Lionel Luthor (1944-2011) was LuthorCorp's billionaire founder/CEO, as well as Clark Luthor's adoptive father.
After escaping to Earth 1, he briefly became LuthorCorp's fourth CEO, schemed against Clark Kent, dueled against his daughter's doppleganger Tess Mercer, had tried to bring "Alexander Luthor"/Conner Kent to his side as an heir, as well as sold his own soul to Darkseid to revitalize his son's doppleganger Lex Luthor of Earth 1.
History[]
Early life[]
Lionel's earlier life consisted of the murder of his parents for the insurance money that would later create LuthorCorp, his affiliation with the Veritas Society and the murders of the Queens. While raising his son Lex, he opted to raise his daughter Tess alongside. In the meteor shower that rained down on the town of Smallville, Kansas, Lionel was the one who found toddler Kal-El in Miller's Field.
Lionel raised Lex, Tess and Clark together training each of them to be his heir and pitting them against one another in the hopes that one of them would prove a worthy successor to his empire. However, his primary hope was that Clark would prove the most worthy due to his alien powers.
Due to Lionel's treatment of his children, each of them turned out different: Tess proved the most rebellious and was cut off at some point by Lionel but also started a relationship with Clark behind their father's back. Clark took on a more dotting son role as he was being groomed and trained by Lionel but Clark secretly hated his adopted father and wanted nothing more than to get out from under his control and kill as many people as possible to do it. Lex branded Clark with the family crest on his arm using gold kryptonite. In retaliation, Clark murdered Lex with Lionel's approval.
Lionel used Clark's powers to expend LuthorCorp into a new empire and they took control of Metropolis by turning it into a dark and depressing city. In order to accomplish his evil goals, Clark took on the identity of Ultraman, much to Lionel's approval, feeling a secret identity would allow him to get away with his destructive desires and keep the family name unharmed like when Clark murdered the Swanns.
Year Ten[]
When Clark Kent of Earth-1 accidentally switched places with Clark Luthor of Earth-2 using the mirror box, Clark found himself greeted by Lionel in his doppelganger's bedroom with two women in the Luthor Mansion. After Lionel lectured Clark, they dueled with swords laced with blue kryptonite.
Lionel later caught Tess sneaking around into Lionel's office to get a hold of a journal that had information regarding the mirror box. Before having Tess arrested by his guards, Lionel claimed that she was not a worthy heir to the Luthor name. Tess got a parting shot at Lionel and slapped him before being dragged away.
When Kent went to the Fortress of Solitude in the hopes of getting help from Jor-El, Lionel was there and had the Fortress integrated with Earth technology. Lionel stated that he caught Tess trying to located the mirror box, which was odd as he had done all he could to destroy any Kryptonian artifacts. Kent lied and claimed he asked Tess to help in order to destroy the box and Lionel then claimed that Oliver Queen had the box.
This was revealed to be a lie and Lionel himself had the Mirror Box. He had instead wanted to locate Oliver and to discover if Clark was going to betray him as he once assumed. Lionel stopped Oliver from killing Kent using kryptonite rays and a gun, but then instead of helping Clark, Lionel said that he had failed him as a father, as well as that if he were a true Luthor he would have killed Lionel by now and Lionel blamed himself. Lionel started to beat Clark with his belt as he ranted about how only the strong survive and how he will be the strongest in this earth, or any other. At this point, Oliver realized that Clark was the "good one" and turned off the kryptonite. When Kent grabbed the mirror box and activated it, Lionel was running towards him in the background.
Unknown to Kent, Lionel made it into Earth-1. While purchasing a newspaper about the Blur, a vendor asked Lionel if he's seen him before. Lionel stated that he's was merely someone who was making an expected visit from out of town. Guessing that he made it back in the nick of time, Lionel said he wouldn't want to miss "how it all turns out", before walking into a crowd.
