10 Astonishing Facts About Kryptonite
4. Lex Luthor Is Armed To The Teeth With Kryptonite
Even though Kryptonite can power Metropolis for a year, Luthor believes it's more sensible to use it to beat the crap out of Superman.
There is no one who has weaponised the remnants of Superman's home more than Luthor. As a teenager, the egomaniacal mastermind used a device to bring Kryptonite to life, forcing Supes to battle an army of Kryptonite Men. Luthor also personally upgraded Metallo so he was powered by four kinds of Kryptonite. His iconic Warsuit can shoot Kryptonite rays and is armed with spears, knives, and axes covered with the green rock.
For years, he wore a Kryptonite ring so Superman couldn't get near him. (He stopped wearing it when the ring gave him cancer but after he cloned himself into another body, Luthor was back to his old evil self.)
The most clever way Luthor has utilised Superman's weakness is when he arranged for 10,000 megatons of Kryptonite to erupt into Earth's atmosphere, causing it to spread worldwide. The radiation was so thin, it wouldn't effect humans but would make it impossible for Superman to live on the planet. Luckily, this was reversed after a bunch of robots ate all the Kryptonite, which is the most comic book solution I have ever heard.