Superman & Lois
An alternate version of Lex Luthor was mentioned in two episodes of Superman & Lois in 2021. The John Henry Irons of an alternate Earth stole an exosuit from his reality's Luthor, which he used in the fight against his world's Superman and Tal-Rho. This Luthor was erased from existence by the Anti-Monitor during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Lex Luthor appears in season 3 of the show, portrayed by Michael Cudlitz.[23] The episode "Too Close to Home" had Bruno Mannheim mentioning to John Henry Irons that Luthor was responsible for killing Boss Moxie. However, it is later revealed that Luthor's recorded confession to the crime was falsified, and it was Mannheim's wife, Peia, who confessed while disguising her voice as Luthor's, leading Clark and Lois to realize that Luthor is innocent. Flashbacks reveal that Luthor went to Lois to plead his case in person and implore her to not publish the story without investigating further, but she refused.
In flashbacks seen in the episode "Injustice," Luthor was sentenced to life at Stryker's Prison by Judge Tara Reagan. When he finds Otis Grisham working on an inmate's hair with an electric razor, Luthor asks to rent it so that he can do his hair himself, promising him future opportunities in exchange for his loyalty. Otis attacks Luthor when his promises turn into threats, resulting in Otis and the nearby inmates beating him. When meeting with Warden William Ellis, Luthor has him call a specific number that turns out to be Warden Ellis' home number. Upon answering it, he finds that Luthor's associates on the outside have threatened his family, and Luthor blackmails him into allowing him to run the prison population. Warden Ellis complies with his demands. Luthor starts by having the guards beat up Otis and the others who beat Lex. Warden Ellis later procures Luthor a razor, which he uses to shave his head. Once the shaving is done, Luthor has an inmate recuperating in a wheelchair sweep up the hair. One inmate with missing teeth takes down his meal order, and Otis serves as his chair. Luthor however later makes good on his promise of more opportunities and secures an early release for Otis for his loyalty.
Following Peia's death and Bruno's confession, Luthor is released from prison upon the truth being made known. Luthor walks down the street until he arrives at the Kent family farm. While noting how he knows about what happened to Bruno Mannheim, Lois's cancer treatment, and how she and Clark have two sons, Luthor states that he does not want their apologies and instead furiously orders Lois to retire. As Otis (who now serves as his right-hand man) arrives to pick up Luthor, Luthor orders Lois to tell Superman that he'll be coming for him. Upon arrival in the ruins of Mannheim's base, they find a mutated Bizarro feeding off some rats. With help from Otis, Luthor performs various experiments on Bizarro to cause him to further mutate. After arranging for Judge Reagan to be killed offscreen, Luthor dispatches Otis and his female minion, Cheryl Kimble (under the name "Gretchen Kelley"), to abduct Sam Lane. Luthor then confronts Superman at the Kent farm as he summons a now monstrous Bizarro, dubbed Doomsday. While leaving, Luthor orders Doomsday to bring him Superman's heart when he is done with him.
In season four, Lex Luthor moves into the hotel across from the Smallville Gazette and later meets with Amanda McCoy who hasn't located Elizabeth yet. Before having Otis and Cheryl bury Sam Lane alive, he shows Sam a newspaper article about Superman being in peril. When he hears that Sam has been rescued, Luthor instructs Otis and Cheryl to lay low for awhile. After throwing a defeated Superman's body to the Kent family, Doomsday gives Superman's heart to Luthor as he places it in a device that a LuthorCorp worker named Milton created. A disguised Jordan later confronts Lex Luthor during his and Amanda's meeting with Sebastian "Bash" Mallory demanding he return Superman's heart to no avail. Lex later dines at the diner as Sarah tries to stall them. When Lana arrives, she scolds Sarah for interacting with him as they find that Lex had left.
Lois receives a call from Lex using Superman's voice giving her the number options on which son he should spare. As Jordan looks around a warehouse upon detecting a heartbeat, he is ambushed by Lex's minions with Kryptonite weapons as Lex uses a high frequency sound to weaken him and apparently crushes Superman's heart under his foot. Lex is told by Amanda McCoy that they can use the Manning farm to set up their new base and that Sam Lane was responsible for Elizabeth's relocation. After briefly visiting Jordan to reveal that Lois chose to save Jonathan in that phone choice she received, Lex sends Doomsday to the Department of Defence to intimidate Sam into giving him the location of Elizabeth, but Sam refuses and Lex orders Doomsday to kill Sam, unaware that Sam had injected himself with a serum containing Superman's blood so his heart could be used to revive Superman. After learning of Superman's return, Luthor returns to Smallvile, but both Clark and Lois try to appeal to Luthor as a father by promising him a meeting with Elizabeth, who they located in France.
At Victoria May's, Luthor and Elizabeth share an uneasy reunion and Luthor reveals the truth about his childhood when he was abused by his parents. Elizabeth agrees to give Luthor a chance on the condition that he leave the Kents alone, but he refuses and she leaves, telling him not to contact her again. Luthor goes to summon Doomsday to set him on Superman again, but sees that he is missing, unaware that Lois summoned him and managed to break him free from Luthor's control by reminding him of his past as Bizarro Kal-El and his love for his family. Slowly losing control, Luthor's plans to purchase land in Smallville to build his new HQ are derailed by Mayor Lana Lang and the townspeople who start to rebel against him. Luthor sends Otis to kill Lana but he fails and is taken into custody. He is confronted by an enraged Clark who threatens to kill him, but Luthor activates red solar lights hidden inside Smallville's street lamps and attacks Clark, but Clark fights back and severely beats him, ordering him to leave Smallville and never return.
Luthor returns to Metropolis, where Amanda suggests that he use a "killer suit". After shaving off his goatee, Lex is persuaded by Amanda to do an interview with Gordon Godfrey. Though he sees various viabilities that would cause him to change his mind, Lex is persuaded by Amanda to go on with the interview. During the interview as Lex and Lois tell their sides of the story, Lois tries to call Elizabeth to talk about Lex only for it to get ruined when Superman fights John Henry Irons' hacked armor. Afterwards, Lex makes out with Amanda as they find that Milton is working on the upgrades to John's stolen armor. During the upgrades, via the suit's memory banks, Milton discovers Doomsday in the Shuster mines trying to get back to his world. Abandoning his original plan, Luthor dons the suit despite Amanda's protests and confronts Doomsday in the mines, swaying him to his side once more by killing him with kryptonite bombs and mutating him further with the intention of unleashing him on Smallville as revenge for the town rebelling against him.
Luthor subsequently watches the ensuing fight between Superman and Doomsday, intending to watch Superman die with his own eyes, but hears that Amanda has abandoned him and flies off to kill her, though he is thwarted by Jordan and Jon. He attacks the boys but is stopped by Superman, who defeated Doomsday by taking him to the Sun and healing his wounds. In the ensuing fight, Luthor shoots Superman with kryptonite drills but is still defeated when Superman punches his suit with enough power to shatter it, though he saves Luthor from falling to his death. One year later, Amanda's subsequent testimony sends Luthor back to Stryker's for life, where he is accosted by Mannheim, who now runs the prison and intends to take revenge for Luthor having Cheryl murdered, since she was Mannheim's friend. Luthor presumably passes away in prison.
In the epilogue set thirty-two years later, after Clark dies of heart failure and his spirit enters the afterlife, he comes across the spirit of a now repentant and remorseful Luthor. Clark sits by Luthor and places his hand on his shoulder as a gesture of forgiveness.
