Young Justice

Yeah, she may be the world's best martial artist, but her sword could be unnatural as well, something that is sharp/durable enough to where an Atlantean's durability wouldn't be a problem. Not to mention, Orm had been imprisoned for some time. They'd probably put him someplace away from water to keep his strength down, like the old Justice League cartoon had to account for when Aquaman needed medical attention, where they had to wheel in a tank full of ocean water for AM to float in.

From what we see of Orm he's clearly seen better days. He's very clearly not at his peak.

Which is scary, because despite this, he was still able to discover the location of the Heroes families play date. Even Shiva was impressed that he pulled that off all on his own, without any of the heroes knowing.

If that's what he does on an off day, what would he have been able to do in good shape?

Well on a good day, he was a member of the Light, all of whom are shown to be rather magnificent in their bastardry.

Wait, nvm.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Feb 6th 2019 at 11:09:32 AM

I'm pretty sure you have to have high levels of magnificence and awfulness to be a member of the Light.

Seriously. Has there been any other version of Lex Luthor to accomplish something like tying the League's hands so thoroughly and splitting it like that? Not to mention the Light apparently sparked an intergalactic war.

While he didn't completely screw over the League like he did here, Lex did do some similar dividing iirc when he became President.

This is a benefit CEO Luthor has over strictly mad-scientist Luthor.

He can utterly fuck with & impede the heroes in any way he can through money & politics.

You don't even need a big fancy death ray gun to be a threat, just enough political clout.

This is one reason why I'm a huge fan of the later seasons of Justice League, as well as YJ's portrayal of Luthor. He really lives up to his "arsenal of the mind" quote.

It's very well done, and it serves as an excellent explanation of why when Superman fights the likes of Brainiac, Zod, and Darkseid, Lex Luthor is his arch enemy.

Mad Scientist Luthor is a wanted criminal. When he's not in prison the cops are out looking for him because they want to arrest him. CEO Luthor and politician Luthor are wealthy influential people that have considerable power, and as far as the authorities can tell, he hasn't done anything wrong. At least, nothing they can prove. When Supes defeats one of mad scientist Luthor's plans, he gets to throw Luthor in jail. When Supes defeats one of CEO/politician Luthor's plans, he can't even prove that Luthor was involved, at least not in any way that would hold up in a court of law. This means that CEO/politician Lex's default state is winning. He may not succeed in all his master plans, but him not being in jail for all the illegal stuff he does means he's getting away with it. This dynamic is why I believe that DC made the right choice turning Luthor from a criminal/mad scientist to the head of a multi-billion dollar company. It makes him a much more dangerous foe.

Honestly, as long as I've been around it's always been CEO/politician Luthor. The only times he openly says he's a criminal is in stuff that is intentionally meant to be a throwback to an earlier era, or after his stint as CEO of Lexcorp has ended with Supes proving Luthor was in fact a criminal, like in Justice League. I'm not even entirely sure when they changed this aspect of Luthor's character, or all the details why, but I'm super glad they did. He's far more credible a threat this way.

Edited by WillKeaton on Feb 7th 2019 at 11:23:03 AM

The thing about CEO Luthor is that his power depends entirely on keeping up the good publicity. The thing is, he ultimately falls apart because a big part of his characterization is his obsessive hatred and envy of Superman. That hatred drives him to make really stupid mistakes and throw away his reputation in failed bids to kill Superman.

Young Justice Luthor so far seems better at keeping his act together. But if he is driven by the same resentment and envy of Supes as his other incarnations, it's not going to last.

Justice League Luthor actually did manage to keep it under control for awhile, and when he did try to screw with Superman he did so in ways that would keep him blameless like running for preisdent to get under Supes skin due to Justice Lord Supes. Of course him attempting to instigate conflict between Cadmus and the League before he got into his own immortal Amazo-type body in his bid for godhood ruined it.

The DCAU Luthor was also a good mix since when he lost his CEO privileges he adapted into an adventurer evil mad scientist.

No matter what ya can’t keep Luthor down.

And eventually developed a romantic obsession with Brainiac.

He also got cancer from keeping a hunk of radioactive rock on him for years if I remember correctly.

Brainiac fixed that when he turned him into a cyborg.

Even if Lex Luthor hates Superman obsessively, if he tonea it down and words it right then he can make it seem reasonable ('this all powerful alien is not accountable to anyone and does not hold himself to the law'). He just has to seem more reasonable than Trump while getting away with it

Wasn't that the Luthor of DC animated series?

Pretty much yeah. At least until he got exposed as a villain in JLU.

Well, Luthor started of with a good public image in Superman, then in an early episode of Justice league the League worked together to get him convicted, then Luthor became a more overt criminal, then he saved the planet from the Justice Lords and got a pardon, then in Justice League Unlimited he entered politics and ran for President, then he tried to wipe out both Cadmus and the Justice League, then he became a criminal again and ended up running the secret society. So in that continuity Luthor bounced back and forth a couple of times.

My ideal headcannon for Luthor is to start him out as a Corrupt Corporate Executive before eventually being convicted and becoming a straight criminal afterwards. Ideally he should only go full criminal or Mad Scientist when he doesn't have a choice. If he does than it doesn't make a lot of sense. And JL/JLU does this with aplomb.

Edited by kkhohoho on Feb 9th 2019 at 2:59:20 PM

Whoops, I meant Luthor of DC animated movies.

Anyone feel like there might be more to Jade leaving Will and Lian? Like maybe she was being blackmailed or she felt her connection to them was putting them in danger? (she did end up freeing Shade from the Light's control).