WI: Lex Luthor Went Straight?

[redsycorax]

How would you reorientate the moral compass of Superman's greatest foe?

[dans]

I wonder... which Luthor? and 'how straight'?

Earth 2 Luthor was pretty ruthless and deadly. If he went straight, would he allow them to punish him for his crimes, or would he somehow make a great contribution to the world such that most governments would grant him a pardon. If he truly wanted to balance the scales, given that he has probably killed thousands and caused misery for millions, wouldn't he kill himself because no amount of good he could possibly do could make up for the bad?

The Silver Age Earth 1 Luthor seemed redeemable... but I haven't followed comics since the late 80s so I can't speak to the other iterations of Luthor in that time. So does 'going straight' mean... "I'm no longer going to commit criminal activities' or does it mean 'I am going to spend my time making up for the evil I committed!'?

[jonclark]

Luthor reforming was one of my ideas for that "Luthor: Legacies" story on half-finished in the Earth 1 folder. My idea was Lex reaching a point where he truly wants a truce with Superman. Lex would originally just go from being an active criminal to a situational one.

The Earth 1 version has had tons of fake reformations and pardons that were always schemes to get Superman to drop his guard so at this point no one in-universe would take his turning over a new leaf seriously. Lex would remain, at least at first, a wanted criminal since he refuses to go to prison. He won't be launching attacks on Superman, but if Superman (or anyone else) tries to bring Lex to justice for his prior crimes then he has no qualms about "defending" his freedom. That would also go for any criminals he's crossed before now. If Kobra, for example, comes after him Lex won't just let the superheroes deal with it (at least not without Lex's own involvement).

Any total reformation would be years down the line. Lex might be willing to bury the hatchet, but that is a long way from his actually trusting Superman or other "heroes",

[dave]

There are also imaginary tales in the Silver Age. I just read one in Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane Vol 1 #34 July 1962. He marries Lois Lane and is killed by their evil son Larry

[dans]

I was thinking along the lines that Jon mentioned above, that Lex decides to obey the law and not pursue revenge against Superman any longer, but refuses to actually 'pay' for his crimes. Perhaps he believes that his good actions will produce benefits to society that 'pay back' for his earlier activities. Otherwise, if he is really reformed and willing to take the punishment for his earlier deeds, wouldn't he spend a good part of the rest of his life behind bars?

[redsycorax]

Without giving too much away, my projected plotline involves Lena Thorul suddenly developing an otherwise incurable disease. However, Superman discovers, there is a vaccine, but it lies billions of years in the future, when Earth's sun has started to develop into a red giant. Lex volunteers to join him, despite warnings from Superman's allies about this- apart from the Legion of Super Heroes, who remain silent about their reason for supporting it. The expedition goes ahead. After many en route diversions, Superman and Lex find the vaccine and the fact that Superman has risked his life to save that of his sister ends their enmity. As a consequence of the retrieval mission, Luthor receives a pardon. Moreover, the environmental shift he experienced has also expunged the lingering neurological effects of the chemical accident in his adolescence that made him bald and caused his enmity against Superboy and then Superman.

[dans]

that sounds like it could become canon for Earth 1 here at 5EP rather than an Elseworlds story. There is nothing in what you described above that seems to conflict with established continuity, although I defer to those who are more knowledgeable about our details. But it is also the sort of story idea that causes a lot of discussion, stories that follow established canon but make large impacts. It used to be, at least, that with a large number of active writers and new stories being posted frequently, that a lot of writers had to agree to that sort of major change.

On the other hand, we are not currently being overwhelmed with submissions to the main worlds here any more, so this change is not likely to impact anyone else who currently has a story in process or a planned story arc... and if it is accepted as canon, it just becomes another one of the rules that future writers have to observe.

It would be OK with me if this was an E1 story rather than an Elseworlds story, assuming the rest of the story fits...

