that he will iron over the legal problems of adopting the boy they found in the field--in exchange John has to convince his friend to sell his factory to Luthorcorp.
In the following years Lex' brother Julian is murdered by his mother, and Lex took the blame in an effort to protect his traumatised mother (a serious case of post natal depression; she had seen how Lionel treated Lex and didn't want the same fate for her son). Since then his father has hated him. After leaving the Excelsior academy Lex attended Princeton, where he got his Bachelor's in biochemical engineering, then went on to Yale. So now, thirteen years have passed since Smallville* and Lex is a reckless womanising billionaire's son who likes fast cars and drinks too much and really, really, really has an unhealthy thing for Alexander the Great. Think Tony Stark but evil and without the robot suit, because Lex never gets his robot suit in Smallville.
This Lex is sent to Smallville* - where everyone hates Luthors on principal - by his father as a sort of punishment, to take over the fertiliser plant. Any profit he makes is his own, but the company remains Luthorcorp property until in a battle between father and son that could only be enacted by Luthors, Lex makes it so that his employees can buy their own company out and therefore keep their jobs--he creates Lexcorp. Lexcorp is then bought out from underneath him, with Lionel threatening and blackmailing members of the board to force the sale. In fact battles between father and son are sort of a running theme in Smallville, and end up with Lex getting marrooned in a plane crash, Lionel getting sent to jail, Lex getting sent to a psych ward, and finally Lionel getting thrown out of his own office window into the plaza below. Even Lionel's funeral is a battle--Lex stamps his mark on it by refusing to let any other mourners attend, and he and Clark instead spend the occasion glaring at each other over the casket. Oh, so did I mention that Lionel had the Luthor family home moved brick by brick from Scotland to stand in Nowheresville* Kansas? And that it's a castle? Moving on!
The most important part of the story is without doubt the relationship between Clark and Lex. The two first meet when Lex drives his car into Clark at high speed, sending them both into the river. He swears he hit Clark, something that preoccupies him for years after the event. Later in the same episode Lex returns the favour by cutting Clark down after he's strung up by the high school football team before the prom, Kryptonite necklace tied around his neck. So begins a deep friendship between the two. Lex buys Clark a new car. He helps Clark with his girlfriend troubles (a girlfriend he later marries himself). He tries to help his family out of their debt (actually this is a recurring theme with Luthors trying to buy the Kent farm). But Clark sees good in Lex, and tries to hold onto it for a long time; longer than most people probably would. Hi, he had a whole room set up as a museum of odd things that happened around Clark Kent, with his de-roofed and smashed up car, previously at the bottom of the river, as the prize exhibit. Clark goes mad at him when he discovers this and has Lex crush it into a little cube. By the end of the series they are powerful enemies, and Clark, who held on to the goodness in Lex for so long, now proclaims that he hates Luthors; that Luthor blood is poison.
Clark and Lex are frequently free to walk into each others houses. Even many seasons down the line when all Clark walks in for is to ask what Lex/his father is up to this time. It's common preconception that if something is going wrong in Smallville* then Luthorcorp is probably behind it, after all, and later on this extends to 33.1 (originally Level 3), which is where Luthorcorp experiment with Kryptonite and run tests on metahumans of various kinds (for example Victor Stone - Cyborg - and Bart Allen - Impulse - the latter of which is put in a cage that will electrify him if he stands still too long. Isn't Lex fun? The relationship sours because of what is intrensically a lack of trust between the two.
Smallville is an extremely busy series, the longest running of any sci-fi fantasy, beating even Stargate. The point is: a lot happens, and I'm only summing it up here so forgive me if I'm a little brief; this is already pretty long and it occurs to me I haven't covered much. General things that happen include: Lex funding Cadmus Labs several dangerous projects like Prometheus and Ares, Prometheus being the creation of a subdermal suit that can mimic Clark's abilities. He also clones himself, and when that fails Kryptonian triple helix DNA is used to sustain one of the clones--CONNER. Lex marries Helen Bryce (who consequently turned out to be Lionel's spy and crashed the plane he was in), then later Lex marryies Lana Lang, Clark's girl-next-door, who was at first in love with him and then blackmailed by Lionel. His admittance to a psych ward and consequently losing his memory. He first attempts to help his father with his temporary blindness, then later helps to send his father to jail for the murder of his grandparents. Lex's hunt for the stones of power and his manipulation of Jason Teague and Lana. The Stones later became the crystal seed that created Clark's fortress (left by Jor-El even though they were scattered across the world at ancient sites like the plot of some kind of Indiana Jones movie). Also aliens invaded and Lex stole their ship, which also later turned out to be the vessel for Brainiac. Who also released a virus that corrupted most of the information systems in the world, bringing modern age function to a crashing halt.
There is also the whole arc where Lex is challenged for the senatorial seat by Jonathan Kent, backed by his own father Lionel, and how the race kills Clark's father (via heart attack). This is perhaps the moment where wedge is most driven. The Kents celebrate while Lex sits alone surrounded by his banners and drinks (in an alternate version he mows Lana down driving drunk and kills her).
