Lex Luthor is one of the greatest DC villains of all time. He's become Superman's arch nemesis, and wreaked havoc throughout Metropolis for decades now. Surprisingly for a super villain, he isn't known for having many powers. He's generally seen as being super clever and using his brains and funds to pull off all his schemes. And a lot of the time, that's just what he does. But that isn't always the case.
In the many different depictions of him throughout the DC multiverse there have all kinds of stories where he has all kinds of powers-- whether those are abilities he's created or gained by other means. And yet, most of them remain unknown to many fans. We think it's about time that some of his powers were acknowledged, because, well frankly, they're pretty damn awesome.
So without further ado, here are 15 Powers You Didn't Know Lex Luthor Had.
15. Force field
Force fields enable you to surround yourself with an invisible shield for protection. They have often proven to be an invaluable defence system for superheroes, and can prevent all kinds of threats from harming the person with is power. In Lex Luthor's case, the force field he has is part of one of his many war suits. This particular war suit was designed by the Apokolitians for him, meaning it uses all kinds of cool technology. The main purpose of his force field is to keep his head protected, allowing him to wear the suit without a helmet on.
The force field is strong enough to withstand minor energy blasts, such as Starfire's starbolts. Most force fields do have their limits though and Lex Luthor's is no different. While it can withstand a large amount of attack, if it's put under too much pressure it can collapse. This means he can't rely wholly on it for defense, and it leaves a bit of room for him to still be beaten in battle by heroes like Superman.
14. Teleportation
Teleportation is one of those superpowers that everyone wishes they had, whether it's because you're too lazy to walk, or you want the ability to escape or travel, or even just want to help you sneak into Comic Con without a ticket. Unfortunately for us, we don't yet have these powers. Lex Luthor, on the other hand, is able to teleport thanks to his war suit.
It may sound pretty cool, but it's not quite as awesome as we might have hoped. Unfortunately his powers are known as short distance teleportation, which means he can't travel too far with them. He also doesn't have the power to disappear and reappear somewhere else whenever he wants. His teleportation power is limited to him being able to travel to the nearest safe space in times of extreme danger. Don't get us wrong, that's definitely a power worth having when you're a super villain. But as practical as it may be, it's nowhere near as cool as him being able to travel anywhere at any time.
13. Gravity Control
If there is one person you wouldn't want to be able to control gravity, it's Lex Luthor. The guy is a super villain mastermind, and the last thing you'd want is him to be able to turn everything topsy-turvy by playing around with gravity levels. Given his intelligence, who knows what schemes he would come up with the help of this power.
But of course, Lex Luthor did get the ability to control gravity. And let's just say it didn't go too well for everyone else involved. He got hold of this power when he managed to gain control of the Orange Ring, and it opened a world of possibilities for his evil schemes.
But gravity control was the least of everyone's worries when this happened, as the Orange Ring came with a whole selection of powers for him to have at his disposal. Orange you glad you weren't there when that happened?
12. Genius Level Intellect
The one power that Lex Luthor is actually famous for having is the power of his mind. While some people may not realize it, his intellect is at a high enough level to classify it as a super power. It is also one of the only superpowers that Lex Luthor consistently has throughout his many depictions, and also the rare one that has occurred naturally to him.
While being a genius may not seem like the coolest super power you could have, it certainly has its uses. And hey, if it works well enough to make Lex Luthor into a world-famous super villain then it can't be that bad. For one thing, his genius constantly gives him the ability to create intricate plans and be one step ahead of everyone else.
These skills are actually pretty crucial when it comes to battling some of DC's greatest heroes, and are largely responsible for Lex Luthor's success, however temporary.
11. Flight
The power of flight has become a fairly common power in the world of super heroes. They pretty much all have a way of flying around and fighting midair-- so much so, that we sometimes forget just how cool flying is. In fact, we're betting if you were offered a handful of superpowers you would want flight to be one of them.
Lex Luthor is generally one of the few characters in comic books who can't fly, but of course, there have been many times when he has had the power of flight. In the Prime Earth universe, he had the power of flight thanks to his war suit. Okay, so technically, it was only his suit that had the power of flight. But hey, if it's good enough for Batman and Iron Man then it's good enough for him.
