Every great DC Comics superhero has an equally memorable nemesis: Batman is menaced by the Joker; Green Lantern matches wills with Sinestro, and the Flash goes toe-to-toe with Professor Zoom. But one of the oldest and most contentious relationships in the DC lineup is the one shared by Superman and Lex Luthor. Luthor, an evil-genius-turned-businessman, has spent millions of his dubiously earned dollars to hinder and oppose the Man of Steel, even resorting to attempted murder on multiple occasions. Lex obviously harbors some deep-seated animosity towards Earth’s adopted hero, but fans may be a little hazy on exactly why.
In his first appearance in Action Comics #23, Luthor is depicted as a red-haired madman with designs on world domination. He is initially characterized as just another megalomaniac, not dissimilar to Supes’ earlier enemy, the Ultra-Humanite. He describes himself as “just an ordinary man – but with th’ brain of a super-genius!” While the character evolved over time, Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985 and John Byrne’s The Man of Steel in 1986 truly transformed Lex from a one-dimensional evil scientist into the more sophisticated business magnate audiences love to hate.
The origins of Luthor’s malevolence and male-pattern-baldness are further explored in Adventure Comics #271. It seems that Clark and Lex were childhood friends in Smallville. Clark, then Superboy, builds young Lex a science lab out of discarded material, and Lex reciprocates by discovering a vaccine for Kryptonite poisoning. When young Lex overturns a vial of chemicals and sets the lab on fire, Superboy uses his super-breath to quell the flames and save Luthor’s life. However, the gas fumes from the incident cause the latter’s hair to fall out. Lex assumes that Clark purposely disfigured, and their friendship is irreparably damaged. Discovering the root cause of Lex’s animosity may be a matter of splitting hairs, but there must be something deeper than just a few lost locks.
Lex Luthor was created in 1940 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the same fledgling artistic team that created Superman. It’s unclear whether Siegel and Shuster intended Luthor as merely a villain-of-the-month or as Superman’s ultimate foe. Either way, the character has achieved enduring popularity. While he has no innate superhuman abilities, Lex is the most intelligent human being in the DC Universe and is gifted in nearly every scientific field. These gifts allow him to strategize, set traps, and create weapons that make him every bit as powerful as the Man of Tomorrow.
People are sensitive about their hair. That’s understandable. But it seems that someone as intelligent as Lex Luthor must have a deeper motive for hating Superman than just his coif, or lack thereof. Luthor’s intelligence is rivaled only by his ego, and that is where the answer lies. He might claim that he opposes Superman because he is wary of alien usurpers, but the truth is that he hates Supes because he makes Lex look like second best. How can Lex be the smartest man in the world if Superman outthinks him? How can he be the most beloved man in Metropolis if Superman steals the spotlight? How can he seize control of power if Superman is always there to stop him? Lex knows that second place is just the first loser, and he hates Superman for making him feel inferior.