Editing Lex Luthor (section)

==== Bronze Age ====
[[File:Lex Luthor 1983 warsuit (comics character).png|thumb|upright|left|Lex Luthor in his Lexorian warsuit from ''[[Action Comics]]'' #544 (June 1983), art by George Perez]]

Deciding to retire permanently, Luthor returns to Lexor and learns he has fathered a son by Ardora, Lex Luthor Jr. He spends the next several weeks with his new family before discovering Lexor suffers from the same planetary instability that destroyed Krypton. While creating a "Neutrarod" tower to stabilize the planetary core, Luthor's pathological hatred for Superman resurfaces and he reflects on feeling unsatisfied in life without their conflict. The villain then unearths an ancient underground laboratory of great technology, a relic from Lexor's lost age. After one of Luthor's still-active satellites threatens the people of Earth, he concludes Superman will soon come to Lexor to take him back to Earth authorities. With the underground lab's resources, he spends weeks creating a "warsuit" — highly destructive, flight-capable [[power armor]] — to finally match the Kryptonian in physical combat and counter his powers. To test the suit, Luthor performs several acts of destruction on Lexor, feigning ignorance when he hears about the "mystery marauder" and telling Ardora he has no knowledge of the armored man.

When Superman arrives, Luthor dons his warsuit and attacks, now obsessed with the need to best the hero in combat and prove his superiority. The people of Lexor are shocked to realize he is the mystery marauder and does not care about the harm he has caused them. During the battle, Luthor releases an energy salvo that accidentally overloads the Neutrarod, resulting in the complete destruction of the planet Lexor and all its inhabitants, including Ardora and Lex Jr.. Similar to how he reacted after the destruction of his lab in Smallville, Lex is unable to process his grief and accept his responsibility for Lexor's destruction. He psychologically blocks part of his own memory to convince himself Superman is at fault, renewing his need for vengeance. In his subsequent stories, he regularly uses the Lexorian warsuit.<ref>''Action Comics'' #544 and ''Superman'' #385–386 (June–August 1983): ''"Luthor Unleashed"'', ''"Luthor Rises Again"'' and ''"Luthor Lashes Back"''</ref> The warsuit was designed by [[George Pérez]]<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bailey|first=Michael|date=August 2009|title=What Not to Wear: The Luthor and Braniac Edition|journal=[[Back Issue!]]|publisher=[[TwoMorrows Publishing]]|issue=#35|page=73}}</ref> as part of the [[Super Powers Collection|Super Powers toyline]] in the early 1980s before being introduced into the comics in 1983.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbr.com/history-lex-luthor-iconic-armor/|title=Power Suit Up: The History of Lex Luthor's Iconic Armor|last=Cronnin|first=Brian|date=February 14, 2017|website=[[CBR.com]]}}</ref> The suit vanished in 1986 after ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]'' rebooted DC Comics continuity, but was reintroduced in 2004, now said to be built with a combination of Earth and alien technology (including tech from the other-dimensional world [[Apokolips]]) and armed with different forms of kryptonite in the gauntlet.<ref>Superman Homepage – [http://www.supermanhomepage.com/comics/who-classic/who-classic-intro.php?topic=luthor-lex Who's Who In the Superman Comics: Lex Luthor]. Retrieved July 18, 2007.</ref>

Lex Luthor of Earth-One teams up with Alexei Luthor of Earth-Two. It is shown that Alexei is arguably colder and more villainous, perfectly willing to destroy all of Earth in order to prove his superiority, whereas Lex hesitates to do so because he had no desire to rule a lifeless world and doesn't want his sister to die. They even extend their alliance to [[Ultraman (DC Comics)|Ultraman]] when Earth-Three's Lex Luthor is a good guy. All three villains were defeated by Superman of Earth-One, Superman of Earth-Two, and Lex Luthor of Earth-Three.<ref name="DCP Annual"/>

During the 12-issue limited series ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'', Luthor allies himself with fellow Superman foe [[Brainiac (character)|Brainiac]] to recruit an army of supervillains spanning the [[Multiverse (DC Comics)|DC Multiverse]]. Alexei Luthor is present and complains this army does not need two Luthors; Brainiac kills Alexei in response. At the conclusion of the series, reality is altered so that each of the different universes converge into one. Luthor is subsequently returned to prison with all his memories of the Crisis forgotten.

This incarnation of Lex Luthor met his end in the non-canonical two-part story "[[Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?]]" that closed out the Pre-''Crisis'' Superman continuity of the Silver and Bronze Age. Luthor finds [[Brainiac (character)|Brainiac]]'s head, hoping to revive the villain for a new team-up. Instead, Brainiac takes control of Luthor's body, forcing him to be a host as he attempts to destroy Superman. Luthor later begs a superpowered [[Lana Lang]] to kill him, who does so. Brainiac retains control of the body for a short period of time before [[rigor mortis]] sets in, then abandons it, running out of power shortly afterward.