While we're on the topic of Brainiac, then: He is determined to bring about Rao's prophecy, which is basically Kryptonian rule. To this end he/the ship abduct Lex who becomes the vessel for Zod, who then attacks Clark and epic battles in the sky ensue. Clark loses, Lex as Zod begins his plans to take over the world, and this is henceforth known as Dark Thursday. Clark gets out of the Phantom Zone, kicks Zod's ass, and Lex remembering nothing is once again left to pick up the odd pieces. Post Brainiac Lex marries Lana, and this is about when Bizarro starts featuring strongly as Lex tries to trap the phantom for his Project Ares work
Lex gets arrested for Lana's murder - she faked her death to get away from him - and then gets swept away when the dam where his secret evil base is located collapses. He is rescued by Kara Zor-El. He becomes obsessed with trying to find her, and gets closer still to Clark and her secrets. He purchases the Daily Planet, clones his brother Julian, murders his father, and also goes on an epic quest a la Da Vinci Code looking for a way to control the Traveller. He does eventually find it, and travels to the Arctic to confront Clark. Then collapses the Fortress on them. It doesn't kill either of them, but Lex does come back in such a state as he is on life support and unable to interact much with his world. He goes on a spree of revenge using Toyman, transforming Lana into a walking human Kryptonite woman, and utterly destroying Clark's hope for them to have a normal life together. Then Oliver kills him.
You'd think dying would be the end of it, but this is Lex Luthor we're talking about. He bases himself off Alexander the Great, whose empire when he died could no longer be held together, as none of his generals were up to the task. To prevent a similar thing happening to him, Lex invested heavily in the cloning research from which Conner was created, and had almost completed a new body when Tess shut the program down. Instead Earth-2 Lionel, late of his own world and discovering that he couldn't control Clark like he could control his own 'Ultraman', helps to bring his true son back with the help of Darkseid.
By the finale, all the clone lacks is a heart, and Lionel - after failing to take Tess (Lex's half sister's) heart to resurrect his son - ends up surrendering his own to Darkseid instead, and Lex rises. He confronts Clark, kills Tess, but as a last gift she takes away his memories. He's taken from just before this moment.
PERSONALITY:
"In life, the road to darkness is a journey, not a light switch."
In all appearances, Lex Luthor is a charming, polite and knowledgable young man. He's been taught to be the perfect gentleman, for all that it is deceit. To people who do not know him more intimately his smile is warm, his face kind, and oh isn't it unfortunate about the accident that made him lose all his hair? He is aristocratic, elegant and confident, and his businesslike attitude and rich boy suave cool pour from him generously. Lex Luthor is, like Bruce Wayne, capable of great acts of demonstrative charity, but he does so consistently for the gain it causes his own appearance. Good publicity is priceless.
Lex is ruthless and cunning, both in the board room and out of it, and his method of business is direct where he can be - for instance he demonstrates excellent business know how by expanding his business when Lionel demands that he fires many of his works - and increasing the profits via increased production. However when that fails he can be underhanded, resorting to blackmail, subterfuge and even murder in personal as well as business relationships. In several circumstances he even practices sleeping with the enemy in order to doublecross a potential business-partner only to discover that this is a double-double cross by Lionel.
Lex is smooth spoken and clear, and even when he is being cruel his voice barely raises. He has lost his temper on a few occasions, and on these he is violent but usually calm, carrying through a plan rather than acting without sense. Unless he's drunk in which case he will burn things. In times of emergency or danger - i.e. when he's being shot at or held hostage - Lex has been seen to act with gallantry and bravery, though it's clear that any risks he takes he balances with his own hope for survival too. If he sees the chance to take a gun from a bank-robber and only get a bullet in his shoulder for it, then he takes that chance. Equally he knows just when to sit still and be quiet.
This sharp intelligence can lead to boredom and impatience--Lex does not like to wait for something that he can pay to be done faster, although when it comes to waiting for things like affection he will hold on for a very long time. This is perhaps because betrayal is just a lesson in staying power in the Luthor household, and Lex has been taught to use his disappointment to drive him to higher goals, a constant state of oneupmanship.
In this, then, he can be patient, able to wait years for affection from Clark even though he never gets it, and able to wait years for trust from Clark even though he never places any of his own. Why would he? So often betrayed as Lex has been, he idolises those things but does not really understand them, as all he's been taught by his father is ambition, strategy, betrayal and hatred; that a Luthor must be ruthless, and that he - Lex - is never good enough.
As a scholar and a man of many talents, Lex can boast that his influences are equally broad. He frequently quotes Aristotle, and has an undeniable affection for drawing parallels between his own life and Greek or Latin literature. He compares himself fondly to Alexander the Great - Aristotle's student - who had an empire by 30; a feat that Lex has himself attempted to echo. In fact it takes him another seven years (making him 37) to reach the White House, making him the youngest American President ever by five years (Roosevelt was 42). Lex references American Presidents too, and novels like The Art of War and Atticus Finch, the writings of which influence his every day life. He compares Clark to Finch several times during the series. Lex is fond (or artificially fond) of art and literature of all kinds. He is an accomplished pianist, reads extensively, is a master of strategy. He plays chess, fences, rides in equestrian competitions, reads science journals, and is also has a Bachelor 's degree in biochemical engineering, even though this skill has never really been developed. Lex has enough money to pay other people to do the work for him, so he simply does, but he does show an active and theoretical interest in his research.
Not all of Lex, however, is culture. His interests expand to sports cars, and driving them very fast. He has a not undeniable interest in women, and his embarassing exploits haunt him as some of his ex-lovers are almost as ruthless as he is. Lex, brought up in boarding schools and away from his family, keeps his mind busy to prevent his simply becoming bored, and often this concerns manipulation or fixation. Lex also has a passion for comic books--or had, until - after his friendship with Clark began to crumble - he lost his idealism.
