#1: THE ALIEN ARGUMENT

“You’ve been referred to by some as the world’s greatest boy scout, fighting for Truth, Justice, and the American Way. As if that were some inseparable holy trinity. Truth? That’s in the teller. Just calmly messaged words that very well may be nothing but carefully finessed lies. Justice? Belongs to the judge, who sits above those who put him there because they can’t trust themselves. And the American Way? It constantly evolves out of something that proves to be true and a lie, just more and more…

All men are created equal. All men. You are not a man. But they’ve made you their hero, and they worship you. So tell me, what redemption do you offer them? Those red eyes, I’m sure they look right through me, like I am nothing more than a nuisance. But when I see you? I see something no man can ever be. I see the end. The end of our potential. The end of our achievements. The end of our dreams. You are my nightmare.” -Lex Luthor, Man of Steel, issue 1

Brian Azzarello

Lee Bermejo

Superman is an unquestioned force of good. Truth, Justice and the American way. Although American way wasn’t an original part of his job description. That got added, like unto the “under god” in the pledge of allegiance, in an effort to distinguish our US of A from them dang communists. This, just like the primary colors in his costume, is nothing more than an effort to make the people forget what the Man of Steel is. A supremely powerful alien. He is good, yes, but Superman’s good is not the good of man. Superman is a god, and a god’s truth and justice are absolute. The American way of defining guilt is ultimately up to a jury of your peers. Kal El is no man’s peer. Even among the holy orders of superheroes, he was the first. He is eternal and uncompromising in his very nature.

In Superman: Red Son, the elseworlds comic that posited a DC universe where the last son of Krypton crash landed in soviet Russia instead of mid west America, the people of the Soviet Union beg their hero to take over leadership of the country after Stalin is poisoned. He refuses, saying that to do such a thing would invalidate the equality inherent of a true communist nation. He’s right. Superman invalidates human achievement, human rights, just standing still.

#2: POWER TO THE PEOPLE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imbHrryqhMA

“Do you know the story of Prometheus? No, of course you don’t. Prometheus was a god who stole the power of fire from the other gods and gave control of it to the mortals. In essence, he gave us technology, he gave us power. You see whoever controls technology controls the world. The Roman empire ruled the world because they built roads. The British empire ruled the world because they built ships. America; the atom bomb. And so on and so forth. I just want what Prometheus wanted…

…Gods are selfish beings who fly around in little red capes and don’t share their power with mankind. No, I don’t want to be a *God*. I just want to bring fire to the people. And… I want my cut.”

-Superman Returns, (2006)

The pursuit of knowledge is paramount for an individual such as Luthor. In the Justice League animated series, he follows the path of this knowledge past the mysterious Source Wall, and in doing so achieves something that can be only thought of as godhood. This is some time after he spends a season following a rock around deep space just because he thinks he can hear Braniac talking to him through it. He sees knowledge as progress, data is the only wealth that truly means anything.

In story after story he works to make humanity transcend itself. “The science spire” he constructs, a modern day tower of Babel. Luthor sees evolution as a process that must be cultivated. He’s not a villain, but a challenge. Power, wealth, influence, these are things to be taken by the most fit. That is how he contributes to the progress of human civilization. By taking it by force. Superman is a force to preserve the status quo, to make people feel safe. In Luthor’s eyes, to make them useless.

Luthor is building the way to the next stage of evolution. Superman is god’s intervention, coming down to topple his tower, to confuse the tongues of man. To keep us from achieving, progressing, learning to fight for our place in the universe.

#3: THE DECEPTION OF PERFECTION

“’It’ has a name. A name that we gave him, an attempt to humanize him. As pointless as naming a hurricane.”

-Lex Luthor: Man of Steel issue 3

Brian Azzarello

Lee Bermejo

The modern Superman/Batman comic once briefly touched upon an idea that made Superman’s perfection much more probable. It was a brief redrawing of his shuttle’s discovery by the Kents. Ma and Pa stumble on their bumpkin legs to press their bumpkin faces against the glass and peer at the delicious chewy nougat of divinity that must needs rest inside.

What is peeled out of this celestial tin can is not the rosy faced baby we traditionally see landing in a cornfield, but a twisted, sinister looking alien baby, with gnarled teeth and cruel eyes and rough hideous skin. The country folk recoil in horror, this is not a thing to be taken back to the farm and raised up proper, not a creature that can be expected to understand the complexities of Truth, Justice, and the American way. This is an alien. An ugly alien. But then the creature reaches out with it’s mind, and soothes the skittish cattle in overalls that now decide it’s fate. It takes from them what they want it to be, a newborn savior, and takes that form unto itself. With white skin and black hair and all the right number of fingers and toes this is now a perfect little dream child. Here to save us.

