DC Reminds Fans the Internet’s Favorite Superman Meme is Comics Canon

Warning! Spoilers for Future State: Superman vs Imperious Lex #1

DC Comics has reminded fans that the internet’s favorite Superman meme is actually canon. Even across the universe in the future, Metropolis businessman Lex Luthor can’t escape a strange and surprising crime of his past.

Future State explores the Man of Steel’s relationship with Luthor years down the line. Future State: Superman vs Imperious Lex #1 is written by Mark Russell with art by Steve Pugh. During a meeting of the United Planets which is attended by Lois Lane, Superman, Hawkman, a Guardian from Oa, and members of other alien species, Luthor gets a shoutout for requesting to join their coalition. However, it seems that Superman doesn’t even know about his old rival’s whereabouts.

An alien clarifies and asks if Lex Luthor is known as “an interplanetary villain and cake thief.” Apparently, this is what the criminal mastermind has become famous for throughout the galaxy in the not so distant future. The alien’s line is a reference to a popular meme, from an illustration featured in the Super Dictionary, a book DC published in 1978, that showed Luthor in the process of stealing a cart with 40 cakes.

When the image resurfaced online, fans laughed at how absurd it was that Lex would go from being Superman’s biggest threat to robbing bakeries and taking their cakes. However, Lex’s cake crime was later incorporated into canon when it was revealed he had stolen the same amount of cakes from a school bake sale as a kid. Within the first pages of Imperious Lex #1, it says a lot that aliens recognize the supercriminal for such a minuscule offense, earning him an entirely separate title besides “villain.” Just like he’s become a meme, in reality, he’s also practically a meme in-universe.

This reference becomes even funnier when it’s revealed that Lex now rules his own planet called “Lexor.” He’s come a long way since his youthful cake stealing days. However, he’s apparently still a joke to the galaxy, which seems to be unaware that he currently leads a world. There are several titles that seem more appropriate to include in a quick description of his life on Earth, but instead of “LexCorp CEO” or “former president of the United States of America,” it seems intentionally demeaning that this is the incident that the United Planets chooses to throw out there.

It’s pretty degrading to Lex’s massive ego that in the future, he still doesn’t earn the universe’s respect — including the courtesy of the United Planets, despite technically being a political leader himself at this point. With this quick dig at Lex’s past, before he was a well-renowned criminal mind, it feels like a confrontation is being set up. Evidently, the United Planets is avidly anti-Luthor, and they have yet to learn of his new power as ruler of Lexor. Once he learns that the council disregards his accomplishments and mocks his attempts to join them, it’s only a matter of time until Lex Luthor strikes back.

About The Author