History ComicBook / LexLuthorManOfSteel

* 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 murder children.

* 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 destroying both for no other reason than to make Superman look bad. This is presented in order to show Luthor, for all his grand talk about the existence of Superman diminishing and belittling human accomplishment and the alternative perspectives we've seen of him as a benevolent humanist, as ultimately the petty, deluded and spiteful hypocrite that he is.
* {{Deconstruction}}:
** The story mainly revolves around an entirely-reasonable Luthor being polite to the people he meets and monologuing some A-level philosophy--but by the end of things, he's still committed an astonishing mountain of atrocities. It's just another day at the office for Luthor, but at least [[DownerEnding you know how he thinks]].
** Throughout the story, in his narration Luthor believes he's deconstructing Superman and exposing him as a threat. However, while the depiction of Superman is definitely colder and more alien than usual, we're still mostly seeing him through Luthor's [[UnreliableNarrator not-unbiased]] eyes; of the two, cold alien or not, only one is still flying around selflessly helping people while the other is planning various destructive atrocities to 'expose' him. If anyone's being deconstructed , it's Luthor himself. Also, the story goes to great pains to show how Luthor's obsessions are blinding him and making him lose touch with reality and the people around him. [[PlanescapeTorment Belief can change the nature of a man]]. It shapes everything in his world, so since the comic is a deconstruction of Luthor's psyche from his point of view, of course we're gonna see Superman as Lex sees him: a dangerous alien that needs to be taken down.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Lex talks a big game of helping humanity, but it becomes increasingly apparent that all his vile actions were to benefit himself and he can't comprehend any other view in which he's not the center of the universe.
* KickTheDog: Luthor does this repeatedly, all without fanfare.
* 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. Either way, it's once again implied that Luthor planned this all along, as this fight serves to convince Bruce Wayne to accept Luthor's viewpoint.

* TautologicalTemplar: Luthor believes he's a WellIntentionedExtremist, but there's nothing well intentioned about him. Case in point: his supposed belief in the value of humanity and how it's being diminished by Superman's mere presence doesn't stop him from killing a heck of a lot of humans to make Superman look bad.
* 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 AcceptableTargets 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 and 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.]]

* UnflinchingWalk: A variation; although Luthor's nowhere near the 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.
* UnreliableNarrator: Although this is Luthor's PerspectiveFlip, it's subtly suggested that we should not trust everything he says. After all, he's still ''Lex Luthor''.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Played with; while Luthor's usually cast as this in the comics (and arguably is so here), here he attempts to make the case that ''Superman'' is in fact one of these.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Lex thinks of himself as this. The reality is otherwise.

* XanatosGambit: It's strongly hinted that Lex is behind the bombing of the daycare and that his plan was to make Metropolis turn against Superman because [[BatmanGambit he knew Superman would refuse to kill the bomber]]. However, he has a consolation prize if that doesn't happen. [[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.]] Quite a coincidence. One might be given to suspect that Luthor, not one for loose ends, planned it that way...
* WrongGenreSavvy: Luthor's well aware that he's in a deconstruction -- however, he believes it to be a deconstruction of TheCape, and of Superman especially. It's actually a deconstruction of supervillains like ''him''.

->''"He is not a man!"''

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]]: LexLuthor. The battle will be ugly, but the truth shall prevail.

An AlternateCharacterInterpretation of Comicbook/{{Superman}}'s arch-nemesis LexLuthor, ''Lex Luthor: Man of Steel'' was first published in 2005 by DCComics. It's a bit of a departure from other stories about Luthor, which up until then (and indeed for [[CrisisOnInfiniteEarths twenty years previous]]) had shown him as little more than an unrepentant asshole who just wanted to kill Superman. It [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructs]] Superman's ArchEnemy in subtle ways, or at least 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 [[InfiniteCrisis big honkin']] LegionOfDoom and manipulating [[ComicBook/TeenTitans Superboy]] ForTheEvulz, an empathic view into the mind of Lex Luthor was seen as an odd thing, though not totally unwelcomed. As it turns out, the story was ''very'' well-received.

* 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 the end.)
* 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 murder children.
* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Hope is very clearly modeled on Halle Berry. Out of his suit, Bruce Wayne (at least in one scene) looks like [[Film/TheDarkKnightSaga Christian Bale]]--fitting, this, as it came out the same summer as ''Film/BatmanBegins''.

* 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 is in fact an [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot intricate artificial human]].]] He ends up destroying both for no other reason than to make Superman look bad. This is presented in order to show Luthor, for all his grand talk about the existence of Superman diminishing and belittling human accomplishment and the alternative perspectives we've seen of him as a benevolent humanist, as ultimately the petty, deluded and spiteful hypocrite that he is.

