Lex Luthor has always been a man scrambling for more power and control, and no time is this more obvious than the return of the planet Lexor in DC’s upcoming Future State event.
In DC’s Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex, readers are introduced to a Luthor who has established himself as the ruler of a planet under a red sun. On the planet, he is venerated as a hero, but his position is threatened by a request from Lois Lane to join the federation of the United Planets. Lex is stuck between choosing something which may benefit his people, and exposing himself as a villain when the planet’s citizens nearly worship him as a savior.
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Future State isn’t the first time readers have seen Lex rule a planet. All the way back in 1963’s Superman #164, Lex Luthor challenged Superman to a fair fight— man to man, no superpowers. In order to honor the fight, Superman finds a planet with a red sun to stage their battle, but once there they discover is a once-advanced community of people now eking out a meager existence on a barren world. With his intelligence, Lex is able to examine and restart the ancient machinery, restoring the world’s irrigation systems and promising the people he will help find them water. He is hailed as a hero, but purposefully throws the fight with Superman and strikes a deal to return to Earth so that the people will never know he couldn’t best his foe in a fair fight. In return, Superman throws an ice meteor down to the planet, thus providing the people water and solidifying Lex’s place as the planet’s savior. He even receives a postcard in jail—it’s a space photo of the planet and the statue they erected in his honor.
Returning later to the planet, now called Lexor, Luthor learns to speak their language and meets a woman, Ardora, who he marries. Bopping back and forth between planets doesn’t seem to put a damper on their relationship either, as she cares for him after his lost fights to Superman and raises their son largely on her own. Even after Lex is revealed to be a villain to his people, she supports him, and they slowly win back the people’s trust. Throughout the stories of Lexor, readers are shown a Lex who not only seems to enjoy basking in the praise of his people but also seems to express some genuine compassion for them. He even goes so far as to stop Brainiac from looting the planet for its technology.
It’s his ongoing fight with Superman, however, that finally ends Lex’s rule. In Action Comics #544, Lex builds himself a suit using Lexor’s technology and secretly tests its power on his own people. He quickly set out to use the suit to fight Superman. The fight goes wrong, however, when an energy beam from Lex’s suit ricochets off Superman and hits Lexor. The energy strike causes a cataclysmic chain reaction that destroys Lexor and all its citizens – including Lex’s wife and young son.
Certainly, the idea of Lex ruling his own planet of sycophantic citizens is a fairly strange storyline. A Lex Luthor who helps people build their society and find water is a far cry from the Lex Luthor most comic book readers are familiar with. The idea that Lex expresses compassion for a people makes him almost likable, despite his less than honest leadership.
With the release of DC’s Future State event in 2021, readers will be reintroduced to the planet Lexor. Just how or if this planet connects with the one from the 1960s and ‘70s comic books remains to be seen. However, one thing is for certain: Lex Luthor Planetary Ruler will certainly be catching more than one reader’s attention.
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