Lena Luthor

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Lena Luthor

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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 fictional character in DC Comics' Superman series.

Contents

[edit] Original version

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'. 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.

[edit] Modern version

Post Crisis on Infinite Earths, Lena Luthor is the child 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.

However, when Brainiac 13 arrives from the 64th century, a still-infant Lena is given to him by her father in return for control over the B13 technology that has infected Metropolis, due to her being used as a host by the present-day Brainiac when his future self attempted to delete his original personalities. 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's green-skinned and blonde-haired appearance in this story may be an homage to the character "Brainiac's Daughter" in the Elseworlds miniseries Kingdom Come).

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, although she is 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 and 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 realise her personality is a computer simulation of Lena's.

Lena has not appeared since Luthor lost the presidency, and her current status is unknown.

[edit] Appearances in other media

[edit] Television

A version of Lena Luthor appeared in two episodes of the Superboy TV series which aired from 1988 to 1992. In the two-part story "Know Thine Enemy", Lena appears in flashbacks of Lex Luthor's childhood while Superboy experiences Lex's life through a device Luthor invented called a "psychodisk". Young Lena is played by Jennifer Hawkins. In part one, Lena and Lex are frequently abused by their father. Young Lex is very protective of Lena, and tries to stop his 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 in the episode because Superboy escapes the psychodisk recording before it can happen.

In part two, the adult Lena appears, played by Denise Gossett. Lana Lang seeks out Lena, who has faked her own death and changed her name to escape the curse of the Luthor name. 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.

[edit] Animation

In the Justice League Unlimited episode, "The Clash", a building in Lex Luthor's Lexor City bears the name "Lena Luthor Memorial Hospital." Whether this refers to Lex's sister, daughter, or another relation is unknown.

[edit] External links

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