** The story mainly revolves around an entirely-reasonable Luthor being polite to the people he meets and monologuing some A-level philosophy--but by the end of things, he's still committed an astonishing mountain of atrocities. It's just another day at the office for Luthor, but at least [[DownerEnding you know how he thinks.]]
** Throughout the story, in his narration Luthor believes he is deconstructing Superman and exposing him as a threat. However, while the depiction of Superman is definitely colder and more alien than usual, we're still mostly seeing him through Luthor's [[UnreliableNarrator not-unbiased]] eyes; of the two, cold alien or not only one is still flying around selflessly helping people while the other is planning various destructive atrocities to 'expose' him. If anyone's being deconstructed , it's Luthor himself. Also, the story goes to great pains to show how Luthor's obsessions are blinding him and making him lose touch with reality and the people around him. [[PlanescapeTorment Belief can change the nature of a man.]] It shapes everything in his world, so since the comic is a deconstruction of Luthor's psyche from his point of view, of course we're gonna see Superman as Lex sees him: a dangerous alien that needs to be taken down.
* EvenEvilHasStandards - This one depends 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 centre 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 leans more towards the latter interpretation of events than the former.
* EvilPlan: It is very strongly hinted that Luthor is behind every single thing we see happen in the graphic novel, even if it is not outright stated in most cases.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Lex talks big game of helping humanity but it becomes increasingly apparent that all his vile actions were to benefit himself and he cannot comprehend any other view in which he is not the centre of the universe.
* KickTheDog: Luthor does this repeatedly, all without fanfare. It allows the reader to overlook most of it.

* NeverMyFault: Lex has this philosophy throughout most of the story but it possibly disappears at the end, at least briefly.
* NiceToTheWaiter: Inverted; Lex is very friendly to various service characters throughout the series -- his janitor, the newsstand owner near his new building, Alfred -- but at the end of the day this doesn't make him any less of a monster.

** This perspective flip was actually referred to by the young Lex Luthor in the series Smallville several years before it was published, in reference to the "Neman" legend on the walls of the caves under the town, making this actually the second story where Lex uses this perspective.
* PetTheDog - One long petting session for Lex Luthor as the point is to show him outside of his conflcit with Superman and show the benevolent things he does.
* PopularityPower: Played with; in many conflicts between Superman and Batman, Batman -- being generally considered the more popular character -- generally has some way of beating Superman up his sleeve, or holding his own. In this case, Superman and Batman fight -- and while Superman is still clearly holding back (as evidenced by the fact that Batman is not rendered a smear on the wall), it's nevertheless clear that Batman is completely outmatched.
* PrecociousCrush - Lex's assistant says that Superman has been around since she was a little girl, and admits that she had a crush on him at the time.
* 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 eyelasers, which he is always is when he's looking at Luthor.
* ShutUpHannibal - Superman's only line throughout the miniseries. It reinforces the point that even though we've seen a more human, benevolent side to Lex than normal and he is very eloquent and impassioned in delivering his rant, ''he's still the bad guy''.

* TautologicalTemplar: Luthor believes he's a WellIntentionedExtremist but there's nothing well intentioned about him. Case in point: his supposed belief in the value of humanity and how it's being diminished by Superman's mere presence doesn't stop him from killing a heck of a lot of humans to make Superman look bad.

** [[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 centre inside and being a known paedophile, is high up on Metropolis' current AcceptableTargets Who Would Be Better Off Dead list -- in order to turn people against him.]]

* UnflinchingWalk: A variation; although Luthor's nowhere near the jewelers / daycare centre 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.
* UnreliableNarrator: Although this is Luthor's PerspectiveFlip, it is subtly suggested that we should not trust everything he says. After all, he is still ''Lex Luthor''.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Played with; while Luthor is usually cast as this in the comics (and arguably is so here), here he attempts to make the case that ''Superman'' is in fact one of these.

* VillainousValor - Superman is basically unstoppable whenever he appears. Of course, he's only the 'villain' from [[PerspectiveFlip Luthor's perspective]], but still.

* XanatosGambit: It is strongly hinted that Lex is behind the bombing of the daycare and that his plan was to make Metropolis turn against Superman because [[BatmanGambit he knew Superman would refuse to kill the bomber.]] However, he has a consolation prize if that doesn't happen. [[spoiler: the daycare centre 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.]] Quite a coincidence. One might be given to suspect that Luthor, not one for loose ends, planned it that way...
* WrongGenreSavvy: Luthor is well aware that he's in a deconstruction -- however, he believes it to be a deconstruction of TheCape, and of Superman especially. It's ''actually'' a deconstruction of supervillains like ''him''.

