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| Lionel Luthor | |
| Continuity: | Smallville |
| Notability: | Main character |
| Type: | Business owner |
| Gender: | Male |
| Race: | Human |
| Location: | Smallville, Kansas |
| Relatives: | Lex Luthor [1] |
| Status: | Deceased |
| Died: | 2008 |
| Actor: | John Glover |
Lionel Luthor is a fictional businessman and an antagonist featured in the 2001-2011 superhero fantasy series Smallville, which is based on the Superman family of comic book titles published by DC Comics. Played by actor John Glover, Lionel Luthor was a key character in the first seven seasons of the series. Another version of Lionel, who hailed from an alternate reality dubbed Earth-2, appeared in the last two seasons of the show and was again played by John Glover.
Biography[]
Origin[]
Although Lionel claims to have hailed from a noble, Scottish family line – in truth, he was but one of many poor children growing up in the squalor of the Metropolis neighborhood known as Suicide Slum. (Smallville: Relic) His father, Lachlan Luthor, was an abusive man who violently took his aggressions out on young Lionel. His mother Eliza, frequently inebriated with gin, rarely interfered with her husband's rampages and largely ignored Lionel. (Smallville: Shattered)
Lionel's only childhood friend was Morgan Edge – a man who's life would ultimately mirror Lionel's to great extent. Morgan knew Lionel well, and was keenly aware of the cycle of abuse that his friend suffered. Edge would one day grow up to run the underworld empire known as Intergang.
When Lionel was a young man, he decided that his parents were of greater value to him dead than alive. He arranged for an arsonist to burn down his parents' apartment building, killing them while they slept. Lionel maintained the alibi that he was working late at a print shop on the night that his parents' died.
Collecting the insurance money, Lionel enrolled in an Ivy League school where he greatly excelled in all of his courses. Reluctant to tell his peers the truth about his upbringing, he often played up the idea that the Luthors were of distinguished Scottish bearing. (Smallville: Relic)
Shortly after graduation, Lionel returned to Metropolis and used the remainder of his parents' life insurance policy to establish Luthor Industries. L.I. prospered and eventually became a multinational empire known as LuthorCorp.
During this time, Lionel met and fell in love with a woman named Lillian. The two were wed and they sired two sons, Lex and Julian Luthor. (Smallville: Transference)
Notes & Trivia[]
- The character of Lionel Luthor was exclusive to the continuity of the WB Network/CW Network television series Smallville, prior to the character being introduced into the comics with a similar characterization.
- DC Comics has made several in-continuity winks to the character and Lex Luthor has even hinted that his father's name may have been Lionel. [2] In one instance, Luthor hired an actor to play the part of his foster father in order to enroll him at Smallville High School. The actor in question bore a physical resemblance to Lionel Luthor. [3] It has since been established that Lionel Luthor is Lex's legitimate father in canon DC Comics continuity.