Lex Luthor (Arrowverse)

Cryer was cast as Lex Luthor in 2017,[12] and was the only choice by producers Robert Rovner and Jessica Queller, who admitted being "enormous" fans of his.[13] When asked about his portrayal, he responded by saying that it is a "lovely" experience, and that he wanted to do justice for the character in show. Queller also stated that "I don’t think we could have possibly done better in our casting, and I mean, we’re just thrilled".[14] According to Cryer, he believes that Lex Luthor is a sociopath, with only one link to reality, that being his sister, Lena Luthor.[15] He also highlighted his intelligence and focus on science, while stating that his narcissism is a problem for everyone else. When asked how it is to play a villain, Cryer said "[I'm] still getting my sea legs." and that it is a hard character.[16]

Cryer also pointed out that Lex has a manipulative behavior towards others in the series, viewing others as chess pieces, and as inferior to him.[17] About his character's development in season 6, in which he falls in love with another character of the show, Nyxlygsptlnz, said that he was scared about removing his "dark side", something that he brought up to producer Queller, saying that "Why? Why would Lex fall in love? He is Lex Luthor."[18] Cryer revealed that he enjoyed playing the character, to the point he called the head of Warner Bros. Television Studios, Peter Roth and asked him for Luthor to be a part of Crisis on Infinite Earths, with the studio not having plans to use him, describing the event as "humiliating" for him.[19] For the role, Cryer admitted to having read DC comic books to prepare, even though he describes himself as a "geek", already having vast knowledge of the character.[20] Cryer was a strong advocate of Lex eventually defeating Supergirl, something that he pitched numerous times to the producers of the show.[21]

Lex Luthor was born sometime after 1984 in Metropolis, to billionaires Lionel and Lillian Luthor. Since early childhood, Lex exhibited an extremely high intellect. As a child he showed anti-social behaviour. In 1997, the illegitimate daughter of Lionel and half-sister of Lex, Lena, was adopted by the Luthors, something that angered Lex. Eventually, the two of them became close friends. During his teenage years, he showed signs of psychopathy. As his father distanced himself, Lex developed a hatred for Lionel. After Lionel's death, he inherited the family company, Luthor Corp. At some point he met Superman and the two of them worked together on stopping alien invasions, but Lex's techniques were too brutal. Superman and Lex had a falling out, and he started believing that Superman was the reason for the invasions. His obsession with Superman caused the fracture within his relationship with Lena.

After several years and various brutal encounters resulting in numerous fatalities, Lex and Superman had a final confrontation in early 2016, prior to which Lex turned Earth's yellow sun, red in an attempt to de-power the Kryptonian, consequently causing destruction on a global scale. The police found him, but he escaped, only to later be captured by Superman. Lex went to trial but killed the judge and all the people inside the chamber. He was later incarcerated for thirty-one consecutive life terms and sent to Stryker's Island Penitentiary. Inside the prison, he hired the assassin John Corben to kill his sister, after she took over Luthor Corp (later changing the name to L-Corp). His plan failed after Superman and Supergirl intervened. While in prison, Lex spent the next few years planning his escape.

In 2018, the Kaznian's Minister of Defence informed Lex about the existence of a copy of Supergirl. Lex travelled with the Minister to Kaznia, to meet her, and begin her training. After months of training, he took her to National City, to give her an idea of how Supergirl lives. At some point, the Supergirl duplicate develops a sickness. In order to save her, Lex enters a radioactive chamber, causing him to develop cancer. Freed from prison on a mercy furlough, Lex was transported to his mansion. He arranges for his assassin and love interest, Eve Teschmacher, to shoot James Olsen, to distract Lena. As Lena goes to the hospital, Lex cuts the electricity, forcing her to inject James with an experimental vaccine to save his life. Lex gambled that, if it worked, it would also save Lex from cancer. After Lena realizes that he was behind the black-out she goes to confront him, only to discover he was cured by the vaccine and developed superhuman powers. He flees and battles Supergirl. A few hours later he arrived in Kaznia and gives the copy a blood transfusion in order to restore her health, calling her "Red Daughter". He directs her to kill Supergirl's mother, Eliza Danvers, to "kill" her heart. The Red Daughter goes to Eliza's house and forces her to call Kara. Supergirl arrives and the two fought, with the duplicate losing. During this, Lex arrives at the White House and meets with President Baker, reminding him of everything Lex had done for his political career. Lex receives a phone call from a Kaznian General, with Lex arranging for Kaznia to attack the United States. As the attack was happens, Lex dons a "Lexosuit", and Red Daughter attacks the Kaznian troops, annihilating them. Red Daughter tells him that she killed Supergirl. Lex shoots the Supergirl duplicate, seemingly killing her. Afterwards, he transports her to a special cell, designed to extract energy from her and convert it into a power source. Later, Lex began supplying energy to the houses that had been damaged by the Kaznian bombings, with the President announcing his upcoming appointment as Secretary of the United States Department of Alien Affairs. With Supergirl being dead, and having the President on his hand, Lex's plan to overtake American succeeds.

