Smallville: 10 Things You Missed About Lex Luthor

Alexander “Lex” Luthor, the conceited billionaire CEO of LuthorCorp and LexCorp, has plenty of captivating storylines from the first to the seventh season of Smallville. Like his nemesis Clark Kent and his band of superheroes, Lex’s rise from a young boy to one of Earth-1’s most famous faces is well documented.

Lex’s character development is better than that of most characters on the show, and, as a result, there is an abundance of information about him for fans to keep up with. For this reason, it’s easy to miss a detail or two. There are also some behind-the-scenes details that can’t be noticed by simply watching the show.

10 He Keeps Forgetting Clark’s Secret

Lex Luthor discovers Clark’s secret a total of eight times in the series. Each time it has happened, he has forgotten due to circumstances beyond his control. The last time he finds out the secret, he forgets because Tess erases his memory.

There is a good reason why the writers have to make Lex Luthor forget Clark’s secret. He has a dislike for humans with special abilities, so, whenever he finds out about Clark, he becomes hellbent on killing him. When he doesn’t know, he remains fairly reasonable. Lex has all the resources needed to kill Clark, and, to ensure that doesn’t happen, he has to be made to suffer some form of amnesia.

9 His Age

One of the things viewers forgot from the first episode of Smallville is that Lex Luthor is 9-years-old when he becomes a victim of the meteor showers. Since the meteor showers happen in 1989, Lex’s year of birth is either 1980 or late 1979. This makes him 30 or 31 by the time the series ends.

The CW show has always been cagey with details concerning the ages of the characters, and Luthor’s age is actually the only one that can be determined by watching. In a tweet, writer Bryan Q, Millar once revealed that Clark Kent was 25-years-old when the show ended. This means that Lex is 5 years older. In the comics, the age gap between the two adversaries has always varied. For example, in Superman: Secret Origin, the two are agemates who attend high school together.

8 He Is Multilingual

Lex Luthor is heard speaking Japanese and German at different stages of the show. He speaks German when he helps the FBI find dirt on his father Lionel. He also speaks Japanese when he first takes Lana Lang out to dinner.

Lex’s mastery of different languages comes as no surprise since he has genius-level intellect. His knowledge stretches from science to history and politics. He is a reader, too, which is made evident from the numerous bookshelves in his mansions. Memorizing things is easier for him, too, since his brain operates at a higher percentage. This comes to be after Tess makes use of Summerholt’s neurotoxin to erase Lex’s unwanted memories and keep his mind healthy.

7 The Code For Lex’s Bookshelf

The code that opens Lex Luthor’s bookshelf is 15988. Keen viewers can see Clark keying in these details when a fugitive Lex sends him to the mansion to retrieve evidence during his war against Morgan Edge.

This is a more secure code than the ones at LuthorCorp. One of the things fans might have missed about Victor Stone, A.K.A. Cyborg, is that the code that opens his cage at LuthorCorp is 246. It’s an unusually simple code for a villain who normally prefers to keep his plans and projects a secret. The longer bookshelf code might imply that Lex cares more about his books than anything else.

6 He Gets Knocked Out A Lot

Lex Luthor becomes unconscious a total of 49 times on the show, the most of any character. Clark Kent is responsible for a good number of the knockouts that Lex suffers.

Lex might be good at many things, but he is probably better off leaving hand-to-hand combat to his henchmen. Despite having learned swordplay, taekwondo, boxing, and judo, he has been bested by nearly all of his opponents. The only person he matched up to was Oliver Queen. Even when Clark is robbed of his powers by a rare form of Kryptonite, he still manages to knock Lex out.

5 Birthday Gift

During the Senatorial race between Lex Luthor ad Jonathan Kent, Lex calls out his father over his lack of support. Lionel argues that he isn’t supporting him because he isn’t playing by the rules of “The Art of War.” Lex scoffs, stating that he would have preferred a bicycle as a birthday gift when he was 14 rather than the book.

Lionel’s obsession with power is well known, hence the reason for him to want his son to learn ways to acquire it for himself. Apart from doing business, he heavily focuses on controlling Lex, and this keeps putting a strain on their relationship. His gift to Lex says a lot about his parenting skills since a 14-year-old boy would have definitely preferred something more fun than a book that teaches Machiavellian tactics.

4 His Marriages

Lex has been married three times in the Smallville series. He weds Desirée Atkins—a metahuman that uses pheromones to control men—Helen Bryce—doctor at Smallville Medical Center—and Clark’s ex-girlfriend, Lana Lang.

The villain’s short-lived marriages are often a result of his narcissistic personality. He has proven to be unable to focus on anyone that isn’t himself or Clark Kent. In the comics, he is seen in divorce court even more often, having married the likes of Contessa Erica, Alexandra Luthor (Earth-1), Alexandra Del Portenza, Ardora, Elizabeth Perske, and Gertrude Vanderworth.

3 Change In Actors

Michael Rosenbaum is the most popular version of Lex Luthor, but he isn’t the only one that portrays the character in Smallville. Rosenbaum is only a cast member from season 1 to season 7. In season 8, Kevin Miller plays the villain, and, in season 9, it’s Ayron Howey. In season 10, there’s yet another actor in Mackenzie Gray.

It’s difficult for audiences to notice the other actors since they only portray the villain for an episode or two, and, during their appearances, they either appear as masked versions of the character or in shadows where the face isn’t clearly visible. Lex Luthor stops being a major character on the show after Michael Rosenbaum’s departure. As for Mackenzie Gray, he is one of Smallville actors that plays multiple characters, since he also appears as SynTechnics scientist Dr. Alistair Kreig.

2 The Only Main Character Lex Hasn’t Met

There is only one main character that Lex doesn’t interact with, and that is General Zod. The Kryptonian military leader is almost as formidable as Lex, but storylines involving the two often appear mutually exclusive.

It makes sense for Lex to steer clear of Kryptonians since he is aware of their power, and the few he has faced off against have always gotten the better of him. Zod and Lex don’t have shared interests, either; the General tends to be more about brawn, while Lex Luthor is a thinker and schemer.

1 His Immunity

In season 1’s episode “Craving,” a family doctor examining Lex at the Luthor Mansion points out that he has an unusually high number of white blood cells. Lex then states that he never gets sick, and even his asthma disappeared after the meteor showers.

Lex’s high immunity is definitely due to the special abilities he obtained after he was struck by a meteorite. It’s implied that he isn’t the only one who doesn’t get sick. The doctor mentions that he encounters plenty of people with white-cell count in Smallville, though he thinks it’s because of contamination from LuthorCorp’s fertilizer plant.  This means way more people than accounted for were hit by the meteorites.

About The Author

Philip Etemesi
(1213 Articles Published)

Philip Etemesi is an author, journalist, screenwriter and film critic based in Nairobi. Kenya. As a child, he preferred watching movies like The Goodfellas instead of Home Alone. His girlfriend constantly has to pull him from the front of the TV but he just keeps returning. Stubborn dude! An animal lover, Philip also has a pet giraffe called Refu.

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