DC Is About to Pay Off The Best Superman/Lex Luthor Story of All Time

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All of it started with “Dawn of DC”. This was the post-Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths publishing initiative, and it was meant to rebuild the DC Multiverse, after a couple of years of Batman-centric publishing. Superman (Vol. 6) was an important part of the publishing line, and it started off with a huge change to the status quo: Lex Luthor had given his wealth and corporations to the Man of Steel, forming SuperCorp. Lex Luthor is known for his unhinged plots, and readers kept waiting for this one to explode. However, not only didn’t that happen, it brought the two characters even closer than ever. The tale so far has had its ups and downs, with the events of DC K.O. forming what could be the ultimate culmination of this groundbreaking story.

Superman and Lex Luthor Have Become Closer than Ever

Superman (Vol. 6) built its entire run about Superman and Lex for the first 25 issues. The villain was in prison because of the murder of Manchester Black, and Superman learned that Lex had his own enemies on top of the Man of Steel when new villains Dr. Pharm and Graft, who the villain had been fighting since he came to Metropolis in the shadows, began attacking the city without Lex there to hold them back. Superman had to ask his worst enemy for help against them and the Chained, a powerful villain created and kept prisoner by Luthor. Most readers expected the grudging partnership to implode with an escape attempt by the villain, but “House of Brainiac” changed all of that.

Lex was mindwiped in this story; he still had all of his intelligence, but he lost his memories of being a villain. He and Superman started to get close to each other and reach an understanding, one that they kept once Luthor secretly started to regain his memory. Again, readers expected him to use Superman for some evil scheme, but the two enemies stayed allied, with Lex helping the Man of Steel battle against X-El, a clone of Lex created with the powers of Superman. After the battle in Superman (Vol. 6) #25, the villain escaped, and that was the last time readers saw him until DC K.O.

DC K.O. #1 was fantastic, and the first issue saw the heroes use T-Spheres with Phantom Zone projectors to capture the villains so they couldn’t participate in the tournament for ultimate power. Lex was warned by Gorilla Grodd, and this shattered the trust that he had developed with his greatest enemy. Luthor had stopped hating Supes in the same way he used to; he’d come to understand him and even respect him. He trusted that Supes would leave him alone after what they had been through, as long as he stayed to himself. The betrayal by Superman actually hurt and he took that anger out on the Last Son of Krypton at first, but as the story has gone on, as Superman has gone even darker to win the contests, Lex has been reacting differently. He’s seeing some of himself in his old frenemy, and it could be leading in a very interesting direction, especially when we take into account the growth of the two characters and their relationship.

For two years, DC completely changed the relationship between Superman and Lex Luthor and it worked wonderfully. It was fun seeing them snipe at each other at first, watching them grudgingly learn to put aside their enmity and trust each other. The mindwiped Lex was pretty cool, and we got to see the two characters as friends. Lex actually endangered himself to help his hated enemy survive X-El, something he never would have done before. It was a massive change to both characters and it changed the way fans looked at their relationship. DC K.O. seemed to un-do all of that, but I think the story is going to take us in a direction that no one ever thought: Lex is going to sacrifice himself to save Superman’s soul.

DC K.O. Is Going to Take the Superman/Lex Luthor Relationship to a Place No One Ever Predicted

DC K.O. has dealt heavily with the relationship between the archenemies, even seeing Lex take his anger on the Man of Steel. However, this isn’t the Lex of the old days, this is one who had learned to respect Superman for more than his powers. He’s noticed the way that the tournament’s Omega energy has affected the hero, and he can see his old foe become more like him. While at this point he’s happy about it, I think that as the story goes on Supes is going to get worse, and Lex is going to sacrifice himself to show the hero what’s wrong with him, which will be enough to snap Kal-El out of it.

DC K.O. is a Superman story at its heart, so it acting as the end of a two-year long tale starring the hero and his greatest enemy makes a ton of sense. Superman (Vol. 6) has made the relationship between the character more important than ever; every story in the book has revolved around it. It’s changed the way fans look at their rivalry and I think that DC K.O. is going to take the whole plot to its natural ending. This would be the best possible ending to this plotline, putting the cap on the greatest Superman/Lex Luthor story ever.

How do you think the Superman/Lex relationship will play out? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!