This concept can be expanded to serve as a metaphor for how Superman’s character developed in accordance with it’s publication history. We define him quite essentially as a hero. The one who’s here to save us all. Whatever characteristics we the readers have thought necessary for this ultimate savior to possess have found their way in to his stories, his mythos. Such big eyes, all the better to watch over us. Such big ears, all the better to hear our cries for help. Such strong muscles, such fast feet, such a hero, just like we wanted. Just for us.

The most important part of this concept is the fact that it is a lie. The Kryptonian shows us what we want to see, a face of absolute good to justify a body of absolute power. Even if this new god is benevolent through and through, it is us who have made him that way, and he who allows it to be true.

#4: TRANSHUMAN ROMANCE

“My Futura, my more than metal Marta, I have brought your ultimate identity to you… her name is Lois. She is not like you Futura. You are colder than ice… and harder than any stone. The tip of your finger cuts through a diamond as though it were water. Yet that hardness must be hidden beneath a deceptive veneer of soft skin and loving features. I shall become a thief of you, my Lois. And that which I steal from you I shall place within this vessel made of a metal that fell from the stars. I do not believe that base lie about the first human on earth being a man. If a male God created the world then he certainly created woman first… as I created you, my Futura. But you are not yet finished, are you? Not until I have created you a second time… as the new Lois!”

-Superman: Metropolis

Written by R.J.M. Lofficer & Roy Thomas

Art by Ted McKeever

Lex Luthor was a much simpler character once. Time was all it took to make his eyes light up was building a robot to fight that guy wearing his underpants on the outside. That hasn’t drastically changed. Whether he’s portrayed as a hand wringing mad scientist, or a multibillionaire monster of business, Lex’s bread and butter continues to take the form of a next gen robot which will inevitably run amok. However over time the concept of exactly what he’s attempting to achieve with these multitudes of machinations has evolved considerably.

Luthor is a man of tremendous passions. And those have manifested themselves in his creations. Seeing himself as a god of intellect, he then seeks to bring others to his level. Clark says of his search for extraterrestrial life in Superman Birthright, “I think he just wants someone to talk to.” In DC’s year long event, 52, Luthor succeeds in defeating Superman not with destruction, but with obsolescence. He makes Superpowers mass produced, bringing humanity up to the level of the super, though powers do not make a hero.

Both Lex Luthor: Man of Steel, and Superman: Metropolis feature Luthor constructing a female godhead in the Kryptonian’s image. These are the only creatures a man such as Lex can love. Surpassing all, he creates angels born of man’s invention.

#5: HUBRIS, FICTION’S FAVORITE FALLACY

“Your arrogance may actually be greater than your abilities. You profess a love of humanity, but that is an emotion you can’t possibly know. Because those same abilities make it impossible for you to know it’s opposite… fear.”

-Lex Luthor, Man of Steel, issue 5

Brian Azzarello

Lee Bermejo

The old Superman radio drama describes Krypton as a planet where the species have evolved to an ideal form. Their powers are not excessive or an unexpected reaction of sunlight. Rather than flight or even jumping, they describe themselves as simply walking, one stride taking them from point A to point B. Over the decades, the story of Superman has been continually retold. He has been brought up by popular demand from a basic science-adventure hero to an ultimate force of good. Perfection in blue tights. Such is the Kryptonian way.

Only Lex Luthor recognizes this Utopian nature as wicked. Angels were not meant to walk the world of men. In characters like General Zod we see the true Kryptonian tradition. General Zod differs from Superman not in aggressiveness or goodness, but in standards. He looked upon humanity and applied not the unquenchable forgiveness of our Kal El, but the same expectations he set for himself. And immediately found us all lacking. Why then did Superman never come to the same conclusion? Could it be that in all the years growing up on earth, in all the time spent in nigh-omniscience, he never noticed humanity’s failings? But that begs the question, failing at what? Failing to be human? We’ve got that down. Failing to be Kryptonian is more like it.

Yet that is what is asked of us by the mere presence of Superman in our society. In naming him “man” at all, we beg to be peers to the infallible. An impossible goal. No runner can ever be as fast, no weight lifter as strong, no face as beautiful as the one adorned by the imperial spit curl.

And yet, there is a flaw. The oldest one in the book. The Kryptonians that now thrive under our yellow sun, soar through our air, fight for our justice, are only here because of their own ultimate failure. Krypton, the distant paradise orbiting a red star, was destroyed. And these perfect creatures allowed it. Yet how could such an obvious issue as their world crumbling under their feet escape the notice of Kryptonian scientists? Prophets? Leaders?  Lex Luthor sees every one of these aliens as fallen angels, who, having burned down their heaven, seek to take the reigns of the living world from man.

This is how we can surpass these gods who shine and dance just out of reach. We can succeed where they failed, we can have the wisdom to see our own doom. And it is very difficult to notice the planet falling to pieces under our feet, if we keep our gaze focused on the aliens which have claimed our sky.