<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0
transitional//en">The Lethal Luthors:
A Deceptive Brilliance
PART ONE: LUTHOR BY NATURE BUT NOT BY NAME
Alexander Wainwright 1894-1990
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Alexander Wainwright shared with his brothers, his full brothers
and his paternal half brothers, brilliance and a propensity towards baldness.
If there is such a thing as a genetic predisposition to crime, it had not
manifested in Alexander Wainwright until his mid-forties. that is unless you
can consider an overactive libido as being criminal. While at
In 1920 Alexander Wainwright had been put on the faculty. Since he
was a biologist and a physicist and a well regarded researcher, this was
considered to be true catch. Despite his initial acclaim he proved to be very
secretive about his work and his research moved slower than his sponsors would
have liked. There were also continual rumors about his personal life. It was
believed that while he was working as an instructor that he had an affair with
one of his students. She was one of his lab assistants and also the young wife
of an antiquities professor named Kojak. She gave birth to a boy named
Theodopolous in 1924. Theo Kojak would grow up to become one of the foremost
detectives on the New York City Police force. Although Professor Kojak remained
oblivious to the fact, Theo was the son of Alexander Wainwright.
In early 1932 Alexander Wainwright learned from his colleague
Nathaniel Roberts that there had been an alien life form in the arctic that had
nearly wiped out a meteorological station. Dr. MacReady had taken a sample of
the material with him. Wainwright tried contacting this Dr. MacReady, or as has
he was commonly known, Doc Savage[2]
to see if he could get a sample of the tissue to do research. Savage denied
Wainwright's request, citing that it was much too dangerous for Wainwright to
work on it. Wainwright paid several of the employees of the Empire State
building to keep tabs on Savage for any sign that might be working on the
mysterious alien tissue sample. .
During the next few years Professor Alexander Wainwright had a
four year affair with another one of his students. She became pregnant and
rather than even attempt to make Alexander Wainwright marry her she married a
boy of her own age named Thorsen[3].
She also believed that Thorson had better financial prospects than Wainwright.
She gave birth to a daughter named Lena. Alexander Wainwright felt a connection
to only two of his children. Lena was one of them, possibly because he had
actually loved her mother or because having been denied access to Lena made her
a prize to be won.
In 1939 the stake out of Doc Savage and his associates paid off.
While Savage did not let Wainwright borrow the tissue sample, Savage did let
his cretinous, sub-human associate Mayfair to experiment on it. Wainwright had
a few crooks break into Mayfair's Queens laboratory and take several pieces of
laboratory equipment, parts of ongoing experiementa and the alien tissue
samples that Mayfair had been given.
Wainwright tookthe alien tissue samples that he had acquired to
Chicago where he had a laboratory built inside an old warehouse. He believed
that the distance from New York would prevent Savage and his men finding him
and from taking back the tissue samples. Wainwright attempted to revitalize the
tissue sample in a vat of electrically charged fluid. The alien tissue, a
proplasmic being revived a bit when it was fed raw meat but it remained in a
dormant state. Wainwright felt he was making real progress when tragedy
struck.The warehouse in which he was conducting his experiments caught fire.
The costumed vigilante hero in Chicago, Superman demolished the warehouse to
prevent the burning structure from spreading into other older warehouses in the
district. All of Wainwright's fortune and his years of research were destroyed
in that fire.[4]
The remnants of the burning building however left enough clues to
tip police that Dr. Wainwright, the owner of the building had been involved in
shady doings and criminal activities. His reputation was also ruined by this
fire which seemed deliberately set. Alexander Wainwright blamed Superman. Since
Chicago was no longer a safe haven Dr. Wainwright returned to New York, he
found that his activities in Chicago had caught up to him. He was dismissed
from the University faculty. Having few prospects of achieving another academic
career or even one as a legitimate scientific researcher Alexander Wainwright
became one of the laboratory assistants to the red-headed criminal scientist
Alexi Luthor. It also appearsed as though Superman had followed Wainwright to
New York.
During one such case he posed as the eminent scientist Dr.
Martinson, who had invented an earthquake machine. Martinson may have hit upon
a similar method as that used by Dr. Alex Zorka in New York or by the Little
White Brother down in Chile a few months prior to this event. While Alex
Wainwright was posing as Dr. Martinson, a snooping reporter named Clark Kent
came asking questions. Wainwright knew that Kent was a friend of Superman's.
While Kent's back was turned, Wainwright coshed him and threw him out the
window of Dr. Martinson's laboratory which was in a high rise. Kent however was
saved by Superman who then climbed up the building and jumped into the window
of Martinson's laboratory.[5]
Wainwright however had disappeared as per Luthor's orders.
Wainwright was a loyal henchman of Lex Luthor's until Luthor's
disappearance in 1942 shortly after the incident called The Heat Horror
by the media.
For some reason the press and the comic book accounts, which were
in part based upon newspaper and radio accounts, had begun depicting Alexander
Wainwright as Lex Luthor, altering the descriptions and pictorial
representations from a youngish man with reddish hair to an older, stockier
bald headed man. Alexi Luthor did not mind this since it took the heat away
from him and paved the way for him to use Alexander Wainwright as a future fall
guy. Alexander Wainwright did not mind since it established the idea that he
was the leader of the Luthor organization so that when made his move to take
over, it would be less messy.
As it turned out Alexander Wainwright did not have to stage a coup
d'etat for the control of the Luthor organization, Alexi Luthor disappeared
after being taken into custody by Superman in 1942. Alexander Wainwright
assumed control and adopted the Luthor name [6]
Alexander Wainwright as Lex Luthor continued his predecessor's
campaign against Superman. His predecessor had chosen Superman as a target
because he assumed that his contests against Superman symbolized intellect
pitted against physical prowess. The first Lex Luthor did not have a personal
grudge against Superman any more than he did against the rest of humanity.
Alexander Wainwright on the other hand did hate Superman above anyone else,
blaming him for the loss of his reputation and livelihood. At first he too
wished to use his intellect to dominate the world but as time went by
dominating the world became a distant goal, the first and foremost one was to
destroy Superman. Unlike the first Lex Luthor, Alexander Wainwright did have
some qualms about hurting innocent people but would do so if unavoidable.
Although many of his schemes to destroy Superman did involved
powerful weaponry, often advanced for the time period, it should be remembered
that the adventures depicted in the comic books were often exaggerated beyond
recognition. Examples of the comic book excesses would be Lex Luthor's constant
use of time travel, his alliance with the futuristic Legion of Super Villains,
the notion that he built devices which could shrink or enlarge objects or
people at will, the use of 30th century technology etc. A blatant
example of one of the comic book depictions of Lex Luthor was his Luthor's
Lair, which contained statues of his heroes, Attila, Captain Kidd, Genghis Khan
and Al Capone. This was just one of the great lengths to which the comic books
went to tailor their depiction of Lex Luthor as the polar opposite of Superman.
Superman was totally good and Luthor was evil, even worshipping evil, so far as
the comic book code would allow him. The truth was of course more complex than
this. One shred of truth to the matter is that Alexander Wainwright Luthor did
consider Albert Einstein to be one of his intellectual heroes.
In between his matches with Superman, Alexander Wainwright would
become involved in semi-legitimate enterprises which provided him with some
legal capital that allowed him to build the weapons and set up the elaborate
death traps for Superman. During one of these times Alexander Wainwright/Lex
Luthor fathered another child. This child was born in 1946 and was the child of
Wainwright and his laboratory assistant, Nadine Dillon. Nadine had left Luthor
when it became apparent that he would not marry her. She bore the child on her
own and intended to raise it on her own. She named the child Maxwell Dillon.
However a tragic accident occurred and Nadine broke her neck while taking a
bath. Alexander Wainwright Luthor took the child and had found two people name
Jules and Arlene Luther to raise the child as Alexis Luther. He had false
papers created to reflect the child's new origin and bribed the hospital to
make it appear as though baby Maxwell Dillon had died at birth. [7]
The child would be raised by the Luthers until their own untimely
demise in a car accident in 1959. Oddly enough their deaths would enable young
Alexis Luther to become one the premier businessmen in world, their hefty
insurance policy payoff giving young Alexis the starting capital for a
distribution business.
Alexander Wainwright continued to harry Superman and sometimes
Superman's fellow crime fighter Batman with various schemes throughout the late
forties and fifties.