Lionel researched everything to find out more about his doppelganger. He discovered the existence of Alexander Luthor was "saved". When Tess Mercer (Lutessa Luthor) was walking to her office, Lionel was sitting there waiting for her. He reached out to her, to be the father that she needed and be there for Alexander. He intended on finding Alexander before Tess did and do right by him. Lionel managed to find Alexander in Suicide Slums, staying in an old apartment. He realized that it was him who attacked Senator Martha Kent in order to kill Clark. Lionel managed to take "back" LuthorCorp and returned Alexander to LuthorCorp: Oliver Queen and later Martha confronted him about his actions. When Alexander thought that Lionel still favored Clark, he decided to do away with both his "father" and Martha. After Lionel was saved by Kent, Lionel watched the Earth-1 Luthor Mansion burn to the ground. As Lionel was in his doppelganger's office watching the television about Oliver and Martha's victory over the Vigilante Registration Act, someone he didn't recognize appeared on his television then Clark Kent at his office and the two talked about who was a better influence for Alexander, leaving Lionel speechless in anger.
For weeks, Lionel remained in control of Earth-1 LuthorCorp.
Lionel went to Cadmus Labs, finding Tess Mercer there as well. He vowed that he would have his "son" Alexander, but Tess showed him Alexander’s "remains". But Lionel discovered she was lying by using the remains of one of the other clones after torturing Dr. Lamell and went to find his "son". Lionel realized Alexander was now called Conner Kent and had changed his hair and developed Kryptonian abilities like Clark due to being a Kryptonian/Human hybrid. He reached out to Conner and gave him red kryptonite via a ring. Lionel then took Conner to Lois Lane who was captured because she was going through his files in his office about being a "fake" Lionel. Before he could put an end to Lois by shooting her, Conner whisked her away. He realized that the red kryptonite made Conner more excited in his infatuation with Lois and then continued to track Conner back to the Luthor Mansion's remains where he had to subdue Clark Kent and Conner with green kryptonite. He went there to try to remind Conner about the fact he is still a Luthor instead of a Kent, but Conner remained on Kent's side. Returning to his doppelganger empire, Lionel was eventually thrown out by Tess regaining control of the company, thanks to him having failed to edit her adoption papers as he was ignorant of her past in this world, allowing her to prove that Lionel's fingerprints were different to those of his Earth-1 counterpart. Late at night, Lionel paid his respects at his son's gravesite. As he was leaving, Lionel was approached by Darkseid.
When Clark Luthor used the mirror box to travel to Earth 1, he set out to find Lionel to have his revenge for everything that had been done to him during his life. It was discovered that Tess Mercer had the ability to track Lionel's movements through she diverted Clark before he could kill Lionel, only for Clark to attempt to kill Tess for her betrayal.
At some point, Lionel used his limitless funds to create the biochemical researching company PreClox and discovered that Lex Luthor had instituted another project deep inside the chambers beneath the Earth 1 Luthor Mansion where Lex had taken his many clones's best pieces to create the perfected clone but was missing a heart.
After failing to locate Conner, Lionel launched a plan to capture Tess Mercer so that her heart could be removed for Lex. Shortly before the surgery, Tess escaped and shot Lionel in the chest. Darkseid returned to Lionel offering him the deal that Lionel had previously turned down: to live forever. However, Lionel had never intended to live forever and only wanted Lex's life to be restored, considering him to be the one worthy of his legacy (as his doppelganger was killed by Lex). As per their deal, Darkseid ripped out Lionel's still beating heart and placed it into Lex. After Lex was effectively restored, Lionel's corpse was used as a vessel for Darkseid to combat against Clark but was destroyed in the process: ending Lionel's reign of tyranny once and for all.
Appearances[]
Smallville[]
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | # | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Season 10 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | X | - | - | X | - | - | X | - | - | - | - | - | X | N/A | 4 | |
Total | 4 |
Relationships[]
- Family
- Clark and Lionel: Details on his abusive relationship with Clark Luthor, his adoptive son.
- Lex and Lionel: Details on his abusive and deadly relationship with his son.
- Tess and Lionel: Details on his abusive and neglectful relationship with his daughter.
- Lionel and Conner: Details on his relationship with his alternate reality, partial clone son.
Superman Villain(s) This character, team or organization, is or was primarily an enemy of Superman. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Superman Villains." |