5. Strained Personal Relationships
It's important to note that Luthor's connections are largely hollow pacts formed only to further his personal goals and shore up his contingency plans - he may know everyone worth knowing, but that knowledge never manifests itself as any real emotion. This, like his intelligence and ego, is always true of Lex in every incarnation. Even in Elseworlds tales like "Red Son", Luthor values his work and his goals high above his relationships. This could be explored in many different ways, possibly even through past relationships with family members (more on that in a minuteĀ) or connections to Smallville. More likely, though, is that we'll see Luthor closely associated with people who either aren't aware of his true nature or feel trapped inside his machinations. The latter is the case in "Red Son", if that can be used as an example again - Lex is paid a visit in his lab by his wife on their anniversary, who brings him a gift. He apologizes for not reciprocating, as he was busy that morning reading thirteen books, and when he returns to his work he asks her to leave the gift so his assistant can open it later. And she stays married to him! The point here is that whether they realize it or not, anyone in Lex Luthor's life is simply a chess piece, another element in the grand game for Lex to manipulate and use to his advantage. He rarely shows compassion toward anyone else, and when he does it is distinctly at odds with his character. Hand in hand with this characteristic, perhaps, is another element that we may just glimpse in Batman vs. Superman...