Why Lex Luthor?

You know how, sometimes, no matter how hard you work at something -- be it your appearance, your job, your hobby, etc. -- there's always that one guy who does it 100 times better with seemingly no effort? And while you want to be a decent human being and tell yourself that their success does not affect yours, that you can both be happy, there's a tiny part of you that hates them with the fiery passion of a thousand suns because how dare they be better than me!?

That's what it's like to be Lex Luthor, except that, for him, the tiny part is all-encompassing. As he sees it, he worked hard his whole life, building himself up from nothing with just his intellect, to bestow his greatness and benevolence on the rest of humanity, whereas Superman fell out of the sky with the powers of a god only to lord it over the world.

You see, Luthor might use his wealth, power and intelligence to benefit mankind, but he does not do so altruistically. He's like the kid who comes to school with the cool new toy and expects everyone to be his friend because of it. Luthor may see Superman as a god, but he's the one who demands worship. To Luthor, kindness without applause is meaningless. And that, more than anything else, is what makes him the opposite of Superman.

Scientist, businessman, politician -- Lex Luthor has been interpreted in many ways over the years, but truly these have merely been different weapons in the arsenal of one man with a twisted goal. A man who cannot admit, even to himself, that he may be wrong. A man who would rather be seen as a villain than share the title of hero. A man who would commit any atrocity just to gain the slightest advantage over his adversary.

And that's terrible.