[redsycorax]

I'm still working that out, dans, but that's encouraging to hear. I need to do some backchecking of Silver Age stories in which Superman was pitched into the Earth's future, to find it a virtual desert under a red sun. Although my memory of that story is patchy, I think the cause of the red solar output was probably a cosmic cloud, given that it was relatively close to the present (c5000 AD, from memory), given that would have been far too soon for the sun to start expanding into a red giant, which is estimated to occur about 500 million years from now, and there were still ruined twentieth century buildings when Superman showed up there.

[redsycorax]

Okay, so I found the story that I was after: Edmond Hamilton's "Under the Red Sun" (Action Comics 300, May 1963). In it, Superman is flung into the distant future (1,000,000 AD), where the Sun has turned red and he is therefore powerless. (I'm not sure why this is the case- that shouldn't start to happen for another five hundred million years). Be that as it may, however, humanity has evacuated the planet, the seas have dried up and apart from androids and other evolved organisms unknown on contemporary Earth, the planet is deserted. This situation has been evolving for over two hundred thousand years, since c AD 824,057. Superman finds it a harrowing, disorienting experience- but did this story tell us everything about his experiences uptime?: dc.fandom.com/wiki/Action_Comics_Vol_1_300

[dans]

How about if, while Superman is risking his life in the future, Lex also risks his life while figuring out some way that is possible but very difficult to implement in the present that will prevent this future from happening? Something that might take the combined efforts of some of the most powerful heroes on Earth in the present day, and which is very dangerous. And when they get back to the present and Superman gets the team together, Lex insists on coming along - and once again, Lex puts his life on the line in order to protect Earth from that future disaster?

One of the issues I see with Lex going straight is that with his genius, he could create inventions that would turn Earth into a utopia, invent devices that would stop any criminal, and figure out ways to end war forever. So perhaps he has to sacrifice a part of his inventive genius in this process, so while he remains a genius, his genius is no longer a super power, but a superior power? Though that might be too much of a change in his character and a block for future writers...

We haven't had a good continuity discussion for a while. Is it time?

[redsycorax]

Now that is an interesting idea. Let's say that Lex realises that there's a reason that the sun has prematurely turned red and that it has ominous implications. Moreover, it's also going to affect his search for the antidote to Lena's medical condition somehow. Lex realises Superman is weakened by this and that the reason that he can't see that there's an anomaly here is that the premature red sun has affected his mind. Therefore, Lex has to take the initiative, but Superman's been here before and knows the terrain.

As for Lex's intellect, perhaps he might want to introduce his innovations gradually. BTW, what's the situation with Lana Lang post-Crisis 5E, because I've been thinking about her starting to fall for him after he reforms. I mean, they have known each other since they were teenagers in Smallville?

[johnreiter902]

Jan 14, 2023 1:58:51 GMT dans said:

How about if, while Superman is risking his life in the future, Lex also risks his life while figuring out some way that is possible but very difficult to implement in the present that will prevent this future from happening? Something that might take the combined efforts of some of the most powerful heroes on Earth in the present day, and which is very dangerous. And when they get back to the present and Superman gets the team together, Lex insists on coming along - and once again, Lex puts his life on the line in order to protect Earth from that future disaster?

One of the issues I see with Lex going straight is that with his genius, he could create inventions that would turn Earth into a utopia, invent devices that would stop any criminal, and figure out ways to end war forever. So perhaps he has to sacrifice a part of his inventive genius in this process, so while he remains a genius, his genius is no longer a super power, but a superior power? Though that might be too much of a change in his character and a block for future writers...

We haven't had a good continuity discussion for a while. Is it time?

Earth 1 is usually shown as super-advanced in the 21st century. Maybe the mass use of Luthor-tech is the reason?

[dans]

Very nice, John!

[redsycorax]

It depends on how far forward the twenty first century shown is. Added to which, some of them are potential or possible futures. For instance, some of them depict Kara as a fully adult Superwoman who has replaced her cousin or at least now fully mature.