50 free Lex Luthor trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Lex Luthor has been Superman's archenemy since Action Comics #23 in April 1940, and he has had more reinventions than almost any villain in comics: a red-haired mad scientist in a flying city, the bald genius whose hair loss started as an artist's mistake, the teenage Smallville rival, the 1986 corporate tycoon modelled on Trump and Hughes, the kryptonite-ringed businessman who lost a hand, a president of the United States, a Justice League member and, briefly, a Martian-human god called Apex Lex. This quiz covers all of it, plus his screen life: Lyle Talbot in a 1950 serial, Gene Hackman's comic foil, Michael Rosenbaum's slow-burn Smallville arc, Clancy Brown's animated voice, Kevin Spacey, Jesse Eisenberg, Jon Cryer and Nicholas Hoult. Expect questions on LexCorp, Mercy Graves, Lena, Pete Ross, Neron, the Everyman Project and the Elseworlds where he becomes the Joker or marries Lois. Fifty questions, four options each, with a short explanation after every answer. Play in sets of ten or print it for comic-shop night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which comic did Lex Luthor first appear?
Action Comics #23
That was April 1940, two years after Superman's own debut in Action Comics #1.
Q 02Which duo created Lex Luthor?
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Superman's creators gave him a foe with no powers at all, just brains and ambition.
Q 03What is Lex Luthor's full first name?
Alexander
Early stories called him only 'Luthor'; 'Lex' was later said to be short for Alexis before Alexander stuck.
Q 04What colour was Luthor's hair in his earliest appearances?
red
He was a middle-aged man with a full head of hair before an artist's error made him bald.
Q 05Luthor's baldness began as a mistake by which Superman studio artist?
Leo Nowak
He apparently confused Luthor with a bald henchman from Superman #4; editor Bob Rozakis confirmed it.
Q 06In 1945, the War Department had Superman strips pulled because Luthor used which device?
a cyclotron
The radiation storyline violated voluntary censorship meant to hide the Manhattan Project.
Q 07In which 1960 comic did the Silver Age Luthor get the first name 'Lex' and a Smallville origin?
Adventure Comics #271
Writer Jerry Siegel reworked him so he and Superman could have fought as teenagers.
Q 08In his Silver Age origin, what was teenage Lex trying to create when his lab caught fire?
artificial life
Superboy put out the blaze but destroyed the experiment, and the fumes took Lex's hair.
Q 09What first name was retroactively given to the red-haired Earth-Two Luthor?
Alexei
Brainiac executed him during Crisis on Infinite Earths, agreeing one Luthor was enough.
Q 10Luthor's Silver Age family changed its surname to what anagram after he turned to crime?
Thorul
His little sister Lena grew up as Lena Thorul, never knowing her brother was a supervillain.
Q 11Which two creators reinvented Luthor as an evil corporate executive in 1986's The Man of Steel?
Marv Wolfman and John Byrne
Wolfman reasoned that a man who could afford giant robots would not need to rob banks.
Q 12John Byrne based the 1986 businessman Luthor on Howard Hughes, Ted Turner and which other tycoon?
Donald Trump
The initially brutish, overweight design later slimmed into a sleeker, athletic version.
Q 13In which Metropolis district was the post-Crisis Luthor born?
Suicide Slum
He grew up poor alongside future Daily Planet editor Perry White.
Q 21To which office was Luthor elected in the comics at the turn of the millennium?
President of the United States
He ran on technological progress; his first act was a proposed moratorium on fossil fuels.
Q 22To whom did Luthor hand control of his company before entering the White House?
Talia al Ghul
She later sold the whole company to the Wayne Foundation, leaving him with nothing.
Q 23What did Superman split in half in a rage on learning Luthor would be president?
one of Saturn's moons
Batman's response was a warning: keep the kryptonite ring or the White House, not both.
Q 14How did the post-Crisis teenage Luthor make his first fortune?
insurance money from his parents' deaths
He sabotaged the car's brakes after taking out a large life-insurance policy on them.
Q 15What is the name of Luthor's Metropolis company?
LexCorp
Smallville called it LuthorCorp; he later rebranded it Supercorp and handed it to Superman.
Q 16Which author grumbled that the corporate Luthor was 'just a skinny Kingpin'?
Neil Gaiman
He preferred the bald scientist whose mind could not be kept in prison.
Q 17Luthor's kryptonite ring gave him cancer, costing him which body part?
his right hand
The ring was later stolen and ended up with Batman, to be used if Superman ever turned.
Q 18Luthor faked his death and returned in a cloned body posing as his own son from which country?
Australia
'Lex Luthor II' had a full head of red hair and wooed the protoplasmic Supergirl.
Q 19Which demon restored Luthor's health in exchange for his soul during Underworld Unleashed?
Neron
Lex agreed because he did not believe souls existed.
Q 20Luthor's daughter Lena was born to which near-immortal wife?
Contessa Erica Del Portenza
He later had the Contessa seemingly killed by a missile barrage.
Q 24Which Kansas city did Imperiex destroy after President Luthor sat on an advance warning?
Topeka
He wanted Earth drawn into a great war so he could prove his leadership.
Q 25Which telepath wiped Luthor's knowledge of Superman's secret identity?
Manchester Black
Decades later Luthor killed Black to make the world forget the identity again.
Q 26In 'Public Enemies', President Luthor secretly injected himself with a kryptonite-laced version of what?
Venom
The Bane super-steroid made him strong, irrational and finally a fugitive.
Q 27Who briefly became president after Luthor fled the White House?
Pete Ross
Clark's Smallville pal had been Luthor's vice president.
Q 28Superboy, the clone Lex covets, is a hybrid of Superman's DNA and whose?
Lex's own
Conner Kent learned the truth about his 'fathers' and Luthor tried to make him his soldier.
Q 29What did Luthor plan to rename Earth after gaining Superman's powers in 52?
Lexor
Natasha Irons shut down his synthetic metagene with an electromagnetic pulse.
Q 30In Final Crisis, Luthor helped override which Darkseid broadcast?
the Anti-Life Equation
He called it a legendary first team-up between 'good' and 'bad'.