There have also been times, however, when Lex himself has had the natural ability to fly, such as in the Earth 230 Universe, where he was Kryptonian.
10. Energy Projection
Lex Luthor may not always have a lot of natural superpowers, but what he lacks for in natural talent he makes up for with awesomely advanced technology. We often see Lex owning some kind of war suit, and they usually grant him a whole range of powers to use in battle. One of the coolest powers these suits have given him is energy projection.
Energy projection is just a fancy way of saying that he can blast energy wherever he wants and create chaos as he does so. And boy, does he create some chaos with it.
Lex has this ability in a few of his various war suits, but one in particular is the Lexicorp war suit he uses in the Prime Earth universe. In this variation, his energy projection can take the form of concentrated blasts, explosions, or shock waves of force. This plays to his advantage massively in battle, and can be used both to attack his enemy or to defend himself.
9. Inventions
Many of the greatest characters in comic books have either been great inventors, or relied on great inventions. You only have to look at this list to see a whole range of powers that inventions can create. The power Lex has which unleashes all these othere powers is his extraordinary ability to invent. His skill on this front completely out of this world, and worthy of the label of "power." It's a skill that has managed to make him both a hugely successful businessman and a supervillain.
His most successful inventions for battle are usually his war suits. These suits, which are often made by his company Lexicorp, can provide a range of attack and defence methods to use in fight. But his suits aren't the only things he's invented, he's created some advanced weaponry too.
One example of this is the darkness grenade, which uses an explosion to cover an area in complete darkness. He also invented goggles so he could see through this darkness, giving him an advantage over his enemies. With all these awesome weapons, he makes all of the real world inventions look pretty boring.
8. Bizzaro Physiology
This power is a bit... well, bizarre. Lex Luther has had this power in three different DC universes, making it quite a regular power by his standards. It is one of the few powers he has had that doesn't come from his technology.
The power in question is sometimes also referred to a Bizarro skin or Bizarro transformation. The transformation usually makes characters look particularly creepy, as they have a strange form of grey or disrupted skin. Many have compared those who are Bizarros to zombies, and they are sometimes made in ways similar-- being scientific experiments gone wrong and some times inhabiting their own worlds.
In some instances, Lex Luthor has at times been a Bizarro, and in others, he has absorbed powers from other Bizarros.He has also in the past been responsible for bringing the Bizzaros back into existence. It seems his relationship with Bizarro physiology could best be described as complicated... or even bizarre.
7. Superman's Powers
Lex Luthor and Superman may be sworn enemies, but in certain universes Luthor has taken on the role of Superman himself. In the Earth 230 Universe, he was a Kryptonian named Lex-El who took on the human name of Lex Luthor on Earth and went on to become Superman. Along with being Kryptonian and serving the Earth as Superman, Lex also got all the powers that Kal-El boasts himself
This, of course, meant Lex had all kinds of abilities. He had the same superhuman strength, speed, and invulnerability that Clark Kent has. He also had all the other Kryptonian powers, like heat vision and flight.
Interestingly, though he has had a lot of these abilities in other circumstances too, being Kryptonian allowed him to get that special formula of powers that makes Superman so successful. We're just still trying to get our head around him not being the bad guy for a change.
6. A Metal Body
If you want to get technical about it, Lex Luthor has had the ability to have a metal body multiple times. Over the many years and many versions of him we've seen, there have been countless varieties of war suits used for battles and they're usually made out of a metallic material. But when we say he had the power of a metal body, we mean that he literally had a metal body once.
This happened in the Super Seven Universe and came about after Lex nearly died from being thrown off a building. He'd been thrown off after the Malazza-Rem invasion of Earth, when he'd been made a representative of the human beings. In typical villain fashion, he betrayed them and they were annoyed with him enough to throw him off a building and demand he be left where he fell. A resistance group, however, were able to save his brain and put it in the body of Metallo, giving him a metal body and all the abilities that come with that.
