Line #20 ComicBook/LexLuthorManOfSteel


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lex_luthor_man_of_steel.png]]
2	->''"Those red eyes, I'm sure they look right through me, like I am nothing more than a nuisance. But when I see you? I see something no man can ever be. I see the end. The end of our potential. The end of our achievements. The end of our dreams. You are my nightmare."''
3	-->-- '''Lex Luthor'''
4
5	The [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Alien]] says that he is humanity's savior. That he fights for "Truth, Justice and the American Way". He makes the entire world love him and look up to him.
6
7	And yet, there is one man who can see what a threat the alien truly represents, one ''man'' who is willing to stand against the being who has been [[PhysicalGod compared with God]]: ComicBook/LexLuthor. The battle will be ugly, but the truth shall prevail.
8
9	An AlternateCharacterInterpretation of ComicBook/{{Superman}}'s arch-nemesis, ''Lex Luthor: Man of Steel'' was first published in 2005 by Creator/DCComics. It's a bit of a departure from other stories about Luthor, which up until then (and indeed for [[ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths twenty years previous]]) had shown him as little more than an unrepentant jerk who just wanted to kill Superman. It speaks to humanist traits the character had taken on since about 2000. First is this: when other comics on the stands in 2005 were about Luthor heading up a [[ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis large]] LegionOfDoom and manipulating [[ComicBook/TeenTitans Superboy]] ForTheEvulz, an empathetic view into the mind of Lex was seen as an odd thing, though not unwelcomed; many readers came away noting that Luthor [[VillainHasAPoint may have had a point at times]]. As it turns out, the story was ''very'' well-received.
10
11	Was re-released and given the more laconic yet intimidating title ''[[http://dccomics.com/dcu/graphic_novels/?gn=15388 Luthor]]''. Works nicely as a companion piece to Azzarello's later work, ''ComicBook/{{Joker}}''; even the trade dress, [[UsefulNotes/{{Fonts}} typefaces]], and titles (in both incarnations; ''Lex Luthor: Man of Steel'' / ''Joker: The Dark Knight'' and ''Luthor'' / ''Joker'') play up the differences between the two characters.
12	----
13	!! Tropes:
14	* AffablyEvil: Lex is polite to everyone he meets, but which parts are real and which are [[FauxAffablyEvil a facade]] are hard to determine.
15	* AmbiguousSituation: Precisely how much of what happens is part of Lex's plan and how far his evil truly goes is left unclear. In particular, [[spoiler:it's never revealed whether he really was responsible for the daycare bombing or not.]]
16	* ArcWords: "I have Hope."
17	* ArmorPiercingResponse: [[spoiler: "You're wrong. I ''can'' see your soul."]]
18	* BenevolentBoss: Lex certainly ''seems'' like this at first, being friendly and warm with everyone under his employ while going to great lengths to see them well cared for... but eventually and inevitably, he reveals himself to actually be a BadBoss of the absolute worst sort by betraying, abusing, failing, or even killing them. By the end, he's lost pretty much all his henchmen for reasons that are entirely his own fault and presumably has to get new ones, with the implication that this is a cycle he's been through many times.
19	* BewareTheSuperman: From Luthor's perspective, Superman always has [[RedEyesTakeWarning glowing malevolent red eyes]], and every stitch and seam of his costume can be seen, and is silent during the entire series save for the end. On a larger level, Lex sees Superman as an existential threat to humanity's progress and relevancy. By the end, however, the narrative itself inverts this; Superman really is the hero he appears to be, while the entirely human Luthor is a murderous monster with no ideals beyond stroking his own ego.
20	* BreakThemByTalking: Luthor tries to do this to Superman twice; once at the beginning, and once at the end [[spoiler: after Superman's battle with Hope]]. Superman isn't very impressed either time, and unfortunately for Luthor his ShutUpHannibal statement at the end is a lot better at doing this.
