Chapter Fourteen - Lex Luthor: God Hates Competition

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Lex Luthor: God Hates Competition

LEX LUTHOR ISN’T just a villain. He’s the counterargument.

To him, Superman is not a savior. He’s a threat. A cosmic crutch. A reminder that humanity will never evolve if it keeps leaning on an alien to solve its problems. Lex doesn’t hate Superman because he’s evil. He hates him because he exists.

Superman makes Lex feel small. And Lex cannot tolerate that.

He’s the smartest man in the room and he’s spent his entire life proving it. He built his empire from the ground up, conquered every challenge thrown at him, and dominated industry, technology, and science. He’s the human ideal, according to human standards. And then one day a flying farmboy in a cape shows up and makes all of that irrelevant.

Lex isn’t driven by greed or chaos. He’s driven by resentment. The kind of deep, gnawing resentment that comes from watching the world praise someone who didn’t earn it. At least, not by Lex’s rules. Superman was born with his gifts. Lex had to claw his way up. To him, the existence of Superman is an insult to everything he believes in: merit, effort, and supremacy of will.

And that’s where it turns ideological.

Lex doesn’t just want to defeat Superman. He wants to expose him. He wants to convince the world that the man they worship is a lie. That beneath the smile is tyranny waiting to happen. That no being with that much power should be trusted, especially one that hides behind humility.

Because Lex understands something few others do: Superman could rule. If he ever decided to stop holding back, no army, no government, no resistance could stop him. And that idea terrifies Lex. Not just because it’s possible, but because it would mean Lex was right all along.

So he prepares for that outcome. He builds contingency plans, creates weapons, and makes deals with devils. Anything to give humanity a fighting chance if Superman ever breaks.

But the truth is, Lex doesn’t want to save humanity. He wants to be the one humanity turns to. He wants to prove that man doesn’t need gods. And in doing so, he tries to become one.

That’s the contradiction.

Lex Luthor wants a world without Superman. But only if he gets to be what Superman was.

He doesn’t fear power. He fears not having it.
And no amount of brilliance will ever be enough to fill that void.