Controversial Luthor opinions!

[llozymandias]

The best live action Luthor was Lyle Talbot who played him in the movie serial "Atom Man vs Superman".


The best writer for Lex was Jerry Siegel.

[KC]

Lex at his best is a genius Scientist. He can also be a businessman, but he needs that part of him that builds and creates stuff. And as an add on unpopular opinion, Geoff Johns writes one of the best Lex Luthor's of the modern era because he understands and can balance both parts of the character well as well as Lex's motivations.

[Vakanai]

Lex is preferable to me, and "at his best" to quote the person above me, when he's both the evil genius scientist and the corrupt master businessman. They're two halves of the same diabolical coin, each helping fuel the other in his quest for power, especially against the Man of Steel. He should be working on multiple levels, scientist, business mogul, and even occasionally politician. Just when Superman thinks he's got Lex cornered on one thing, like the science angle, another facet of Lex, like the business angle, gets him off to scheme another day. Got him on some shady business dealing? Scientist Lex sciences the evidence away. The more things Lex has going for him, the more of a threat he is, and that's one of the reasons why I love him so much as a villain. You take away one of those aspects or lean to much into just the scientist or just the businessman role, and he becomes less interesting. Man's the arch-genius in every field he goes in.

[Osiris-Rex]

Lex at his best is a genius Scientist. He can also be a businessman, but he needs that part of him that builds and creates stuff. And as an add on unpopular opinion, Geoff Johns writes one of the best Lex Luthor's of the modern era because he understands and can balance both parts of the character well as well as Lex's motivations.

Is seems to me that Jon Cryer's live action version of Lex was one of the few that concentrated on his love of technology. For the Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey, John Shea, Jesse Eisenberg and even Michael Rosenbaum
versions it was mostly real estate deals, running an empire, carrying on the family business. Cryer's Lex was the only one really into scientific research and seemed to have little real interest in LexCorp other than as a
means to carry on his research.

[KC]

Lex is preferable to me, and "at his best" to quote the person above me, when he's both the evil genius scientist and the corrupt master businessman. They're two halves of the same diabolical coin, each helping fuel the other in his quest for power, especially against the Man of Steel. He should be working on multiple levels, scientist, business mogul, and even occasionally politician. Just when Superman thinks he's got Lex cornered on one thing, like the science angle, another facet of Lex, like the business angle, gets him off to scheme another day. Got him on some shady business dealing? Scientist Lex sciences the evidence away. The more things Lex has going for him, the more of a threat he is, and that's one of the reasons why I love him so much as a villain. You take away one of those aspects or lean to much into just the scientist or just the businessman role, and he becomes less interesting. Man's the arch-genius in every field he goes in.

I agree that he should have multiple angles. But to me, his scientist side should be almost his "main" angle as I think Lex being one of the worlds smartest people and best scientists is something that should genuinely make him happy. Business is business but I think science is something that Lex should truly pride himself on. But as I said, he can also have the businessman angle to facilitate his science and sometimes to use to fight Superman

[KC]

Is seems to me that Jon Cryer's live action version of Lex was one of the few that concentrated on his love of technology. For the Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey, John Shea, Jesse Eisenberg and even Michael Rosenbaum
versions it was mostly real estate deals, running an empire, carrying on the family business. Cryer's Lex was the only one really into scientific research and seemed to have little real interest in LexCorp other than as a
means to carry on his research.

I like that and from what I have seen, I like Cryer as Lex.

[llozymandias]

Many compare Luthor to Einstein. I think a better comparison would be with John von Neuman. At least one of John von Neuman's professors felt intimidated by von Neuman. You might ask why. Often when that professor would give a lecture, he would mention an unsolved problem. At the end of the lecture von Neuman would hand him a piecec of paper, on which he had scribbled the solution.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Many compare Luthor to Einstein. I think a better comparison would be with John von Neuman. At least one of John von Neuman's professors felt intimidated by von Neuman. You might ask why. Often when that professor would give a lecture, he would mention an unsolved problem. At the end of the lecture von Neuman would hand him a piecec of paper, on which he had scribbled the solution.

In terms of Luthor's schemes of supervillainy and amorality, I'd place him alongside:
-- Werner von Braun who built rockets for the Nazis and later for USA.
-- The researchers who gave syphillis to African-Americans for "medical reasons".
-- Dr. Josef Mengele and his experiments in the concentration camp.
-- The Japanese doctors who experimented on American POW.
-- Martin Shkrelli who put a huge price tag on an AIDS treatment and became the "most hated CEO of America".