21	* ButForMeItWasTuesday: A day in the life of Lex Luthor: setting up meetings with the world's wealthiest men (Bruce Wayne), trying to take down god-like aliens, supervising his company, trying to take down god-like aliens, going over the paperwork for his many international interests and trying to take down god-like aliens. He also finds time to manipulate villains, intimidate employees and [[spoiler: bomb a daycare]].
22	* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Hope is very clearly modeled on Creator/HalleBerry. Out of his suit, Bruce Wayne (at least in one scene) looks a lot like Creator/ChristianBale. Fitting, this, as it came out the same summer as ''Film/BatmanBegins''.
23	* ContinuityCameo: Of a sort; the redheaded woman in the green dress who Bruce Wayne checks out during his lunch meeting with Luthor is hinted to be Poison Ivy.
24	* CutLexLuthorACheck: Luthor has constructed the Science Spire, a massive research facility-stroke-monument to human achievement and has financed Hope, a new superhero [[spoiler: who's in fact an [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot intricate artificial human]].]] He ends up [[spoiler: destroying both in an effort to make Superman look bad, showing how destructive his obsession is, even to his own ideals]].
25	* {{Deconstruction}}: Throughout the story, in his narration Luthor attempts to deconstruct Superman, attempting to present him as a potential threat to humanity. However, it's actually one of Luthor himself. As the comic clearly demonstrates, even if we can take his talk about the dangers posed by Superman seriously, Luthor's ultimately become so totally obsessed with defeating Superman for his own ego that he voluntarily undermines any good he does or benevolence towards humanity he supposedly has. The clearest illustration of this is the fact that, for all Luthor's grand speeches about the potential of humanity and how it needs to be protected and nurtured from Superman's negative influence, he ultimately destroys the two clearest examples of said potential presented in the story for an ultimately petty reason: [[spoiler: he uses Hope, in actuality a RidiculouslyHumanRobot, to destroy the Science Spire, his symbol of humanity's intelligence and industriousness, purely to try to damage Superman's reputation in the minds of the people of Metropolis by appealing to their darker impulses]].
26	* DoubleMeaning:
27	** In the last issue, Luthor's internal monologue talks about hope in the face of the unstoppable, and says that "hope is what makes us human". The final line of the comic is "I am a man. I hope." which could be taken both as Luthor saying that he continues to have hope because that's what it is to be human, or that his actions have driven him to question his own humanity (that is, "I hope I'm still a man").
28	** Also, Superman's single line of dialogue can be read as this. [[spoiler: He could be referring to his super-vision, which in some versions of the continuity has been extended to the point where he ''can'' see people's 'souls', or at least their auras, enough to give him an idea of what that person is really like. Or he could be referring to the fact that he simply knows Luthor too well and has dealt with the consequences of Luthor's megalomaniacal scheming and viciousness too many times to be fooled by his high-and-mighty humanism act.]]
29	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Lex carries out his latest evil plot against all sense and reason, destroying some of his greatest achievements and killing many innocents in a vain attempt to destroy Superman's reputation. The story ends with Lex sitting alone and miserable in his office after being called out for the monster he is by his nemesis, having driven away or murdered any friends and clearly struggling to keep up his delusional fantasy of being the hero.]]
30	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Depending on [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation how you choose to interpret who's behind the events of the story]]. [[spoiler: If you believe that Toyman was behind the destruction of the jewelers / daycare center all on his own, then it's Luthor. If you believe that Luthor knew all along what was going down and in fact orchestrated it, then it's Toyman and Orr.]] The text would lean more towards the latter interpretation of events than the former.
31	* EvilPlan: It's very strongly hinted that Luthor's behind every single thing we see happen in the graphic novel, even if it's not outright stated in most cases.
32	* {{Foreshadowing}}: During Batman and Superman's fight (see LetsYouAndHimFight below), there's a page that looks very similar [[spoiler: to when Hope later carries the Toyman away and Lex remotely commands her hand to drop him. [[FridgeBrilliance It probably also explains a lot of what's going on in the earlier scene]]]].
