Alexander “Lex” Luthor was born and raised in the poverty stricken area of Metropolis known as Suicide Slum, the child of abusive parents, with a fierce desire to better himself. Cunning, vengeful and ambitious even at a young age, a teenaged Lex engineered the deaths of his parents. He paid off or threatened their auto-mechanic to sabotage their automobile in order to profit from a large life insurance policy he had taken out in their names, and went on to found his own company LexCorp.

Lex turned the company into a multi-national corporation that would ultimately come to dominate the city of Metropolis. With it he owns every media corporation in the city and uses them to reinforce his public image as a wealthy benefactor. The one paper outlet that had always stood free was the Daily Planet. He became the most powerful man in Metropolis, both financially and in the world of organized crime. Lex would create havoc on the streets by selling weapons to the gangs of Metropolis and using his primarily female staff of underlings to keep blackmail files on all of the major organized crime groups in the city. Lex could use them to further any schemes he had planned.

However, this all ended with the arrival of Superman. Several months after Superman first arrived in Metropolis, terrorists attacked a society gala aboard Luthor's yacht. Lois Lane, whom Luthor had tried to romance as a ninth trophy wife some time before, was present during the attack which was stopped by Superman. Luthor tried unsuccessfully to hire Superman as a bodyguard. But when he admitted that he had known the attack was to occur and had allowed it to proceed in order to see Superman in action first hand, Mayor Berkowitz deputized Superman on the spot to arrest Luthor for reckless endangerment. He avoided prison thanks to a legal technicality, but still had to endure the humiliation of being publicly led away under arrest.

Luthor vowed to destroy Superman for this humiliation, and he has since devoted much time and energy to that goal. Realizing the need to silence his detractors in the fourth estate, Luthor bought the Daily Planet and sold it to Perry White. The sale came with a string, that Lois killed one story of his choosing. Feeling safe from exposure, Luthor ran for President of the United States to gain the power to bring Superman down. He served the U.S.'s interests surprisingly well, forging links with Atlantis and Russia and rallying troops for the Imperiex Invasion. However, he was Impeached, when his true criminal activities were revealed.

He has always been a controversial figure in the public eye due to LexCorp's corrupt business dealings, but he has also maintained political popularity. He has been a member of the Injustice Gang, the Injustice League, the Legion of Doom, Secret Six, the Secret Society of Super-Villains, the Justice League, and Project 7734.