The DC Comics History of MAN OF TOMORROW’S Lex Luthor War Suit

Lex Luthor has been Superman’s greatest nemesis since Action Comics #23 in 1940, when he first appeared as simply “Luthor.” But he wasn’t really a “costumed criminal” for the first three decades of his existence. He was usually in regular clothes, or escaped convict prison garb. In 1974, the supervillain Lex Luthor finally started to emerge, as well as his classic purple/green color scheme. It was just a jumpsuit with a flared collar, but it had repulsor jets to fly around with, and wrist lasers. This was the version that appeared on many toys, the Super Friends cartoon, and on most Bronze Age era merchandise. But it wasn’t as cool as what came a decade later.

In 1983, DC and Kenner Toys, fresh from the success of Star Wars, were getting ready to produce a DC-based toyline called Super Powers. And some of Superman’s villains desperately needed updating to be action figures. DC hired artist Ed Hannigan to make Brainiac into a more terrifying robotic form. At the same time, the great George Perez designed Lex Luthor’s new costume. Instead of tights, it was a metal power suit, making Lex into a kind of evil Iron Man. The new suit debuted in 1984’s Action Comics #544, and appeared on toy shelves that same year. It was also the suit he wore prominently during DC’s epic Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover. But given its iconic status, it shockingly only lasted two years.

In the post-Crisis reboot of the DC Universe in 1986, Lex Luthor was reinvented from a mad scientist ex convict, into a billionaire CEO of LexCorp. He was now the financial powerhouse that virtually owned Metropolis. While still a criminal, even if the world at large didn’t know, he preferred others do his dirty work. This version was still a genius, but he largely just presented as just a rich man in wearing some snazzy threads. This version of Lex informed the ones we saw in Superman: The Animated Series, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Smallville, the DCEU, and more. Billionaire CEO became the default Luthor, and it felt like the war suit would remain a thing of the past.

For the next twenty years, there would be nods here and there to the mid-80s war suit. One of those was Luthor’s private LexCorp army in Superman For All Seasons. But in 2004, after his stint as U.S. President failed, modern Lex finally took on a new version of the war suit. Redesigned by Ed McGuinness, it was bulkier than before, and a little more intimidating. In Paul Cornell’s Action Comics run a few years later, we got a slimmed-down version of the suit. It harkened back to that original Perez design. Although he doesn’t wear it all the time, DC has definitely decided the war suit is too cool to leave in the past. And now it looks to make a big comeback in Man of Tomorrow. And we can’t wait to see Nicholas Hoult rock the purple and green.