33	* GreenEyedMonster: Lex's lovely assistant gets jealous of the attention he gives Hope. [[RuleOfSymbolism Somewhat tellingly]] Lex himself -- who, for all his humanist pretensions, is clearly also suffering a bad case of this trope towards Superman -- is depicted as having green eyes.
34	* HeKnowsTooMuch: [[spoiler:It's heavily implied that Lex arranges the deaths of just about everyone involved with his scheme for this reason. He ''definitely'' murders Hope, probably kills Orr, and possibly arranges the death of Sasha and his family. About the only pawn he doesn't destroy is Toyman, and who knows how long he'll last when Luthor's plan partly involves making the whole city want the man dead. He's very thorough in ensuring nothing about what's happened can be traced back to him and his company, not legally at least.]]
35	* HeroAntagonist: Superman, of course. The comic drives the point home by changing how he's drawn; partly in shadow, (almost) eternally silent, and bringing a clear feeling of ominous dread every time he's onscreen.
36	* HumanoidAbomination: How Lex views Superman. Not as a hero, but as an eerie, inscrutable alien monster of unknown nature and origins that possesses godlike powers and threatens to destroy the best aspects of humanity with his very existence.
37	* {{Hypocrite}}: For most of the book, Luthor presents himself as an idealist and a humanist, championing the finest parts of humanity against a near-godlike alien who threatens to make them redundant, but he still has no qualms about killing people, or threatening their families to get his way. Furthermore, his entire plan exposes a hypocritical contradiction in his humanist rhetoric: for all his talk of the finer things that humanity could aspire to if only Superman wasn't around forcing them to be small and lack ambition, ultimately his plan hinges on destroying symbols of these finer things for reasons that reflect darker, pettier and more cynical motivations. [[spoiler: He hopes that Superman saving Toyman will infuriate the people of Metropolis baying for his blood, thus appealing to their darker, angry and violent impulses, and he blows up the Science Spire and destroys Hope purely in the hopes that it'll make people view Superman negatively]].
38	* IDidWhatIHadToDo: How Luthor mentally justifies every single thing he does.
39	* IKnowYouKnowIKnow: Lex and Superman are in a tango where Superman ''knows'' intellectually that Luthor is responsible for everything happening, but can't legally prove it, and Lex himself knows that Superman knows and takes sadistic pleasure in rubbing it all in by talking about those schemes to his face.
40	* IronicEcho: "I have ''hope''."[[note]] Then made Hope self-destruct.[[/note]]
41	* InscrutableAliens: Superman, though only in Luthor's view of things. Lex perceives him as a distant and unknowable - but doubtlessly sinister - being that has about as much similarity to humans as a we do to ants and behaves in ways that are inexplicable at best, manipulative at worst. Accordingly, we never get Superman's perspective and his few appearances are strange and ambiguous in ways that often leave it unclear what he's even doing.
42	* ItsAllAboutMe: For all of Luthor's philosophizing, attempts to justify his actions, and/or PetTheDog, his actions show that he only cares about himself. He might be NiceToTheWaiter, (as his kind interactions with the janitor at his office show) but he also doesn't bat an eye at blowing up the building where the proverbial waiter works, either. (As when he destroys the "Science Spire", the huge building being built, as part of his effort to make Superman look bad.) He saves a scientist from a dire situation... and later appears to have the man and his family blown up. He [[spoiler:creates]] and becomes lovers with Hope, and then sacrifices her without a second thought as part of his efforts against Superman. Ultimately everyone and everything is just a pawn or tool for Lex to get what he wants, and can be used, sacrificed, or thrown away to suit his needs and whims.
43	* KickTheDog: If read attentively, it's seen that Lex does this constantly, undoing his good deeds. A good example of this is when [[spoiler: Lex, through Orr and subtly himself, threatens the family of one of his leading partners, who disagrees with Lex's suggestions. While Orr, the man hired by Luthor, intimidates this partner under the roof, ready to kill him.]]
