Alex Luthor

Origin

Born on Earth-Three, Alex Luthor was the son of Alexander Luthor and Lois Lane-Luthor. His home reality was destroyed by the Anti-Monitor shortly after his birth. His parents were able to save his life by placing him in a special ship which carried him across dimensional barriers into Earth-One. The trip affected the infant greatly, giving him powers over both matter and antimatter. This also accelerated his aging greatly.

Creation

Alex Luthor was created by Marv Wolfman, George Pérez and Jerry Ordway.

Character Evolution

Sliver Age / Earth-Three

In his initial appearance, Luthor is depicted as a heroic character. Following an absence of several years from comics, Luthor returns as a villain.

Major Story Arcs

Crisis on Infinite Earths

Arriving on Earth-One, Luthor is taken in by Harbinger. He ages rapidly, progressing from infant to teenager in a matter of weeks, and develops a number of superpowers, particularly the ability to create bridges between universes and to allow matter beings to enter anti-matter universes. Following the death of the Monitor, Luthor rallies the remaining heroes and villains against the Anti-Monitor. He is integral in defeating the threat and ensuring the continued existence of the remaining Earth. After the Crisis is concluded, Luthor opens a portal into a paradise dimension, where he travels with the Earth-Two Kal-L and his wife Lois Lane, and the Earth-Prime Superboy. This expends the last of his dimensional powers.

Countdown to Infinite Crisis

Luthor eventually comes to be dissatisfied with the paradise dimension and the actions of the people in the main universe; he becomes determined to fix reality and restore the Multiverse. To this end he convinces Superboy-Prime to aid him in escaping the dimension. Superboy-Prime’s subsequent assaults on the dimensional barrier causes numerous time ripples which distort reality in the main universe. Luthor is able to harness his slowly redeveloping dimensional powers, and the pair escape their dimension and begin wreaking havoc on the main universe. For his part, Luthor poses as Lex Luthor to establish the Society of Super-Villains, orchestrates the destruction of magic, and takes control of Brother Eye.

Infinite Crisis

Luthor and Superboy-Prime’s actions are revealed to be in aid of creating a sort of inter-dimensional tuning fork, which he is able to use to reconstitute a number of alternate Earths. He begins to merge these Earths in an attempt to create the perfect Earth. In so doing he brings about numerous disasters that destroy countless lives. He is stopped from continuing his experiments when Superboy-Prime and Superboy’s fighting destroys the tower that he is using as a tuning fork. With the destruction of the tower, all of the Earths collapse into the New Earth. His plan a failure, Luthor decides to forcibly conquer the current Earth and shape it to his will. He incites his incarnation of the Society to attack the surviving heroes. After a pitched battle during which he severely wounds Nightwing, Luthor is defeated and he is almost killed by Batman, though he is saved by Wonder Woman. He flees, and later vows to continue his efforts to recreate the world as he sees fit. He is prevented from carrying out any further plans by the Joker, who sprays him in the face with acid, electrocutes him, and shoots him in the head with a shotgun. His body is later recovered from an alleyway by the Gotham City Police Department, and eventually entombed beneath the Hall of Justice.

Blackest Night

Luthor is reanimated by a Black Power Ring, becoming a member of the Black Lantern Corps. He gathers a number of black rings and resurrects a number of characters who had been killed by Superboy-Prime during the Infinite Crisis. He travels to Earth-Prime where he and the resurrected characters attack and overwhelm Superboy-Prime. When Superboy-Prime willingly dons a Black Lantern Ring, his emotional instability results in an explosion that destroys Luthor and the other Black Lanterns.

Resurrection

On New Earth, efforts are made by the Crime Syndicate of America to resurrect Luthor. This is prevented at the last minute by the betrayal of Doctor Impossible, who attempts to use the resurrection machine to resurrect Darkseid. This fails as well, and the villainous Omega Man is created instead. Luthor is briefly resurrected by the Tangent Green Lantern, and helps to defeat Omega Man and the Crime Syndicate, redeeming himself in part for his past villainy.

Powers and Abilities

Luthor possesses a genius-level intellect, and he is skilled at manipulating others. He possesses matter manipulation powers, which manifest as offensive blasts and the power to open portals between dimensions. These powers can be exhausted if overused.

Black Lantern Ring

While as a member of the Black Lantern Corps, Alex’s ring retained all his abilities and memories prior to his death. The Black Lantern Ring provided the user to see the emotional state of others as an aura of color. The ring charged itself by ripping out the hearts of their victims and absorbed the energy from the heart.