I believe that upon Lex Luthor's return in season 10, the writers need to either draw the roadmap of his journey to the oval office, or show him assuming the presidency.
I have three reasons for this:
1) It completes Lex's Arc.
2) It sets Lex up as an antagonist worthy of superman, and fulfills Dr. Fate's prediction that he'll be his "greatest adversary".
3) It's more current than Lex's traditional power base of a megacorporation.
The completion of Lex's Arc
The series finale must be a notch greater than the usual predicted vision of showing superman flying in his tights, and showing Lois Lane's cover story. It needs to show Lex completing his journey as well.
Most fans think of Smallville as Clark Kent's journey, and it is that, but it is also more. It's the formation of the superman universe. Season 1 and 2 of smallville where set up as a comparative study between Clark and Lex, with Lex getting many storylines independent of Clark. What they had in common was friendship, and strong [albeit different] father figures, tremendous talent, and they were on their way up. The ladder they were climbing was different though, Lex was climbing the ladder of power, and Clark was climbing the ladder of influence.
In episode 1x06, "Hourglass", a woman predicts the futures of Clark and Lex, or rather, she sees them. Clark's future is one of great influence, she tells him she's seen him many times before, saving other people. Lex is seen as president of the united states, surrounded by death. Her predictive powers, in this show, are shown to be absolute. He needs to become president. I suppose the death surrounding him could be due to his failed defense of Earth during Darkseid's invasion, but that can be left to fanfiction.
Lex's dream in Smallville is to step out his father's shadow. To be his own man. In seasons 1 and 2 he sets up LexCorp, and helps the plant employees buy out their plant. He sets up Cadmus labs to investigate the meteor rocks independent of his father. He eventually assumes management of LuthorCorp, when his father goes to jail, and he keeps it through continued blackmailing of his father. He eventually kills his father, to step out of his shadow. How can he step out of the shadow of one of the world's most connected businessmen? He cannot do it by becoming one of the world's most connected businessmen, as he has in the comics. Pretty much the only way up is the presidency.
In the pivotal Lex episode of the series, 5x09, "Lexmas", Lex chooses the path of power. The presidency is the office that best personifies power.
It sets Lex up as an antagonist worthy of superman, and fulfills Dr. Fate's prediction that he'll be his "greatest adversary".
Clark's main adversaries thus far in the series:
A) Lex and Lionel Luthor - corporate executives
B) Brainiac - Artificial Intelligence
C) Davis Doomsday - Ultimate Soldier
D) Major Zod - General
I can think of no greater power base that one-ups the above occupations and power base than that of president. First, it directly incorporates the power bases of A and D. The government is in many ways just the largest corporation, and it has several generals working for it.
It has many great minds working for it, none as great as Brainiac's but it doesn't suffer Brainiac's and Davis' biggest weakness - they worked alone. There is no banishing the president to the phantom zone, there is no burrying the president underground and there is no having the legion capture the president and send him to the future for reprogramming. Smallville has hinted that Superman will suffer in his quest for public acceptance because he's an alien. The legion told him in season 8 that he was the one responsible for bringing acceptance to alien. In 8x15, Infamous, we see an alternative reality where he is rejected, and it's a probable eventuality. Clashes with the president will never help his public image, even if the president is unpopular.
In order to withstand a Luthor powerbase enshrined in the oval office, he will not just need the brawn to fight billion dollar military machines, he'll need to win the hearts and minds to appeal the public, to keep their trust, and the brains to keep those two goals in harmony.
It's more current than Lex's traditional power base of a megacorporation
Superman was written in and is a product of the 1930s, in the era where companies made things but the economy was run into the ground by robber barrons . 75 years later, the economy has again been run into the ground by robber barrons (they're called banksters now), but there are no longer many American companies that make things. The sectors in the USA that do, such as pharmaceuticals, software developers and defense contractors, do so almost entirely because of the pork barrel and protectionism they receive from Washington, not due to the ingenuity of their CEOs. Lex Luthor, supervillain and CEO, does not make sense in a world with no Henry Fords.
By and large, the government has become the central processing unit of American capitalism, and it is responsible for a disproportionate amount of the good and the bad going on. It is a logical powerbase for a supervillain.
There are a few responses to this. The first, and weakest, is that 2011 (season 10) is not an election year. Whatever, if they don't show Lex winning the white house they can show him running seriously. Additionally, it's a parallel universe, so maybe they're having elections in 2011.
Another one, more substantial, is that the president is perhaps just a lackey of the system, a figurehead, and that neither Bush or Obama have any power. That is true, they are both expert followers of the wind. I do not believe Lex Luthor would be that kind of president. I think he would be the smartest man in the room, the most well-connected, and that would allow him to access the constitutional powers of his office in a way that recent presidents have not been able to. A good example of this would be Cheney. I believe Lex would command authority in the office, he already knows the generals from his work as a defense contractor, and he already has some connections in Washington.