Clark and Lex had become fast friends, that much was for certain, because Clark took the time to stop and take a good look at Lex; see beneath the billionaire surface and lifestyle to what he thought was the man underneath - a man that maybe for a short while Lex was actually trying to be. The fact was that from early on Lex's jealousy, his unrealistic desire for Clark to trust him, the father vs. son relationship he had with Lionel and his effectively stalkerish attitude/unbridled curiosity for the unknown; was there all along, it simply took a while to uncover it. Lex manipulates Clark from the very beginning of episode 2. He says all the right words, helps him with Lana, even lends him a limousine and a sharp, expensive suit. There is rarely a single instance in the series when he isn't manipulating Clark in one way or another, and Lana's swan song, again, is an example of this. Lex is the master of the Xanatos gambit. He wins, because he predicts the way that the pieces will move--and he can make it unfold in such a way as to ensure his victory every time. Although this fails him when he runs for senator, power just a snatch out of his grip--because of a Kent. The first time that Clark will ever trump him in the popularity polls but by no means the last if the comics are anything to go by.
Lex, for all his money and paid for friends, has always been a lonely person, both in a physical and metaphorical sense. His wealth and status set him apart from other people even as a child, as does his lack of hair, and he's shown at one point attending a birthday party where none of the other guests come. He is also lonely because he lacks the natural ability to blend with other people, or even to understand them. He is, both by status, will and sheer intelligence, 'better' than the people around him; which echoes the 'I'm simply better than you' version of Lex that comes from the comic mainstream. Lex is an expert liar, and because of all the above he is also extremely jealous. This is likely because the things he is jealous of are things he cannot buy and cannot earn, such as Clark's loving parents, Clark's trust, his beautiful girlfriend Lana, Clark's friends, and eventually his powers. His fault is that he only protects, or provides, if he can see something in it for him, for instance the kudos that he gets for his company by acting for charity. The same goes on an interpersonal level.
Lex does not value human lives the same way that others do - he kills very early in the series, and continues to act with little care for the people involved, much like his father. In 33.1 he sees metahumans as test-subjects, and with Project Ares he runs simulations with real soldiers, allowing the monster Bizarro to kill them during the tests. Lex does not trust metahumans. Instead he manipulates and pays them off to do what he wants them to do, and uses their powers for his own personal gain. He is quick to turn on people who can provide nothing for him, such as happens to his friend Duncan back in boarding school.
Finally Oliver Queen. Lex has a longstanding rivalry with Oliver; one that ended up with one billionaire killing another. Oliver blew Lex up after his attacks on Clark and Lana, claiming that he was evil and deserved to die, but Clark didn't have the strength to actually do it. He considered it doing them a favour. Lex, who was gradually recovering at the time as a result of his latent ability, remembers everything up to and including that moment.
He returns poweful, confident and focused, unrepentant of his villainy, even recognising it in himself. He knows Clark, knows what he is, and knows in turn what he himself must be, because in essence he believes that he is Clark's foil, his counterbalance, and perhaps even a necessary part of his story; the villain to the hero that keeps the hero on the straight and narrow and forces them to aspire to greater heights. Lex is an eternal enigma with a singular goal: the pursuit of power. He has been - and will continue to be - a man who can defeat metahumans without raising his fist.
POWER:
"I've survived countless brushes with death, and it all started with this car crash."
Canon:
If there's even the slightest chance of surviving something, then Lex has. He has an overacting immune system, a high white blood cell count, and has never been sick. He can survive even strong poisons, and multiple transfusions, experimental operations, concussions, bullet wounds, and even wake from unwakeable comas. Oh. And he was pieced together from bits of other clones.
I don't think he needs more than this, but if anything I'd like to speed up his self-healing to a more noticeable level. Kill shots will still kill him, but anything less the blood would clot within five minutes, and any wound inflicted on him will heal over the course of a day--when he wakes the following day there will be no scars - no sign of the injury in an x-ray, even if bones had been broken previously - and he'll feel good as new. Blood loss will still make him light headed, concussion may still knock him out, etcetera, but the effects are impermanent.
As far as human powers go, Lex is quite capable in hand to hand combat, able to keep up even with Green Arrow's moves when attacked. He fences, goes through several personal martial arts instructors, and as a youngster entered into and won at horse shows in Metropolis. His true "power" is his mental ability,being master of the Xanatos Gambit.
[CHARACTER SAMPLES]
COMMUNITY POST (FIRST PERSON) SAMPLE:
"Is it not worthy of tears that, when the number of worlds is infinite, we have not yet become lords of a single one?"
Imagine a man as powerful, as successful as Alexander the Great. By thirty he's carved his name into history, forged for himself an Empire that has shaken and reformed the world in which he lives. Thirty years old and every day channelled into this--his pursuit for greatness.
Imagine, then, that he's plucked from that world in his prime - his moment of victory - and dropped into a new one, where all the sinew and sweat of his efforts means nothing. A parallel world, one of infinite numbers where there is no Alexander. No empire. Where his name and his power mean absolutely nothing at all.
Consider this to be a free history lesson.
[What is audio before flicks over to video. A bald man with ice blue eyes, in a crisp and no doubt extremely expensive suit, stares unblinkingly into the video feed. He's recognisable to anyone who knows Lex by sight, though considering how many clones and alternates he's been through the age difference probably isn't even the most jarring thing. No, that's probably the fact that he's smiling, turning on all the charm.]
My name is Lex Luthor, and I, like Alexander, seem to be cast aside without my empire. And like Alexander, I can't say I'm particularly pleased about it. On the other hand, there's nothing quite like a little empire building to remind yourself how it's done. I'm afraid I might be a little out of practice.
LOGS POST (THIRD PERSON) SAMPLE:
Well this was a set back.
