Titans season 3 stands poised to introduce the most comics-accurate version of Lex Luthor ever seen in a live-action adaptation. While many great actors have tackled the role of Lex Luthor in the past, none of them were given a chance to portray the truly depraved nature of the character, but the darker tone of Titans could allow for such a depiction.
Though he is now as infamous as Superman is famous, Lex Luthor wasn't introduced until Action Comics #23 in April 1940, nearly two years after the Man of Steel's first appearance. Several years would pass before Lex proved he had staying power as a supervillain and the brains to match Superman's near-infinite brawn. When Lex proved popular as a foil for Superman, the mad scientist was retroactively worked into Superman's past and developed into his archenemy, with the two being revealed to have grown up together in Smallville, Kansas and being fast friends until a lab accident Superboy caused ended in Luthor losing his hair and swearing revenge. Later, after Crisis on Infinite Earths, Luthor was redefined as a technology magnate, who built upon his early successes as a scientific innovator to establish a vast financial empire that became increasingly devoted to destroying Superman, whom he felt was stealing his thunder just by existing.
Depending on the version of the character, there's different degrees to which Luthor's hatred of Superman dominates his life. Some favor a mad Luthor, who would give up the potential to be Earth's greatest hero in a heartbeat if it meant destroying Superman once and for all. Others favor a more anti-heroic Luthor, who has ethical lines he will not cross and does work to do good, if only because peace and prosperity are good for business and there's no reason he can't turn a profit while helping people.
Where Past Versions Of Lex Luthor Have Gone Wrong
It cannot be denied that many great actors have played the role of Lex Luthor over the years. The list includes Oscar nominee Jesse Eisenberg, Oscar winner Gene Hackman, Saturn Award winner Michael Rosenbaum and Primetime Emmy Award winner Jon Cryer. Where fans differ, however, is in disagreeing over which versions of Luthor have been the most true to the source material.
Those who prefer a tormented Lex with some good qualities, who fell off the slippery slope of idealism (or was pushed) prefer Smallville's take on the character and how his friendship with Clark Kent dissolved. Others prefer the Arrowverse's Lex Luthor, who took up a hero's role to save all reality during the Crisis on Infinite Earths event, even as he sought to rewrite destiny to his benefit. Yet some prefer their Lex Luthor to be truly insane and completely absorbed in his desire to destroy those who oppose him, such as the hyperactive trickster of Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice or the Lex Luthor of Superman The Movie, who boasted of being "the greatest criminal mind of our time" even as he and his henchmen were being handed over to the authorities.
It is impossible to please everyone, of course, but in all the various attempts to adapt Luthor into live-action, none have has truly committed to a pure, comic-accurate, version Lex Luthor. While Luthor can be unhinged, he must also be charming and seem capable of maintaining a professional facade of civility in public. He must also have a subtle sense of menace, seeming capable of being a threat even to someone as powerful as Superman.
How Titans Has Already Setup Lex Luthor For Season 3
While he never appeared on-camera during Titans season 2, Lex Luthor played a major, if indirect, role in the series' storyline. One of the season's major subplots centered around the team's recruitment of Conner, a remarkably naive teenage boy with a toddler's understanding of the world and phenomenal superpowers. It was eventually revealed that Conner was a clone, created from the DNA of both Lex Luthor and Superman. Somehow, Conner also possessed some of the memories of his two "fathers," being able to speak fluent Kryptonian and also having memories of Lex Luthor being beaten by his father as a child. Season 2 ended with Conner being recaptured by Luthor's top trouble-shooter, Mercy Graves, and put up for auction to the highest bidder, as Mercy (at Luthor's direction) arranged for a brainwashed Beast Boy and Conner to fight in a crowded carnival, to publicly showcase the value of his home-grown super-soldier.
This plot was decidedly dark, even for Lex Luthor. While it's entirely believable to most comic readers that Luthor would not consider sentient aliens to have the same rights as Earthlings, the fact that he could sell a boy that was essentially his son into slavery goes far beyond any evil act ever committed by any version of Lex Luthor in a live-action production. The fact that he would also endanger innocent people for the sake of a sales demo when there were many other ways he could prove the value of his super-soldier clones with a lot less effort also speaks to a Lex Luthor whose lack of empathy for others is truly inhuman.
How Titans Season 3 Can Finally Get Lex Luthor Right
Season 2 of Titans established its version of Lex Luthor as being a truly ruthless individual with few (if any) ethics to hold him back in attempting to turn a profit from his business interests. With the Titans having thwarted his plans and freed his super-clone (with a helping hand from Batman), Luthor seems likely to take a personal interest in striking out against the team of young heroes. The frightening thing is that a man of Luthor's resources has nearly limitless methods for working against the team in season 3.
Presuming Luthor has the same capacity for gathering intelligence that he does in the comics, it would be a simple matter for him to figure out who the Titans are and send mercenary supervillains after them, with payments being arranged through several lawyers of dummy corporations. In fact, with the Titans having publicly killed several people (like Slade Wilson) and Dick Grayson being an escapee from prison, Luthor could call in legitimate authorities to hound the heroes and offer his own security forces' assistance in apprehending the dangerous vigilantes. He could also offer financial assistance to the disenchanted Jason Todd and aid him in his journey to become the Red Hood, while manipulating Todd to go after his many enemies.