Lex Luthor is a fictional DC Comics supervillain. Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the character first appeared in Action Comics #23 (1940). Luthor has played divergent roles within the separate continuities of DC Comics, ranging from pulp-inspired mad scientist to amoral businessman. blank">patfullerton.com - Superman: Lex Luthor Gallery. Retrieved on 2007-7-20. Following a character makeover during the 1960s, an origin story depicted Luthor as an embittered scientist who blames _Superman for a lab accident which caused him to go bald. In the 1980s, he was rewritten as a Machiavellian industrialist and white-collar criminal, even briefly serving as President of the United States. He is regarded as the archenemy of Superman.

Gene Hackman portrayed Luthor in the 1978 Superman film, and later reprised the role in two sequels. The role was inherited by Kevin Spacey in the 2006 film Superman Returns. The part of Lex Luthor been played by several actors on American television, including Sherman Howard in the television series Superboy, and John Shea in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Michael Rosenbaum currently portrays Lex as a younger man on the CW series Smallville. In 2006, Wizard magazine rated him the 8th greatest villain of all time.

Luthor is one of many Superman characters with the initials "LL" - others include Lois Lane, Lionel Luthor, Lana Lang and Lori Lemaris.