No, not just a set back, it was an absolute travesty. He had been triumphant, his hero about to save the day, standing over his dying sister - Lutessa - and then... Then this place. New York but not. A few landmarks he recognised from his time in the city, that was all. He had tried the bank first, ignoring the Porter and the device and heading for the first shiny, expensive looking building he could find. He told them he was interested in transfering his funds over to them, that his name was Lex Luthor. But no account existed.
He didn't exist.
So now he was pennyless. The plastic in his wallet meant nothing here, and he didn't make a habit of carrying cash around with him. The expensive suit that he wore was all that he had. The clothes on my back. He was thirty one, and poorer than he had ever been, and right now he didn't know where to start, lost in a world where people like this Stark existed, owning huge buildings like the one he had just walked out of. People like him who were now them, and wasn't that ironic?
He found the netvice again when he pushed his hands into his pockets, turning around on the plaza in which he stood, glaring at the penthouses at the very top, feeling the bitter jealousy twist and writhe and rise within him. It was only by luck that his thumb grazed the button, and a voice startled him out of his reverie. It wasn't a familiar voice, but it was lost, just like he was.
Finding a seat by a fountain, Lex - for the first time in his life - loitered as he studied the posts to the network. It was almost dark when he was done, and his stomach complained bitterly that he hadn't eaten for most of the day. He was distracted, though, fighting past his hunger, because on the screen in front of him--
His thumb traced the S shield on the man's chest lazily, thoughtfully.
Well, well, well.
So this was what he had become. His Clark, with his face, with his mask - the glasses. His alien; Kal-El of Krypton had become this. His successes... Lex could feel them as though they were his own, a pride that bolstered him; a pride that made him smile.
Even if he was penniless, things could still turn out to be rather interesting, and besides which he could always work on the money issue. There was time. First, though? A late lunch. Hopefully with someone else paying the tab.
FINAL NOTES ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER:
Just a reitteration that the Smallville universe is meant to represent a genesis story for Superman, thus Lex's appearance is identical to Earth-1 Lex, and should be recognised as such. Beyond the casual surface glance, however, he is dramatically different, and will be portrated as such. There is headcanon that I have in mind (and already use in my Smallville Clark elsewhere) that Lex has heard of Batman - just heard of him. Since they couldn't mention Batman by name, they only alluded to him in the series. Once. As a result he will also have heard of Bruce Wayne, since their social circles are very likely to have crossed over in places, but likely none of his villains etc. I already use Nolanverse's Bruce as a model for Smallville's Clark, so I'd prefer to stick to that.
NAME: Reg
AGE: 24
JOURNAL: regasssa
IM: regasssa
E-MAIL: regasssa@hotmail.com or alternately an in game message.
RETURNING: Yes
[CHARACTER INFO]
CHARACTER NAME: Alexander (Lex) Luthor
FANDOM: Smallville DC AU/TV Series. Smallville establishes its own alternate universe versions of characters, which take prompts from across the board of DC comics, but resembles none of them. For the purposes of interaction, headcanon dictates that the SV universe is chronologically linked to the Nolanverse AU, so a business magnate like Lex will know about the Wayne family.
CHRONOLOGY: The end of season ten; Finale Part II. At the end of the episode Lex has his memories wiped by his sister, Lutessa, however he will be taken from just before that moment, when he's perhaps at his most dangerous; memories intact, and with his goals clear to him.
CLASS: Villain. Lex Luthor's villainy is written in stone. He says to Clark that 'every villain is only as great as his hero,' and he intends to be that villain; the arch nemesis to his superhero. However Lex is an extremely flexible villain, and being the only character hailing from his AU, he may well pull the good guy act while he finds his feet and attempts to restart his empire.
SUPERHERO NAME: Odysseus - One of the first gifts that Lionel Luthor ever bought his son was a model of the city of Troy, complete with toy armies and a Trojan horse. He told Clark that it was never a toy, it was a teaching device, and recounted the story of the Trojan horse to him. Odysseus, as a strategist and a keen thinker, would immediately come to mind.
ALTER EGO: Lex Luthor, CEO and businessman
BACKGROUND:
"I'm the villain of this story."
To begin with, setting wise, it's important to bare in mind the geographical differences of Smallville's version of the world. The most glaring, perhaps, is that while Metropolis is still across the 'bay' from Gotham, it's now in Kansas. The town of Smallville*, where more than half of the series is set, is an hour's drive away from the city. It is a world not much unlike our own, except that - thanks to a couple of long-dead space aliens who thought to send their son to grow up on a farm - all manner of extraterrestrial shenanigans occur there. Inclusive of cities like New York and Los Angeles, Smallville's world also includes completely fictional places like Keystone, Coast City, etc.
* Where Smallville* refers to the town, and Smallville refers to the series.
Metropolis is - in comics canon - considered to be one of the best places in the world to live, but in this pre-Superman setting is much less than that; a rough diamond that first needs to be shaped and polished. It still has all the crime and dark corners, the corruption and sin, which makes it such a prime location for Darkseid to send his minions to, but it's obvious that it has the building blocks now to become that comicbook city.
Smallville* on the other hand is a town of merely a few thousand people that - before the meteor shower - could proudly proclaim that it was the creamed corn capital of the world; sleepy and rural is the name of the game here, at least until green rocks rained from the sky. Since then radiation from those rocks has been responsible for everything from mind-readers to kids who think they're aliens to tattooed people who can phase through walls. These plot related meta-humans are so frequent that half way into the first series they were nicknamed 'freaks of the week', and the term hopped over to the comicbook world too. (It may just have been borrowed from Buffy in the first place, though, let's face it.)
