10 Comic Book Supervillains Improved Through Retcon
2. Lex Luthor
Alexander “Lex” Luthor began his criminal existence as the stereotypical mad scientist. The egotistical but brilliant man created devices and schemes to thwart the newly arrived Man of Steel or steal funds for his research. Superman would stymie the scientist and send him off to prison.
The Silver Age relegates this Luthor to Earth-Two and gives him the name Alexi. Earth-One gets a slightly more stable but still evil Lex Luthor who began his relationship with Superman as a teenager when the two started out as friends. The “Man of Steel” miniseries created the evilest thing a writer in the 1980s could think of: a corporate CEO. Lex owned most of Metropolis, paid scientists to create things for him, and took the credit. Luthor presents a public face as a philanthropist while he conducts evil schemes clandestinely. He manages to manipulate his way into the White House until his corruption is uncovered by Batman.
After several more universal reboots, Lex is something of an anti-hero. He has even worn Superman’s “S” shield and was also briefly a member of the Justice League. But make no mistake, Luthor only looks out for himself and his own interests, no matter what it looks like on the surface.