Superman: President Luthor

Release: Feb 21, 2018

This title collects SECRET FILES: PRESIDENT LUTHOR #1, SUPERMAN #162-163, SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL #110, SUPERMAN: LEX 2000 #1, LEX LUTHOR: THE UNAUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY #1, plus content from ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #581 and #586, SUPERMAN #164-165 and SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL #108-109.

---

Get this. Lex Luthor was running for president and…and…and… It wasn’t a dream, was it, Smallville?

Yeah, yeah, it’s an extremely obvious choice given the timing, but sometimes things are obvious for a reason.

The comparisons to the time that Lex Luthor was president in the DC Universe have been made since Donald Trump first came down the escalator in 2015, and just as frequently those comparisons have painted President Luthor in the more favorable light.

Lex is, after all, an actual successful businessman, and while not particularly stable, he is a genius. He’s even able to go bald gracefully.

I wasn’t actively following comics back in 2000, but I was aware that “Luthor for President” was an ongoing storyline, and I assumed that he would win, because why else would you even bother with the idea?

Other media, such as the Smallville and Justice League TV shows, played around with Lex becoming the Commander-in-Chief as well, and Lex was still president when I started reading comics regularly again.

However, things were winding down for him, so I didn’t read too many stories featuring President Luthor, nor have I gone back to catch up on what I missed, with the exception of this collection, which focuses more on the campaign and the beginning of his administration.

The collection closes out with a reprint of Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography, which originally published years prior, and is honestly the main reason I picked this collection up.

While the President Luthor sections are oddly prescient about Trump campaign that would happen years later – though in some ways it was also prescient about the real world election that happened that same year – the Luthor’s biography is more deliberately reminiscent of Donald Trump. The cover for it – which serves as the cover for this collection – is evocative of Trump’s The Art of the Deal, and the post-Crisis version of Lex is very much cast in the mold of the 1980s’ billionaire business moguls, of whom Trump – in his public persona if not in terms of his actual wealth or business acumen – was very much an exemplar.

The difference, again, is that Lex is a genius, which sets him apart from basically all real billionaires, though in fairness, we didn’t know that back then.

In any case, most of the what’s collected here is just the occasional snipped that is specifically devoted to Lex’s march to the White House, instead containing ongoing stories from Superman’s books set against the backdrop of the campaign and then the fallout of his victory.

Really, it’s more about how it’s impacting Superman than it is about Lex, which makes sense given Lex’s role as Superman’s antagonist.

The first few stories do focus on Lex, with an almost wordless short story about Lex being annoyed at seeing Superman’s name and face everywhere he looks, and even more annoyed by how much the public loves him, which culminates in him making the decision to run.

Next is the announcement, which, once again, ends up being overshadowed by his nemesis.

Next up is the story of his unorthodox – and deadly – recruitment of Talia Head (pronounced Heed), AKA Talia al Ghul, AKA The Daughter of the Demon, to take over as CEO of Lexcorp during his campaign and (presumed) presidency. His willingness – at least publicly – to fully step away from his business interests is another area in which Lex differed from Trump.

Of course, Lex does feel some anxiety along the way, as can be seen in the nightmare he has about the debate.

(It’s worth noting that Lex ran as a third-party candidate, heading up The Tomorrow Party.)

For most of the rest of the collection, as noted, the focus is on Superman, with Luthor 2000 being background noise or otherwise woven into the story, such as some conflict between Superman and Aquaman – and the surface world and Atlantis generally – due to the actions of Lexcorp.

Ultimately, Lex is taken into custody by Atlantis – while Superman deals with giant sea creature attacks – for his crimes against them, though he manages to turn that to his advantage.

Part of the conflict with Atlantis centers around the B13 virus, a computer virus that oh-so conveniently attacks any and all systems containing information on Lex’s criminal record.

In another oddly prescient moment, Lex garners some public sympathy as the result of an assassination attempt.

Of course, it’s not that prescient, given the way the attempt on Trump’s life has kind of gone down the memory hole.

The assassination attempt annoyed me because the would-be assassin was a character from the story that first made me…well not like him – it made me hate him because it was so evil – but appreciate the then-new take on Lex Luthor as wealthy businessman rather than super-scientist.

The story featuring the character was perfect and never needed to be revisited in any way, and especially didn’t need to be revisited in this way.

Still, the campaign progresses, and it’s filled with moments that feel very familiar to those of us who lived through 2016, 2020, and are alive right now in – as of this writing – 2024.

And when Election Night finally arrives, it feels way too similar to 2016.

I should mention that beyond the obvious, Superman had a bit of a personal stake in Lex’s campaign, as Lex’s running mate was Pete Ross, a childhood friend of Clark Kent, and husband to Clark’s best friend, Lana Lang, and after the election his father-in-law, General Sam Lane, is named Secretary of Defense.

The remainder of the story through the inauguration is Superman suffering a crisis of faith and having it reaffirmed for him that yes, there must be a Superman, and the superhero community working out its plans for how they will work with – and, when needed, against – President Luthor.

The biography portion focuses on a down-on-his-luck writer who, in a moment of desperation, declares that his next book will be a biography of one of the most powerful men in the world.

What follows, as he delves into the past of a man whose fortune was built from an insurance settlement he received after his parents’ death, does not work out so well for him.

Indeed, we start out knowing that he ended up dead before getting into the story of how he got there, and it proves to be another example of Lex deciding to mess with Clark Kent without actually realizing who he’s messing with, as frames Clark for the writer’s murder.

It doesn’t stick, and Lex didn’t intend it to – indeed, he provides the lawyer who immediately clears Clark’s name – as it was really about attempting to gain leverage over a respected reporter.

Because this is a collection of stories from multiple creators, the writing and art vary wildly in quality, though there is some great stuff from writer Greg Rucka in particular for the President Luthor portion, and from James D. Hudnall in the biography portion.

Throughout, there is great art from the late Mike Wieringo, as well as countless others, and, course, brilliant work from the late and underrated Eduardo Barreto in the biography.

If I’m being honest, I didn’t really write this to examine this collection of stories, I did it to work through some of my anxiety about the uncertainty ahead of us as this country struggles to make a decision that should be incredibly easy.

It should be as easy to reject Donald Trump immediately as it would be to reject Lex Luthor. And yet, Lex Luthor won in 2000, and Trump won in 2016. Lex winning made sense as part of a narrative. Trump’s winning made no sense as part of anything.

But as I take comfort in knowing that, just as in the comics, good ultimately prevailed – albeit not unscathed – and Trump was defeated in 2020, that he’s able to run again at all and to be statistically tied in most polls is disheartening.

I needed to take a moment to live in a fictional world in which there are heroes who will confront evil and a press that will not capitulate, aid, and abet a criminal in his quest for more power. I needed to see the righteous fury and be inspired by the resolve of the Man of Steel.

I needed to find some hope.

I needed to be reminded that no matter what happens, it’s a never ending battle.

I bet you do, too.

---

---