In late 1948, Luthor held the city of Metropolis hostage for
several million dollars. He often used trickery to achieve his threats such as
a claiming that he had disintegration ray that could destroy any building of
his choosing. He shot the ray at a building to destroy it and it appeared to
work but actually the building was destroyed by explosives set inside the
building, set off by remote control when the ray struck it. Despite the often
exaggerated extent of Luthor's super science, in some cases these devices were
fairly accurately depicted. He did seem to invent a crude dematerializer
appeared to break down the atomic structure of someone and reconstruct them
wherever he chose. The dematerializer's power was channeled through a helmet
that Alexander Wainwright wore. However this device did not function for anyone
but Alexander Wainwright, so the helmet may in fact have augmented Alexander's
latent psionic powers of teleportation or perhaps the helmet merely needed the
correct level of brain activity to power it. This incident was known as the Atom Man vs. Superman. It is worth
mentioning because in it Lex Luthor owned a television station, although in
actually he did so under an assumed name. Yet this was one of the first times
in which the Luthor family bought their way into the media so as to control how
the media spun stories.
In 1955, Mike Andrews, a gangster discovered the secret location
of the arctic Fortress of Solitude. Andrews enlisted his son and a specialist
(who turned out to be Alex Wainwright Luthor) to help him get in, and, for a
hostage, took Superman's friend Clark Kent along.[8] This Fortress of Solitude was actually
Doc Savage's Fortress which Superman was using since Doc had pretty much
retired from adventuring, or so the public was told.[9] Once Andrews and Wainwright Luthor had
entered the Fortress, Wainwright/Luthor told Kent to contact Superman. When
kent refused Wainwright turned his gun on Mike Andrews and his son and
made them into hostages. When Kent still refused Wainwright Luthor shot and
killed Mike Andrews and threatened to do so to Andrews' son. Kent contacted
Superman and when Superman arrived, Kent and Superman managed to capture
Wainwright Luthor.[10]
Superman moved Doc's Fortress of Solitude a few miles after this and
constructed his own Fortress out of Kryptonian materials once his cousin Kara
had showed him how.
Although Lex Luthor is depicted in the comics as having created
Bizarro or rather having recreated the experiment that created the first
Bizarro, this was not the case. Bizarro as will be revealed in further depth
elsewhere was not a manufactured imperfect duplicate of Superman nor was he a
clone of any sort. Rather Bizarro was Superman's brain damaged older
step-brother. On one occasion Alex Wainwright Luthor managed to convince this
brain damaged step-brother that he was the real Superman and that Superman was
an evil copy. The comic book however had Luthor creating an evil duplicate, a
negative Superman. [11]
In 1960 Lois Lane discovered something shocking about Lex Luthor's
family. Researching an article on witchcraft, Lois Lane came to believe that
Cardiff librarian Lena Thorul (Thorsen) may be the reincarnation of an executed
witch Louella Thompson. According to this comic tale the reality was far
stranger: Lena was really the sister of Lex Luthor, who sought to discourage
Lois from writing the story for fear it would reveal their parentage to Lena.[12] Although Lena is depicted as
Lex's sister in the comics (due to the revision of his origin in the fifties)
Lena was actually Alexander Wainwright Luthor’s daughter, for whom he would go
to any lengths to keep from knowing that she was born out wedlock and that her
real father was a criminal. As the years progressed and Lena Thorsen married
and had a child, Lex would also make an effort to keep this information from
his grandson, Val.
Later in 1960 Supergirl encountered a female biker gang who
terrorized the Stanford College campus. The leader of Nasty's Nasties was a
niece of Luthor's who had been paid by Luthor to terrorize Stanford University.
Natasha, according to "the letters column of issue #401, it is explained
that Nasty is really the daughter of Luthor's older sister, who married a
"European gentleman and has been living abroad." The editor goes on
to say that Lex's and Lena's parents disapproved of the marriage and cut off
communication with her, so that Lena knows nothing of her. Such a person,
however, has never been depicted or referred to in the Superman family
stories." [13]
The truth is even odder. Although the girl had no true biological connection to
Alexander Wainwright Luthor, she was the daughter of his half brother Lawrence
Luthor, conceived and delivered while Lawrence Luthor inhabited the body of
former screen actress Dolores Winters. Supergirl succeeded in frightening
Natasha and her gang into going straight. [14]
A couple of the outlandish tales from the comics in the 1960s have
a grain of truth behind them. In one such case Lex Luthor escaped from
Metropolis Prison again and looted Fort Knox with a giant mechanical arm,
defeating a Superman robot with a device that manufactures synthetic
Kryptonite. However, when he learned that he has only bested a robot and that
Superman was still on a space mission, Luthor angrily gave the gold back to
Fort Knox. [15]
Superman did not actually go on space missions as will be
explained in detail elsewhere. Suffice it to say that he would not have been
able sustain flight for that long, he could not reach superluminal speed as
depicted in the comic books, he would have had to carry a massive air supply
with him, etc. However the comic book is correct in that Superman was not
involved in this particular case much to Luthor's chagrin, but neither was
Wainwright Luthor directly involved. In 1958 Auric Goldfinger was looking for
partners in a scheme to rob Fort Knox and had contacted Luthor's organization.
Luthor agreed to the scheme although he did not think it would be successful.
He convinced Goldfinger that instead of robbing the bank they should instead
contaminate the gold with radiation. Luthor believed that Superman would
attempt to stop the atomic bomb from detonating and so had
"Kryptonite" placed in with the bomb so that Superman would be
weakened and be killed when the bomb went off. As it turns out, BSS agent James
Bond single-handedly disarmed the bomb and saved Fort Knox. Luthor did not
return the gold because he never had it.
Another sixties story was part of a two part tale. In Part One
Luthor leaves Earth in a rocket of his own devising, ends up on a world of
robots, and is brought in on murder charges when he destroys one of them.
Superman defends Luthor at his trial and gets his sentence communted when he
rebuilds the wrecked robot with parts from one of the Superman robots. However,
Superman leaves Luthor stranded on the robots' world. In Part Two Lex Luthor
performs a boon for the Automs and is rewarded with a laboratory of his own. In
it, he fashions three criminal androids into a Diamond Man, a Lead man, and a
Kryptonite Man. With their help, he manages to return to his rocket and escapes
with all three of them. The foursome begin a spree of space piracy. Superman
intervenes and destroys the Diamond Man, but the triple-strength rays of the
Kryptonite Man prove too much for him. However, the Lead Man sees a former
Superman robot sacrificing itself heroically for its master, has a change of
heart, and melts itself over the Kryptonite Man, neutralizing its radiation.
Superman captures Luthor and returns him to prison on Earth. [16]
While it might have been possible for Alex Wainwright Luthor to
have devised a warp drive vessel of some type that would have taken him to a
planet ruled by robotic intelligences, Superman would not have been able to
travel the intergalactic distances. Nor would he have been able to stop
Luthor's forays into space piracy, he probably would not even have known about
them had they actually occurred. This story, what truth there is of it actually
took place on Earth. Lex's fashioning of three Robots; a Diamond Man, A Lead
Man and a Kryptonite man, also echo another set of characters that were
depicted in DC Comics in the Mar/April 1962 issue of Showcase. This debuted the
appearance of the Metal Men which were sentient robots created by Will Magnus,
Iron, Gold, Lead, Tin, Mercury and Platinum. [17]
Alexander Wainwright Luthor captured Lead of the Metal Men and
examined him thoroughly and learned from him the process by which the thought
transference had occurred and other details of the construction of the robots.
Luthor built two androids using a material by which he could naturally
replicate effects of the liquid polymer of the metal men, this was crystal. One
of the androids was a hard white crystal, not a diamond but still rather hard
the other was the white crystal infused with kryptonite crystals, recreating
his synthetic kryptonite. He had two henchmen of his replicate their minds in
the androids. He then had them killed. Luthor controlled Lead through his
responsometer and had the three androids attack Superman. Superman did destroy
the white crystal android but succumbed to the radiations from the Kryptonite
Man. Lead managed to overcome Luthor's control of his responsometer and once
again possessed free will. He covered the Kryptonite man as a soft form and
then slowly crushed it. Superman recovered in time to capture Luthor. This
incident took place in 1960 and was the inspiration for the two part story
cited above and also for the Superboy story, The Army of Living Kryptonite
Men[18]
In 1962, Alexander Luthor learned that Superman had provided a
homeland for the Bizarro creatures by finding a planet for them to inhabit in
another dimension, in a universe in which all of the planets were square.
Superman suspected that like the Tower of Babylon shaped world he had glimpsed
when looking for such a home planet in the dimensional scanner that such worlds
were not naturally formed. Luthor offered a challenge to Superman. Superman
should find a habitable planet where his powers would be negated. Luthor and he
would then fight it out man to man. The loser would stay on the
extra-dimensional world, the winner would return unmolested to Earth.[19]
Superman knew that there was more to this challenge than Luthor
was letting on, especially when he claimed that he would set off two
thermonuclear devices one in Metropolis and one in Los Angeles unless Superman
agreed to the challenge. If Superman won the contest, Luthor would give him the
exact location of the devices; if Luthor won he would disarm them upon his
return to Earth.