The canon stands alone because of jarring differences. Most important of these are the following: Lex was brought up by his father, Lionel, who was neither a drunkard nor poor. He inherited vast fortunes after helping incarcerate his father. He was also the first person to ever be saved by Clark Kent, and they became close friends. The first six seasons of Smallville is the story of that friendship building then crashing into a bazillion pieces. Oh, around about the time that Lex dropped a Fortress on their heads. Also notable is that the inimitable Lexcorp of DC Universe fame is in Smallville Luthorcorp, at least until Lex's last scene where Apokolips crashing from the sky pulls half the letters off. It does appear as Lexcorp in early seasons, until Luthorcorp buys it out and crushes Lex's attempt at a breakaway.
Confused yet?
Back to the beginning. Smallville is the story of (epic friendship and epic betrayal) a Kryptonian boy who is sent by his parents from his dying planet to live on Earth. In later seasons an enormous retcon disguised as a redirection takes place as a result of previous Superman actor Christopher Reeve's untimely death. Previously intended to portray Jor-El, the writers had to pull something out of the hat, and they did, creating the storyline that Jor-El had come to earth and trusted the knowledge of his sons future arrival to the Queens, the Teagues, the Swanns and the Luthors; Veritas. Originally the Queens were supposed to be Waynes, but because of legal issues, Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) was brought in to form the Justice League with Clark instead of Batman. Veritas, in turn, was written to be a creepy group of rich people who knew where and when Kal was going to land, and have tried to influence his life since. Later seasons revealed that Lionel - learning that Veritas possessed a device that Jor-El left 'control the Traveller' in case he lost control - killed the Queens, Teagues and Swanns in an effort to take it, and Clark's power, for himself. Lex then goes after this device, but it turns out to be something that strips Clark of all his powers, rather than a super-remote control.
Jor-El, because he's kooky like that, left in the trust of a group of shapeshifters a cave painted with Kryptonian pictographs, which both Clark and Lex become addicted to puzzling out the secrets of. It portrays Kal coming to Earth, and that he will have a great enemy--Lex begins to see himself as this enemy, but in later reference it is the story of Doomsday instead. The caves are so important to Lex that he even tries to buy them.
Lex Luthor was raised in Metropolis by his father Lionel Luthor, a billionaire with his own global business - Luthorcorp. He attended boarding school with Oliver Queen. He is seen visiting Smallville* with his father as a child, while Lionel speaks to Mr. Ross about his fertiliser plant (as of the retcon he is buying the plant because he wants the rights to the Traveller, re. Veritas) Lex wanders off into a cornfield, running into a scarecrow - a boy tied up as a prank by the local high school football team. That's when the meteors start falling from the sky. Found hairless and catatonic shortly thereafter, Lionel carries his son away, stumbling onto a road and waving down John and Martha Kent (who have a little alien boy wrapped up in a blanket and a spaceship under the tarp on their roof.) On the car ride to the hospital he assures them that he will iron over the legal problems of adopting the boy they found in the field--in exchange John has to convince his friend to sell his factory to Luthorcorp.
In the following years Lex' brother Julian is murdered by his mother, and Lex took the blame in an effort to protect his traumatised mother (a serious case of post natal depression; she had seen how Lionel treated Lex and didn't want the same fate for her son). Since then his father has hated him. After leaving the Excelsior academy Lex attended Princeton, where he got his Bachelor's in biochemical engineering, then went on to Yale. So now, thirteen years have passed since Smallville* and Lex is a reckless womanising billionaire's son who likes fast cars and drinks too much and really, really, really has an unhealthy thing for Alexander the Great. Think Tony Stark but evil and without the robot suit, because Lex never gets his robot suit in Smallville.
This Lex is sent to Smallville* - where everyone hates Luthors on principal - by his father as a sort of punishment, to take over the fertiliser plant. Any profit he makes is his own, but the company remains Luthorcorp property until in a battle between father and son that could only be enacted by Luthors, Lex makes it so that his employees can buy their own company out and therefore keep their jobs--he creates Lexcorp. Lexcorp is then bought out from underneath him, with Lionel threatening and blackmailing members of the board to force the sale. In fact battles between father and son are sort of a running theme in Smallville, and end up with Lex getting marrooned in a plane crash, Lionel getting sent to jail, Lex getting sent to a psych ward, and finally Lionel getting thrown out of his own office window into the plaza below. Even Lionel's funeral is a battle--Lex stamps his mark on it by refusing to let any other mourners attend, and he and Clark instead spend the occasion glaring at each other over the casket. Oh, so did I mention that Lionel had the Luthor family home moved brick by brick from Scotland to stand in Nowheresville* Kansas? And that it's a castle? Moving on!
The most important part of the story is without doubt the relationship between Clark and Lex. The two first meet when Lex drives his car into Clark at high speed, sending them both into the river. He swears he hit Clark, something that preoccupies him for years after the event. Later in the same episode Lex returns the favour by cutting Clark down after he's strung up by the high school football team before the prom, Kryptonite necklace tied around his neck. So begins a deep friendship between the two. Lex buys Clark a new car. He helps Clark with his girlfriend troubles (a girlfriend he later marries himself). He tries to help his family out of their debt (actually this is a recurring theme with Luthors trying to buy the Kent farm). But Clark sees good in Lex, and tries to hold onto it for a long time; longer than most people probably would. Hi, he had a whole room set up as a museum of odd things that happened around Clark Kent, with his de-roofed and smashed up car, previously at the bottom of the river, as the prize exhibit. Clark goes mad at him when he discovers this and has Lex crush it into a little cube. By the end of the series they are powerful enemies, and Clark, who held on to the goodness in Lex for so long, now proclaims that he hates Luthors; that Luthor blood is poison.
