Lena Luthor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search

Lena Luthor

Adventure Comics (vol. 2) #6 (March 2010). Art by Francis Manapul.

Publication information

Publisher DC Comics

First appearance Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #23 (February 1961)

Created by Jerry Siegel (script)

Kurt Schaffenberger (art)

In-story information
 Notable aliases Lena Thorul

Abilities ESP

Lena Luthor is a character in DC Comics. She is related to Lex Luthor, she is commonly
portrayed as his sister, but has been depicted as his daughter, such as after Crisis on Infinite
Earths.

Contents

 1Publication history
 2Fictional character biography
o 2.1Pre-Crisis version
o 2.2Post-Crisis version
o 2.3Post-Infinite Crisis version
o 2.4The New 52/DC Rebirth
 3Other versions
o 3.1Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade
o 3.2Lena Luthor (Earth-9)
o 3.3DC Bombshells
 4In other media
o 4.1Live action
o 4.2Animation
o 4.3Miscellaneous
 5References
 6External links

Publication history[edit]
Lena Luthor first appeared in Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #23 and was created by Jerry
Siegel and Kurt Schaffenberger.

Fictional character biography[edit]

Pre-Crisis version[edit]
In Silver Age continuity, Lena is Lex Luthor's younger sister. After Lex began his villainous
career, his family changed their last name in shame to the anagram "Thorul" and told Lena that
Lex had been killed in a mountain-climbing accident. Soon after this they were killed in an auto
accident. As a result, Lena never knew she had an older brother, as Lex Luthor himself (with
occasional help from Supergirl and Superman) worked to keep her from learning the truth.
Lena appeared irregularly in DC Comics' from 1961 to 1975. Lena
had psychic/empathic abilities, gained from touching a Space Brain that Luthor was
experimenting on before he became a villain. In 1981, Lena lost her powers after brain surgery,
and the decision was made to tell her the truth about Luthor. After the initial shock, there were
signs of reconciliation after Luthor discovered he had unwittingly aided another criminal's
conspiracy against Lena, and he was deeply apologetic.[1]
Post-Crisis version[edit]

Lena Luthor (infant version), as seen in Action Comics #763 (March 2000).

Lena Luthor (Brainiac-Teen version), as seen Adventures of Superman#595 (October 2001).

After Crisis on Infinite Earths, Lena Luthor is the daughter of Lex Luthor and Contessa Erica
Del Portenza. She is named after Lex's foster sister who had been killed by their foster father,
Casey Griggs. After Lena's birth, Lex takes advantage of Contessa Erica's wish to
be unconscious at child birth by keeping her permanently drugged and unconscious at
his corporate headquarters, not wishing to share his daughter's love with anyone else
(although he himself avoids attending the birth to provide himself with a clear alibi for an
assassination attempt he arranged at the time).
When Brainiac 13 arrives from the 64th century, the modern Brainiac possesses the infant
Lena to escape being deleted by his future self.[2] Even after Brainiac leaves Lena's body,
Luthor trades her to Braniac 13 for control of the future technology that has
transformed Metropolis.[3]
Lena returns to visit Lex Luthor during the Our Worlds at War crossover, where she has
apparently been aged to adolescence by Brainiac 13. Lena plays a sneaky role during the
event, helping Luthor and his allies beat Imperiex by feeding her father information, while
secretly manipulating events to benefit Brainiac 13. She is ultimately convinced at the end to
side with her father. At the end of the crossover, Brainiac 13 and Imperiex are both destroyed,
and Lena is regressed to infanthood and returned to her father by Superman, who tells Luthor
that he now has a second chance to try to be a man instead of a god.
Following Our Worlds At War, Lena appears infrequently, sometimes shown as still having
Brainiac discs on her forehead.
In the Superman's Metropolis miniseries the artificial intelligence controlling the B-13
technology believes itself to be Lena Luthor. When it creates a human body (female, but bald)
to pursue a romantic relationship with Jimmy Olsen, Superman confronts her with the real Lena
Luthor, making her realize her personality is a computer simulation of Lena's.
Lena has not appeared since Luthor lost the presidency, and her current status is unknown.
Post-Infinite Crisis version[edit]
In Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #3, Legionnaires Polar Boy, Wildfire, and Dawnstar travel to
Smallville during the 20th century, back to when Superman was still a suburban legend. The
three heroes arrive to the Luthor household, where they hear a young Lex Luthor arguing with
his father about his mother and sister.[4]
In the revived Adventure Comics, Lena is Lex Luthor's younger sister and grew up alongside
Lex until he left Smallville. Lex made certain to cover up his Smallville history, and that
included disavowing a connection to his sister. Lena is now paralyzed, living in Smallville with
her daughter Lori. Lori became friends with Superboy, but both were shocked to find Luthor on
Lori's doorstep, intent on taking control of Superboy again and claiming he can cure Lena's
condition.[5] With Superboy's help Luthor indeed cures Lena, but he then undoes his cure,
claiming he only helped her to prove to Superboy that he could and that so long as Superman
lives, he will never reveal how he did it. Currently Lena is under the care of Wayne Enterprise
doctors, thanks to Red Robin.[6]
The New 52/DC Rebirth[edit]
This section needs expansion. You
can help by adding to it. (April 2017)