* HeroSyndrome: Luthor, although his plan is much more subtle and long-term than most examples.

* BewareTheSuperman: From Luthor's perspective, Superman always has [[RedEyesTakeWarning glowing malevolent red eyes]], and every sitch and seam of his costume can be seen, and is silent during the entire series (save the end.)

* TomatoInTheMirror: Hope is as shocked as Superman to realize she's a RidiculouslyHumanRobot, just before she explodes.
* UnflinchingWalk: A variation; although Luthor's nowhere near the jewellers / daycare centre when it explodes, alone of the other people on the street he's currently on he 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.

* VillainProtagonist: This Superman story is from Luthor's prespective.

* PetTheDog - One long petting session for Lex Luthor as the point is to show him outside of his conflcit with Superman and show the benevolent things he does. Subverted in that all his dog-petting moments don't take away from the fact that he's ultimately a monster.

Recently 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 and [[UsefulNotes/{{Fonts}} typefaces]] play up the differences between these two characters. FrankMiller might be proud.

* AcceptableTargets: An in-universe example. Luthor selects Winslow Schott a.k.a. Toyman to be [[spoiler: nearly killed by Hope and then saved by Superman. Because Schott had just bombed a daycare center and is an alleged child molester, Lex knew the public would be calling for his blood and might even turn against Superman for saving his life.]]
* AffablyEvil: Possibly. Lex is polite to everyone he meets, but which parts are real and which are [[FauxAffablyEvil a facade]] are hard to determine.

* 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 murder children.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Maybe. The story mainly revolves around an entirely-reasonable Luthor being polite to the people he meets and monologuing some A-level philosophy--but by the end of things, he's still committed an astonishing mountain of atrocities. Pretty much another day at the office for Luthor, but at least [[DownerEnding you know how he thinks.]]
** Throughout the story, in his narration Luthor believes he is deconstructing Superman and exposing him as a threat. However, while the depiction of Superman is definitely colder and more alien than usual, we're still mostly seeing him through Luthor's [[UnreliableNarrator not-exactly-unbiased]] eyes; of the two, cold alien or not only one is still flying around selflessly helping people while the other is planning various destructive atrocities to try and 'expose' him. If anyone's being deconstructed here, it's Luthor himself. Also, the story goes to great pains to show how Luthor's obsessions are blinding him and making him lose touch with reality and the people around him.
** [[PlanescapeTorment Belief can change the nature of a man.]] It shapes everything in his world, so since the comic is essentially a deconstruction of Luthor's psyche from his point of view, of course we're gonna see Superman as Lex sees him: a dangerous alien that needs to be taken down.
*** [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation One could argue]] that he doesn't really believe the line he's spewing about Superman and knows how noble he is; he just likes to ''tell himself'' that he's a dangerous alien because he likes imagining himself as TheHero. This partially depends on how literally you interpret UnreliableNarrator- if Lex is actually narrating this story, then everything he says should be taken with a grain of salt, as he's not just trying to convince himself of Superman's villainy, he's [[ManipulativeBastard trying to manipulate us.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards - This one depends 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 centre 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 seem to lean more towards the latter interpretation of events than the former, though.

* GreenEyedMonster: Lex's lovely assistant gets jealous of the attention he gives Hope. And of course, Luthor himself has green eyes.
* HannibalLecture - Luthor delivers several to the viewer, one to Bruce Wayne and one to Superman.
* IronicEcho: "I have ''hope''."[[hottip:*:Well, you did have Hope self-destruct.]]
* ItsAllAboutMe: Lex talks big game of helping humanity but it becomes increasingly apparent that all his vile actions were just to benefit himself and he cannot comprehend any other view in which he is not the centre of the universe.
* HeroSyndrome: Luthor, although his plan is much more subtle and long-term than most examples (and probably fails, like most of his schemes).

* 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 possibly kill him for whatever reason (and accepted it from ''Superman's arch-nemesis'', of all people), or a bit of both. Either way, it's once again implied that Luthor planned this all along, as this fight serves to convince Bruce Wayne to accept Luthor's viewpoint, to a degree at least.

* PetTheDog - One long petting session for Lex Luthor. Subverted however, in that all his dog-petting moments don't take away from the fact that he's ultimately a monster.
* PopularityPower: Played with; in many conflicts between Superman and Batman, Batman -- being generally considered the more popular character -- generally has some way of beating Superman up his sleeve, or is at least able to hold his own. In this case, Superman and Batman fight -- and while Superman is still clearly holding back (as evidenced by the fact that Batman is not rendered a smear on the wall), it's nevertheless clear that Batman is completely outmatched. Of course, Batman didn't have a plan in this case...