5. Cyber-Link Technology
Being a businessman and inventor, Lex Luthor is constantly surrounded by all kinds of advanced technology. And he certainly makes sure that he uses it to his benefit. Lex Loften relies on technology to give him super human abilities, and in the Doom Link universe he used a specific type of technology to give him some series powers to fight with. This technology was known as Cyber-Link and he used it to fight both Batman and Superman in the comic Superman & Batman: Doom Link.
The Cyber-Link technology came in the form of a body armor suit which he wore in battle. The armor showcased all kinds of abilities, including allowing him to fly and special guns attached to the arms of the suit. And these guns didn't just fire anything: they fired kryptonite acid. He used this to attack Superman in their showdown and successfully overpowered him with it. Well, he certainly caters his powers to his enemies weaknesses.
4. Decelerated Aging
Lex Luthor has taken on his fair share of superhero identities throughout the DC multiverse, and in the Almagram universe he took on another known as Green Skull. Just the concept of the Amalgram universe is sufficient to get any comic book fan excited enough to reach for their inhaler, as it's a universe in which Marvel and DC cross over. In this crossover universe, Marvel and DC agreed to combine some characters to get fans excited. Two of the characters who were combined were Red Skull and Lex Luthor, who were merged into Green Skull.
In this story, Lex Luthor takes a Green K serum, which has some pretty crazy effects on him, one of which is the power of decelerated aging. This means that, despite the fact he would chronologically be in his seventies or eighties, he still looks like someone much younger. His body aging much slower also has the implied benefit of allowing him to live longer, and stay fitter until a much older age. Hopefully by the time we get old, we'll be able to Green-Skull ourselves to stay young.
3. Power Absorption
Power absorption is an incredibly dangerous tool when it's in the hands of a villain. And guess what, Lex Luthor has had this power before-- and as you can imagine, it didn't go too well. In the Earth 3 Universe, Alexander Luthor gained this ability, which allowed him to absorb other people's powers so he could use them himself.
This is arguably the most powerful ability that Lex Luthor has had in any of his different versions. He certainly made the most of it, as he stole a whole bunch of powers from a variety of characters.
Some of the powers he stole were even good enough to make it onto this list in their own entry. Lex snagged magic from the original Mazahs, as well as the aforementioned Bizarro powers from Bizarro. He also stole powers from Hawkwing, Johnny Quick, and Deathstorm. So if you have any superpowers, keep a close eye on them while he's around.
2. Magic
When Alexander Luthor has magical powers, they're not the kind of ones that pull a rabbit out of a hat or makes a glamorous assistant disappear. In the Earth 3 Universe, Alexander Luthor's magic abilities allow him to call down the Dark Lightning. When he does this, it transforms him into the magic-powered Mazahs, which is Earth 3's answer to Shazam. Now that explains the anagram! This transformation makes him a whole lot tougher, and puts a big lightning bolt across his chest just to show it off.
Alexander Luthor actually used this power in a fight against himself. He came up against an alternate reality version of himself from another universe.
Not only did he use them to fight himself, but it's thought that the powers weren't his in the first place. He allegedly stole them from a character called Will Baston who is never actually shown in the comics. Maybe Will did a magic trick to make himself disappear.
1. Firestorm Matrix
We have to say, as far as the names of superpowers go, Firestorm Matrix sounds pretty damn aweomse. Before we even know what it is, we're completely sold and we wish we had it ourselves. What the power itself can do is far from disappointing and certainly worthy of its awesome name.
Alexander Luthor has this ability in the Earth 30 universe and it gave him a whole range of powers within it, including enhanced vision, superhuman strength, flight, regeneration, and the ability to be fully self sustaining without food or drink. It also gives yhim the ability to pass through living creatures, due to the fact him can control their molecular density.
And it doesn't stop there. With the Firestorm Matrix, he can also access every memory of anyone who has possessed the power and has the ability to transform his body at will. All these super powers within one superpower. It's like a Russian doll of powers.
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Did we miss any other cool powers that Lex Luthor has? Let us know in the comments.