Superman agreed to the challenge and traveled with Luthor to the
world of Luthor's choosing, a desert planet with high gravity and a red sun. It
also had a soil that had a background radiation with a similar wavelength as
kryptonite, so Superman was weakened by the planet. Even though Superman was sick
and weakened, Luthor was unable to do any serious damage to Superman's super
dense tissue so he ran away.[20]
Lex discovered a city in the desert, the remnants of a highly
advanced civilization that was dying due to a lack of water. Lex told Superman
that he would forgo their challenge if Superman would allow him to stay and
help these people. Superman agreed but insisted on knowing the location of
the thermonuclear devices he had planted. Luthor admitted that there weren't
any such devices but that it had been an idea of his for some time.
Luthor helped the people of this desert planet by building devices
that melted the polar caps and created great underground reservoirs. He had
stayed on this planet not so much out of kindness and compassion, although
there was some of that still left in him, but rather upon seeing the lost city
on this planet, Luthor began making several long range plans almost
immediately. By helping these people he would become a hero to them, and
eventually they would accept him as their leader. He could shape public opinion
against Superman. This extra dimensional planet upon which he was exiled would
provide a base of operations for schemes to be carried out on Earth. He
believed that the advanced technology on this planet would allow him to devise
a means to travel back and forth between there and the Earth. The planet also
seemed to be a natural source for a Kryptonite like substance that he could use
in his constant struggle against Superman.
While helping his adopted planet to reroute and store their meager
water supply, Luthor also used the technology available in the lost city to
build a version of an interdimensional scanner. While searching for Earth he
stumbled across the pocket universe in which Superman had imprisoned Brainiac.
Luthor marked that site for further exploration. Having located the Earth,
Luthor explained that to his adopted world that he needed to return to his home
planet for necessary tools and technical manuals. This was true but he also
went to carry out an attack on Superman. He took with him some of the synthetic
kryptonite from this planet's surface. Luthor failed to kill Superman with a
Kryptonite missile.[21]
He decided to contact Brainiac and form an alliance to destroy Superman, to
rule the Earth and all of the extra dimensional worlds that the two can
conquer. Brainiac agreed to the plan especially when Luthor offered to augment
his cybernetics. Once Luthor's improvements are made however Brainiac tried to
kill Luthor, who responded with a device that stopped the functioning of the
cybernetics in Brainiac's body, in effect shutting him down. Brainiac was thus
placed under Luthor's control. Luthor had discovered a gate in the lost city by
which he could travel back and forth to this pocket universe.
In the comics Brainiac and Luthor travel the galaxy scouring for
materials to create a gas which would take away Superman's powers and also
materials for shrinking ray. They returned to Earth with Brainiac's ship
disguised as a meteorite. They lured Superman to a secluded location and then
gassed him with superpower removing gas. After beating up the sudden vulnerable
Superman, Brainiac and Luthor subjected him to a shrinking ray that made him a
couple of inches tall. After putting Superman in a birdcage they went to build
an elaborate device to destroy him, merely crushing the powerless, tiny man was
not appealing to their sense of sadism. Instead of building a weapon to destroy
Superman Brainiac built a device to instantly hypnotize Luthor so that Luthor
would remove the controlling device on Brainiac. While they were tinkering with
their device Superman escaped and managed to get off a signal to the bottle
city of Kandor. The bottle city sent out several of the Superman emergency
squad. The tiny superpowered men were able to use the shrinking ray on Luthor
and Brainiac. However Brainiac had used his coma ray ring to place Superman in
a coma. Once in Kandor Brainiac only agreed to cure Superman if he would allow
them to leave Earth in peace. The Kandorians agreed and once Superman was
cured, Superman, Luthor and Brainiac were restored to normal size. Superman did
as the agreement stated and watched Luthor and Brainiac leave in his ship. Luthor
returned to his adopted home world. [22]
The truth of the story seems to be as follows, Luthor and Brainiac
returned to Earth from their worlds of exile in pocket universes. They lured
Superman and did manage to overcome him with a gas. Luthor created this gas
from the synthetic kryptonite on his adopted world. Although the Kryptonite did
make Superman weak and did prevent him from using his super vision powers, any
effect on his muscular density would had to occur over a long period of
exposure, by which time he certainly would have been dead from the adverse
radiation. So while Luthor and Brainiac might have pounded on the unconscious
Superman, it is unlike that they did any damage unless they were using cannon. They
also did not shrink him. The fact that they could not harm him was the reason
for Brainiac to suggest building a device that could cause Superman physical
harm. Brainiac did indeed trick Luthor by building a device that compelled
Luthor to remove the controlling device over Brainiac. While this was being
played out Superman still being subjected to gas, did manage to signal Kandor,
although this was probably accomplished by a device on his belt rather than by
launching one Luthor's missiles as in the comic book. Kandor did send a couple
of Kandorians to help Superman. Since Luthor and Brainiac had lured Superman to
a spot near where Luthor remembered the Fortress of Solitude to be it did not
take that long for the Kandorians to get to Superman from the Fortress.
Superman was by this time in a coma from the effects of the gas. The Kandorians
captured Luthor and Brainiac; they all traveled to Kandor.[23]
Brainiac stated he would cure Superman, if they were allowed to go
free. The Kandorians agreed and Brainiac and Luthor negated the effects of the
synthetic kryptonite gas. Superman however interpreted their agreement a bit
differently than they did. To him going free meant being allowed to return to
the other dimensional realms of exile rather than jail. Luthor and Brainiac
were returned to their worlds of exile. Luthor was hailed as hero when he
returned with various technical manuals. The citizens of his adopted world
renamed it Lexor. One of the women of Lexor offered herself to him in marriage,
which Luthor accepted.
While Alexander Wainwright Luthor was on Lexor, his daughter Lena
Thorsen received a degree in criminology and joined the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. Although the comics played up the angle of her being nearly
rejected because of being Lex Luthor's "sister" despite her not
having known that, this actually did not have any bearing on her hiring. Lena's
being a woman was why she was regarded a bit suspiciously in J. Edgar Hoover's
FBI. Although Lena had esper abilities she hid them well. She was in fact a
friend of Supergirl/Power Girl, they had met during Kara's brief stay at the
orphanage. Despite the various shenanigans depicted in the comics by
Supergirl/Powergirl to hide her identity from Lena, Lena actually knew Power
Girl's identity.
It was through this friendship that Lena had learned of her
relationship to Alex Wainwright Luthor, via Lois Lane. Knowing that her father
was one of the world's master criminals was one of the driving forces behind
her desire to join the FBI. One of Lena's first assignments was to infiltrate a
group of bank robbers named the Bank Busters. She used her esper abilities to
great advantage.[24]
FBI Director Hoover was however not pleased at Lena's upstaging of veteran male
agents and made her a liaison her with the Central Intelligence Agency, hoping
she would be consigned to desk work. However the CIA assigned her help track
down a Communist spy cell in Central Africa who were also poaching animals and
ivory. They poached to get needed monetary support and to demonstrate the
ineffectiveness of the capitalistic regime. Lena posed as a jungle girl who
could talk to the animals, using her esper talents she could to a degree. The
trail lead back to the United States at a major Circus.[25] A major circus star, an animal trainer,
a supposed Soviet defector was actually head of a soviet intelligence operation
in the United States and Africa.
Lena fell in love with CIA operative Jeff Colby, the son of
Admiral Colby and the brother-in-law of Admiral Don Winslow who had married
Mercedes Colby.[26]
Supergirl encountered Jeff Colby on one of his undercover operations and
believed that he was a traitor. Her interference with this case and her near
blowing of Colby’s cover was one of the reasons that Director Hoover remained
adamant about not cooperating with other agencies and not using costumed freaks
to fight crime.
Lena and Jeff Colby were married in 1964.
Alex Wainwright Luthor was next heard of in the beginning of 1964
when he lured Superman to Lexor on the pretext that he had unwittingly infected
people with an Earth disease and needed medicines. Over the past two years
Luthor had shaped public opinion on Lexor against Superman. Luthor made it
appear as though Superman had poisoned him and went into a death-like coma.
Superman was imprisoned and kept in chains of synthetic kryptonite. Superman
was put on trial for the death of Alex Wainwright Luthor. His defense attorneys
came to believe Superman’s innocence and arranged for him to escape from jail.