His ambitions didn't stop there, as he invades the planet and home of Superman, Argo City. A team led by Supergirl stop his attack. Lex arrives on Shelley Island, the location of Supergirls' team, wearing his Lexosuit, in order to kill them. He battles Supergirl, losing and having his Lexosuit destroyed. He goes to the cabin where he and Lena spent their vacations. There, Lena extracts the serum from his body, resulting in his death.

With the beginning of the Anti-Monitor invasion of the Multiverse, the Monitor brought Lex back from the dead to assist the heroes, and in return Lex asked him for Lena to maintain her Pre-Crisis memories. The Monitor brought him to the Waverider, and Lex met a furious Kara Danvers and Kate Kane / Batwoman. After that, he found the Book of Destiny, and leaves the ship to kill as many versions of Superman as he can. He first visited Earth-75, and killed that universe's Superman. He then travels to Earth-167, with the same intentions, but learns that that Clark Kent gave up his powers. Afterwards, Lex goes to Earth-96, and uses the Book of Destiny to brainwash Clark Kent / Superman to fight the Superman from Lex's universe. The two Supermen fight, but Lois Lane of Lex's universe knocked Lex out, ending his control. Lex was locked in the Waverider, until he is able to get the Book again, using it to save himself from the anti-matter wave that destroyed the Waverider, and the whole Multiverse, placing his name as the Paragon of Truth, transporting himself to the Vanishing Point.

In the Vanishing Point, he tried to open a portal to reality with a machine, with the help of Ryan Choi, but failed. Then, Barry Allen / The Flash returned from the Speed Force, unable to find a way out of the Point. Afterwards, Oliver Queen / Spectre appeared and helped Barry unlock his full potential, sending Lex, Kara and Ryan to the past, to the planet Maltus, 10,000 years before Monitor created the Anti-Monitor. There, Lex tries to backstab his team, and fails to get the Monitor to side with Lex. The team is transported to the Dawn of Time to fight the Anti-Monitor. Lex and the other Paragons fought the Anti-Monitor's army, with Oliver sacrificing himself to recreate the Multiverse.

In the new Multiverse, Lex's Earth merged with Earth-1 and Jefferson Pierce / Black Lightning's Earth, resulting in Lex being seen by the public as a good guy, something that Supergirl doubts. In the new reality he is the owner of LuthorCorp and leader of the Department of Extranormal Operations (now a subsidiary of his company), and became a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

At some point, he met with his mother, Lillian, now the head of the Luthor Foundation, and started scheming about destroying the Fortress of Solitude. To win Lena over, Lex used a truth-inducing organism on his arm, to prove his honesty. At a "Man of Tomorrow" event held by the Luthor family, reporter William Dey privately talked to Kara voicing his suspicion that the Luthors did away with Russell Rogers when they bought out his company. Brainiac 5 later visited Lex, concerned about Leviathan as he shows him a picture of a possible doppelganger that resembles Winn Schott. Lex Luthor visits Gamemnae / Gemma Cooper, and persuades her to arrange a collaboration between LuthorCorp and Obsidian Tech. After Brainiac 5 becomes the new Director of the D.E.O. following Alex Danvers's resignation, he gives Lex the information he needs from the alternate Winn Schott / Toyman's A.I. hacking. Lex then tracks down Gemma and offers a partnership between LuthorCorp and Obsidian Tech. From day one of Earth-Prime, Lex had manipulated Eve Teschmacher into being his inside person in Leviathan where he tricks her into killing Jeremiah Danvers. While Kara Danvers / Supergirl is preventing a Sun-Eater from eating the Sun, Lex goes to the scene of where those who were trapped in virtual reality were being held and frees them, killing Margot Morrison. Gemma confronts Lex about his actions, and he states that she should focus her anger towards their mutual enemy, Supergirl. Later that night, Lex revealed to Eve that the people he had protecting her mother will dispose of her should she go against him. He also has the footage of Eve killing Jeremiah. When Eve states that he is worse than Leviathan, Lex disagrees. After a talk with his mother, Lex uses Lena's transportation watch to go to the Fortress of Solitude. Lex visited Lena at Stryker's Island, noting that her project would fail causing Lena to see that Kara was right about Lex. After getting a call from Gemma that Rama Khan succeeded in his mission to obtain the Kryptonite from the D.E.O., Lex informs Brainy that they now have access to Leviathan's ship. When he enters the ship, Lex is given a special pin by Gemma to keep him safe from the ship's defenses. The two of them begin their plot involving the Unity Festival. After Brainiac 5 enters the code that leads to the bottling of Rama Khan, Tezumak, and Sela, Gemma briefly shuts down causing Lex to go after Brainiac 5. He finds a weakened Brainiac 5 on Leviathan's ship and claims the bottle containing Rama Khan, Tezumak, and Sela. After getting away, he gives the bottle to Lillian to begin their next plot.

