Lex Luthor is at it again!
Having stolen a device from STAR Labs, he plans to use it as a battery for his newest anti-Superman weapon: the Kryptonite ray. As luck would have it, Superman himself is first on the scene. Luthor eagerly fires, only to have the gun malfunction in an unexpected way.
The beam strikes Superman dead center but instead of killing him, it splits him in half: a blue, kind hearted, friendly and polite Superman; and a red, angry, aggressive, fight-hungry Superman. Worse, his powers are split in half as well! Blue Superman tries politely to get Luthor to surrender. Red Superman insists on tossing Blue Superman away so he can violently take Luthor in. While the two are arguing, Luthor runs, only to encounter Wonder Woman. He shoots her with the gun to the same effect: a blue, sweet sisterly Diana, and a red Amazon Princess ready to fight.
Superman Red and Wonder Woman Red team up against their blue selves and Luthor figures out the Kryptonite in his gun was mutated, resulting in heroes split in half by their powers, and the red half getting all their aggression. The two red heroes decide they operate better without the mitigating influence of their blue selves, and that means other heroes will too. Their first stop: Batman, since he will be most likely to figure out what's going on and try to stop them.
Green Arrow is at Batman's side when the two red heroes aim at Batman. He does a fine job dodging but eventually is hit. Since he has no powers, there is only his training, and that doesn't get split in half. Red Batman and Blue Batman are an even match in a fight... Except that Blue Batman is trusting so he lets his guard down and Red Batman lays him out before leaving to join the others.
Green Arrow is left behind to wake up Blue Batman, and race to the Watchtower. The Reds have imprisoned the Blues and Luthor. They're preparing to split the rest of the League but are concerned that there are only a few shots left before the battery drains. Needing a brain, they fire the ray at Luthor. Red Luthor immediately conks Blue Luthor in the head with a chair. He sits at the Watchtower control and wires the ray into the Watchtower power core. He explains this not only solves their power issue but will allow them to bounce the ray off their satellites and split the League into reds and blues all at the same time.
As Red Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman eagerly look on, Red Luthor hits the button. The rays turn inward and strike the reds, integrating them back with the blues to restore them to normal.
As they all gape, Batman figured it out. The Blues were each Hero's true inner self distilled to purity and the reds the violence they need to fight. In Luthor's case, his blue, true inner self was selfish and corrupt... Meaning Red Luthor was the good part of him kept submerged.
As he recalibrates the gun to fire on himself, Green Arrow and Superman muse on how much the world could benefit from a good Luthor. He sadly declines, indicating that all good people must make sacrifices for the greater good.
- Red Luthor: This is mine.
With that, he fires one more time and reintigrates himself. Superman destroys the gun to the grumbling dismay of the now normal Luthor.
- Good Is Dumb: Played for laughs. Superman's kindly and boyish good nature is taken to the extreme. The Blues are not just pure-hearted, they're innocent to the point of being painfully naive. This is true for all the blue heroes. They are easily distracted by being told to cheer.
- Good Colors, Evil Colors: "Superman Red vs. Superman Blue" had Luthor boost his Kryptonite Emitter with a super-powered battery that split Superman into two forms: Blue Is Heroic (though less ready to fight) and Red Is Violent. A blast to Wonder Woman, then Batman, showed this didn't stop with Kryptonians. Inverted when Luthor himself is hit with the Gun's ray into red and blue forms: he tells us blue is "true self (evil)" and red is "aberration (good)." Red Luthor tries to act even more evil to win the red versions of the heroes over, and sucker them into being reunited. While Green Arrow liked the idea of a good Luthor, Red Luthor said it wasn't natural, and heroes must make sacrifices. "This is mine," he says before reuniting.
- Heroic Sacrifice: "This is mine," said by Red Luthor before merging with Blue Luthor again.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: "Superman Red vs. Superman Blue" is built on this. Luthor's emitter accidentally splits Superman in two: Blue is passive and eager to please, while Red is hotheaded and overly violent. After Wonder Woman is split in two, the Reds decide to do the same to the entire League starting with Batman. They flip the coloring on you with Luthor. Red-Luthor appears to be a villainous hothead, but he's actually a hero. It was the blue version that represented his evil side; Batman reasons the opposite coloring is because Luthor is a villain.