44	* LetsYouAndHimFight: At one point, Superman and Batman come to blows over a chunk of green kryptonite that Luthor has given to Bruce Wayne. Although there's little context and we don't hear any dialogue between the two, it's suggested that Superman is either under some kind of MindControl, is a little bit miffed about Batman going behind his back and accepting the only thing that can kill him for whatever reason (and accepted it from ''Superman's arch-nemesis'', of all people), or a bit of both. An alternative interpretation, given the implied ContinuityCameo of Poison Ivy in earlier pages, is that ''Batman'' is the one under the influence of MindControl, and Superman is in fact trying to calm him down or isn't even there. Or he might be an artificial duplicate of Superman [[spoiler: like Hope]], given the {{Foreshadowing}} above.
45	* MisanthropeSupreme: For all that Lex makes himself out to be an idealistic lover of his fellow man, [[spoiler:his EvilPlan hinges on his certainty that he can very easily appeal to the darker, violent impulses of humanity; not exactly the kind of thing someone with a high opinion of others would come up with]]. More generally, the way he ultimately "[[BadBoss rewards]]" most of his henchmen and a lot of his dialogue makes abundantly clear that Lex's ''actual'' view of mankind is one tinted with snide contempt and cruel cynicism.
46	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:A possible interpretation of the ending is that Lex, for a brief moment, finally realizes what a monster he is and that his pretensions of being a hero were always just weak justification for his evil deeds, and is hobbled with guilt and remorse by no longer being able to deny his own depravity.]]
47	* MythologyGag: Lex refers to the kryptonite he gives Bruce as "a gift ComicBook/ForTheManWhoHasEverything".
48	* NeverMyFault: Lex has this philosophy throughout most of the story, but it possibly disappears at the end, at least briefly.
49	* NiceToTheWaiter: Luthor is shown chatting amiably with his security guard and janitor, and in general treats just about everyone he meets with respect. [[spoiler:Things to not end up well for the guard or the janitor, though, and by the end it's clear that any niceness to the waiters is superficial at best.]]
50	* OnlySaneMan: Lex believes himself to be this, thinking he's he only one who can see clearly what a threat Superman is to humanity. The irony, of course, is that Lex is so twisted and blinded by his obsessions that he's both the craziest person in the story and the biggest danger to humanity.
51	* PerspectiveFlip: The entire comic shows us events through the eyes of Lex Luthor, Superman's greatest enemy, instead of Superman himself.
52	* PetTheDog:
53	** One long petting session for Lex, as the point is to show him outside of his conflict with Superman and show the benevolent things he does (or at least is capable of). Although it's played with, since despite the more positive perspective we get on Lex, he ends up [[KickTheDog Kicking The Dog]] several times anyway almost despite himself. In a MoralEventHorizon way.
54	** In a particular example, he's friendly to the janitor tidying his office, asks after the janitor's academically gifted son, and arranges a prestigious scholarship for him. Unfortunately, that goes wrong, too, as the Science Spire where the janitor's son went is destroyed. Luthor didn't really care about him, either.
55	* PopularityPower: Played with; in many conflicts between Superman and Batman, Batman generally has some way of beating Superman up his sleeve, or holding his own. In this case, Superman and Batman fight -- and while Superman's still clearly holding back (as evidenced by the fact that Batman isn't a smear on the wall), it's nevertheless clear that Batman's completely outmatched.
56	* PrecociousCrush: Lex's assistant says that Superman's been around since she was a little girl, and admits that she had a crush on him at the time.]
57	* PyrrhicVictory: [[spoiler:Lex technically wins, his plan goes off without any major hitch. It gets him absolutely nothing of real benefit and costs him incredible amounts of manpower, resources, and money, but he does manage to make Superman look bad. But even that gets ruined for him, as Supes gives Lex an ArmorPiercingResponse that leaves him in the throes of depressive VillainousBreakdown, struggling to maintain his self-image.]]