Lex goes ahead with his next phase of his plan by having Lillian copy the powers of the Leviathan members into him, while her also warning him of the outcome. During the fight at the Fortress of Solitude with Supergirl, Lex was managed to use the Phantom Zone Projector to send Supergirl into the Phantom Zone. He was arrested and sent to trial. While incarcerated at National City Prison, Lex was visited by Lillian who stated that she told him so. Lena then arrives and uses the brainwashing machine, Myriad, to erase the memory of Supergirl's identity from their minds. In the trial, Lena testified against him, revealing that he used brainwashing technology to appeal to the jury. The verdict was that he was innocent, something that shocked him. After that, Lex and Lena fought for the control of LuthorCorp. Lex sent his bodyguard, Otis Graves, to sabotage the new children's wing at the hospital. After noting that killing him won't change anything, Lena told Lex that she was leaving LuthorCorp.

He later visited the future where he befriended and fell in love with a future Nyxlygsptlnz "Nyxly". Together they mixed science with magic, however, Nyxly made a mistake with the Totems, killing her. Lex preserved the mind of Nyxly in the form of A.I. and placed it in a Lexosuit which he sent to the present Nyxly, to prevent her death. However, present Nyxly didn't want anything to do with him. Lex reunited with Otis, and who suggested that if Nyxly loved him before, Lex should try again. Lex quickly devised a plan to get the Love Totem to her. However, Nyxly wasn't happy with the assistance and the Superfriends got the totem. Lex saved Nyxly from being imprisoned, revealing their future romance and that he was trying to save her. After the Nyxly A.I. helped Nyxly obtain the Dream Totem, Lex appeared to her and assisted in obtaining the remaining Totems. Supergirl and her team managed to get the other pieces of the Totems. In the final battle between him and Nyxly against the Superfriends, they created magical constructs in the form of their enemies like Kara Danvers / Overgirl, Red Tornado, Metallo and dragons. After being defeated, he opens a portal to the Phantom Zone allowing Phantoms to attack them. The Phantoms instead drag Lex and Nyxly into the Phantom Zone, as Supergirl and her allies had rallied the people of National City to have courage while Lex and Nyxly were giving off hubris which the Phantoms are attracted to.

• The character first appeared in the episode "Luthors" of Supergirl season 2, portrayed by Aidan Fink as a young Lex Luthor, in 2017.[22]
• Jon Cryer made his first appearance as Lex Luthor in the episode "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" of season 4, in 2019.[23]
• He then appeared in the crossover event, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and the shows Batwoman, The Flash, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow, in 2019 and 2020.[24]

An alternate version was mentioned in two episodes of Superman & Lois in 2021. The John Henry Irons of an alternate Earth stole an exosuit from his reality's Lex Luthor which he used in the fight against his world's Superman and Tal-Rho. The A.I. Hedy originally referred to John as "Captain Luthor". Superman and Lois of their Earth thought that he was a relative of Lex Luthor until the fingerprints on the box he had proved otherwise.

This version of Lex Luthor will appear in season 3, portrayed by Michael Cudlitz.[25] The episode "Too Close to Home" had Bruno Mannheim mentioning to John Henry Irons that Lex Luthor was responsible for killing "Boss" Moxie Mannheim.