Superman used some of the drugs he had brought from Earth to force Luthor into
consciousness proving his innocence or at least “curing” Luthor. Luthor feigned
innocence and Superman was forced to accept this because of the public opinion
of Lexorians who viewed Lex as a hero. Superman left Lex to his exile on Lexor.[27]
Later in 1964 Superman would discover that this had been a
mistake. Alexander Wainwright Luthor once again traveled back to Earth. He was
bored with Lexor and tired of the constant adulation. He also wished to
implement a plan he had thought about for several years. This was to reshape
the continental shelf of the United States using earthquakes. He had gotten the
idea for this scheme because of the then predictions that California would have
a big earthquake very soon. He had also acquired the machine which the terrorist
Little White Brother had terrorized Chile in 1933. The machine had the ability
to cause earthquakes but only in certain geological regions. For his plan,
which was to cause a massive series of earthquakes all along the Western
continental shelf of North America, he would also have to trigger fault lines
using other methods as well. Luthor's organization hijacked two atomic
missiles. One missile was a decoy deliberately sent towards a heavily populated
area New York City a.k.a. Metropolis. The other was sent towards the San Andres
Fault while Luthor used his earthquake machine on the New Madrid and Cascade
faults using sound vibrations to create fault instability.
While the two nuclear missiles were stopped from reaching their
targets, the earthquake on the Cascade plate had triggered a large fault
instability along the Pacific Rim, which triggered an earthquake of 9.2
magnitude to hit Alaska. The earthquake caused a great deal of damage and 106
deaths in Alaska, 4 in Oregon and 13 in California, the deaths in the latter
two states occurred from the resulting tsunami. Given the magnitude of the
earthquake there could have been many more deaths, millions if Luthor had
successful triggered all of the plates he had planned to trigger. Because it
was a holiday, (Good Friday) because it was after 5:30 p.m. and because of
Alaska's low population density the tragedy was not as profound as it had been.
After this thwarted scheme of Luthor's Superman believed that
prison was the best way to keep Luthor out of mischief. He also made it his
business to inform the people of Lexor just what type of man they had believed
to be a hero. Many of the Lexorians, most of them in fact, refused to believe
these tales.[28]
In his jail cell, Alexander Wainwright Luthor plotted a suitable
revenge. Through an intermediary, he got Superman to infect himself with Virus
X. This was a highly contagious, ultimately fatal virus. Luthor falsely claimed
that he could cure Superman for a million dollars and his freedom. The comic
book story arc plays out over five issues of Action comics[29] and has Superman boarding a rocket
heading for Flammbron the hottest sun in the Universe where he will incinerate
himself rather than infect anyone else. He even passed by the Bizarro world
where Bizarros flung red and white kryptonite at him in tribute. At Flammbron
his ship was shielded by fire creatures, one of whom Superman had saved years
before. Superman discovers that the white Kryptonite from the Bizarro world had
cured him.
Superman did not leave the Earth in a rocket. He used the modified
phantom zone projector to travel to various pocket universes seeking a cure. He
did visit the Bizarro world on his travels. His travels culminated on Oz. Not
the Oz described by L. Frank Baum but rather the one described by Philip Jose
Farmer. Superman landed in the deadly desert where he had to contend with
several of the electrical energy beings. They were attracted to his physiology
for some reason and many of them exploded against him tearing his containment
suit. He was shocked several times before leaving this particular universe. He
discovered that he had been cured. Whether the virus had run its course and had
not really been fatal, whether it was his Kryptonians nanites finally adapting
to the infection, whether a substance on earth Htrae had cured him or the
shocks from the fizhanam had cured him, he did not know and did not care. [30]
To Alexander Wainwright Luthor's dismay Superman returned to Earth
hale and hearty.
When Superman had disappeared Alex Wainwright Luthor had claimed
that Superman was dead and had his body to prove it. Luthor offered parts of
Superman body to the highest bidders, who were four of the richest criminals in
America. The recipients got the heart, lungs, kidneys and eyes of Superman.
They soon realized that there was a cost. Luthor had also implanted devices in
the new organs to control the recipients of the organs. According to the comic
book versions of these events Atom, Hawkman, Green Arrow and Batman and Robin
stopped the crime sprees of the four organ recipients. Batman and Robin did
indeed stop one of these men. The Green Arrow, despite his current troubles in
1968- (See Green
Arrow for details) also managed to stop one of the recipients. Hawkman and
Atom also stopped one of these recipients. This Hawkman and Atom were not the
comic book created Silver Age versions of the heroes but the older, real
versions of these characters. Although they were retired from crime fighting
and did not actually don their costumes anymore they accidentally participated
in this incident. Hawkman just happened to be visiting the Atom when they got
caught up in a hold up. Despite their age and lack of conditioning they stopped
the hold up. The other recipient or the organ transplants refused to accede to
Luthor's demands and so died when Luthor caused the transplanted lungs to fail.
It was eventually revealed that this was not Superman's body but rather one of
the Parasite's satellite Superman bodies, one of the Bizarro Supermen. The
comic book version stated that they were mechanical organs from a space
android.[31]
In May of 1969 Alex Wainwright broke out of jail again to see his
daughter on her birthday. As he covertly observed his daughter Lena Thorsen
Colby he discovered she had a young son, Val Colby[32], who had incredible psychokinetic
powers. Luthor deduced that Val's powers came partly from inheritance from his
mother, who displayed some of the powers of Wainwright's brothers Henry King
and John Wainwright.
According to the version in the comics When Val was almost hit by
a car he had levitated out of harm’s way. Wainwright had broken cover to rescue
him. Although Wainwright’s efforts had not been needed his actions had gained
Val’s trust. Supergirl jailed Wainwright shortly afterwards. When Val saw him
on television, he levitated to the prison and broke Luthor out. Luthortook Val
to a remote island where he had a secret laboratory, and made plans to use the
lad against Superman and Supergirl.
Next according to the comics, Alex Wainwright tried to train Val
Colby to be his secret weapon against Superman, Supergirl, and the forces of
law and order. He had Val levitate Kryptonite blocks around the island to
demonstrate his power. Val’s power was not weakened by kryptonite exposure.
Supergirl was though, and she went to Luthor's island to check things out. She
disguised herself as Linda Danvers, appealed to Val, and got on his good side.
Though Luthor wanted to toss Linda off the island, Val prevailed. Linda treated
Val in a kindly fashion while Luthor was rather abrupt and harsh. Linda won
out. Finally, a freak accident with an "imago-helmet" of Luthor's
creation short-circuits Val's power, and Supergirl pushes Luthor's island
within the legal boundaries of the United States. Captured, Luthor snarls at
his nephew, saying that he is not really his uncle, deliberately lying to keep
him away from a life of crime. Approving of Luthor's unselfish act, Supergirl
flies Val back to Lena Colby. [33]
Luthor did in fact get Val Colby to place blocks of Kryptonite around the
island that kept out Superman, Supergirl, Powergirl etc. However it was not
Linda Danvers that visited Val Colby and Alex Wainwright on the island but
Carol Danner [34]
who had been contacted by her great-grandfather, Superman. Carol also possessed
psychokinetic powers but was more practiced in their use. She befriended Val
and showed him that his grandfather was a bad man. Luthor coerced Val into
using one of Luthor's machines designed to augment Val's psychokinetic powers.
It appeared however as though an accident removed Val's abilities. What had
happened was that Carol Danner used her telepathic skills to place mindblocks
on Val that prevented him from using his powers. These mindblocks were designed
so that he could not use his powers until he was mature enough to do so.
When Val failed Luthor he disowned him. Although the comics
ascribe noble motives to this disowning, it appears that Wainwright actually
meant to disown Val Colby since he had failed to do as required.
As Alexander Wainwright Luthor languished in prison the next few
years, he escaped several times and plagued Superman with various troublesome
schemes, many of which seemed frivolous or doomed to fail. He was merely
testing Superman and he was having fun annoying him
As described in the comic book Lex
Luthor created an android powered by galactic energy and sent it to kill Superman.
Superman was opening a celebrity golf tournament when the Galactic Golem showed
up to battle him. The great energies released by the Galactic Golem eradicated
all life on Earth. In remorse Lex Luthor was prepared to leave Earth and make
his peace with God. However as it turns out the energy release had merely
transported every living thing except Luthor, Superman and the Galactic Golem
into a parallel universe. After Superman defeated the Golem and sent it
careening into outer space all of the life on earth phases back into its own
plane of existence.[35]
What seems have actually occurred is that Luthor had discovered
one of the Creatures formed by Victor Frankenstein's reanimation process. He
decided to make the Creature bigger and better by channeling cosmic energy, as
described by Reid Roberts, into the Creature. He then sent it to kill Superman.
