One Superman Enemy Proves Lex Luthor With Powers Is Pure Nightmare Fuel

Despite being only human, Lex Luthor has proven himself to be a thorn in Superman‘s side. But one enemy in the Man of Steel’s rogues gallery proves that powers could make Lex the most terrifying monster of all time.

While he may have one of the most brilliant minds in the DC Universe, Lex has been consistently wrong about one thing: his belief that Superman is a blight on humanity. Since the day Clark Kent donned his tights and cape, Luthor has devoted every waking moment to tearing the hero down. In pursuit of his goals, Lex Luthor has broken laws and teamed up with supervillains all so that he could remove Superman from the Earth for good. Lex has even dabbled in science, and created numerous experiments to try and fell his adversary once and for all, though never to success.

But one of the most unsettling villains Superman has ever faced showed that Lex could be a lot worse. In Action Comics #883 by Greg Rucka, Eric Trautmann and Pere Pérez, the Kryptonian heroes Nightwing and Flamebird are continuing their hunt of General Zod’s sleeper agents that are hiding out on Earth. Unbeknownst to the heroes, the secret invasion is getting worse now that Jax-Ur is making his presence known on the planet. As part of Zod’s master plan, the alien criminal is hiding out on Earth under the assumed identity of Dr. Phillings, a respected xenobiologist. And while no one suspects him of his Kryptonian heritage, Jax-Ur shows no qualms about using his powers against the people of Earth. In fact, to aid in his twisted experiments, Jax-Ur travels to Iraq and lobotomizes a group of people to serve as his test subjects.

In many ways the negative traits that Jax-Ur possesses makes him very similar to Superman’s nemesis. Aside from their opposition to the moral superhero, both Jax-Ur and Lex are insanely brilliant but cold, calculating, and methodical. They both see themselves as above the ‘lesser’ populace and feel they’re allowed to do as they wish. However, Jax-Ur is emboldened to do much more damage thanks to the powers he naturally has, meaning that similar abilities could bring out Lex Luthor’s darkest side. To be fair, Lex has had superpowers before, ranging from simple enhanced strength to cosmic godhood. But what Jax-Ur does is show how dangerous Lex could potentially be if he ever got had powers like Superman. Someone with a high-intelligence who sees people as nothing but lab rats for the taking and the ability to use the world as his own labratory is an alarming prospect, one that becomes much more scary if that person was Lex Luthor.

While he’s been able to go toe to toe with Superman, Lex’s damage has been largely limited since he’s just a human. But with Superman’s abilities, Luthor’s combined intelligence and strength could actually give him what he needs to conquer the world. Jax-Ur is a reminder that, for Superman, things could be a lot worse with Lex Luthor.