In The New 52, Lena Luthor is paralyzed as a result of a childhood illness, with Luthor initially
claiming to Bizarro that he never tried to save her because he was afraid of failure, only to
admit privately later that he actually tried and failed to save her and instead left her paralyzed.
He was eventually able to treat her paralysis, but delayed the treatment as it involved
technology he did not invent himself, leaving Lena enraged that he expected her to be forever
under his shadow.

Other versions[edit]
Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade[edit]
Lena Thorul is a main character in the series. She is Lex Luthor's thirteen-year-old sister who
attends the same boarding school as Supergirl. Lena hates superheroes, and specifically
blames Supergirl for the recent misfortune that has befallen her brother (in the first issue
Supergirl was accidentally responsible for Lex Luthor's capture). Unaware that Linda Lee is
really Supergirl just as Linda is unaware that Lena Thorul is related to Lex Luthor, the two
become best friends and roommates. Though sweet and fun when interacting with Linda
(whom Lena perceives as an outsider, just like herself), Lena is hostile and suspicious towards
everyone else. This is particularly true in regards to Linda's evil doppelganger Belinda Zee
(Superiorgirl). As the series progresses, Lena's xenophobia becomes increasingly apparent. It
is revealed that Lena is in secret communication with her older brother, waiting for the correct
time to enact a complicated revenge scheme against Superman. When Linda'a identity is
inadvertently exposed to Lena by the time-lost duplicate of Supergirl known as Supragirl, Lena
goes over the edge and takes control of the minds of half the students in the school (the other
half being transformed into Bizarro versions of themselves by Superiorgirl). Lena begins to
question her hatred when confronted by the manipulations of reality by Mister Mxyzptlk and by
Supergirl's willingness to save all of reality from the 5th dimensional imp. While Supergirl is
battling Mxyzptlk, Lena is critically injured. Supergirl forces a truce between Luthor and
Superman so that they can save Lena. Luthor saves his little sister, but the cost of her survival
is that her hatred is now directed at her own brother. At the series end, Lena is referenced to
be recovering in the hospital.
Lena Luthor (Earth-9)[edit]
A variation of the character appears in Tangent Comics: Wonder Woman #1 (September,
1998). Lena Thorul was an Element Girl scientist who saw the inevitable futility of the gender
war between the Element Girl and Beast Boy Gothamites, in which she felt the Gothamites had
lost touch with each other and with their true potential. That they were stronger as a race when
the two sexes truly comprehend each other. Thorul sought to create a symbol of what the
Gothamites could be if they were united as a people, through the use of outlawed technology,
she successfully created a unique and powerful female Gothamite with the attributes of both
the Element Girls and Beast Boys which she named her as Wanda. Upon revealing Wanda to
the Gothamites as a symbol of unity, however, this was greeted with revulsion from the
Gothamites who ironically agreed together that Wanda was an abomination and Thorul was
immediately killed for creating her.
DC Bombshells[edit]

In other media[edit]
Live action[edit]

