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Spoiler Warning: This article reveals major plot details from Superman (2025).
Superman can lift cars, survive bullets, and fly faster than most people can blink. So how do you defeat someone like that?
If you’re Lex Luthor, you don’t try to punch harder. You attack his reputation, manipulate governments, create a Superman clone, and turn public opinion against him. James Gunn’s Superman gives Nicholas Hoult a frighteningly calculating version of DC’s famous villain.
Why Does Lex Luthor Hate Superman?
Lex isn’t simply afraid of Superman’s powers. He’s jealous.
Before Superman became Earth’s most celebrated hero, Lex considered himself one of humanity’s greatest minds. Then an alien arrived with extraordinary abilities and won people’s admiration by helping them.
James Gunn has explained that Lex struggles with losing his position as the person everyone admires. His intelligence and ambition are enormous, but so is his ego.
Lex believes humanity should depend on human genius—not an alien who can solve problems with super strength. The disturbing part? He uses that argument to disguise his personal obsession.
How Does Lex Turn the World Against Superman?
Lex understands something Superman often overlooks: people don’t always believe what they see. They believe what they’re told.
He manipulates public opinion, uses his wealth and technology, and exploits political tensions between Boravia and Jarhanpur. His weapons deal gives him influence over the conflict, while his campaign against Superman encourages people to question the hero’s intentions.
Lex even reveals Superman’s biological parents’ message, which appears to suggest that Clark was sent to Earth to rule humanity. That revelation creates a crisis of identity for Superman and gives Lex another weapon against him.
Lex doesn’t need to overpower Superman physically when he can make the public fear him first.
What Is Ultraman, and Why Does Lex Create Him?
Ultraman is Lex’s ultimate weapon: a clone created using Superman’s genetic material. He possesses Superman-like abilities but lacks Clark’s compassionate moral code.
Lex uses Ultraman to fight the Man of Steel directly, hoping to eliminate his greatest rival. The plan demonstrates Lex’s scientific brilliance, but also his willingness to treat living beings as disposable tools.
Superman eventually defeats Ultraman with help from Krypto and the dangerous black hole created by Lex’s pocket-universe technology.
Why Is Nicholas Hoult’s Lex So Dangerous?
Three things make this version especially threatening:
He plans ahead. Lex creates multiple ways to attack Superman instead of relying on a single scheme.
He controls resources. His wealth, technology, and political connections let him threaten people far beyond Metropolis.
He has no moral limits. Superman follows principles. Lex is willing to manipulate, imprison, and endanger others to achieve his goals.
Hoult described his aim as creating a credible threat to Superman. Gunn also wanted Lex to feel like a scientific mastermind whose inventions are almost magical in their sophistication.
That combination makes him dangerous even without superpowers.
How Does Lex Luthor Lose in Superman (2025)?
Lex’s schemes unravel when Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen investigate his dealings and expose his connection to the conflict in Jarhanpur.
Superman confronts Lex, while Mister Terrific helps stop the dimensional rift threatening Metropolis. Once Lex’s crimes become public, authorities arrest him and free his captives.
Lex loses because he underestimates the value of truth, cooperation, and compassion—the very things he dismisses as weaknesses.
Final Thoughts
Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor is dangerous because he doesn’t need to be stronger than Superman. He only needs to understand how people think, exploit their fears, and make his enemy fight on several fronts at once.
His greatest weakness is also his motivation: envy. Superman wants to help people, while Lex wants to be the person they admire. And that difference makes their rivalry far more personal than a simple battle between good and evil.
FAQs
1. Why does Lex Luthor hate Superman in the 2025 movie?
Lex envies Superman’s popularity and believes an immensely powerful alien shouldn’t become humanity’s trusted hero.
2. Is Ultraman created by Lex Luthor?
Yes. Lex creates Ultraman using Superman’s genetic material to fight and potentially kill the original.
3. Does Lex Luthor have superpowers?
No. His greatest weapons are his intelligence, money, technology, influence, and willingness to cross moral boundaries.
4. Does Lex Luthor get arrested at the end?
Yes. His crimes are exposed, and authorities arrest him.
5. Will Lex Luthor return in the DCU?
His arrest leaves the possibility open, but this film alone doesn’t confirm the details of his next appearance.