Comic Book / Luthor Unleashed

Luthor Unleashed was a Superman story published in Action Comics #544 (March, 1983). Written and pencilled by Cary Bates and Curt Swan, it introduced Lex's iconic warsuit as part of an attempt to revamp Superman's Rogues Gallery. together with the "Brainiac Rebirth" story arc

Another battle between Superman and Lex Luthor has just ended with the latter's painful and humiliating defeat. This time, though, Lex has reached his breaking point. Luthor cannot deny any longer that his private war against Superman is a foolish lost cause (and it does not help that Superman has declared out loud he is reaching the end of his patience with Lex), so he decides to quit and retire to Lexor, a faraway world where he is worshipped as a science hero (to the point that its inhabitants renamed their planet after him). Luthor arrives in Lexor safely, and he finds out that his wife Ardora has a surprise for him: they have a baby son now. Delighted, Lex comes to see his grudge against Superman as a pitiful waste, and vows to put his criminal career in the past and stay in Lexor with his family.

So, it begins Luthor's new life. He spends time with his wife, plays with his son, uses his genius to serve the Lexorians (among other things by building a tower called Neutrarod which keeps Lexor's dangerously stressed core stable through uninterrupted particle bombardment), and is showered with praise and accolades. Unfortunately, Luthor cannot forget for one single second that he has been unable to defeat Superman; so, he vents his anger and frustration by going to some uninhabited mountain range and rearranging the landscape. In the course of one trip, Lex finds an abandoned lab, built by the race who ruled Lexor long before its current inhabitants, and full of technology so advanced that even he is impressed. Suddenly, Lex comes up with an idea to relieve tensions.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Superman has pounded to rubble one of Luthor's secret bases as tracking its owner down. In retaliation, one of Luthor's androids activates a satellite which surrounds Metropolis with an impenetrable and explosive barrier. Believing that Luthor is directly behind this assault, Superman gets angrier than before, and even more determined to track down and capture his nemesis after finding a way to disable his super-weapon.

Back on Lexor, an armored figure begins committing random acts of destruction. Overwhelmed, the Lexorian council asks Luthor's aid in tracking down and apprehending the "Mystery Marauder". Smugly, Lex promises his full cooperation to hunt Lexor's first supervillain down.

Back on Earth, Superman has finally figured out where Luthor is hiding. After devising a way to counteract Lexor's power-depleting red sun, the Man of Steel heads off to engage his nemesis. And their battle will have explosive consequences.

---

Tropes:

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Luthor's rescue robot RX99 acts on its own initiative to activate one of Luthor's mortal device and so taking revenge on Superman by threatening Metropolis. As triggering Luthor's weapon-satellite, RX99 briefly wonders if somehow its master implanted his obsession for revenge in its artificial brain, but it dismissed the question as irrelevant before powering down and "dying".
• Alliterative Name: When Luthor starts moonlighting as a supervillain, Lexorians call his alter ego "Mystery Marauder".
• Antagonist Title: The story is named after Superman's nemesis.
• Apocalypse How: A battle between Superman and Luthor and an energy blast badly aimed causes the core of planet Lexor to detonate, turning Lexor into flaming debris.
• Armored Villains, Unarmored Heroes: Lex Luthor builds a fancy armored warsuit which he has kept for any physical brawls between him and Superman ever since. Superman, the original Flying Brick, has no need for such toys.
• Becoming the Mask: In the Silver and The Bronze Age of Comic Books, Lex Luthor initially only helped an alien race rebuild its civilization in order to gain their cooperation—but when they hailed him as a hero (even renaming their planet Lexor), he realized he liked being considered a good guy.
• Bookends: The first and final pages feature an upset Superman flying away in the aftermath of a battle, as a bruised Luthor crawls out of the wreckage, pondering he has been pushed beyond his limit.
• Brought to You by the Letter "S": After finding a weapon-satellite hovering over Metropolis and spotting the purple "L" emblazoned across its outer shell, Superman angrily states that Luthor did not need to sign his handwork as if he cannot recognize it when he sees it.
• Bullying a Dragon: After the initial battle, Lex realizes that his escalating violence is finally exhausting Superman's last bits of patience when his nemesis comments that it must be Luthor's lucky day, since he has never been so tempted to cut loose on anybody, but a sudden emergency breaking out means he must leave right now instead of pummeling Lex.
• Chronic Villainy: After suffering one painful defeat too many at Superman's hands, Lex retires to Lexor and tries to settle down to be a model citizen and a good family man there. But despite his best efforts, he can't stop obsessing over the fact that Superman beat him. He finally builds a suit of Powered Armor in anticipation of Superman tracking him down, but then uses it to relieve his tensions by using it to wreak havoc on his new home, becoming its first supervillain. Superman does indeed arrive, and in the ensuing fight, Lex accidentally detonates a powerful gizmo and blows up the planet, killing his wife and infant son. He blames Superman and ends up more obsessed with his destruction than ever before.
• Conveniently Timed Distraction: Superman has just beaten Luthor, but a sudden life-threatening emergency draws his attention. Considering that his nemesis is in no shape to escape and is sure to pass out at any time, Superman lets him alone momentarily, which is all the time Luthor needs to turn on a distress call and be picked up by one of his robots.
  Lex Luthor: But perhaps most insulting of all was the sudden occurrence of a life-threatening crisis elsewhere that forced Superman to break off our battle. It is to this freak interruption alone I owe my current freedom...
• Domed Hometown: A satellite built by Luthor surrounds Metropolis with an energy barrier, completely cutting it off the outside world. Not only said force-field can stave off a 100-megaton bomb but also it will detonate if someone tries to disrupt it.
• Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Planet Lexor gets blown up during a battle between Luthor and Superman, when the former's blast bounces off the latter's chest and hits a giant spire built to infuse the planet's core with stabilizing energy. Luthor's energy blast mixes with the neutron waves flowing into the core, resulting in a planet-sized exploding fireball.
• Evil Overlooker: Inverted. The cover features Superman's giant head fearfully staring down at the figures of the new and more dangerous Luthor and Brainiac.
• Fatal Flaw: As usual, Luthor's Pride causes him to be his own worst enemy. Even after exiling himself to Lexor, where he is loved and praised by everyone, Lex is unable to live peacefully because he cannot forget for one single second that he has been unable to destroy Superman. His inability to let his suicidal grudge go will lead to the destruction of his world, the death of his family, and eventually his own demise.
• Flashback: The story starts with the aftermath of a battle between Superman and Luthor, followed by the latter's flashback showing how it went down.