58	* RealMenEatMeat: Used subtly when Bruce Wayne orders for himself and Lex at a business dinner. The chef is said to be Gotham's finest, but Bruce cuts his description of the night's dishes short and just orders two strip steaks. It's a form of macho posturing on Bruce's part, as he plays the role of the billionaire playboy.
59	* RedEyesTakeWarning: Superman's eyes are always red and shadowed. Justified because this is the way Superman's eyes look when he's angry or preparing to shoot his heat vision, which he always is when he's looking at Luthor.
60	* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: [[spoiler:Hope]] turns out to be a robot, so perfect that at first even ''[[TomatoInTheMirror she]]'' doesn't know it. She acts and looks just like a normal human woman.
61	* {{Robosexual}}: Luthor has sex with [[spoiler:Hope]], who [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots it turns out is a robot]] he created.
62	* RobotGirl: [[spoiler:Hope]] it turns out is one, who's so finely made [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot she looks just like a normal woman]].
63	* SaveTheVillain: Invoked. [[spoiler:Lex engineers a situation where Superman will have to save the life of Toyman right after the latter has committed a horrific crime and is wanted dead by everyone in the city, hoping to tarnish Superman's relationship with the general public.]]
64	* ScrewDestiny: One of Lex's few unambiguously admirable philosophical views is that "fate" is just something made up by cowards and that humans are put on Earth to forge their own destinies.
65	* ShutUpHannibal: Superman's only line throughout the miniseries (after Lex rants about Superman not seeing humanity and Lex's soul for what they truly are):
66	-->'''Superman''': You're wrong. I ''can'' see your soul.
67	* SympathyForTheDevil: An ambiguous example. In their final encounter, for the most part Superman as ever looks like he's barely restraining himself from attacking Luthor -- until Lex delivers his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about how [[spoiler:everyone in Metropolis wanted to see Toyman killed]]. For one panel, Superman looks at Luthor with a sad expression which suggests that either Luthor's words have touched a nerve, or that Superman for a moment actually pities Luthor for his nihilistic and [[SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers contempt-filled]] view of the world.
68	* TautologicalTemplar: Luthor believes he's a WellIntentionedExtremist, but despite his supposed belief in the value of humanity and how it's being diminished by Superman's mere presence he's still willing to [[spoiler: kill a lot of humans to make Superman look bad]]. In his final rant, he asks why Superman sees good in people that he feels just isn't there.
69	* ThematicSeries: The story works very well as a companion piece to Azzarello and Bermejo's later ''Comicbook/{{Joker}}'', to the point that it was later re-released in a hardback edition under the title ''Luthor'' with several changes to the cover artwork to reinforce the links:
70	** Both are rather dark and deconstructive takes on the Batman and Superman universes with their respective arch-nemeses acting as {{Villain Protagonist}}s.
71	** In both, the superheroes act as rarely-seen threats lurking ominously on the edges.
72	** Both also explore the mindsets of each villain, and the worlds they inhabit. This consequently introduces an element of UnreliableNarrator, as neither villain is a wholly trustworthy source (Luthor's narrative, which initially seems quite utopian, is ultimately warped by his humanist pretensions and paranoid delusions, while the Joker's narrative is naturally drenched in an atmosphere of horrific nihilism and casual sadism from the outset).
73	** Both initially appear to be deconstructing the superhero, only to turn it around and end up revealing exactly how monstrous the villain is and why we shouldn't trust them at all. As an example, both works climax in a confrontation between villain and hero in which the villain launches into a lengthy and deconstructive TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about how inadequate the hero is, only for the hero to respond with a brief ShutUpHannibal statement (seven words for Superman, three words for Batman) that not only refutes everything the villain has tried to claim about the hero, but turns it back on the villain in such a way that drives them to a VillainousBreakdown.
