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Gods are selfish beings who fly around in little red capes and don't share their power with mankind. No, I don't want to be a god, I just want to bring fire to the people. And I want my cut.
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~ Lex Luthor's philosophy.
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WROOOOOONG!
„
~ Lex Luthor shouting at Lois Lane's face in a boastful manner.
He is an evil criminal mastermind and genius scientist who schemes to defeat and kill Superman, his longtime archenemy, for taking away five years of his life. After Superman returns back to Earth following five years traveling through outer space, Luthor envisions a last scheme to conquer the Earth and defeat Superman once and for all.
Lex Luthor plans to destroy the United States, replacing it with a large continent and forcing the rest of the world to live there. He sneaks behind Superman's back to the Fortress of Solitude and finds out how to access the main computer that will tell him anything he wants to know about Krypton. After that, he finds and steals some Kryptonite so that he use it against Superman, knowing that it makes him weak and deprives him of his powers. Lex uses the crystals to create a Kryptonian landmass, with Kryptonite embedded in its surface, to create the new continent.
His creating this first continent causes an earthquake that nearly destroys Metropolis, and had he continued to create new landmasses with it, it will undoubtedly cause more earthquakes and floods which will kill billions and leave America underwater. Luthor is well aware of this catastrophic side- effect but thinks nothing of it. After Superman lands on the mass, dubbed "New Krypton", the Kryptonite renders him powerless as Lex assaults him, before finally stabbing him with a Kryptonite shiv.
With the help of Richard White, Lois Lane, and Superman's son Jason, Superman is saved. Removing most of the Kryptonite and recharging through the sun, Superman stops Luthor's plan. Luthor and his moll Kitty Kowalski escape via helicopter, but Kitty's conscience overpowers her, and she tosses the crystals, preventing Lex from reattempting his plan. The helicopter soon runs out of fuel, and they are forced to crash land on a remote island, where there is no food (save a single palm tree with a few coconuts and considering Kitty Kowalski's pet dog). It is unknown what became of him since sequels to Superman Returns have been cancelled, though it can be implied that he starved to death or was found and arrested by authorities soon afterwards.
Because of Kevin Spacey's Academy Award-winning performance in Bryan Singer's 1995 film The Usual Suspects as Keyser Söze, and friendship with the director, Spacey was the only actor considered for Lex Luthor. The writers specifically had Spacey in mind for the part when writing the script. Spacey's version of Luthor has the same comically exaggerated vanity and pompous arrogance of the earlier Gene Hackman version as well as the same strong interest in real estate, but Spacey's version is far less campy and more serious. Spacey later said that Singer told him to play the character more as "darker and more bitter" compared to Hackman and not to use the earlier portrayal as an inspiration.
Coincidentally, both Kevin Spacey and Gene Hackman (who played Luthor in Superman and Superman II, to which Superman Returns is an alternate sequel) have also previously voiced insect-themed villains of from two separate, but very similar animated movies about ants released in 1998. Spacey voiced Hopper from Disney/Pixar's A Bug's Life, while Hackman voiced General Mandible from DreamWorks' Antz.
The scene in which Lex Luthor goads Lois Lane into telling him that Superman will stop his plan, just so he can then interrupt her by loudly shouting "WRO-O-O-O-ONG!", became something of an Internet meme after the film came out.
Before the release of Superman Returns, Kevin Spacey was slated to play Lex Luthor in the 1998 film Superman Lives before the film was cancelled.
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