This appears to be the genesis of the more sophisticated killer drones sent
after Superman in the eighties.
Although in the comics Luthor was depicted as directing the action
from his laboratory, luring the creature towards Superman by channeling
galactic energy, he was actually very close by. He wanted to witness the death
of Superman first hand. The release of energies between Superman and the cosmic
energy charged creature enveloped Superman, Luthor and the Creature sending
them into a pocket universe. This was a barren lifeless world but still able to
support life, either it was a universe which had been started but not completed
by one of the Thoan or else had been wiped clean of life for some reason.
Luthor's first thought was that he had destroyed all life on Earth in his mad
quest to destroy Superman. Superman and the creature continued their battle on
this world until the creature ran out of energy. The pocket universe did not
supply the type of energy that the creature needed. Although the creature had
been driven temporarily insane by the influx of cosmic energy, he was sentient
and he was aware of what was transpiring. One final onslaught against Superman
was enough to once again open up a small rift that sent Luthor and Superman
back to Earth. The "Galactic Golem" was left behind, as he desired.
Luthor was returned to jail.
In 1972 Alexander Wainwright Luthor was able to manipulate the
mystery man Thor into attacking Superman and vice versa. Mjollnir was able to
hurt Superman. Because of Thor's exclusive contract of Marvel Comics he was entirely
cut out of the comic's depiction of the event. All that remained was his
hammer, and that became the central focus of the storyline. According to the DC
depiction Luthor found a way to channel all of his hatred into an energy hammer
which when it struck Superman filled him with rage and hatred.[36]
Luthor hired several men to have them surgically altered to look
like Jimmy Olsen and sent them on a crime spree. This was designed to harry
Superman and cast aspersions on Jimmy Olsen.[37].
Alex Wainwright Luthor joined forces with Superman to defeat the
Parasite who has absorbed Superman's powers and Luthor's intelligence and
hatred for Superman[38]
Alexander Wainwright Luthor was awarded a parole.
Bits and pieces of the truth filtered into the series of comic
stories featuring Alex Wainwright Luthor. [39] As presented during this parole he did
good works, including helping to repair the ozone layer, helping to clean up
toxic and nuclear waste (in the comics he deactivated all nuclear weapons but
no government would have allowed this in reality) and helping Superman fight
various criminal elements. Luther was going to marry Lois Lane or a young woman
named Angela Blake. Angela Blake was purported in the comics to be a clone of a
real girl named Angela Blake.
Angela Blake was actually Luthor's wife Ardora from Lexor.
Luthor's apparent turning over of a new leaf was portrayed in the comics as an
elaborate plot to kill Superman. However it appears that Alexander
WainwrightLuthor's rehabilitation was apparently genuine. He had established a
closer relationship with Lena Thorsen Colby, after the tragic death of her
husband during an intelligence operation, and was trying to become a solid
upstanding citizen for her sake and the sake of his grandson. However public
opinion damned him and every move he made was looked at with suspicion. Someone
used Luthor's name and some of his equipment to make Superman lose control over
his powers. This was seen as a violation of his parole and Luthor was returned
to jail.
In January of 1976 the super sons were tricked into helping Luthor
escape from prison.[40]
Luthor and Ardora returned to Lexor immediately after his escape. The comic
version of this event has the super sons being tricked by Lex Luthor's daughter
who was depicted as being at least 19 years old. She was the daughter of Lex
and Ardora and she too was named Ardora. Lex had never known about her because
her mother was ashamed she was Luthor's daughter. Lex remarked about her
resemblance to her. His daughter had broken Lex out of prison because a plague
was devastating Lexor and they needed his help. According to the story Lex had
deliberately infected the Lexorians with the plague so that the super sons
would rescue him. First of all Lex's daughter would have had to have been born
as early as 1956 to be anywhere near the age the woman in the story. Lex had
not even traveled to Lexor for the first time until the early sixties. Secondly
despite his sociopathic tendencies, the Lexorians were the one population safe
from his depredations; he would never have infected them with a virus
deliberately.
The woman who tricked the super sons into helping Lex escape from
prison was Lex's wife Ardora, not his daughter. The super sons traveling to
Lexor is also fictional. The plague however was not entirely fictional; a
contagion was spreading through Lexor like wildfire. Although the comic book
version had the people of Lexor being transformed into fifteen foot giants with
swollen limbs and faces, only part of this was true. The Lexorians suffered
from swollen limbs and faces that eventually caused death. Luthor asked
Superman for access to Kryptonian medical records hoping to find a cure.
However Luthor had already used a plague on Lexor ploy on Superman before so he
refused Luthor access. This flamed anew Luthor's hatred for Superman. Although
he eventually found a cure for the plague many Lexorians had died by the time
the cure had been found. In his search for a cure on Lexor, Luthor had stumbled
onto an underground lair of advanced technology that seemed to pre-exist the
people on Lexor. He had discovered the world making machines of the Thoan Lord
who created this universe. It took years of study before Luthor began to
understand what he had discovered.
During this extended period of Luthor's exile on Lexor, a number
of copycat Luthor's, some former gang members using Luthor's name and
equipment, some related to Luthor, plagued Superman in the late seventies
and early eighties.
By the time had learned how the devices he had discovered on Lexor
functioned Luthor's family included a son. He knew that he owed it to his son
to create a kingdom where he would never have to be bothered by the possible
interference of Superman. Lex realized that he had the power to make Lexor into
a paradise planet and conversely make the Earth into a desert planet. In late
1981, Lex contacted Superman telling him he wished to demonstrate what he had
discovered which could be a boon for the Earth as well as Lexor. Wary of a
trap, Superman agreed to visit Lexor. He wore a containment suit that filtered
out the artificial kryptonite on Lexor, so he was able to keep his full range
of power and strength. Superman was amazed when Alex Wainwright Luthor
transformed large sections of Lexor from desert into a variety of environmental
climates, creating a viable ecosystem.
Luthor then told Superman that unless Superman submitted to being
executed on Lexor, he would use the terraforming machines on Earth to eradicate
all life. Superman refused, tired of Luthor's extortions. He also did not feel
that he could take the chance that Luthor would not go ahead with his evil plan
after Superman had been executed. He tried to take Luthor into custody. Luthor
had built a power suit that made him the equivalent of Superman's strength and
could withstand Superman's vision powers. However despite Luthor’s advanced
technological suit, Superman beat Luthor and Luthor retreated to the cavern
where the terraforming machinery was hidden. In the ensuing fight between
Superman and Luthor inside the cavern the machines were destroyed and Superman
captured Luthor. They exited the caverns onto a dead world. During their fight
and inside their containment suits they had not taken note that the atmosphere
of Lexor had been transformed into a deadly gas wiping out all life on Lexor,
including Alex Wainwright Luthor's family. Lex blamed Superman for destroying
the terraforming machines even though it had been both of their doing.[41]
To Superman's point of view, Luthor had been to blame for carrying
out reckless experiments with alien technology. [42] Superman took Luthor back to Earth and
back to prison.
Alexander Wainwright Luthor spent little time in jail. He escaped
almost immediately and began a campaign to destroy Superman not merely
physically but emotionally and mentally. His first part of the campaign was to
project illusions of himself everywhere on a wavelength only Superman could
see. Superman was constantly plagued by the image of Luthor. [43]
Months later Alexander Wainwright Luthor trapped Superman and
gassed him. He used a dream inducing machine created by his brother Henry King
to implant the dream that Superman had killed Luthor which in turn set of a
series of nuclear explosions all over the world, destroying the planet.
Superman believed he was all alone on his adopted planet. [44]
Luthor then launched a campaign against two of Superman's close
friends.
Luthor kidnapped Lois Lane. He fought Superman with a recreation
of his Lexorian power suit. Luthor was defeated and Lois Lane was rescued.
However there was a hidden plan in this scheme. Lois Lane, that is Mrs. Clark
Kent, was thoroughly savaged in the public eye by proof that she was having an
affair with Superman. Luthor had taken photos of her and Superman embracing as
if they were lovers after he had rescued her. He had released them to various
tabloids.[45]
Clark Kent was fired from his dual job as a television anchorman and
newspaper reporter for having plagiarized several stories and also having filed
many false stories[46].
This later incident occurred in early 1984 and although Kent proved his
innocence of the false stories he did not return to "WGBS" because
"Morgan Edge" had refused to stand by him.[47]
In early 1985 Clark Kent began working at the "Daily
Planet". Shortly after this the Daily Planet was taken over by D.D.
