Lex Luthor Is Joining the Justice League

[Fanghawk]

Lex Luthor Is Joining the Justice League

Justice League is undergoing a significant roster change that might result in Superman's nemesis running the team.

Lex Luthor has been many things during the long history of DC Comics. Mad scientist. Corporate mogul. <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lex_Luthor#President_of_the_United_States>President of the United States. Now the Superman villain has his sights set on yet another influential position: Leader of the Justice League. As the events of DC Comics' Forever Evil draw to a close, Luthor will find himself thrust into the ranks of Earth's superpowered champions, awarding him a League membership alongside Batman and Wonder Woman.

"Is he going to lead the Justice League?" series writer Geoff Johns told the Washington Post. "It depends on whom you ask on the team. Certainly, he thinks he should." Luthor can definitely expect resistance from founding members like Batman, but after the events of Forever Evil tarnished the League's reputation, respectable heroes might not get a say in the matter.

Leader or not, Luthor will still become a public defender after helping defeat the powerful Crime Syndicate. With the intelligence, power armor, and personal wealth to act like an evil version of Iron Man, Luthor's presence in Justice League should mark a significant change in how the team operates. Outside of Luthor, the post-Forever Evil roster includes Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Shazam, Cyborg, and another "reformed" villain named Captain Cold.

So far, Superman is unavailable for comment.

Based on Johns' outline, this storyline bears some similarity to Dark Avengers, a Marvel series in which Norman "Green Goblin" Osborn took control of the Avengers and replaced them with supervillains. What's interesting is that unlike Dark Avengers, Luthor will be working alongside superheroes for a greater good. Johns notes that Luthor's addition to the League blurs the lines between good and evil, and that as a hero, Luthor may find himself on the defensive from fellow villains.

"I think the most interesting thing is that Lex doesn't realize what it's like to be a super hero, what the life is like." Johns explains. "You make enemies, they attack you on a personal level. And he's just Lex Luthor. He has no codename, no mask ... He has to deal with the ramifications of that."

If this storyline is like anything else in comics, the Justice League's latest addition will probably be kicked off the team in a year or two. In the meantime, I'll admit that handled correctly, this could be one of the most interesting superhero shake-ups to come out of the New 52 yet. Luthor's addition to the League is expected to happen by Justice League #30, due out this April.

Source: Bleeding Cool

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[edgecult]

Hmm.. that actually sounds kinda neat. I like the idea of luther seeing life from the other side.. That "Is this what I do to people? This totally sucks.." moment should be interesting at the very least.

 

[The World Famous]

Dark Avengers was pretty cool, so I'm excited to see where this goes.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Can someone give me a summary on "Forever Evil" (I had lost track on the current Marvel and DC story arcs) since Wiki summay is huge! EDIT- Nevermind, I was able to read up on it.
Either way I admit this sound way more interesting than Doc Ock becoming Peter Parker and we all know how it's going to end (Luthor will do something bad but good in a justify sort of way and get kicked out of the team).

 

[Teoes]

Ten bob says it's a trap, a ruse, a ploy and he's in it to either bring them down from the inside or for some other nefarious gain.

 

[Trishbot]

The cynic in me knows that status quo is king and they'll never actually make Lex Luthor a good guy.
...
... But I LOVED the "good" Lex in the Injustice universe so much. You can see that, with the right potential and the right motivation, he can be a powerful ally for good once his priorities are straightened out.

But, yeah, I predict another "Dark Avengers" style thing like when Norman Osborne took over S.H.I.E.L.D.

Then again, villains have been permanently reformed in the past (Hawkeye, Black Widow, Elektra), so it might be fun to see Lex legitimately getting a fanbase of followers.

But, again, status quo as king cynicism is inescapable for me.

 

[elvor0]

The cynic in me knows that status quo is king and they'll never actually make Lex Luthor a good guy.
...
... But I LOVED the "good" Lex in the Injustice universe so much. You can see that, with the right potential and the right motivation, he can be a powerful ally for good once his priorities are straightened out.

But, yeah, I predict another "Dark Avengers" style thing like when Norman Osborne took over S.H.I.E.L.D.

Then again, villains have been permanently reformed in the past (Hawkeye, Black Widow, Elektra), so it might be fun to see Lex legitimately getting a fanbase of followers.