Clark and Lex are frequently free to walk into each others houses. Even many seasons down the line when all Clark walks in for is to ask what Lex/his father is up to this time. It's common preconception that if something is going wrong in Smallville* then Luthorcorp is probably behind it, after all, and later on this extends to 33.1 (originally Level 3), which is where Luthorcorp experiment with Kryptonite and run tests on metahumans of various kinds (for example Victor Stone - Cyborg - and Bart Allen - Impulse - the latter of which is put in a cage that will electrify him if he stands still too long. Isn't Lex fun? The relationship sours because of what is intrensically a lack of trust between the two.
Smallville is an extremely busy series, the longest running of any sci-fi fantasy, beating even Stargate. The point is: a lot happens, and I'm only summing it up here so forgive me if I'm a little brief; this is already pretty long and it occurs to me I haven't covered much. General things that happen include: Lex funding Cadmus Labs several dangerous projects like Prometheus and Ares, Prometheus being the creation of a subdermal suit that can mimic Clark's abilities. He also clones himself, and when that fails Kryptonian triple helix DNA is used to sustain one of the clones--CONNER. Lex marries Helen Bryce (who consequently turned out to be Lionel's spy and crashed the plane he was in), then later Lex marryies Lana Lang, Clark's girl-next-door, who was at first in love with him and then blackmailed by Lionel. His admittance to a psych ward and consequently losing his memory. He first attempts to help his father with his temporary blindness, then later helps to send his father to jail for the murder of his grandparents. Lex's hunt for the stones of power and his manipulation of Jason Teague and Lana. The Stones later became the crystal seed that created Clark's fortress (left by Jor-El even though they were scattered across the world at ancient sites like the plot of some kind of Indiana Jones movie). Also aliens invaded and Lex stole their ship, which also later turned out to be the vessel for Brainiac. Who also released a virus that corrupted most of the information systems in the world, bringing modern age function to a crashing halt.
There is also the whole arc where Lex is challenged for the senatorial seat by Jonathan Kent, backed by his own father Lionel, and how the race kills Clark's father (via heart attack). This is perhaps the moment where wedge is most driven. The Kents celebrate while Lex sits alone surrounded by his banners and drinks (in an alternate version he mows Lana down driving drunk and kills her).
While we're on the topic of Brainiac, then: He is determined to bring about Rao's prophecy, which is basically Kryptonian rule. To this end he/the ship abduct Lex who becomes the vessel for Zod, who then attacks Clark and epic battles in the sky ensue. Clark loses, Lex as Zod begins his plans to take over the world, and this is henceforth known as Dark Thursday. Clark gets out of the Phantom Zone, kicks Zod's ass, and Lex remembering nothing is once again left to pick up the odd pieces. Post Brainiac Lex marries Lana, and this is about when Bizarro starts featuring strongly as Lex tries to trap the phantom for his Project Ares work
Lex gets arrested for Lana's murder - she faked her death to get away from him - and then gets swept away when the dam where his secret evil base is located collapses. He is rescued by Kara Zor-El. He becomes obsessed with trying to find her, and gets closer still to Clark and her secrets. He purchases the Daily Planet, clones his brother Julian, murders his father, and also goes on an epic quest a la Da Vinci Code looking for a way to control the Traveller. He does eventually find it, and travels to the Arctic to confront Clark. Then collapses the Fortress on them. It doesn't kill either of them, but Lex does come back in such a state as he is on life support and unable to interact much with his world. He goes on a spree of revenge using Toyman, transforming Lana into a walking human Kryptonite woman, and utterly destroying Clark's hope for them to have a normal life together. Then Oliver kills him.
You'd think dying would be the end of it, but this is Lex Luthor we're talking about. He bases himself off Alexander the Great, whose empire when he died could no longer be held together, as none of his generals were up to the task. To prevent a similar thing happening to him, Lex invested heavily in the cloning research from which Conner was created, and had almost completed a new body when Tess shut the program down. Instead Earth-2 Lionel, late of his own world and discovering that he couldn't control Clark like he could control his own 'Ultraman', helps to bring his true son back with the help of Darkseid.
By the finale, all the clone lacks is a heart, and Lionel - after failing to take Tess (Lex's half sister's) heart to resurrect his son - ends up surrendering his own to Darkseid instead, and Lex rises. He confronts Clark, kills Tess, but as a last gift she takes away his memories. He's taken from just before this moment.
PERSONALITY:
"In life, the road to darkness is a journey, not a light switch."
In all appearances, Lex Luthor is a charming, polite and knowledgable young man. He's been taught to be the perfect gentleman, for all that it is deceit. To people who do not know him more intimately his smile is warm, his face kind, and oh isn't it unfortunate about the accident that made him lose all his hair? He is aristocratic, elegant and confident, and his businesslike attitude and rich boy suave cool pour from him generously. Lex Luthor is, like Bruce Wayne, capable of great acts of demonstrative charity, but he does so consistently for the gain it causes his own appearance. Good publicity is priceless.
Lex is ruthless and cunning, both in the board room and out of it, and his method of business is direct where he can be - for instance he demonstrates excellent business know how by expanding his business when Lionel demands that he fires many of his works - and increasing the profits via increased production. However when that fails he can be underhanded, resorting to blackmail, subterfuge and even murder in personal as well as business relationships. In several circumstances he even practices sleeping with the enemy in order to doublecross a potential business-partner only to discover that this is a double-double cross by Lionel.
