20 Greatest Arrowverse Villains

Lex Luthor’s mother appeared in Supergirl a couple of years before Lex himself, and wasn’t even the central villain of season two. That role fell to Teri Hatcher’s Queen Rhea. However, Brenda Strong stole every scene she was in.

The blueprint for the character was clearly Lex himself, since Lillian shared his scientific brilliance, his cold ruthlessness and his motivating hatred towards extraterrestrials on earth (especially those from Krypton): clearly Supergirl’s showrunners wanted the Lex/Superman dynamic but weren’t at that time allowed to draft Lex himself.

Ersatz Lex or not, Strong proved herself more than up to carving a unique niche for herself in the Arrowverse. You can tell when an actor’s having a lot of fun in a role, and Strong clearly relished getting all the best lines, even when she was sidelined in later seasons.