Luthor doesn't deserve to be in the same sentence as real physicists who advanced the cause of science.

[Frontier]

In terms of Luthor's schemes of supervillainy and amorality, I'd place him alongside:
-- Werner von Braun who built rockets for the Nazis and later for USA.
-- The researchers who gave syphillis to African-Americans for "medical reasons".
-- Dr. Josef Mengele and his experiments in the concentration camp.
-- The Japanese doctors who experimented on American POW.
-- Martin Shkrelli who put a huge price tag on an AIDS treatment and became the "most hated CEO of America".

Luthor doesn't deserve to be in the same sentence as real physicists who advanced the cause of science.

Well, yeah. He only advances the cause of science to either inflate his own ego or kill Superman.

[manwhohaseverything]

Well, yeah. He only advances the cause of science to either inflate his own ego

What's wrong with doing something for yourself? How many doctors, teacher... Etc give their services for free?do you actually believe superman doesn't have an ego or it isn't about feeling good about himself for clark?do you believe self gratification isn't a big part of clark's reason for doing things? For me, it's murky. I just find the divide between clark and lex to be overblown. Sometimes i feel like superman is all about getting the applauds. I am not the only one who thinks so.

This might be justice lord. But, the main one admitted he feels the same temptations and has had similar feelings.

Anyways regardless, I don't believe lex would do something he didn't actually like to do. Intellectual prowess is definitely something he values and enjoys. So, he also is passionate about it.

[Frontier]

What's wrong with doing something for yourself? How many doctors, teacher... Etc give their services for free?do you actually believe superman doesn't have an ego or it isn't about feeling good about himself for clark?do you believe self gratification isn't a big part of clark's reason for doing things? For me, it's murky. I just find the divide between clark and lex to be overblown. Sometimes i feel like superman is all about getting the applauds. I am not the only one who thinks so.

This might be justice lord. But, the main one admitted he feels the same temptations and has had similar feelings.

Anyways regardless, I don't believe lex would do something he didn't actually like to do. Intellectual prowess is definitely something he values and enjoys. So, he also is passionate about it.

There's nothing wrong with doing stuff for yourself or that you want to do, but if it is out of pure selfishness and without care for others or for ultimately evil ends, it's less forgivable. Nothing is wrong with Lex being passionate about science, just how he uses said passion.

I don't think Clark is a Superhero for adulation or to make himself feel better beyond feeling good by doing good, but he still does stuff for himself.

[SiegePerilous02]

I think Lex can greatly admire Einstein and equate himself with him in his own head, but completely miss the mark in the fact that he's a mostly terrible person. He has chances to turn over a new leaf and keeps messing them up and digging himself in deeper.

[llozymandias]

In terms of Luthor's schemes of supervillainy and amorality, I'd place him alongside:
-- Werner von Braun who built rockets for the Nazis and later for USA.
-- The researchers who gave syphillis to African-Americans for "medical reasons".
-- Dr. Josef Mengele and his experiments in the concentration camp.
-- The Japanese doctors who experimented on American POW.
-- Martin Shkrelli who put a huge price tag on an AIDS treatment and became the "most hated CEO of America".

Luthor doesn't deserve to be in the same sentence as real physicists who advanced the cause of science.

Robert Goddard & his rocket group invented the chemical rocket. Werner von Braun played with Goddard's designs.

Martin Shkelli bought drugs then super-increased the prices.

The others you list did little more than torture people.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Robert Goddard & his rocket group invented the chemical rocket. Werner von Braun played with Goddard's designs.

If that's so why did NASA hire Braun and consult him if all he did was just touch up Goddard's work without addition. The reason is that Braun invented the V2 rockets using camp inmates as slave labor, killing more constructing it, and then the rockets themselves ever did when it was shot across England and Holland.

It's a pretty cheap way to dodge the comparison.

Martin Shkelli bought drugs then super-increased the prices.

And Luthor doesn't do that? Like in 52 where a year without Superman, when he had a chance to be a hero among people, he revealed himself to be a true a--hole.

The others you list did little more than torture people.

And Luthor doesn't do that? Luthor's experimented on people, cloned people, tortured clones and so on and so forth, and has also killed many innocent people. That puts him in company with the Tuskegee Doctors and Mengele certainly.

[PCN24454]

Interestingly, the fact that he rarely shares his accomplishments, except shady government entities that are probably trying to kill Superman, he really hasn’t advanced science that much.