 Lena Luthor appeared in the Superboy TV series two-part story "Know Thine Enemy" with
the young version played by Jennifer Hawkins and the adult version played by Denise
Gossett. In the first part, Lena appears in flashbacks of Lex Luthor's childhood while
Superboy experiences Lex's life through a device Luthor invented called a "psychodisk".
Frequently abused by their father, Lex is very protective of Lena and tries to stop their
father from beating her only to get a beating himself. Lex and Lena dream of one day
escaping from their less-than-perfect home life. Eventually, Lex urges Lena to go spend
the night at a friend's house and builds a bomb with which he plans to kill his parents while
Lena is away. He has taken out a life insurance policy on them and plans to collect it after
their deaths. He eventually does kill them, though the scene is not depicted because
Superboy escapes the psychodisk recording before it can happen. In the second part, it
revealed that Lena faked her own death and changed her name to escape the curse of the
Luthor name but is found by Lana Lang. Her apparent death has driven Lex over the edge,
causing him to construct a series of bombs that will wipe out all life on earth, leaving only
android duplicates of himself and Lena on the planet. Because Lena is the only person
Luthor claims to have ever loved, Lana believes she can stop his mad plan. Lena is taken
to Luthor's underground hideout and attempts to get him to stop the countdown on his
bombs. Luthor denies that he ever loved Lena, but the android duplicate of Lex stops the
countdown with seconds to spare and attempts to get Lena to stay with him so they can
have the better life they had always dreamed of. Lex deactivates the android and Lena
leaves, never to be seen again.
Cassidy Freeman as Tess Mercer (Lutessa Lena Luthor) in Smallville.

 The final season of Smallville reveals that Tess Mercer (played by Cassidy Freeman) is
really Lutessa Lena Luthor (portrayed by Leigh Bourke). This version of the character is
based on Lena Luthor and Lex Luthor's assistants from the DC Comics, Mercy
Graves and Eve Teschmacher. Lionel Luthor left Lutessa at Granny Goodness's
orphanage where Granny's powers were used to suppress Lutessa's memories of her true
identity and was eventually adopted by the Mercers of Louisiana under her father's
arrangements. In the episode "Abandoned", Tess eventually learns the truth of her past
once she reviews the orphanage's records and is distraught knowing that she's Lionel's
daughter. The result of an affair he had with Lex's nanny, Pamela Jenkins (who had
appeared in the season 1 episode "Crush")[7] In the series finale, Tess discovers that Lex
Luthor knew they are siblings all along. When Lex mortally stabs her (claiming it will save
her from becoming like her brother), Tess infects Lex with a neurotoxin that erases all
memories, informing her brother as she dies that Clark Kent had already saved her from
that fate. In 2012, the television series was continued through the comic book medium.
Written by Bryan Q. Miller, who also wrote for the show, which the story sets six months
after the final episode of its final season, and Lutessa Lena Luthor's (Tess Mercer) death is
ruled a suicide. However, Lex Luthor apparently has a ghostly encounter with her at a
street corner of Metropolis.[8] It is later reveals that Tess's consciousness bonded to Lex's
mind when she poisoned him, forcing Lex to find a way of separating Tess from himself
while he tries to regain his memories.[9] Her friends eventually discover what happened,
and extract her memories from Lex's mind and upload it to the Watchtower's computer
until they can clone a new body for her.[10] Tess's consciousness is eventually transferred
into a new robotic form capable of flight and air manipulation and she becomes the
new Red Tornado and a member of the Justice League.[11][12]
Katie McGrath at Comic Con France 2010.