Warburton and his daughter Lacy Warburton. [48] The Warburtons were business people who
were interested in maximum profit and maximum circulation. Journalism was only
to entertain, not to inform and the truth was relative to the profit margin.
Although the scandal against Kent was bogus, Warburton and his daughter would
have looked the other way had Kent not opposed their tabloid style journalism.
Alex Wainwright Luthor escaped from jail for the final time in
1985, aided by his nephew "Lenny Luthor" This incident was portrayed
in a distorted fashion in the film, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Warner
Brothers 1987. Much of the story related in the film was tailored to reflect
several concerns other than historical veracity; a message that the star
wanted to convey about nuclear proliferation, obfuscating the true identities
and motives of some wealthy and powerful individuals involved and to make the
film a special effects blockbuster. [49]
Luthor had a burning obsession to kill Superman. His nephew shared
the desire to be rid of Superman as well, and financed Luthor's experiments in
creating a being that could destroy Superman. It is true that Lex engineered a
break into the Metropolis Museum to steal a strand of Superman's hair. It is
however not true that his strand of hair was holding up a thousand pound
weight, Kryptonian hair is stronger and more resilient than Earth human hair
but not that much more. Using the strand of hair Luthor combined it with genetic
material from one of his former henchmen named Nat Tryon. A few years earlier
Tyron had survived nuclear bombardment and had become highly radioactive yet
had not died immediately. He had blamed Superman and had attacked him. Luthor
bridged the genetic material from the two donors with a burnt piece of flesh
stolen from Starr Laboratories. This burnt piece of flesh was from one of the
incinerated Superman copy bodies of the Parasite. [50]
Their first result was a super strong being which resembled an
unfinished human being rather than Superman. However they sent it out to kill
Superman. He homed in on Superman like a dog on a scent.
According to the film Clark Kent had been pegged by Lacy Warfield
to write a series of articles called Metropolis After Dark, which she offered
to help him research. In the film Lacy Warfield was attracted to the naïve
seeming Kent and was using the article series as means of getting close to him.
However David Warburton had fired Clark Kent so he was not doing
the series of articles for the Daily Planet. Lacy Warburton was attracted Clark
Kent despite knowing he was married to Lois Lane. Clark Kent claimed to be
writing a series of articles for the Atlanta Times on the city’s nightlife and invited
Lacy along. Intrigued Lacy agreed. Clark Kent was of course far from naïve and
knew Lacy's attraction to him. He was using this to get information from her
about her father and his interest in the paper. Clark was doing this as per a
request from "Perry White" who was getting together backers for a
takeover of the newspaper.
Luthor's creature discovered Superman's location as Clark Kent was
entertaining Lacy in one of the more hip nightspots. It smashed into the
nightclub seeking Superman. Kent made his excuses, changed and pushed the
creature into the street where they fought. The creature was destroyed when a
broken power line electrocuted it. Alex Wainwright Luthor managed to retrieve
part of this genetic material as the basis for yet another attempt to create a
Superman killer.
The film has Lex trick Superman into tossing a nuclear missile
with the protoplasm aboard into the sun. Inside the sun the protoplasm is
reborn into a perfect creature. The use of the nuclear missile also ties into
one of the film's main themes which is that Superman had decided to rid the
world of nuclear weapons, which all the of the civilized nations in the world
applauded. While many nations might have given lip service to the notion of
complete disarmament, they would not have actually condoned the idea,
especially in the mid-eighties. This major theme of the film was due more to
the philosophical viewpoint of the actor playing the lead role than it was
based on reality.
Alexander Wainwright Luthor experimented with a variety of power
sources for his creation and went through several different versions before
achieving one that he had believed had the best chance at killing Superman. The
one that seemed to have the best shot was one that he had formed using both nuclear
and solar radiation.
The protoplasmic being was sent up in a rocket designed to escape
the earth's atmosphere, expose the being to pure solar radiation and then land
on the earth. It was supposed to land near Metropolis but the energy radiating
from the creature threw off the guidance mechanism and it landed in Ohio.[51]
Once it landed it made a beeline for Superman, smashing and
destroying anything in its way. Superman heard about the creature and made his
way to Ohio. He may have thought that this was another Hulk incident. The
Nuclear Man had the strength of Superman, he could make his body warm enough to
melt metal and he possessed sharp claws that telescoped from his fingertips.
The film shows Superman and the Nuclear Man battling across the world from
Ohio, to China, to the South Pacific to New York. They battled from Ohio,
through Kentucky, Tennessee and finally to Metropolis.
In events of the film version unfold as follows; the Nuclear Man
literally kicked Superman off of the planet and his cape fluttered down to land
on the Statue of Liberty. The Daily Planet ran the picture with the caption Is
Superman Dead? The Warfields had acquired the fallen cape as a trophy. Lois
Lane quit and took the cape with her. Superman had been scratched by the
Nuclear Man and was dying. He was rapidly aging and growing weaker. Meanwhile
Alex Wainwright Luthor was using the threat of the Nuclear Man to extort huge
amounts of cash and concessions from governments suddenly without a nuclear
defense. Lois Lane visited Clark, having subconsciously remembered that he was
Superman. At the end of her visit she left the cape with Clark in the hopes
that he could contact Superman. Superman uses a crystal from his home world to
restore himself to health. The crystal had contained the last of Krypton's
energy.
Luthor loses control of the Nuclear Man. Seeing Lacy Warfield's
picture in the Daily Planet as it announced she was the new publisher, the
Nuclear Man went to find her. Either he had fallen in love with her from their
previous encounter or he knew she was connected to Superman. The Nuclear Man
kidnaps Lacy from her office when she was having an argument with her father
about the direction of the Daily Planet; she wanted to tone down the sensationalism.
The Nuclear Man transforms himself into a nuclear missile and
launches himself to begin a nuclear war.
Superman arrives in time to stop him. He uses Lacy as bait to lure
the Nuclear Man to Metropolis. After a fight on the streets and skies of
Metropolis, Superman traps the Nuclear Man in a powerless elevator. The Nuclear
Man is cut off from solar radiation and so shuts down. Superman flies to the
Moon and deposits the Nuclear Man in a moon crater. When sunlight hits the
elevator the Nuclear Man is re-energized. Escaping from the elevator he once
again attacks Superman and buried him on the Moon.
Nuclear Man flies again to the Earth and captures Lacy. Superman
causes a total eclipse of the sun by pushing the moon out of its orbit. The
Nuclear Man is deprived of his power and ceases to function. He tries to
energize himself in a nuclear power plant but his absorbed into the core.
Lacy and her father are ousted from power from the Daily Planet;
Perry White having gotten various businessmen to buy up the shares not owned by
Warfield and make him a minority stockholder. Lacy decides to buy the Kent
farm.
Lex is returned to jail and his nephew sent to a Boys town.
Given that the events in the film are somewhat absurd, what really
happened? Hard as it may be to believe the Nuclear Man won the first round of
the fight between himself and Superman. Superman was caught unaware by claws
that so easily ripped into his dense flesh. These claws also carried an energy
charge which was equivalent a lightning bolt striking a normal human being
causing great tissue and nerve damage to Superman. It also damaged the nanites
that provided Superman with longevity and enhanced his recuperative powers.
While it is doubtful that Alex Wainwright Luthor had foreseen this result he
would have claimed credit for it had he known about it. The Nuclear man was
able to rip Superman's suit to shred and tear his cape from him. This cape did
in fact get draped over the place where Superman had fallen. The Nuclear Man
then buried Superman under some rubble. David Warburton purchased the cape from
a morbid souvenir hunter.
Superman had been knocked into the sewer system and crawled a few
miles from the scene of the fight; he knew he was poisoned and probably dying.
He flew to his Fortress of Solitude, using a private jet, leaving a message for
Lois to join him.
Lois discovered that the Warburtons had claimed ownership of the
cape and retrieved it over their objections. In the Fortress of Solitude
Superman was forced to use healing machines designed to heal Kryptonian bodies,
including replacing malfunctioning nanites. Since Superman's physiology
differed slightly from the Kryptonian norm the healing process and
reprogramming of his Kryptonian nanites set the stage for some odd physiological
effects that would manifest in a few months time. [52]
Lois nursed him during his healing ordeal and when it was finished
gave him his cape, which was all that remained from the original costume he had
designed in 1932. Superman and Lois returned to Metropolis three days after the
Death of Superman.
