Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor, a fictional character and supervillain in The CW's Arrowverse, made his first appearance in the 2017 episode "Luthors" of Supergirl, based on the character of the same name created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and adapted for television in 2017 by Glen Winter and Greg Berlanti. In the Arrowverse, Lex Luthor is portrayed as the arch-nemesis of Superman. He is depicted as an independent businessman who runs LuthorCorp. At some point, he and Superman were friends, but their friendship ended when Superman refused to embrace Lex's violent and chaotic ideology. Lex then developed an obsession with Superman, resulting in his eventual imprisonment. Later, he perceives Supergirl as a threat and shifts his focus towards her, abandoning his plan to target her cousin. Concept and creation Lex Luthor is one of the most recognizable and prominent supervillain characters in DC Comics. He made his debut in Action Comics #23 in 1940, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. According to IGN, he ranks fourth on a list of one hundred supervillains across media. The character has previously been portrayed in live-action TV shows, including Superboy, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and Smallville. Scott James Wells and Sherman Howard portrayed him in Superboy, John Shea in Lois & Clark, and Michael Rosenbaum in Smallville. Lex Luthor has also appeared in movies such as Atom Man vs. Superman, the classic Superman film series, Superman Returns, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Justice League. He was portrayed by Lyle Talbot, Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey, and Jesse Eisenberg, respectively. When a Supergirl TV show was announced, speculation arose about whether Lex would appear. The character made an appearance in the episode "Luthors" during Supergirl's second season in 2017, with Aidan Fink portraying a young Lex Luthor. Eventually, Jon Cryer appeared in season 4 as an adult Lex Luthor, in a recurring capacity as the "big bad" of the season. He later returned for season 5 and season 6, again as a recurring character and the primary villain in these episodes. He also played a crucial role in the Arrowverse crossover event titled "Crisis on Infinite Earths" in 2019 and 2020. Characterization Cryer was cast as Lex Luthor in 2017 and was the first and only choice of producers, Robert Rovner and Jessica Queller, who admitted to being "enormous" fans of his.