Warning: contains spoilers for Action Comics #1050!The alien hero Superman and billionaire villain Lex Luthor have been rivals for almost a hundred years, maintaining a rivalry every bit as iconic as Batman and the Joker. But recently, Lex Luthor learned Superman's true feelings towards him, and this revelation left him shaken to his core.

Readers got to see exactly what Superman thinks about Lex Luthor in Action Comics #1050 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Tom Taylor, Joshua Williamson, Mike Perkins, Clayton Henry, and Nick Dragotta. While Lex Luthor is preparing for Project Blackout, psychic antihero Manchester Black taunts the businessman, stating that he knows what Superman's true feelings are about Lex after working as a mole on his most recent team. Intrigued, Lex demands Manchester elaborate, and Manchester tells Lex that Superman never mentions him at all. Despite Lex's obsessive hatred for the Kryptonian, Superman doesn't think about him except for when they actually clash. This is the most brutal humiliation to happen to Lex since Joker found out Superman's secret identity.

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Superman Doesn't Think About Lex Luthor

Superman and Lex Luthor have been enemies for almost as long as they've known each other. In some versions of DC history, Lex and Clark knew each other as teenagers in Smallville and were even friends. In other interpretations, such as Geoff John and Gary Frank's Superman: Secret Origins, they meet the first time Clark moves to Metropolis and begins acting as Superman, which immediately makes him an enemy of Lex Luthor. Superman and Lex are nature vs nurture personified, which is why they can never get along. However, the reveal that Superman doesn't spend his time obsessing over Lex is the perfect insult to the villain, whose ego never allowed for the possibility that his hatred of the Man of Steel isn't mutual.

superman doesn't care about lex luthor

Superman's true feelings for Lex show exactly why their rivalry is so sad. Batman and Joker have just as intense a rivalry, but they are also equally obsessed with one another. Batman has on numerous occasions alienated his own family to try and deal with Joker, and Joker likewise is famously fixated on the Dark Knight. But while Lex is certainly obsessed with Superman, it doesn't seem to go both ways. Part of this is because Lex Luthor truly believes he is better for humanity than Superman, but because of Lex's ego, he can't simply use his skills to help humanity - he first has to get rid of Superman, who he perceives as undermining his own potential.

Superman on the other hand just views Lex as someone who could have been of immense service to Earth. Lex is one of the smartest men on the planet, and he could do unbelievable good for the human race if he could just put aside his obsession with Superman. Superman has literally said this several times, but Lex has always been unwilling to listen, even going so far as to assume that Superman doesn't experience human emotions, and is simply playing a role.

Unfortunately, Manchester Black's admission has begun a new period in the Superman/Lex Luthor rivalry, as Lex is now subtly obsessed with making himself as large in Clark Kent's life as the Kryptonian is in his own. Indeed, Lex is already embarking on a plan to wipe Superman's identity from the minds of everyone else on Earth, forcing a new era of dark intimacy on his heroic enemy. Unfortunately, Lex is simply incapable of conceiving of the true level of Superman's heroism, and the fact that a truly good and selfless person spends his time thinking about how to help others, not reveling in his hatred for someone he mostly sees as a tragic waste of potential.

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Action Comics #1050 is now on sale from DC Comics!