With a hatred towards the Man of Steel, Superman & Lois villain has an Iron Man approach to him. One of the biggest mysteries surrounding the latest Arrowverse spinoff was the character of The Stranger. While there isn’t a character with that name in the DC mythology, it was obviously a placeholder title to keep their real identity a surprise.
While the face was never seen in the promos or in the pilot, the payoff was still huge as it sets up a big arc for Superman & Lois season 1. After having duked it out with the Man of Steel, the pilot ends with The Stranger returning to his ship where he’s greeted by its A.I. Even though the face is never seen, The Stranger removes his helmet, revealing a bald head before being referred to as “Captain Luthor”, adding another version of Lex to the Arrowverse. Even though very little is known about this new Luthor, a certain aspect of him has an Iron Man-vibe to it.
The biggest aspect so far that has been displayed with the new Luthor is the powerful armor that he was wearing. While fans have seen Jon Cryer’s Lex sport the iconic Lexosuit, this new armor is on a higher level. Despite there being almost no information on where the new Luthor comes from, the suit is highly more advanced. In comparison to other advanced armors in the Arrowverse, Luthor’s current one exceeds all of them. If Parks’ Lex fought Cryer’s version, with both being in their armors, it’s highly likely that the newer incarnation would make the older Lexosuit look slightly outdated.
Not only is it strong enough to let Luthor go toe-to-toe with Superman, but it also is very resistant to most of Clark Kent’s powers. During their showdown, Clark uses both heat vision and cold breath on him which has no effect at all. Somehow, the new Luthor’s armor is immune to most of Superman’s powers, implying that this version of the Superman baddie came prepared. Given that his “world” was destroyed somehow by Superman, it’s heavily possible that Luthor comes from an alternative Earth in the Multiverse. But similarly to Tony Stark’s first versions of the Iron Man suits, Luthor’s new armor still needs some upgrades.
That’s what he makes clear to the ship’s A.I. who also points out that they’ll need more Kryptonite supply. This paves the way for Luthor’s new showdown with Superman to be, perhaps, even more brutal depending on what upgrades he is making to it. But this does make Luthor a very dangerous player, especially as so little is known about him thus far. However, to see that Luthor’s armor is similar in power level as Iron Man is intriguing as this adds a big threat towards Clark in Superman & Lois.