I have three reasons for this:
1) It completes Lex's Arc.
2) It sets Lex up as an antagonist worthy of superman, and fulfills Dr. Fate's prediction that he'll be his "greatest adversary".
3) It's more current than Lex's traditional power base of a megacorporation.
The completion of Lex's Arc
The series finale must be a notch greater than the usual predicted vision of showing superman flying in his tights, and showing Lois Lane's cover story. It needs to show Lex completing his journey as well.
Most fans think of Smallville as Clark Kent's journey, and it is that, but it is also more. It's the formation of the superman universe. Season 1 and 2 of smallville where set up as a comparative study between Clark and Lex, with Lex getting many storylines independent of Clark. What they had in common was friendship, and strong [albeit different] father figures, tremendous talent, and they were on their way up. The ladder they were climbing was different though, Lex was climbing the ladder of power, and Clark was climbing the ladder of influence.
In episode 1x06, "Hourglass", a woman predicts the futures of Clark and Lex, or rather, she sees them. Clark's future is one of great influence, she tells him she's seen him many times before, saving other people. Lex is seen as president of the united states, surrounded by death. Her predictive powers, in this show, are shown to be absolute. He needs to become president. I suppose the death surrounding him could be due to his failed defense of Earth during Darkseid's invasion, but that can be left to fanfiction.
Lex's dream in Smallville is to step out his father's shadow. To be his own man. In seasons 1 and 2 he sets up LexCorp, and helps the plant employees buy out their plant. He sets up Cadmus labs to investigate the meteor rocks independent of his father. He eventually assumes management of LuthorCorp, when his father goes to jail, and he keeps it through continued blackmailing of his father. He eventually kills his father, to step out of his shadow. How can he step out of the shadow of one of the world's most connected businessmen? He cannot do it by becoming one of the world's most connected businessmen, as he has in the comics. Pretty much the only way up is the presidency.
In the pivotal Lex episode of the series, 5x09, "Lexmas", Lex chooses the path of power. The presidency is the office that best personifies power.
It sets Lex up as an antagonist worthy of superman, and fulfills Dr. Fate's prediction that he'll be his "greatest adversary".
Clark's main adversaries thus far in the series:
A) Lex and Lionel Luthor - corporate executives
B) Brainiac - Artificial Intelligence
C) Davis Doomsday - Ultimate Soldier
D) Major Zod - General
I can think of no greater power base that one-ups the above occupations and power base than that of president. First, it directly incorporates the power bases of A and D. The government is in many ways just the largest corporation, and it has several generals working for it.
It has many great minds working for it, none as great as Brainiac's but it doesn't suffer Brainiac's and Davis' biggest weakness - they worked alone. There is no banishing the president to the phantom zone, there is no burrying the president underground and there is no having the legion capture the president and send him to the future for reprogramming. Smallville has hinted that Superman will suffer in his quest for public acceptance because he's an alien. The legion told him in season 8 that he was the one responsible for bringing acceptance to alien. In 8x15, Infamous, we see an alternative reality where he is rejected, and it's a probable eventuality. Clashes with the president will never help his public image, even if the president is unpopular.
In order to withstand a Luthor powerbase enshrined in the oval office, he will not just need the brawn to fight billion dollar military machines, he'll need to win the hearts and minds to appeal the public, to keep their trust, and the brains to keep those two goals in harmony.
It's more current than Lex's traditional power base of a megacorporation
Superman was written in and is a product of the 1930s, in the era where companies made things but the economy was run into the ground by robber barrons . 75 years later, the economy has again been run into the ground by robber barrons (they're called banksters now), but there are no longer many American companies that make things. The sectors in the USA that do, such as pharmaceuticals, software developers and defense contractors, do so almost entirely because of the pork barrel and protectionism they receive from Washington, not due to the ingenuity of their CEOs. Lex Luthor, supervillain and CEO, does not make sense in a world with no Henry Fords.
By and large, the government has become the central processing unit of American capitalism, and it is responsible for a disproportionate amount of the good and the bad going on. It is a logical powerbase for a supervillain.
There are a few responses to this. The first, and weakest, is that 2011 (season 10) is not an election year. Whatever, if they don't show Lex winning the white house they can show him running seriously. Additionally, it's a parallel universe, so maybe they're having elections in 2011.
Another one, more substantial, is that the president is perhaps just a lackey of the system, a figurehead, and that neither Bush or Obama have any power. That is true, they are both expert followers of the wind. I do not believe Lex Luthor would be that kind of president. I think he would be the smartest man in the room, the most well-connected, and that would allow him to access the constitutional powers of his office in a way that recent presidents have not been able to. A good example of this would be Cheney. I believe Lex would command authority in the office, he already knows the generals from his work as a defense contractor, and he already has some connections in Washington.
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