12 Unfairly Hated DC Comics Characters

As we’ve seen, one bad appearance in a movie or show can define a character for decades. If that holds true for “Batman V. Superman,” then Lex Luthor might be ruined for a good while.

But here I go again blaming Zack Snyder for a pre-existing widespread skepticism towards Luthor. People have grumbled for years about how a pudgy real estate hustler could possibly deserve his standing as Superman’s worst enemy.

In fact, Lex wasn’t always a figure of corporate manipulation. That came with DC’s comprehensive makeover of Superman in the 1980s. With the exception of that dated version of the character, Luthor has functioned mostly as a weirdly magnetic mad scientist. Check out Grant Morrison’s “All-Star Superman” for the most compelling take on Luthor— at the height of his self-made achievement, burning to be humankind’s role model instead of that big dumb alien.

Luthor is like Batman gone really wrong, if he took self-improvement to a level of self-worship. He’s a far more interesting nemesis for Superman than just another overpowered dude like Doomsday.