Lex Luthor: Man of Steel

Lex Luthor: Man of Steel.
Cover of Lex Luthor: Man of Steel #1 (March 2005), art by Lee Bermejo.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Limited series
Publication date	March 2005 - September 2005
Number of issues	5
Main character(s)	Lex Luthor Superman Batman
Creative team
Writer(s)	Brian Azzarello
Artist(s)	Lee Bermejo
Colorist(s)	Dave Stewart
Collected editions
Softcover

Lex Luthor: Man of Steel (later collected as simply Luthor) is a five-issue monthly American comic book limited series written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated by Lee Bermejo, which features Superman's nemesis Lex Luthor as the protagonist.

It explores Luthor's motivations behind being a constant foe to the Man of Steel inside a city that has largely embraced him. Luthor views Superman as a demigod who looks down on humanity and believes that in order to "save" the human race from extraterrestrial threats, Superman must be stopped.

At the onset of the series, the story seems to be narrated from Luthor's point of view, one depicting himself as someone much different than the ruthless, corrupt killer that readers are accustomed to. He displays a charitable nature by giving a loyal employee an invitation to Luthor's own "Science Spire", a new Metropolis attraction still under construction. By contrast, many of the 'heroes' Luthor encounters during his story (Superman, Batman) are depicted as duplicitous and unworthy of trust. Luthor watches footage of Superman engaging criminals with heat vision and wonders to himself why the public invests so much trust in an alien simply because he looks human. Meanwhile, in Chechnya, Mr. Elias Orr, one of Lex's operatives, leads a group of mercenaries in a raid to free a Russian scientist who is to assist Lex Luthor in a new project.

While holding a meeting, it is brought to Luthor's attention that the union workers building the Science Spire want a higher wage. Luthor tosses his business plan and decides to unveil the attraction as non-profit, which undercuts the union's demands. Upon leaving the boardroom full of stunned executives, Luthor arrives at his lab where he observes Hope, a woman floating inside a vat. Sometime later Orr threatens the union leader into complying with his demands while Lex flies to Gotham City to try to arrange a deal with Bruce Wayne (Batman)

As a gift, Lex presents Bruce with kryptonite and asks him to consider how the public only has Superman's word that he won't turn on them and that he wants a recent development Bruce's company has come up with. That night Batman is looking at the kryptonite when Superman arrives in Gotham and uses his breath to blow the kryptonite away. After a brief, one-sided fight, Superman finishes it with a knockout punch to Batman's face. Later that evening Bruce calls Lex and tells him he will give the research to Luthor.