Lex is smooth spoken and clear, and even when he is being cruel his voice barely raises. He has lost his temper on a few occasions, and on these he is violent but usually calm, carrying through a plan rather than acting without sense. Unless he's drunk in which case he will burn things. In times of emergency or danger - i.e. when he's being shot at or held hostage - Lex has been seen to act with gallantry and bravery, though it's clear that any risks he takes he balances with his own hope for survival too. If he sees the chance to take a gun from a bank-robber and only get a bullet in his shoulder for it, then he takes that chance. Equally he knows just when to sit still and be quiet.
This sharp intelligence can lead to boredom and impatience--Lex does not like to wait for something that he can pay to be done faster, although when it comes to waiting for things like affection he will hold on for a very long time. This is perhaps because betrayal is just a lesson in staying power in the Luthor household, and Lex has been taught to use his disappointment to drive him to higher goals, a constant state of oneupmanship.
In this, then, he can be patient, able to wait years for affection from Clark even though he never gets it, and able to wait years for trust from Clark even though he never places any of his own. Why would he? So often betrayed as Lex has been, he idolises those things but does not really understand them, as all he's been taught by his father is ambition, strategy, betrayal and hatred; that a Luthor must be ruthless, and that he - Lex - is never good enough.
As a scholar and a man of many talents, Lex can boast that his influences are equally broad. He frequently quotes Aristotle, and has an undeniable affection for drawing parallels between his own life and Greek or Latin literature. He compares himself fondly to Alexander the Great - Aristotle's student - who had an empire by 30; a feat that Lex has himself attempted to echo. In fact it takes him another seven years (making him 37) to reach the White House, making him the youngest American President ever by five years (Roosevelt was 42). Lex references American Presidents too, and novels like The Art of War and Atticus Finch, the writings of which influence his every day life. He compares Clark to Finch several times during the series. Lex is fond (or artificially fond) of art and literature of all kinds. He is an accomplished pianist, reads extensively, is a master of strategy. He plays chess, fences, rides in equestrian competitions, reads science journals, and is also has a Bachelor 's degree in biochemical engineering, even though this skill has never really been developed. Lex has enough money to pay other people to do the work for him, so he simply does, but he does show an active and theoretical interest in his research.
Not all of Lex, however, is culture. His interests expand to sports cars, and driving them very fast. He has a not undeniable interest in women, and his embarassing exploits haunt him as some of his ex-lovers are almost as ruthless as he is. Lex, brought up in boarding schools and away from his family, keeps his mind busy to prevent his simply becoming bored, and often this concerns manipulation or fixation. Lex also has a passion for comic books--or had, until - after his friendship with Clark began to crumble - he lost his idealism.
Clark and Lex had become fast friends, that much was for certain, because Clark took the time to stop and take a good look at Lex; see beneath the billionaire surface and lifestyle to what he thought was the man underneath - a man that maybe for a short while Lex was actually trying to be. The fact was that from early on Lex's jealousy, his unrealistic desire for Clark to trust him, the father vs. son relationship he had with Lionel and his effectively stalkerish attitude/unbridled curiosity for the unknown; was there all along, it simply took a while to uncover it. Lex manipulates Clark from the very beginning of episode 2. He says all the right words, helps him with Lana, even lends him a limousine and a sharp, expensive suit. There is rarely a single instance in the series when he isn't manipulating Clark in one way or another, and Lana's swan song, again, is an example of this. Lex is the master of the Xanatos gambit. He wins, because he predicts the way that the pieces will move--and he can make it unfold in such a way as to ensure his victory every time. Although this fails him when he runs for senator, power just a snatch out of his grip--because of a Kent. The first time that Clark will ever trump him in the popularity polls but by no means the last if the comics are anything to go by.
Lex, for all his money and paid for friends, has always been a lonely person, both in a physical and metaphorical sense. His wealth and status set him apart from other people even as a child, as does his lack of hair, and he's shown at one point attending a birthday party where none of the other guests come. He is also lonely because he lacks the natural ability to blend with other people, or even to understand them. He is, both by status, will and sheer intelligence, 'better' than the people around him; which echoes the 'I'm simply better than you' version of Lex that comes from the comic mainstream. Lex is an expert liar, and because of all the above he is also extremely jealous. This is likely because the things he is jealous of are things he cannot buy and cannot earn, such as Clark's loving parents, Clark's trust, his beautiful girlfriend Lana, Clark's friends, and eventually his powers. His fault is that he only protects, or provides, if he can see something in it for him, for instance the kudos that he gets for his company by acting for charity. The same goes on an interpersonal level.
Lex does not value human lives the same way that others do - he kills very early in the series, and continues to act with little care for the people involved, much like his father. In 33.1 he sees metahumans as test-subjects, and with Project Ares he runs simulations with real soldiers, allowing the monster Bizarro to kill them during the tests. Lex does not trust metahumans. Instead he manipulates and pays them off to do what he wants them to do, and uses their powers for his own personal gain. He is quick to turn on people who can provide nothing for him, such as happens to his friend Duncan back in boarding school.
Finally Oliver Queen. Lex has a longstanding rivalry with Oliver; one that ended up with one billionaire killing another. Oliver blew Lex up after his attacks on Clark and Lana, claiming that he was evil and deserved to die, but Clark didn't have the strength to actually do it. He considered it doing them a favour. Lex, who was gradually recovering at the time as a result of his latent ability, remembers everything up to and including that moment.