* 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 eyelasers, which he is pretty much always is when he's looking at Luthor.

* TautologicalTemplar: Luthor believes he's a WellIntentionedExtremist. In fact, there's nothing even well intentioned about him. Case in point: his supposed belief in the value of humanity and how it's being diminished by Superman's mere presence doesn't stop him from killing a heck of a lot of humans just to make Superman look bad.

** [[spoiler: Luthor's plan seems to be 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 centre inside and being a known paedophile, is high up on Metropolis' current AcceptableTargets 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 and had become beloved by Metropolis. In fact, Hope is a RidiculouslyHumanRobot, so Superman isn't killing anything (quite literally, since it's ''Lex'' who triggers the explosion that actually kills Hope)... but the people who can only see things happening from a distance certainly don't know that.]]

* UnflinchingWalk: A variation; although Luthor's nowhere near the jewellers / daycare centre when it explodes, alone of the other people on the street he's currently on he barely reacts in the panel when it explodes. It's a hint that he probably had more to do with it than he's letting on.
* UnreliableNarrator: Although this is Luthor's PerspectiveFlip, it is subtly suggested that we should still not trust everything he says. After all, he is still ''Lex Luthor''.

* VillainProtagonist: And how!

** It might even be said that Luthor himself shows a twisted form of courage by opposing Superman and even standing up to him and attempting to HannibalLecture a very pissed off Superman rather than crawling off and hiding somewhere. Keep in mind that this is the same comic that gives us the current page image for MookHorrorShow.
*** It's more likely, given his character, he's just that arrogant and smug and he knows that Superman, for all his power and despite Luthor seeing him as a menace of [[PhysicalGod godlike power]], is not going to kill him no matter what he does. Whether this is because Lex genuinelly thinks Superman is a fake who won't risk his reputation of IncorruptiblePurePureness by killing Lex, or because he really does know Superman is as kind and compassionate as he appears and is just exploiting that, its unlikely he really believes Superman would kill him. That and Lex has always been something of a FearlessFool and is pretty reckless.

* WifeHusbandry: Lex does this with Hope. [[spoiler:After a fashion at least, since Hope isn't exactly human...]]

* 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.

** At the end, Superman delivers an epic one to Luthor... in a single sentence.

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Blowing up daycares, threatening employees, framing innocent people - All in a days work for Lex.

* AcceptableTargets: An in-universe example. Luthor selects Winslow Schott a.k.a. Toyman to [[spoiler: nearly killed by Hope and then saved by Superman. Because Schott had just bombed a daycare center (or more likely, took the fall for Lex himself) and is an alleged child molester, Lex knew the public would be calling for his blood and turn against Superman for saving his life.]]

* AffablyEvil/FauxAffablyEvil: Lex is polite to everyone he meets but which parts are real and which are a facade are hard to determine.

* TautologicalTemplar: Luthor believes he's a WellIntentionedExtremist. In fact, there's nothing even well intentioned about him.

* EvilPlan: It is very strongly hinted that Luthor is behind every single thing we see happen in the graphic novel, even if it is not outright stated in most cases. With some of the things that occur, this would make Luthor a CompleteMonster if true, despite his charming rationalisation.

* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Hope is very clearly modeled on Halle Berry. Out of his suit, Bruce Wayne (at least in one scene) looks like [[TheDarkKnightSaga Christian Bale]]--fitting, this, as it came out the same summer as BatmanBegins.

* WrongGenreSavvy: Luthor is well aware that he's in a deconstruction -- however, he believes it to be a deconstruction of TheCape, and of Superman especially. It's ''actually'' a deconstruction of supervillains like ''him''.

* OnlySaneMan: Lex believes himself to be this. [[YoureInsane He's wrong.]]

* FoeYay: In an inner monologue, Luthor says Bruce Wayne conveys animal magnetism, but seems rankled by it. Also: "you have [[KavorkaMan a]] [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob reputation]] to maintain."

Recently 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 and typefaces play up the differences between these two characters. FrankMiller might be proud.

* PopularityPower: Played with; in many conflicts between Superman and Batman, Batman -- being generally considered the more popular character -- generally has some way of beating Superman up his sleeve, or is at least able to hold his own. In this case, Superman and Batman fight -- and while Superman is still clearly holding back (as evidenced by the fact that Batman is not rendered a smear on the wall), it's nevertheless clear that Batman is completely outmatched.

* 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 possibly kill him from Superman's arch-nemesis, of all people, or a bit of both. Either way, it's once again implied that Luthor planned this all along, as this fight serves to convince Bruce Wayne to accept Luthor's viewpoint, to a degree at least.