1. Superman's Very Existence Undermines The Foundations Of Our Civilization
The founding principle of democracy - that all men are created equal - ceases to be when there is a god flying above us. Kal-El is clearly not equal to us. He was born as a superior being from a superior race. Why bother holding an election for our leader when the Nietzschean Superman is clearly there waving his cape like a flag rallying mankind to his cause? Lex Luthor does not believe in any sort of deity or religion. Still, he recognizes religions as (generally) a force of good in society to control the masses, to unite a community, and to transmit the values of a civilization across the generations. But every religion on Earth currently requires faith in a distant deity and its long-dead prophets. Why worship some invisible god when there's a dark-haired, blue-eyed Son of Heaven walking amongst the masses right now? Lex knows that soon, a Church of Superman will arise and the old order be replaced. Lex does believe in commerce and industry. He believes in human ingenuity in solving problems and he believes that human genius can open all the doors of knowledge. But it takes work for all of this and why should humans work now that the Man of Steel can do all these things for us? What good is a commercial economy to govern wealth when one man can make diamonds out of coal? Why should we develop industry when he can mine out the deepest veins of ore with his strength, smelt the metal from rocks with his eyes, and forge the highest quality goods with his super-speed? Why should we build telescopes to study the stars or microscopes to see the infinitesimal when he can do it as easily as you or I might read a newspaper? Since he can do everything, there is nothing for us to do. Lex, to his horror, knows where this all must soon lead. Humanity will become useless slugs dependent on an alien man-god for our every need. In the end, Superman will have no choice but to accept his god-king status and Earth will become the throne-world of the House of El! Like this article? Agree or disagree? Let us know in the comments section below.
Born and raised in Appalachia, Brent now lives in rural Wisconsin. He is a practicing attorney with a dozen years of experience as both a prosecutor and a defender. He has collected comics for decades and at one time had almost 8,000 in his collection.