But, again, status quo as king cynicism is inescapable for me.

Of course the status quo will be returned eventually, but I've never seen Lex as a straight up villain, Lex needs a good writer to work correctly, otherwise he loses any nuance, and I hate it when they write him as a straight up "mwa hah hah!" villain, because that's not what he's about.

He's not in it to do "bad" things per say, from his perspective, he /is/ the hero, and only works with the proper truly evil villains (like say, Joker, or Grodd, or whoever else), because they also want to see Superman taken out, he's using them rather than allying himself with them. As far as he's concerned, he doesn't like the idea of humanity becoming weak, or dependant, he wants humanity to have some form of unilateralism on it's own merit, rather than relying on meta humans or in Superman's case; an alien. I do like the idea of the storyline, I don't know if I want him staying on the Justice League /forever/, but I would like it to have a lasting effect on the character, especially if they want the new 52 to be memorable, we'll just have to see where it goes. I've really enjoyed Forever Evil so far with Lex as the protagonist, even if Trinity War was a bit naff, and whoever is in charge of choosing what goes on the front cover enjoys lying through his teeth.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

Great another bad guy is put in charge of the good guy team plot. I just know Luther has ulterior motives if he's gonna just be out there without a super hero alias to protect him.
I think Spoony said it best: http://youtu.be/H3UqsxddhbU?t=25m1s (Sorry, I couldn't get embeding to work and and it's got Russian subtitles, unless you can read Russian then, hey, good for you.)
EDIT: I fail at interneting. The video at least starts where it needs too now.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

How did this happen? I do not read the comics at all, but I am curious. How does one of the Justice League's main enemies get enrolled in their ranks? A quick summary please if someone wouldn't mind.

 

[Genocidicles]

This will last like two issues, at most.

Anyone remember when the Riddler turned good? How long did that last?

 

[Vault Citizen]

This sounds different than Dark Avengers. Dark Avengers had Norman Orsborne in charge of a team of villains while also being in charge of a S.H.I.E.L.D replacement. He was pretty much in charge of American defense and he set the status quo. In Justice League however there will be two villains among a team of traditional heroes and while their team has a lot of influence they aren't in charge of anything in the same way that Osborne was.

 

[Buizel91]

I swear every villain is becoming good recently...

First Megatron becomes an Autobot...

Magneto will be working with X-men in the new film

And now Luthor joins the Justice League? Next up, Thanos isn't really the bad guy in Avengers, he is secretly helping them! xD

 

[truckspond]

Remember what Loki did in Thor: The Dark World?

$50 says a similar situation will happen here

 

[Cid Silverwing]

Good old clichés don't seem to work so well as they used to if they're having Lex join the League.

And honestly it's only gonna get even more stupid from here.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

This will last like two issues, at most.

Anyone remember when the Riddler turned good? How long did that last?

i not only remembered it, I hunted down every issue he appeared in as a good guy and I curse the idea they ever changed him back. It made him my favorite Batman villain.

 

[FalloutJack]

Twenty dollars on Lex and Batman getting into an outsmart-each-other-athon on the job with every hero being forced to play to both of their tunes, as well as even some villains, nobody knowing where it will all end.

 

[Auberon]

At least this looks plausible. If Lex FINALLY gets over that one obsession...

 

[The_Longier]

Wow seems DC just dont know when to stop scraping the barrel.

 

[Gizmo1990]

I have to wonder if the Bat, Wonder Woman, cyborg and Aquaman are staying with the League in order to keep an eye on Lex and try and find out what his real reason for joining is while Superman, Flash and Green Lantern set up a kind of Secret JL for when his plan finaly kicks off.

 

[scotth266]

The cynic in me knows that status quo is king and they'll never actually make Lex Luthor a good guy.
...
... But I LOVED the "good" Lex in the Injustice universe so much. You can see that, with the right potential and the right motivation, he can be a powerful ally for good once his priorities are straightened out.

Ditto. There's a video of all the Injustice cutscenes stitched together on Youtube, and it made me a believer in good Lex.

Unfortunately it's probably going to be another Superior Spiderman. "Oh hey guys! Look we're gonna do something novel with the book for a change - but don't worry things will be back to normal shortly." Blugh.