10 Justice League Moments That Shocked The World
3. Recruiting The New Member... Lex Luthor?! - Justice League #36-39 (2015)
Earth 3 is an evil version of the Prime Earth, ruled by an inverted Justice League called the Crime Syndicate. When their reality was destroyed, the Crime Syndicate took over Prime Earth after trapping the Justice League in a Firestorm Matrix.
With the heavy-hitters of Earth incapacitated, Lex Luthor took central stage, defeated the Syndicate, rescued the League, and personally saved Superman's life.
After Luthor was praised worldwide for his actions, Luthor saw this as a perfect opportunity to wrangle his way into the Justice League. Although Supes and the gang knew this decision was unwise, they believed turning down the man who just saved humanity would destroy their public image.
Left with no choice, the League reluctantly welcomed Superman's arch-nemesis into the League.
To the utter surprise of no-one, this decision totally backfired. Teaming up with the League allowed a supervillain called Neutron to access Luthor's secret project, Amazo, infecting all of Metropolis with a lethal spore. While on a mission with the League on the world of Apokolips, Luthor was corrupted by the Anti-Life Equation, transmogrifying him into the God of Death. The moral of the story is simple: never let Luthor join anything.