74	* ThouShaltNotKill: [[spoiler:Luthor's plan is to use Superman's refusal to kill against him, by manipulating him into a situation where he saves the life of Winslow Schott -- who, having ([[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation seemingly]]) bombed a building with a daycare center inside, is high up on Metropolis' current Who Would Be Better Off Dead list -- in order to turn people against him.]] Furthermore, Luthor makes Superman look like a massive hypocrite when [[spoiler:he arranges for it to look like Supes kills Hope, a super heroine Luthor introduced to the world stage who had become beloved by Metropolis. Hope is a RidiculouslyHumanRobot, so Superman isn't killing anything (literally, since it's ''Lex'' who triggers the explosion that kills Hope)... but the people who can only see things happening from a distance don't know that.]]
75	* TomatoInTheMirror: Hope is as shocked as Superman to realize [[spoiler: she's a RidiculouslyHumanRobot, just before she explodes.]]
76	* UnflinchingWalk: A variation; although Luthor's nowhere near the [[spoiler:jewelers / daycare center when it explodes,]] of the other people on the street he's currently on, he alone barely reacts in the panel when it explodes. It's a hint that he had more to do with it than he's letting on.
77	* UnreliableNarrator: Although this is Luthor's PerspectiveFlip, we probably should not trust everything he says. After all, he's still ''Lex Luthor''. A good indicator is when he's watching security footage of Superman; all the bystanders nearby are horrified of him, even though he's a beloved superhero to everyone who's ''not'' Luthor.
78	* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Played with; while Luthor's usually cast as this in the comics (and arguably is so here), he attempts to make the case that ''Superman'' is in fact one of these.
79	* VillainProtagonist: This Superman story is from Luthor's perspective.
80	* VillainousBreakdown: Luthor doesn't react very well to Superman's ShutUpHannibal moment.
81	* VillainousValor:
82	** Superman is basically unstoppable whenever he appears. Of course, he's only the 'villain' from [[PerspectiveFlip Luthor's perspective]], but still.
83	** Maybe Luthor is a FearlessFool, but it takes some guts for a normal man to stand up to an angry Superman, (especially in the same comic that gives us the page image for MookHorrorShow) and not only stand his ground, but try to go into BreakThemByTalking mode. Sure, Luthor is evil, but he's got guts.
84	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Lex thinks of himself as this. [[ItsAllAboutMe He]] [[TautologicalTemplar isn't.]]
85	* WhamLine: For Luthor: [[spoiler: "You're wrong. I ''can'' see your soul."]]
86	* WifeHusbandry: Lex hooks up with Hope, who saw him as a father figure. [[spoiler:Of course, she was an android built by Luthor in the first place. It's unimaginably skeevy no matter which way you slice it and just makes Lex's prattle about being a hero even more hollow.]]
87	* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler: Whoever bombed the jewellery store didn't know or care that it was next to a daycare centre and ended up killing over a hundred people, more than seventy of whom were young children. Toyman gets the blame for this but desperately denies planting the bomb, even in private to himself. It is strongly implied that Lex was responsible for the explosion and that the daycare center was even the actual target. His {{mook}}, who is willing to at least threaten to hurt somebody's family, [[EvenEvilHasStandards is appalled]] and makes no secret that he blames Lex for the attack (and is seemingly murdered on the orders of Lex as well).]]
88	* XanatosGambit: It's strongly hinted that Lex is behind [[spoiler: the bombing of the daycare]] and that his plan was to make Metropolis turn against Superman because [[spoiler: [[BatmanGambit he knew Superman would refuse to kill the bomber]].]] Plus, [[spoiler: the daycare center that was destroyed in the explosion triggered by Toyman just "happened" to be the same one used by the family of a prominent scientist used by Luthor in the construction of Hope, and the scientist dies in the blast along with his entire family.]] One might be given to suspect that Luthor, not one for loose ends, planned it that way...

Context ComicBook / LexLuthorManOfSteel