6 Times Smallville Improved Superman Mythology (& 4 Times It Failed)

In the comics, Lex's parents were low-class louts whom he killed for the insurance money. They weren't actually developed characters, just props in Lex's story. Beyond the fact that they were cretins, it didn't do much to explain Lex as a person. The series new spin on the Luthors gave Lex much greater depth. John Glover played Lionel with such Machiavellian relish the character became an essential aspect of Lex's descent into evil.

Lionel Luthor was a ruthless businessman when we first met him; a model of the sort of man Lex is destined to become. Lionel is cold and calculating with his own flesh and blood. He constantly was teaching Lex how to be like him, but at the same time also making sure Lex never surpassed him. It was never clear whether Lionel's love of Lex was greater than his fear of him. Lionel almost seemed to taunt his son's hair loss in an unspoken act of growing his own hair out into a lion-like mane. This relationship made Lex Luthor a more complicated character than ever seen before.

You couldn't help but feel sorry for the son who never got his father's approval. It also provided an interesting counterpoint story. As Michael Rosenbaum crafted an organic and nuanced descent into a believable villain over the course of seven years, John Glover's Lionel slowly underwent a redemptive storyline that saw him eventually become an ally to Clark. Their relationship came to a dark end when Lex murdered the now noble Lionel.