Lex Luthor: The Man Who Would Be Hero

Minor disclaimer: I wrote this on my phone, on the bus from Kingston to Toronto.  So there may be some errors.  I blame my thumbs.

 
In every story you see a dichotomy. Good versus evil, right and wrong, easy or hard. Superman and his various tales are no different. However they can be, on occasion, very sneaky about it. Dastardly, even.
Cunning. Yes, that's it. Cunning.

I won't pretend to be knowledgeable enough to discuss the intricacies of the man of steel with you. I refer you instead to the expert himself, Dallas Kasaboski. However there is one character I like to think I know a little better than most, and that is the folicularily challenged genius arch nemesis known as Lex Luthor.
Now, this is not to say I have scoured the archives and hungrily hunted down every last morsel of Luther page real estate. Quite the opposite, in fact. I have seen a few truly excellent examples of the character, and do my best to keep my palette clean otherwise. The unfortunate reality of the situation is that Lex is too easy to get wrong. He's a simple idea, and too often are these ideas lost in translation.
The dichotomies between Lex and Superman are often obvious. Lex is ruthless, Supes has a heart the size of a Kansas farmstead. Superman goes beyond the furthest imaginings of physical perfection, Lex has a genius that would make all the Nobel prize winners of the last 20 years put together look like a mere college undergrad.  Luthor has access to a functionally unlimited supply of money, Superman barely pulls down journalist bucks.
But where things get really interesting is when you sneak a peek beyond these surface differences, and see the things that make them similar. They are both men who are driven, who have the will to succeed. They are both superior men, beyond the ken of us mortals. But most importantly, they both want the same thing. The safety of the human race, at any cost.
Superman will make the ultimate sacrifice in a heartbeat if he thinks it will save his adopted world.
Luthor will sacrifice anything to save the world of his birth, and the people on it.
They are two sides of the same coin. Two ideas taken to their logical extremes, all so we can see what it would look like. And it looks scary, no matter which side the coin lands on.
The premise of Luthor's character is basic. He is a clever, very clever inventor/businessman who hears some very unsettling news one day. A god has fallen to earth, and now walks among us freely. He can incinerate you from orbit just by looking at you. He can hear you whispering from across the world. He is indestructible, and apparently immortal. Hearing this, Luthor has what I would consider a very understandable and rational reaction.
He flips the fuck out.
Can you blame him? Not only is possibly the most powerful creature in the known universe wandering about Metropolis, but the people worship him! They treat him like a savior, and he basks in their glory. He smiles as he gets the key to the city. He plays it humble. And all the while, it seems only Luthor remembers that Earth exists at the whim of this child of the stars. All it would take is one bad day, and the last son of krypton could push the entire planet into the sun.
But they call him crazy. Superman would never.
So there's your Lex Luthor. A man who sees a terrible threat, more powerful than all the nuclear weapons on earth, floating about and being worshipped. A man who says no, this will not stand. We cannot rely on a mystical man from the stars, we must keep ourselves safe. A man who is ostracized for his belief that someday, for some reason, Superman will no longer be the golden boy we all know and love. A scientist labelled mad for thinking that absolute power might, possibly, corrupt.
Unfortunately, a lot of writers see a bald genius with a penchant for purple and green and just go bananas. They think his hatred of Superman should come out of a troubled past they might share, or a crushing defeat or failure. They make him evil for evils sake. That's dime store villainy. Save it for kite man. Lex is a human villain, with human fears, and human motivations. Motivations like fear. Fear of being surpassed. Fear of being obsolete. Fear of being controlled.
Fears that make you fight back.
So what are some good examples of this perfect Luthor? What can I cite as evidence? Not much, unfortunately. After seventy years of being the big bad guy, it seems people are loathe to look at what makes a man like Lex "go bad" in a rational, realistic way.  The best example, hands down, no equal, is the excellent Superman: Red Son. As Mr. Kasaboski puts it in his review, this book is "99% perfect". And I happily agree with him. In it, Superman is raised in Communist Russia and becomes the tip of the USSR's spear, spreading the glory of communism across the globe. Peaceably at first, but by the end his methods become extreme. As extreme as we often see Luthor's. In this upside down world, the only man who can stand against the might of the totalitarian Superman is Lex, who through schemes and machinations finally manages to free the world from the grip of steel. It's powerful. It's clever. It's exciting. Five stars.
After that, things get less exciting. Nowhere else have I seen so good a portrayal of Lex. The runner up would be the DC animated feature All Star Superman, where we see Lex working hard to bring down the man of steel, all while befriending and protecting the goofy reporter Clark Kent. They talk about why Lex hates Superman so much, and we see that he truly respects Kent, even if he seems a little silly at times. He explains that he's doing this for Kent. Unfortunately, All Star Superman suffers from a terrible the-rest-of-the-film, so it's difficult to recommend.
Lastly, I suggest the series finale of the Justice League Unlimited cartoon. Now, this is a tasty treat for any fan of the DC universe, as it contains damn near every character in it. But what makes it excellent in terms of Lexcentricities, is that it shows Luthor is not above working with his hated enemy if the need arises. He's not out to kill Supes for a laugh. He wants to be able to put him down if he becomes a threat. Plus, Luthor pretty much saves the day in this one so that's pretty bad ass.
When all is said and done, the truth is that I just prefer villains in comics. Good ones at least. As much fun as it is watching someone struggle to do the right thing even though it's hard, I much prefer to see someone doing the wrong thing for the right reason. I love to read about someone who can't see that they are wrong, won't see that they've gone too far. In my opinion, proper villains are more relatable than any hero. Because the hero will never be as human as the villain. The hero struggles, fights, suffers, and eventually succeeds. Always succeeds.
But the villain has already failed. They just refuse to give up. And that right there, is a cunning play on the dichotomy of the Superhero and his nemesis.