Everyone knows that Lex Luthor hates Superman more than anything in this world or any other. Their rivalry is one of the greatest ones in all of comics which is second in popularity only to Batman and the Joker. Even then, it is not very far behind. Lex has dedicated his life and soul to tearing Superman down, but despite how much Lex burns with hatred over the Man of Steel, Superman is far from the only person he despises. Lex has had quite a few deadly feuds over his many years as Superman’s number one antagonist, and some of them drive him nearly as crazy. Lex is a man of overwhelming hatred.
From Batman to Lois Lane and some surprises in between, here are five of Lex Luthor’s best feuds.
1) Batman
With as much as Lex hates Superman, it only makes sense that he would hate his best friend and brother-in-arms as well. However, despite the numerous times Batman has stood by Superman and helped him take down Luthor, the mad genius has plenty of reasons to hate the Dark Knight that have nothing to do with the Man of Steel. In fact, not only does Lex hate Batman, but he hates Bruce Wayne for distinct and unrelated reasons. While Batman is a thorn in his side, Bruce consistently stands in Lex’s way of controlling the monetary world, and will step in to outbid LexCorp when he needs to. The most instrumental moment that drove Lex to hate both aspects of Bruce came at the end of the “No Man’s Land” storyline, where Lex attempted to buy most of the ruined Gotham land and reshape it to his desires. Unfortunately for him, the combined might of Batman’s investigation and Bruce buying the land himself stopped Lex and embarrassed him like few other things have. Lex spent years trying to tear down Batman and Bruce, even hiring David Cain to frame Bruce for murder in the “Bruce Wayne: Murderer Turned Fugitive” storyline. The two are rivals intellectually, monetarily, and morally. In some ways they are very similar, and in the most important ways, far too different.
2) Pharm and Graft
While Lex is one of the world’s worst villains, when he first moved to Metropolis he was wide-eyed and full of dreams, and actually became a hero. His archenemies were Dr. Pharm and Graft, two brothers who he battled on repeat, until one day he discovered they were experimenting with Kryptonite. The three men put aside their differences to study the space-rock together, only for Lex to betray them, steal all their research, and run them out of town. They returned to get their payback in Superman (Vol. 6) #1, forming the Lex Luthor Revenge Squad. If you spend decades planning to ruin someone’s life and then form an entire team specifically naming your intent to get revenge on them, I think it’s pretty safe to say that you have a strong feud with them. Lex’s oldest villains are doing everything they can to ruin his life, and the threat they posed even forced the evil genius to form an alliance with Superman, which should tell you everything you need to know about how much he wants to take them down.
3) Martian Manhunter
As revealed in Justice League (Vol. 4,) Lex’s abusive father Lionel was a member of the secret organization known as the Legionnaires Club, which was obsessed with the power of Perpetua and the Totality. Their research once brought a young J’onn J’onzz to Earth, who became friends with the child Lex Luthor, who helped him escape his captors. Years later, the former friends became bitter enemies, with Lex siding with Perpetua and Martian Manhunter trying desperately to convince him to turn away from her. In the end, Lex and J’onn had a heated battle, where Lex absorbed J’onn into himself to become an Apex Predator. Their rivalry was born of a friendship turned sour, similar to Superman and Lex’s own never-ending fight. They haven’t interacted since that intense clash, but this one fight alone was emotionally charged enough for the ages, and the possibility of them fighting once more can only dredge up more pain and childhood betrayal.
4) Brainiac
Despite the fact that both villains want nothing more than to destroy Superman, Lex and Brainiac find themselves at odds even more than they cooperate. For one, Lex cannot imagine not being the smartest person in the room, and Brainiac is one of the few people who can consistently outsmart him. Beyond that, all of their team ups inevitably turn sour, usually when Brainiac betrays Lex or deems him no longer necessary. Brainiac once turned Lex’s daughter Lena into his host, after which Lex traded her to Brainiac 13 from the future in exchange for advanced technology. Lex never forgave the alien knowledge-hoarder for this chain of events, thinking he had no other choice to save Lena’s life. The best microcosm of the villains’ mutual hatred comes in Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor, which sees the two battle to the death after Brainiac used Lex as a pawn in a scheme to kill Superman. Battles between these two are always intellect measuring contests, and neither will accept defeat.
5) Lois Lane
The only person who can say they’ve stood in Lex’s way just as much as Superman is Lois Lane. She is one of the people who Lex hates most, and one of the few he may have actually really loved. Before her marriage to Superman, Lex would constantly attempt to court Lois, only for her to turn it around and hound Luthor for ways to expose his illicit activities. Lois has done more damage to Lex’s reputation than anyone else, routinely being the one to drag all of LexCorp’s dirty laundry into the light for all to see. She had single-handedly brought down his criminal empire with her exposés numerous times, and written more articles about the evil he regularly gets up to than any one person could count. He’s attempted to ruin her life time and again, but no matter how many hits she takes, Lois Lane always stands up and swings back harder. Lois is without a doubt Lex’s second worst enemy. Of course, the fact that Lex’s two greatest foes are also the greatest romance in comics just proves that shared interests, like a burning desire to bring this corrupt man to justice, are essential in a healthy, long-term relationship.
So there we have five of Lex’s most deadly and passionate feuds that aren’t with Superman. Of course, this is far from exhaustive. Lex has plenty more people that he hates, and plenty more who hate him back. Out of all of these, who do you think is the number two thorn in Lex’s side? Let us know in the comments below!
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