The Nuclear Man had conceived of an infatuation with Lacy
Warburton and did indeed kidnap her. Lacy's argument with her father about
toning down the sensationalism of the paper however seems to be a creation of
the writers of the film. One of the oddest parts of the film does seem to be
true, in that the Nuclear Man formed himself into a sort of anthropoid nuclear
missile. This was apparently courtesy of the Parasite's mimicking powers. How
much of the internal workings of an atomic bomb he had also replicated is
anybody's guess. It is doubtful that if it were a true working missile that the
Nuclear Man would have survived the self-immolation of nuclear detonation. I would
guess that he had spotted Superman and was trying to intimidate him.
When Superman attacked him the Nuclear Man reverted to a purely
humanoid shape. They once again fought in Metropolis. Superman did lure The
Nuclear Man into an elevator that cut him off from the sun. Superman did not
carry the elevator to the moon but rather to the outskirts of Metropolis, to
the rural areas of the state where there was less population density. The
Nuclear man did extricate himself from his elevator prison and renew the attack
on Superman. There was a partial eclipse of the sun and during the fight with
Superman; the Nuclear Man became adversely affected by the loss of solar
radiation. [53]
Nuclear Man tried to recharge his batteries by breaking into the
core of the Hatch Nuclear plant. Superman was able to successfully stop this
attempt. Denied the energy he needed to maintain his form the Nuclear Man
decayed into protoplasmic gelatin that was incinerated by order of the State's
governor.
"Lenny" a.k.a. Lionel Luthor's involvement in this
incident was never really proven, there were only hints and suspicions. The
film producers tested Lionel Luthor's forbearance when they included the
character of Lenny but what really caused Lionel anger as the small bit that
had Lacy Warfield buy the old Kent Farm in Smallville. As will be seen in the
article Secret Signals, this small barb hit a little too close to the
target. Some believe that Lionel's wrath is what caused the Superman IV to fail
so dramatically at the box office. As for Lacy Warburton, it is believed that
she was also known as Natasha Luthor who we met earlier in this article.
Alex Wainwright Luthor was returned to prison where in a few short
months he learned that he had acquired bone cancer from his proximity to the
irradiated Nuclear Man. Many people considered poetic irony that the hatred
that had consumed Luthor for most of his adult life was the cause of a virulent
disease that would literally consume his life. Removal of his right hand failed
to stop the spread of the disease that had already metastasized. Alex
Wainwright Luthor, Superman's most constant foe died January 1990 [54]<!--
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[1] Damien Harmon grew up to be a brilliant man, a strategist
against various criminal activities. He was an up and rising assistant to Commissioner
Weston in the thirties. A friend of Richard Wentworth, he discerned Wentworth's
vigilante identity and attempted to emulate him. After two or three forays as a
vigilante, Damien Harmon had his back broken by a crook wielding a lead pipe.
Damien was made a paraplegic by this incident. He became a highly sought after
criminologist and consultant to the police department. From his descent of John
Clay and Picardet, he also began to manifest slight telepathic and telekinetic
abilities. Professor Damien Harmon often worked with the Four in the mid-1960s
to early 1970s when they went up against an outré or supernatural foe. My
fellow Wold Newton researcher states that Lex Luthor was the father of Niles
Caulder, the "Chief" of the Doom Patrol. However the Doom Patrol was
merely DC's authorized version of the exploits of the Four, or I should say
semi-authorized since Johnny Storm had taken it upon himself to make this
contract. Johnny only told the most outlandish of the cases to the DC writers
and even then embellished them further. His contract with DC stipulated that
the DC version had to be substantially different than the Marvel Comics
version. The Nigel Caulder character was based on Damien Harmon's close
affiliation with the Four during this period. DC was willing to comply with
this since they did not want to get into another legal dispute with Marvel
Comics.
[2] His true name was of course James Clarke Wildman II
[4] Wainwright seemed unaware that the fire had been started
by the very creature he had been studying. Gangster Eel O'Brian had been shot
committing a robbery. Fleeing from the police he had stumbled into Wainwright's
laboratory and into the vat containing the creature. Attracted by Eel's blood
it began to feed and melded with Eel's body. Eel tore the creature off of him
and left it on the floor of the warehouse as he escaped from it. The fight
between Eel and the Thing had sprayed electrically charged fluid across the
room; this ignited several electrical devices starting a fire. The DNA exchange
affected O'Brian, and he would eventually become the mysteryman known as
Plastic Man. A small piece of the Thing was revived by Eel's blood protein. It
gained sustenance by ingesting a fly which shape it took on and escaped the
burning building. It then took on the shape and substance of a stray dog and
finally it absorbed a person. It had been damaged by its death and by the
electrically charged fluid. The exchange of DNA in its weakened state had
somehow limited its abilities. At first it had no control over its shape shifting
abilities. Seeming at random it would touch and absorb the DNA and RNA of
people and duplicate them, also draining enough energy from the person to often
kill them. This "rogue" or "parasite" would believe it was
the person that it had duplicated and continue that person's life until it once
again without conscious effort stole an identity. After several such
incarnations something odd began to happen, the duplications were no longer
perfect because the previous memories had not been erased. As the memory
fragments accumulated a sort of persona emerged that often but not always
carried over from identity to identity. This persona seemed to have the ability
to sometimes but not always selectively absorb memories or abilities from
people.
[5] This was depicted in Superman 4, Luthor’s Challenges (get
correct citation)
[6] Alexander Wainwright did not know at this time that Alexi
Luthor was in fact his half brother. He would either learn it from the
Ultra-Humanite or Brainiac.
[7] My fellow researcher Al Schroeder
believed that this child was Maxwell Dillon who later became the supervillain
Electro. This was due to Luthor having "derived great strength and
electrical powers from a special treatment. He worked with a female researcher
named Dillon at the time. Anybody else would have been satisfied with
tremendous strength and electrical abilities (which would repel bullets, shock
others, render him invigorated by the electric chair) but since it didn't quite
equal Superman's power, it wasn't enough for Luthor. It formed only a passing
phase of his quest for power, but it left one inheritor... Their child, Max
Dillon, suffered side-effects from the electrical treatment they underwent. He
didn't gain the Thing-level strength that Luthor had after each electrical
treatment, nor did he inherit his father's genuis." as quoted from The Luthor Legacy by Al
Schroeder
As
demonstrated in the Spider Man
article Max Dillon was actually Dan McCormick.. McCormick was briefly involved
with Alexander Wainwright's half brothers as seen in the Lawrence Luthor
section of this article. In a bizarre twist of events McCormick was given the
identity of Maxwell Dillon, the child of Lex Luthor's former assistant,
Nadine Dillon. The child had been born dead and then Nadine had died tragically
shortly thereafter. They altered the birth certificate to reflect that the
child had been born alive and altered the date to fit Dan McCormick's apparent
age.
[8] (Action
Comics No. 407 December 1971)
[9] . Doc Savage was thought to be dead by his associates but
he was actually trapped in the Phantom Zone. He would not be released from this
prison until the 1980s. His associates had a couple of men pose as Doc Savage
but this did not work out well and so the public was led to believe that Doc
Savage had retired
[10] How Kent and Superman could both be participants will be
explained in the Men of Steel article
[11] (World’s
Finest Comics No. 126 June 1962)
[12] (Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane No. 23 February
1961)
[14] Adventure Comics No. 397 Sept. 1970
[15] Action Comics No. 277 June 1961
[16] Action
Comics No. 292 September
1962 and Action Comics No. 294 November 1962
[17] A brilliant young man named Will Magnus
created the Metal Men. Magnus worked for Hughes Electronics and was an integral
part of the Iron Man project. Although his designs for the Iron Man suit were
quite revolutionary and paved the way for the micro-miniaturized circuitry that
the suit used, Magnus was an odd sort whose designs seemed to spring fully
created and almost seemed out of place. It was as if they were highly
sophisticated designs forced onto inadequately primitive
technology. Magnus believed that the suit could be made so that it would
be a true robot but could be guided directly by human technology. This way the
suit would not be a mere protective suit for a human solider but rather a unit
that could if need be disposed of without harming the solider. He rejected
cybernetics; brain transplantation or artificial intelligence as the guiding
forces for the robot suits as too dangerous. The Metal Men were actually liquid
metal polymers which explains how the Metal Men could be crushed, stretched
into wire or pounded into a thin film and still function.
