Lex Luthor: Man of Steel

Lex Luthor is a humanitarian. He gives to charities, helps his employees with family problems, and does his best to make his city a better and more prosperous place.

Lex Luthor is an engineer, a spiritual descendent of Archimedes. He knows that, with a fulcrum and lever big enough, we could move the world. Move it out poverty, out of war, out of ignorance.

There's only one problem with Lex's vision: Superman. Superman, that pompous, arrogant alien who has come to his city and amazed the population. With Superman around, Lex sees, people don't want to lift themselves out of poverty. They're too busy watching the skies.

Lex Luthor understands sacrifice. He knows that you don't make omelettes without breaking eggs. He knows that, to stop Superman from blocking the potential of the human race, sacrifices will have to be made. He's willing to make those.

This isn't an entirely new way of looking at Lex (people call him “Mr. Luthor”, but really, he insists, call him Lex), but it's the most convincing look that I've ever seen at what motivates him as an antagonist, and why he's willing to go to such monstrous and villainous lengths to destroy Superman.