Lex Luthor: Man of Steel/Fridge

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  • Something that occurred during a discussion at the Superman "Headscratchers" page. The physical fight between Superman and Batman in issue #3 seems to come out of nowhere and would seem to act as a perfect example of everything Lex Luthor trying to warn the world about Superman -- that he's dangerous and irrational, he's a God pretending to be a man and we only have his word he won't completely snap and attack us without reason, and so forth. It works to convince Batman, and it also works to convince many of the readers to accept Luthor's viewpoint as well, and if they don't it's often explained as Superman being mind-controlled or driven to act out of character for whatever reason -- but there's an alternate explanation. Earlier in the same issue, Lex Luthor and Bruce Wayne held a business lunch which ended with Luthor giving Bruce Wayne a chunk of Kryptonite as a 'gift'. This essentially means that one of Superman's closest allies -- one who, at that, has a history of acting in an underhanded and secretive fashion towards his allies, to the extent of coming up with secret plans to destroy them if necessary -- has essentially just gone behind his back and accepted something that could theoretically be used to kill Superman. And worse still, he's accepted this from Superman's worst enemy, someone who is constantly trying to kill and undermine Superman. Is it really that surprising or unforgivable that Superman might be feeling a bit angry and betrayed towards Batman by all of this, and might lash out? Either way, Luthor has managed to drive a wedge between the two heroes, which was probably his intention all along -- and he's also managed to drive a wedge between Superman and the reader. You devious bastard, Luthor. ~ Doctor Nemesis
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