Magnus chose
several candidates with strong wills and purportedly with certain brainwave
patterns. They would be connected to a device that would broadcast their
thoughts into the robot brains. There were six robots; each plated with a
different metal Gold, a Mercury alloy, Lead, Iron, Tin and Platinum. Each robot
had slightly different abilities. The robots however were not shape changers as
depicted in the comics. The initial experiments of the robots being remote
controlled by a human mind were a success although the participants complained
of headaches and severe fatigue. The tragedy derived from greed. Howard Hughes
had discovered Magnus line of research and disapproved of it, it seemed to him
that Magnus was making the human mind into a germ invading another body. He
ordered the plug pulled on the experiment- immediately. Mr. Hughes orders were
not to be questioned. All the power to Magnus lab was shut off. The bodies of
the six volunteers went into shock. They were rushed to the nearest hospital
and doctors were able to revive them. However there remained an electronic
replication of their minds in the robots. After Hughes learned that the
experiment had been a success despite his interference he ordered Magnus to
create more of these robots. He made arrangement to sell the existing ones to
the United States Army or one America's allies, which ever would pay the most.
Magnus however believed that
since Hughes had stopped his experiments, they belong to him and could not be
sold like an electric oven or toaster. Hughes got a judge to rule that since
machines could have neither minds nor souls, what the Metal Men possessed was
an electronic analog of human thought which was owned solely the Hughes
Corporation. Magnus refused to replicate the process and destroyed his work. He
was charged with several felonies revolving around the destruction of Hughes
Enterprises intellectual property. Magnus added grand theft and violation of
the National Security Act when he freed the Metal Men and escaped with them.
Over time guilt over his experiment made Magnus into a manic-depressive and he
tried several times to destroy his "work", over the objections of the
living robots of course. Magnus and the Metal Men despite their often humorous
comic book adventures had existence which anything but fun. They were federal
fugitives until the end of Jimmy Carter's term when he pardoned them as he was
exiting from office. As fugitives they were constantly on the run. They were
heroes by accident. Every so often they would be near afire or some other
natural disaster or be near the commission of a crime and would lend their help
before disappearing once again. The comic book adventures were often their only
source of income and so they did not object to the wild tales conjured up by
the artists and writers.
[18] (Superboy
No. 86, January 1961)
[19] (Superman No. 164, October 1963)
[20] One wonders how Lex Luthor could have
even thought to challenge Superman considering Alexander Wainwright Luthor's age.
We know that Superman had a thousand years life expectancy due to his
Kryptonian heritage, yet Lex would have been in his mid to late sixties by
this time. How did he remain so young and vigorous? Of course it may have been
two generations of Luthors fighting Superman but this does not seem to be case.
This was the same Lex Luthor who fought Superman from the forties to the
sixties. Alexander Wainwright had been one of the people approached by the
Nine, specifically Iwaldi to join their ranks and attempt to synthesize the
Elixir that prolonged life. This challenge was one that Lex was able to succeed
where others failed. His formulation of the Elixir rejuvenated the body as well
as extending its lifespan. Lex being a rather amoral sort had no qualms about
doing whatever the Nine wished him to do, although he chafed at working for
someone else.
[21] Superman Vol. 1 #167 (February 1964): "The Team of
Luthor and Brainiac"
[22] This occurred in Superman Vol. 1 #167 (February 1964):
"The Team of Luthor and Brainiac"
[23] Kandor was not a shrunken city but rather a pocket
universe. The gate/viewer/communicator to enter into Kandor was shaped somewhat
like a bottle which is probably where the notion came that it was a shrunken
city placed in a bottle. The city had indeed been taken off of KryPt'n but long
before its destruction. It had been taken by the mysterious Preservers who had
placed it in a small pocket universe of its own on a small ersatz version of
KryPt'n. This was a fully sized city with normal sized individuals. There were
several reasons why Superman did not release them from the pocket universe onto
Earth; first and foremost is because they would have all died. These
Kryptonians were taken prior to the cure for lead poisoning, a flaw which the
Kryptonians shared with the Daxamites to understand why, see Krypton Decrypted
by Dennis E. Power and Dr. Peter Coogan. This explains why the Kandorians were
not affected by the synthetic kryptonite gas, they wore protective garments and
respirators so that they would not suffer lead exposure. This also kept them
from getting Kryptonite poisoning. Also lacking a means to travel across the
interstellar spaces Superman could not find them a suitable home. Even if lead
poisoning was not an issue mixing them with the general population of the Earth
would have been disastrous… think of what Khan Noonien Singh would have been able to do had he the powers of
a Kryptonian
[24] (Action Comics No. 295 December
1962)
[25] (Action Comics No. 313 June 1964)
[26] Don Wilson was a naval officer assigned to Naval
Intelligence who had spend the thirties and forties thwarting the schemes of
various master criminals who threatened the sovereignty of the United States.
These were depicted in a comic strip, novels and movie serials. Winslow would
become head of CIALD with the disappearance of Bruce Wayne. Winslow’s main
nemesis was The Scorpion, the head of the international criminal, war mongering
organization Scorpia. Scorpia was also known as Hydra. The Scorpion was in fact
William Luthor, Lena’s uncle, the half brother of Alexander Wainwright
[27] . (Action Comics No. 318, November 1964 and
Action Comics No. 319 December 1964)
[28] According comics in Action Comics No.
335 March 1966 Superman gave Luthor's wife Amnesium so she would forget his
criminal past. Not so, she just refused to believe it.
[29] Action 362-366, April- August1968
[30] The Oz which Superman visited was depicted in Philip Jose
Farmer's A Barnstormer in Oz
[31] (World’s Finest Comics No. 189 November
1969 and World’s Finest Comics No. 190 December 1969)
[32] Val Colby was named after an acquaintance of his father
from British Intelligence Val Petrie.
[33] Adventure Comics No. 387 December 1969
[34] Yes, this is the correct spelling. More to be revealed in
the forthcoming article Shazam! The Story of the Marvel Family… Not the One
you Think.
[35] Superman
248 (February 1972):
[36] . Action Comics No. 423 April 1973
"Luthor's Hammer of Hate"
[37] Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen No. 162 December 1973 /
January 1974 This Jimmy Olsen was the grandson of the Jimmy Olsen who
was depicted in the forties and fifties.
[38] Superman No. 286 April 1975
[39] Superman Family No. 172 August-September 1975, Action
Comics No. 510 August 1980, Action Comics No. 511 September 1980, Action Comics
No. 512 October 1980.
[40] (Worlds Finest 238 June 1976)
[41] In Action Comics No. 544 June 1983 Lex
Luthor had devised a stabilizing rod which prevented the planet core from exploding.
However, when Superman arrives looking for him, Lex adopts his battlesuit
(which became his new look for the early 1980s) and the two fight in the upper
atmosphere. Lex fires a fireball which bounces off Superman and strikes the
stabilizing rod, causing the planet Lexor to explode.
[42] In fact it was quite likely neither one was to blame,
although if blame must be assigned perhaps more so Luthor's than Superman's.
The rapid alteration of the atmosphere into a deadly gas was more likely trap
set up by the Thoan Lord who had designed the world. It was probably
preprogrammed into the terraforming machinery so that anyone who used the
terraforming to alter the world would have a nasty surprise and choke to death,
as the atmosphere became toxic in a rapid chain reaction. The destruction of
Lexor and of Ardora and Lex jr. was most likely the true explanation for the
depiction of a world where Lex Luthor was a hero, had a wife and son who died
in a world wide cataclysm. The comic writers took the Lexorian tales of Lex the
hero and transposed them on fictional world where the costumed vigilantes were
the villains.
[43] (Superman No. 385 July 1983)
[44] (Superman No. 412 October 1985) Although this latter story
was not printed until 1985 it actually occurred in 1983.
[45] Superman No. 386 August 1983.
[46] . Superman No. 410 August 1985
[47] See the upcoming, The Men of
Steel article to discover the truth behind WGBS and Morgan Edge.
[48] In the film Superman
IV The Quest for Peace. D.D. Warburton and Lacy Warburton are named David
and Lacey Warfield
[49] In Superman IV Lionel Luthor was portrayed as years
younger than he actually was and named Lenny. As with most of the film Superman
IV the depicted interaction between Lex and "Lenny" was fictional.
[50] Nate Tyron's battle against Superman was depicted in
Action Comics 525, November 1981. Although Tryon as Neutron made more appearances
in the comics he actually succumbed to his radiation poisoning shortly after
his battle with Superman. The parasitic copy of Superman was how Luthor
was able to grow his creature in a matter of days rather than years. More about
the Parasite and the Bizarros will be revealed in the article Evil Twins and
Rogue Things from Another World
[51] It is not a coincidence that the 1993 Death of Superman
had the creature landing in
[52] However these were nothing like being divided into red and
blue energy forms as depicted in the Post Death of Superman storyline
[53] A liability that the comic books would later use and
attribute to Superman in the Final Night mini-series
[54] Alexis Luthor, the ruthless business man, CEO of Lexcorp,
the son of Alexander Wainwright Luthor would also suffer from cancer caused by
Kryptonite poisoning.
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