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Batman #120 confirms that with Superman off world for the immediate future, the life of his nemesis, Lex Luthor, is in constant jeopardy.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Batman #120, on sale now from DC Comics.
Lex Luthor has always assumed that Superman was the one thing that was holding him back but, as it turns out, the opposite was true. With his archnemesis having left Earth for a whole new mission, Lex Luthor no longer has to worry about the Man of Steel. Instead, he’s set his sights elsewhere. Although a Luthor unburdened by the threat of Superman may seem like a bad thing for the heroes of the DC Universe, it turns out that it’s even worse news for Luthor himself.
Lex Luthor has turned his attention to the Caped Crusader recently, having acquired Batman Inc. and making it his own enterprise. Things took an unexpected turn for the corporate villain, however, in Batman #120 (by Joshua Williamson, Jorge Molina, Mikel Janín, Tomeu Morey, and Clayton Cowles). The heroes he bought to protect his own interests and hijack the Dark Knight’s legacy now want him dead.
However, these events merely scratch the surface, as the members of Batman Inc. aren’t the only ones who want Luthor dead. Both The Human Target (by Tom King, Greg Smallwood and Clayton Cowles) and Superman: Son of Kal-El 2021 Annual #1 (by Tom Taylor, Steve Pugh, Clayton Henry, Romulo Fajardo Jr., Steve Buccellato, and Dave Sharpe) have recently featured plots to kill Lex Luthor. The main thing they have in common is that all of these attempts are justified in some way.
All three of these stories have come to revolve around plots to kill Lex Luthor. Why now? It’s simple – Superman. With the Man of Steel off-world for the foreseeable future, his primary nemesis has had free reign to do whatever he pleases. No one is around to keep him in check, giving lesser known heroes, anti-heroes, and villains an opportunity to take matters into their own hands. A recently returned villain team was recently seen in Deathstroke Inc. targeting Luthor, believing him to be too big of a threat to be ignored.
Superman: Son of Kal-El 2021 Annual #1 saw the villain blackmailing his peers for money. This, in turn, saw Luthor targeted by one of the people he attempted to extort. Although the villain was able to figured out who targeted him, it doesn’t change the fact that it happened or that he needed Jon Kent’s help to resolve the situation. In The Human Target, a member of the Justice League International attempted to poison Luthor, although that attempt was ultimately thwarted. Now Batman Inc. and their mysterious new leader Abyss have targeted the villain as well.
If Superman was still on Earth, it’s unlikely that Lex would have been this bold, and therefore, he would have fewer people gunning for him. Moreover, most people would trust the Man of Steel to handle him. However, with the Last Son of Krypton gone Luthor has become more brazen with his criminal activity than ever, leading others to declare open season on his life.
Lex Luthor has always believed that his greatest enemy was the one thing holding him back. In reality, Superman was the one thing keeping him alive. Luthor has proven to be smart enough to thwart the efforts that have already been made on his life, but there is no telling when he will run out of luck. Both Batman and Superman Son of Kal-El saw Lex threatened by weak points in his organizations and technology, and the would-be killer in The Human Target‘s killer came from within the Justice League itself. The greedier the villain gets, the more enemies he’s going to make and they won’t be as easy to spot as Superman. In fact, the cunning villain might not be able to spot them at all.
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