Superman’s New Nemesis: Lex Luthor’s Shocking Real Estate Obsession Revealed!

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In theaters soon, James Gunn’s reimagining of Superman unfolds, offering a contemporary take on the Man of Steel (David Corenswet) and his renowned universe. At the heart of this fresh storyline is Nicholas Hoult’s portrayal of Lex Luthor, depicted as a formidable intellectual and strategic adversary whose actions have global consequences. The movie swiftly sets the stage for the grandeur of Luthor’s aspirations, crafting an intricate plot involving international conflicts, covert super-powered operatives, and immense corporate influence. Despite its complexity, the film’s central theme driving Superman’s arch-nemesis is surprisingly conventional. The movie maintains a peculiar and persistently odd trend in Luthor’s on-screen portrayal, where the mastermind of our age is, once again, depicted as a man whose world-altering schemes revolve around one thing: real estate.

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for James Gunn’s Superman

The opening film in the fresh DC Universe unfolds three weeks following Superman’s contentious involvement in a foreign dispute. At that time, Boravia was planning an extensive invasion of its neighbor, Jarhanpur, which they claimed was a humanitarian mission to liberate the people from a cruel regime. However, Superman viewed this as a mere pretense for expansion. Consequently, Superman single-handedly destroyed Boravian tanks, demonstrated his strength impressively, and confronted their president, Vasil Glarkos (played by Zlatko Burić). In what appears to be a response to this embarrassment, a powerful figure called the Hammer of Boravia unleashes a destructive assault on Metropolis, setting the stage for the story in Superman. This new danger pushes Superman to his maximum potential and provides strong evidence for those who argue that the hero’s interference may cause more harm than good.

Certainly, it’s quite clear that this entire scenario has been meticulously planned out. President Glarkos vehemently dismisses any involvement in the attack, and rightfully so. In reality, The Hammer of Boravia is none other than Ultraman, a secretly controlled metahuman wearing a mask, under the manipulation of Lex Luthor. This grand fight is merely a single move in Luthor’s strategic chess game aimed at permanently tarnishing Superman’s reputation and portraying him as a dangerous global threat – a portrayal that ultimately succeeds, resulting in the US government granting Lex Luthor permission to neutralize the Kryptonian. However, eliminating Superman is just one of Lex Luthor’s intentions.

Luthor’s partnership with Glarkos fuels the entire conflict between Boravia and Jarhanpur. As Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) discovers, he has given Boravia more than 80 billion dollars’ worth of top-tier LuthorCorp military technology, but only charges a tiny portion of its true value. This supposed kindness comes with a high cost: once Boravia takes over Jarhanpur, Luthor is entitled to half of the conquered territory, which is incredibly rich in oil. His ultimate aim is to effectively rule his own oil-rich nation, turning a complex geopolitical predicament into a bold land grab.

The Decades-Old History of Lex Luthor’s Land Lust

In the iconic 1978 Superman film directed by Richard Donner, Lex Luthor (portrayed by Gene Hackman) showcases an unusual fixation on real estate accumulation, a trait not originally created by James Gunn. His grand plan, dubbed as “the greatest real-estate swindle ever,” involves buying worthless desert lands, manipulating nuclear missiles to cause a catastrophic earthquake in California, and thereby transforming his barren properties into valuable beachfront land. Luthor is willing to sacrifice millions of lives for this ambitious property development project. This theme was later revisited by Bryan Singer in his 2006 film Superman Returns, where Kevin Spacey’s Lex Luthor also attempted to create a new country using Kryptonian artifacts, following a similar line laid down by Donner’s original movies.

The long-running TV show Smallville took many seasons to delve into the roots of Lex Luthor’s (Michael Rosenbaum) business mentality. Initially appearing as a young character in the series, Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) starts down his path towards villainy through the realm of corporate expansion and land acquisition. Assigned to manage the Smallville LuthorCorp plant by his father, Lex’s aspirations escalate when he stumbles upon the enigmatic Kawatche Caves during a construction project for LuthorCorp. Leveraging his family’s vast resources and influence, he digs deeper into the secrets hidden beneath Smallville’s farmland, seeking to exploit the potential riches of the caves. Throughout the show, Lex’s plots often revolve around land transactions, hostile takeovers of local properties, and development projects that lay the groundwork for his burgeoning darkness.

Luthor’s persistent fascination with real estate and land ownership gives his super-intelligence a distinctly physical manifestation of wickedness. Although he can contest deities with his intelligence, his ambitions frequently revolve around the fundamental human yearnings: accumulating, holding onto, and amassing wealth from the earth itself. This makes for an intriguing juxtaposition with Superman, a being of colossal power who protects the entire world but claims no part of it himself.

In James Gunn’s version of Superman, did you find Lex Luthor’s reasons and strategy appealing? Feel free to share your thoughts below!

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2025-07-12 02:10