10 Times Lex Luthor Outsmarted Everyone
5. When He Saved The World's Criminals In Salvation Run
In the seven-issue miniseries Salvation Run, Lex Luthor, and the rest of the world's supervillains, are all captured and imprisoned on a distant penal planet. The planet was then dubbed "Salvation," and the criminals did one of two things: join forces to try and find a way back to Earth, or fight to become the supreme leader of Salvation.
Lex being Lex, he wanted to get back to Earth, which prompted him to begin the construction of a teleportation device. He takes on a leadership role, and ropes in some of the DC Universe's biggest bads to help him accomplish his goal.
He ends up getting into an all-out brawl with the Joker to determine which of the two is the supreme leader of all the bad guys, but while that was going down, a Boom Tube opened, and an invasion of Parademons came out. When Lex determines the Parademons are only the first wave of many, he gets to work on finishing his device.
As the battle commences, Luthor works with Gorilla Grodd, Vandal Savage, and others to complete the device. When he does finish it, he sacrifices Heatmonger, Thunder and Lightning, Plasmus, Neutron, and Warp to power it. The villains exit with Luthor being the last to leave, saying, "I win! Do you hear me? I BEAT YOU! ALL OF YOU!" After he passes through the teleporter, it explodes, killing the Parademons.