• Flashback Effects: The panels narrating Luthor's flashback are shaded in yellow tones, have wavy borders and feature the characters as red-inked outlines. Another later flashback displays degraded colors.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: After a particularly ignominious defeat, Lex finally decides he can't go on like this anymore. He travels to Lexor, settles down with the Lexorian woman he loves, has a child, uses his brilliance to help the Lexorian people, and genuinely tries to put his evil past behind him. Except... to his own chagrin, he realizes he can't. Part of it's that he can't get over his obsession with needing to defeat Superman, but more than that, he psychologically needs dogs to kick. With ancient Lexorian tech, he builds a suit of Powered Armor and uses it to become Lexor's first supervillain, the Mystery Marauder, for no other reason than to relieve his tensions by randomly destroying things. When Superman finally tracks Luthor down (ironically, one of Lex's old automatic systems had launched an attack on Metropolis without Lex even being there), Lex fights him using the armor. Luthor’s blast ricochets off Superman's invulnerable chest and strikes the Neutrarod, one of his inventions, destroying the entire planet, including his wife and son. Lex survives but vows to dedicate the rest of his life to destroy Superman.
• Hurl It into the Sun: Since he cannot easily destroy one of Luthor's satellite-weapons without endangering Metropolis, Superman get rids of it by kicking it into deep space where he can take it apart safely.
• Ignored Epiphany: After another humiliating and painful (in both senses of the word) defeat, Luthor finally realizes that his war against Superman is pointless and will only get him killed him. Lex decides to admit defeat, exile himself into planet Lexor and lead a peaceful life; unfortunately, Lex cannot let his obsessive hatred go, and ends up resuming his war against Superman once again.
• In Medias Res: The story opens with Superman angrily flying away from the burning wreckage from Luthor's warship as Luthor crawls out of it. The issue then segues into a flashback showing their latest battle's scenes, whereupon the proper story starts.
• Kill Sat: Luthor builds an orbital weapon which surrounds Metropolis with a force field, cutting the city off from the outside world almost completely. Superman soon figures out that tampering with the force field or the satellite itself will trigger a detonation, obliterating Metropolis.
• Kryptonite-Proof Suit: Superman shields himself from Lexor's red solar rays by coating his body with some kind of ultra-reflective transparent liquid sun-screen solution. However, the chemicals will wear off before long, so Superman has to end the battle soon.
• Monster Protection Racket: Although Luthor moves to a planet where he is hailed as a science hero, he cannot let his grudge towards Superman go; so that he develops one power armor and tests it by engaging in random acts of destruction. When the Lexorian Council ask Lex's assistance to capture the "Mystery Marauder", Luthor smugly promises to employ all his resources to hunt that sick individual down.
• My Girl Back Home: Lex has a wife called Ardora who lives in planet Lexor, and who barely sees her husband because he spends most of his time in Earth. Ardora admits she is pained by her situation, but she believes Lex has good reasons to be constantly away.
  Nogu: "Thank you for summoning me so swiftly, Nogu."
  Nogu: "As we have every time an unidentified spacecraft has found its way to Lexor, Ardora. And each time you are besieged with more disappointment and despair when these space-wanderers so rarely turns out to be him! It pains me to see so much of your life spent enduring such prolonged loneliness."
  Ardora: "He visits me as often as he is able, Nogu. I have resigned myself to the fact that partial happiness is far better than none!"
• My God, What Have I Done?: When Luthor's deflected power blast hits the Neutrarod -a tower built to keep the planet Lexor's core stable-, Lex turns pale and screams "NO! What have I done?" in horror, realizing that he has just triggered a planetary detonation. Before five minutes have passed, though, he has already shifted the blame onto Superman.
• Never Found the Body: Superman assumes that Luthor has been incinerated by planet Lexor's destruction and leaves, failing to notice Luthor crawling behind an asteroid. Subverted in Superman (1939) #385, which continues the storyline, and has Superman to ponder his nemesis surely survived and wonder when and how Luthor will resurface.
• Never My Fault: Lex Luthor starts moonlighting as Lexor's own super-villain as building a giant tower called the Neutrarod to keep the planet's unstable core stabilized. Finally, Lex's villainous antics draw Superman's attention, who travels to Lexor and engages Lex. During the battle, Lex fires an energy lance at Superman, but the blast gets bounced off Clark and hits the Neutrarod, setting a chain reaction off which blows Lexor up. In the aftermath, Lex blames Superman for taking his family and his world away from him rather blame himself for committing senseless crimes which were showy enough to reveal his location to Superman, engaging the Kryptonian in a place which he knew to be unsafe or shooting the blast which obliterated his planet.
