Publisher DC Comics Abilities ESP | Notable aliases Lena Thorul TV shows Smallville, Supergirl | |
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Created by Jerry Siegel (script)
Kurt Schaffenberger (art) First appearance Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #23 (February 1961) Played by Cassidy Freeman, Katie McGrath Creators Jerry Siegel, Kurt Schaffenberger Similar Lar Gand, Cat Grant, Maggie Sawyer, Chloe Sullivan, Lex Luthor | ||
Supergirl casting news lex luthor s sister added lena luthor explained
Lena Luthor is a fictional character in DC Comics.
Contents
Publication history
Lena Luthor first appeared in Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #23 and was created by Jerry Siegel and Kurt Schaffenberger.
Pre-Crisis version
In Silver Age continuity, Lena is Lex Luthor's younger sister. After Lex began his villainous career, his family changed their last name in shame to the anagram "Thorul" and told Lena that Lex had been killed in a mountain-climbing accident. Soon after this they were killed in an auto accident. As a result, Lena never knew she had an older brother, as Lex Luthor himself (with occasional help from Supergirl and Superman) worked to keep her from learning the truth. Lena appeared irregularly in DC Comics' from 1961 to 1975. Lena had psychic/empathic abilities, gained from touching a Space Brain that Luthor was experimenting on before he became a villain. In 1981, Lena lost her powers after brain surgery, and the decision was made to tell her the truth about Luthor. After the initial shock, there were signs of reconciliation after Luthor discovered he had unwittingly aided another criminal's conspiracy against Lena, and he was deeply apologetic.
Post-Crisis version
After Crisis on Infinite Earths, Lena Luthor is the daughter of Lex Luthor and Contessa Erica Del Portenza. She is named after Lex's foster sister who had been killed by their foster father, Casey Griggs. After Lena's birth, Lex takes advantage of Contessa Erica's wish to be unconscious at child birth by keeping her permanently drugged and unconscious at his corporate headquarters, not wishing to share his daughter's love with anyone else (Although he himself avoids attending the birth to provide himself with a clear alibi for an assassination attempt he arranged at the time).
When Brainiac 13 arrives from the 64th century, the modern Brainiac possesses the infant Lena to escape being deleted by his future self. Even after Brainiac leaves Lena's body, Luthor trades her to Braniac 13 for control of the future technology that has transformed Metropolis.
Lena returns to visit Lex Luthor during the Our Worlds at War crossover, where she has apparently been aged to adolescence by Brainiac 13. Lena plays a sneaky role during the event, helping Luthor and his allies beat Imperiex by feeding her father information, while secretly manipulating events to benefit Brainiac 13. She is ultimately convinced at the end to side with her father. At the end of the crossover, Brainiac 13 and Imperiex are both destroyed, and Lena is regressed to infanthood and returned to her father by Superman, who tells Luthor that he now has a second chance to try to be a man instead of a god.
Following Our Worlds At War, Lena appears infrequently, sometimes shown as still having Brainiac discs on her forehead.
In the Superman's Metropolis miniseries the artificial intelligence controlling the B-13 technology believes itself to be Lena Luthor. When it creates a human body (female, but bald) to pursue a romantic relationship with Jimmy Olsen, Superman confronts her with the real Lena Luthor, making her realize her personality is a computer simulation of Lena's.
Lena has not appeared since Luthor lost the presidency, and her current status is unknown.
Post-Infinite Crisis version
In Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #3, Legionnaires Polar Boy, Wildfire, and Dawnstar travel to Smallville during the 20th century, back to when Superman was still a suburban legend. The three heroes arrive to the Luthor household, where they hear a young Lex Luthor arguing with his father about his mother and sister.
In the revived Adventure Comics, Lena is Lex Luthor's younger sister and grew up alongside Lex until he left Smallville. Lex made certain to cover up his Smallville history, and that included disavowing a connection to his sister. Lena is now paralyzed, living in Smallville with her daughter Lori. Lori became friends with Superboy, but both were shocked to find Luthor on Lori's doorstep, intent on taking control of Superboy again and claiming he can cure Lena's condition. With Superboy's help Luthor indeed cures Lena, but he then undoes his cure, claiming he only helped her to prove to Superboy that he could and that so long as Superman lives, he will never reveal how he did it. Currently Lena is under the care of Wayne Enterprise doctors, thanks to Red Robin.
New 52 version
In the New 52, Lena Luthor is paralysed as a result of a childhood illness, with Luthor initially claiming to Bizarro that he never tried to save her because he was afraid of failure, only to admit privately later that he actually tried and failed to save her and instead left her paralysed. He was eventually able to treat her paralysis, but delayed the treatment as it involved technology he did not invent himself, leaving Lena enraged that he expected her to be his loyal little shadow.
Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade
Lena Thorul is a main character in the series. She is Lex Luthor's thirteen-year-old sister who attends the same boarding school as Supergirl. Lena hates superheroes, and specifically blames Supergirl for the recent misfortune that has befallen her brother (in the first issue Supergirl was accidentally responsible for Lex Luthor's capture). Unaware that Linda Lee is really Supergirl just as Linda is unaware that Lena Thorul is related to Lex Luthor, the two become best friends and roommates. Though sweet and fun when interacting with Linda (who Lena perceives as an outsider just like herself), Lena is hostile and suspicious towards everyone else. This is particularly true in regards to Linda's evil doppelganger Belinda Zee (Superiorgirl).
As the series progresses, Lena's xenophobia becomes increasingly apparent. It is revealed that Lena is in secret communication with her older brother, waiting for the correct time to enact a complicated revenge scheme against Superman. When Linda'a identity is inadvertently exposed to Lena by the time-lost duplicate of Supergirl known as Supragirl, Lena goes over the edge and takes control of the minds of half the students in the school (the other half being transformed into Bizzaro's by SuperiorGirl).
Lena begins to question her hatred when confronted by the manipulations of reality by Mxyzptlk and by Supergirl's willingness to save all of reality from the 5th dimensional imp. While Supergirl is battling Mxyzptlk, Lena is critically injured. Supergirl forces a truce between Luthor and Superman so that they can save Lena. Luthor saves his little sister, but the cost of her survival is that her hatred is now directed at her own brother.
At the series end, Lena is referenced to be recovering in the hospital.
Smallville
In 2012, the television series Smallville was continued through the comic book medium. Written by Bryan Q. Miller, who also wrote for the show, which the story sets six months after the final episode of its final season, and Lutessa Lena Luthor's (Tess Mercer) death is ruled a suicide. However, Lex Luthor apparently has a ghostly encounter with her at a street corner of Metropolis. It is later reveals that Tess's consciousness bonded to Lex's mind when she poisoned him, forcing Lex to find a way of separating Tess from himself while he tries to regain his memories. Her friends eventually discover what happened, and extract her memories from Lex's mind and upload it to the Watchtower's computer until they can clone a new body for her.