Luthor has since become one of the most feared and respected villains in DC Comics, a man who has choked people with his bare hands when his plans haven't gone how he wanted, as well as being a super-genius who can cook up any number of gadgets and gizmos to threaten the world and, by extension, Superman. But like his fellow heroes and villains, there was a period duing the late Golden/Silver Age of comic books where he was a little more prosaic. In fact, one of Luthor's more innocent characterisations has since become an internet meme. The current Lex has more in line with Walter White at his worst, but instead of a meth empire he had the resources of a huge company with sci-fi levels of technology. He's a serious threat. And yet many best remember him as the man who stole forty cakes, which is as many as four tens and is terrible. As chronicled in the 1978 childrens dictionary The Super Dictionary, which featured a bunch of DC characters and another section where Lex literally paints Superman. He ties him up and paints him. Why? Who knows. But that's a very silly, not Eisenberg-level serious version of Luthor, and it got confirmed as canon in the DC universe a while ago. Kid Lex stealing cakes isn't the most inspiring supervillain origin story.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