• Not Me This Time: Luthor frowns when he realizes that one of his overzealous androids has activated one of his super-weapons without his authorization or knowledge, since Superman will recognize his handwork (not a big feat since it is literally signed) and quickly come to the wrong but understandable conclusion that Lex is behind that attack.
• Outside-the-Box Tactic: Superman does not dare to pierce through the force field surrounding Metropolis because any disruption will trigger a detonation; and tampering with the barrier-emitting satellite will also cause it to blow up. So, Superman swiftly wraps his indestructible cape around the satellite, blocking the energy beam at the source, and moves the satellite to where he can destroy it safely.
• Percussive Therapy: Superman finds Luthor's secret lair but discovers that his archenemy has fled into space. Since he cannot find Luthor for the time being, Superman takes out his anger on the facility until it becomes a smoking rubble-filled hole in the ground.
  Superman: (thinking) Whatever the vessel was, it's no doubt taken Luthor far away where I can't find him... for now! But in the meantime...I can vent my frustration on the millions of dollars of scientific hardware my old foe had stashed on the premises
• Planetary Core Manipulation: After discovering that Lexor's nucleus is alarmingly stressed due to a volatile mix of molten elements, Lex builds the Neutrarod, a humongous tower which reaches deep down into the planet to infuse a ceaseless flow of stabilizing neutrons into the core. Unfortunately, when Luthor hits Superman, one of his armor's power blasts hits the Neutrarod, triggering a chain reaction and obliterating the planet.
• Revenge Before Reason:
  • After one battle, Lex Luthor realizes he is sick of getting beaten and humiliated every turn, and Superman himself is likewise becoming dangerously sick of putting up with his antics, so he exiles himself into planet Lexor, where his family lives and he is hailed as a science hero. Despite being constantly showered with love and praise, though, Lex cannot forget his hatred towards Superman, not even for one second. At the end, Lex starts another battle with Superman, during which Luthor is beaten again and Lexor gets destroyed, and Lex swears he will never stop trying to destroy Superman.
  • After Superman has destroyed one of Luthor's lairs, one surviving robot sets off one special super-weapon without its master's order or knowledge, wondering whether it has been programmed to act on its own, or Luthor somehow implanted his obsession for revenge into its circuitry.
• Rushmore Refacement: Invoked. Lex Luthor carves Superman's face on a mountainside (with exquisite detail!) just so that he can blow it up into smithereens.
• Save the Villain: In the battle which opens the story, Lex Luthor's hovercraft is about to crash into the ground after getting hit by Luthor's own death which got bounced off Superman and back at him; however, Superman cushioned his fall with a blast of Super-Breath. Of course, Luthor finds extra-aggravating being saved by the enemy whom he just tried to destroy.
• Second Super-Identity: Lex builds an armor and creates another super-villain identity called the Mystery Marauder to commit crimes across the world of Lexor.
• Tempting Fate: Superman leaves Luthor alone after a battle, thinking he is too injured to do anything other than passing out. As Superman is taking care of another emergency somewhere else, Luthor activates an evacuation emergency system before passing out. When Superman returns and finds his enemy gone, he curses himself for not expecting this.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Subverted when Luthor complains about the people of planet Lexor turning against him in spite of everything that he has done for them...disregarding the fact that they have just discovered that he was also the mysterious armored super-villain who was wreaking havoc across their planet.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • At the very start of the story, Lex is crawling out of the burning wreckage of another war-machine, badly injured and bruised, barely conscious and, worst of all, knowing that he is still alive just because Superman saved him after stopping his latest scheme. Lex comes to the realization that he has been finally pushed too far, and he will never beat Superman, so he flees into exile to planet Lexor.
  • At the end, Lex starts another battle with Superman, during which Lexor gets destroyed and Luthor's family dies. Sobbing, Luthor vows to hate and hound Superman for as long as he lives.
• You Talk Too Much!: Upon observing that his nemesis seems to be in a hurry to end their current battle, Lex snidely asks if he is worried about his anti-red sun protection wearing off. Annoyed, Superman replies that Lex can never stop himself from rambling.
  Lex Luthor: "Why the hurry, Kryptonian— unless you're worried that red-sun screen of yours might wear off before you've spirited me out of range of Lexor's red sun!"
  Superman: (annoyed) "Luthor, you never did know when to shut up!"

---