Luthor is a supervillain who possesses no superpowers, though he does rate above average in intelligence, resourcefulness, and egotism. In the comics, that egotism is mixed with narcissism; Superman tried to save the young Luthor from one of his own experiments-gone-awry, but the resulting disaster made the young man lose all his hair. Instead of joining Hair Club for Men, Luthor swore eternal vengeance on Superman. In the movies, this backstory is absent; as played by Gene Hackman (pictured, in the early Superman films) and Kevin Spacey (in Superman Returns), he’s just a vain genius who’s affronted by Superman’s very existence as a do-gooding foil to his megalomaniacal ambitions.
In both incarnations, he’s surrounded himself with gun molls and ignorant stooges, which makes for good comic relief but which also suggests his own insecurity (why threaten his own mastery by picking intelligent, competent underlings?). As a result, both movie Luthors come off as comic blowhards – until they start making mischief, threatening to kill hundreds of millions, and making Superman’s life miserable. Spacey’s Luthor has the edge over Hackman’s in scariness; he’s a brutal sadist who gleefully shanks Superman with a kryptonite shiv. But whooever plays him, it’s clear that Luthor, a man who’ll destroy a continent out of pique, is no one to trifle with.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtJbk7qJkug]