He returns poweful, confident and focused, unrepentant of his villainy, even recognising it in himself. He knows Clark, knows what he is, and knows in turn what he himself must be, because in essence he believes that he is Clark's foil, his counterbalance, and perhaps even a necessary part of his story; the villain to the hero that keeps the hero on the straight and narrow and forces them to aspire to greater heights. Lex is an eternal enigma with a singular goal: the pursuit of power. He has been - and will continue to be - a man who can defeat metahumans without raising his fist.
POWER:
"I've survived countless brushes with death, and it all started with this car crash."
Canon:
If there's even the slightest chance of surviving something, then Lex has. He has an overacting immune system, a high white blood cell count, and has never been sick. He can survive even strong poisons, and multiple transfusions, experimental operations, concussions, bullet wounds, and even wake from unwakeable comas. Oh. And he was pieced together from bits of other clones.
I don't think he needs more than this, but if anything I'd like to speed up his self-healing to a more noticeable level. Kill shots will still kill him, but anything less the blood would clot within five minutes, and any wound inflicted on him will heal over the course of a day--when he wakes the following day there will be no scars - no sign of the injury in an x-ray, even if bones had been broken previously - and he'll feel good as new. Blood loss will still make him light headed, concussion may still knock him out, etcetera, but the effects are impermanent.
As far as human powers go, Lex is quite capable in hand to hand combat, able to keep up even with Green Arrow's moves when attacked. He fences, goes through several personal martial arts instructors, and as a youngster entered into and won at horse shows in Metropolis. His true "power" is his mental ability,
[CHARACTER SAMPLES]
COMMUNITY POST (FIRST PERSON) SAMPLE:
"Is it not worthy of tears that, when the number of worlds is infinite, we have not yet become lords of a single one?"
Imagine a man as powerful, as successful as Alexander the Great. By thirty he's carved his name into history, forged for himself an Empire that has shaken and reformed the world in which he lives. Thirty years old and every day channelled into this--his pursuit for greatness.
Imagine, then, that he's plucked from that world in his prime - his moment of victory - and dropped into a new one, where all the sinew and sweat of his efforts means nothing. A parallel world, one of infinite numbers where there is no Alexander. No empire. Where his name and his power mean absolutely nothing at all.
Consider this to be a free history lesson.
[What is audio before flicks over to video. A bald man with ice blue eyes, in a crisp and no doubt extremely expensive suit, stares unblinkingly into the video feed. He's recognisable to anyone who knows Lex by sight, though considering how many clones and alternates he's been through the age difference probably isn't even the most jarring thing. No, that's probably the fact that he's smiling, turning on all the charm.]
My name is Lex Luthor, and I, like Alexander, seem to be cast aside without my empire. And like Alexander, I can't say I'm particularly pleased about it. On the other hand, there's nothing quite like a little empire building to remind yourself how it's done. I'm afraid I might be a little out of practice.
LOGS POST (THIRD PERSON) SAMPLE:
Well this was a set back.
No, not just a set back, it was an absolute travesty. He had been triumphant, his hero about to save the day, standing over his dying sister - Lutessa - and then... Then this place. New York but not. A few landmarks he recognised from his time in the city, that was all. He had tried the bank first, ignoring the Porter and the device and heading for the first shiny, expensive looking building he could find. He told them he was interested in transfering his funds over to them, that his name was Lex Luthor. But no account existed.
He didn't exist.
So now he was pennyless. The plastic in his wallet meant nothing here, and he didn't make a habit of carrying cash around with him. The expensive suit that he wore was all that he had. The clothes on my back. He was thirty one, and poorer than he had ever been, and right now he didn't know where to start, lost in a world where people like this Stark existed, owning huge buildings like the one he had just walked out of. People like him who were now them, and wasn't that ironic?
He found the netvice again when he pushed his hands into his pockets, turning around on the plaza in which he stood, glaring at the penthouses at the very top, feeling the bitter jealousy twist and writhe and rise within him. It was only by luck that his thumb grazed the button, and a voice startled him out of his reverie. It wasn't a familiar voice, but it was lost, just like he was.
Finding a seat by a fountain, Lex - for the first time in his life - loitered as he studied the posts to the network. It was almost dark when he was done, and his stomach complained bitterly that he hadn't eaten for most of the day. He was distracted, though, fighting past his hunger, because on the screen in front of him--
His thumb traced the S shield on the man's chest lazily, thoughtfully.
Well, well, well.
So this was what he had become. His Clark, with his face, with his mask - the glasses. His alien; Kal-El of Krypton had become this. His successes... Lex could feel them as though they were his own, a pride that bolstered him; a pride that made him smile.
Even if he was penniless, things could still turn out to be rather interesting, and besides which he could always work on the money issue. There was time. First, though? A late lunch. Hopefully with someone else paying the tab.
FINAL NOTES ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER:
Just a reitteration that the Smallville universe is meant to represent a genesis story for Superman, thus Lex's appearance is identical to Earth-1 Lex, and should be recognised as such. Beyond the casual surface glance, however, he is dramatically different, and will be portrated as such. There is headcanon that I have in mind (and already use in my Smallville Clark elsewhere) that Lex has heard of Batman - just heard of him. Since they couldn't mention Batman by name, they only alluded to him in the series. Once. As a result he will also have heard of Bruce Wayne, since their social circles are very likely to have crossed over in places, but likely none of his villains etc. I already use Nolanverse's Bruce as a model for Smallville's Clark, so I'd prefer to stick to that.