 Lena appears in Season 2, 3 and 4 of Supergirl, portrayed by Katie McGrath. This version
is named Lena Kieran Luthor. She is depicted as being the adopted sister of Lex Luthor
(later revealed to be his paternal half-sister). Lena moves to National City to change the
brand of "Luthor Corp" to "L-Corp" to distance the company from her brother's reputation
following his imprisonment for his crimes. Due to this, Lex hires the assassin John
Corben to kill her. He tries to crash her space shuttle, helicopter, bomb her, and shoot her,
but fails to kill her and is instead shot by her to save Alex Danvers.[13][14] She later helps
Kara Danvers find Veronica Sinclair, and in turn, Kara goes to a gala being held at L-Corp
(as herself and Supergirl), later discovered to be a trap to robbers involved in a crime wave
involving alien guns. Soon after, it is discovered that her mother was none other than the
director of Project Cadmus, who plans to wipe out the entire alien race with an airborne
substance. Lena turns on Lillian right before they are about to go through with the plan
before revealing she switched out the substance and called the police. In the episode
"Luthors", Lena discovers she is the product of an affair Lionel had with his mistress before
being framed by her mother for stealing kryptonite. She was then kidnapped by Lillian,
ensuring the latter's escape alongside that of Metallo so she can use her to access one of
Lex Luthor's storage areas before being recused by Supergirl. In the episode "Ace
Reporter", Lena reunites with her ex-boyfriend Jack Speer, who is the CEO of Spheerical
Industries and has invented a new nanobot technology called Biomax. When Kara
discovers that Jack had been faking the human trials and injected himself with Biomax,
Lena confronts him, only to find out he is being controlled by his CFO, Beth Breen. While
Supergirl fights Jack, Lena fights Breen and destroys the control device and overloads the
mainframe to save Supergirl, causing Jack to die, leaving Lena devastated. Later, Lena
agrees to work with Rhea, unaware of her alien heritage, on a business project, a
transmitter portal. Lena ends up forming a motherly bond with Rhea, who encourages her
to be different than her family. Lena then finds out Rhea is an alien after she uses an alien
element to finish the portal, but Rhea manages to convince her to continue working with
her. Rhea then betrays Lena and uses the portal to bring her Daxamite fleet to Earth, then
transports Lena and Mon-El to her ship. In the episode "Resist", Rhea forces Lena and
Mon-El to get married, but they are saved by Supergirl, Lillian, and Cyborg Superman. In
"Nevertheless, She Persisted", Lillian then reveals a device that Lex created to kill
Kryptonians, but Lena and Winn modify it to kill Daxamites, killing Rhea and causing the
fleet to retreat, saving the Earth. During Season Three, Lena Luthor develops a rivalry
with Morgan Edge. When Morgan Edge poisoned Lena in the episode "For Good", Lilian
Luthor plans revenge by targeting Morgan Edge. After Lena is cured of the poison, she has
 a moment with her mother as Lilian and Morgan are arrested by the authorities upon their
respectful defeats at the hands of Supergirl and Jimmy Olsen.
Animation[edit]

 In the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Clash", the Lena Luthor Memorial
Hospital is one of the buildings of Lexor City (Lex Luthor's city) that gets destroyed during
a fight between Superman and Captain Marvel. This building is a reference of his sister,
which indicates a possible existence of her in DCAU.
 Romi Dames voices Lena Luthor in the webseries DC Super Hero Girls. While she is
depicted as the sister of Lex Luthor, this version is a supervillain. In DC Super Hero Girls:
Intergalactic Games, she is revealed to be envious of Supergirl, as she gained her powers
when she landed on Earth while she had tried to do everything to gain her own powers,
losing her hair (revealed to be a wig) in one of the processes. She is defeated by Wonder
Woman and Platinum, who she uses for her plan. After failing her master Brainiac, she is
left to drown in the truck taking her away. Big Barda saves her in exchange for help, but
she turns her down. Lena is taken to prison afterwards.
Miscellaneous[edit]
Lena Luthor appears in the second Robot Chicken DC Comics Special Robot Chicken DC
Comics Special 2: Villains in Paradise, voiced by Sarah Hyland, and is portrayed as Lex
Luthor's daughter, instead of his sister. Lex Luthor has her interning at the Legion of Doom's
coffee shop called "Hall of Doom Coffee" during spring break since the court order says that
Lex gets custody of Lena on weekends and holidays. Her plight of having to work on spring
break and not being with her boyfriend is understood by Gorilla Grodd as they follow each
other on a social network. When Lex finds out that Lena has snuck away to go to spring break
to be with her boyfriend upon finding Scarecrow's nephew Calvin working in Lena's place, Lex
pilots the Hall of Doom to a beach location to find her while the other Legion of Doom members
take advantage by taking a vacation. Lex finds out that Lena's boyfriend is Superboy when he
finds her after an incident where some of the Legion of Doom members mistook the Justice
League's private beach for a nude beach. As Lex tells Lena that she is not to see Superboy
again, Superman tells Superboy never to see Lena again. Both Lena and Superboy tell about
their love romance for each other to the other heroes and villains in a song parody of "Summer
Nights". As the Justice League and the Legion of Doom argue about Superboy and Lena's
relationship, the group is attacked by an enlarged Starro (which was previously flushed down
the Hall of Doom's toilet by Captain Cold). Starro attacked both sides and overwhelmed them
until seeing Lena and Superboy in a romantic moment and stopped attacking which ended with
Starro getting killed upon Green Lantern sending a boat construct with Batman in it through
Starro. Lena and Superboy are later seen at the wedding of Gorilla Grodd and Bizarro.