Which origin do you prefer?

[DoctorZero]

I picked the Silver Age origin because I think it was the most fun and provided so much material for stories.

[Kuuga]

Birthright is good, but I miss the Pre-Crisis version. I miss Luthor's purple suit, etc.

I loved the purple suit Luthor. The purple suit Luthor was the best Luthor :!:

I like Luthor in his convict grey myself and his ultra cool, super evil lair - who else would have statues of his heroes being folks like Al Capone and Genghis Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!!! :shock:

I think CEO Luthor can be cool at least at first. The animated series pulled him off pretty well, though ideally after a certain point he needs to fall and become more along the lines of the classic supervillan Luthor.

I dig the powersuit myself.  Prolly because I grew up during the time of the Super Powers Collection.  I also dig the robotic design for Brainiac. Second only to the blue skinned animated series design for best version IMO. Still, if you want a way for Luthor to be able to take on Superman physically, the powersuit is a cool way to go I think.

[Kuuga]

I picked the Silver Age origin because I think it was the most fun and provided so much material for stories.

Part of why I was excited at first about the R2K Krypton was that I enjoyed Ed McGuiness's take on that.  I know alot of people complain about it looking dated and all. But my thinking was that for Superman, a character born in the era that he was, it's a cool homage to his roots for the planet on which he is *born* to be this kind of all classical Alex Raymondesque sci-fi world.

[King Krypton]

I think CEO Luthor can be cool at least at first. The animated series pulled him off pretty well, though ideally after a certain point he needs to fall and become more along the lines of the classic supervillan Luthor.

Agreed. However, there are some fans who are screaming and pleading for Luthor to be restored to his "untouchable businessman" post because they can't cope with him being a full-on bad guy.  :roll: I guess moving away from 1986 is too much for some people.

I did like McGuinness' take on the old-school Krypton, though. Very nicely done, and I agree that "R2K" would have been a fine compromise between Byrne's version and the classic version. Alas, it wasn't meant to be....

[The Starchild]

there are some fans who are screaming and pleading for Luthor to be restored to his "untouchable businessman" post because they can't cope with him being a full-on bad guy.

Could be, but I've never heard them.  On the other hand, I have  heard lots of fans scream and plead over the course of the last 10 years that Luthor be returned to his super-villain status and a lot of people also hated the whole president mess.  I count myself in this group.  

[Daybreaker]

I like the President thing a lot.  And I like the idea that Luthor is untouchable.  The old Luthor just wasn't all that interesting.  He breaks out of prison, he screws with Superman, he goes back to prison.  That's not a character, that's a plot device, and a weak one.

Did Luthor stop being a villain because he became a businessman and a politican?  Since when are businessmen and politicians above villainy?  He just got better at it.  He got smarter.  I could never bring myself to believe that Luthor was a smart guy when all he did was fail repeatedly.  The Byrne Luthor, the guy who succeeded at everything unless Superman was involved, that guy was interesting.  And if Superman is symbolic of everything that is great and good about humanity (and specifically America), then Luthor is symbolic of everything that is great and evil about humanity (and specifically America).  I thought it worked rather well.

Not so crazy about a lot of the other things Byrne did.  And I would like to see Luthor put on that suit and smack the beejeezus out of somebody.  I'd like to see him beat the snot out of Batman without the suit, too.  But overall, I think that one of the good things that Byrne did was give us a Luthor worthy of Superman.

[NotSuper]

I think the problem with Luthor as a businessman is the fact that once he's brought down (and he has to be eventually) he's not really a threat to Superman anymore. I think this is one of the reasons why Luthor wasn't brought down sooner. I mean, where do you go with the character once he loses all his money and power?

Luckily, due to the recent retcons, Luthor is once again a super-genius (as he should be) he can be a legitimate threat to Superman after losing everything. I'm not saying that I disliked Luthor as a businessman or the President, but I don't think there was a plan for when Luthor was brought down.

As for the pre-Crisis Luthor, I vehemently disagree that he was a plot-device. Doomsday was a plot-device, not the pre-Crisis Luthor. Writers like Elliot S! Maggin wrote Luthor as a truly three-dimensional character and not just evil for the sake of it.

[Daybreaker]

Oh, granted.  Nothing is lamer than Doomsday.  Except maybe Carrot Top.  And mimes.