#but he's also a hawai'i gentrifying white boy so maybe making him care about something would do him some good

[jesncin]

How terrible and/or unloving Lex Luthor's childhood is a sliding scale with every interpretation of him. In his twisted mind he probably rationalizes that he did Conner a favor by having him never be vulnerable and small. I think no one would be more qualified than Lena Luthor to blow that idea to smithereens. Because she would have been there during the worst of their childhood; whatever you decide what 'worst' consists of.

Truly! I wanna do more Lex research because I really want to flesh out the Luthor side of Conner's family. I fee like it gets pushed to the side in hand-wavy "Don't worry Superboy you're not like him!" plots. And it leaves his thematic mixed heritage unresolved, especially since there's been stories where he tries to find the good in Lex.

The tension between them would be so much more interesting if it didn't constantly end with, "well Lex sure sucks, I'm not gonna be like him". The idea that even though Lex recognizes Conner as a means-to-an-end-chess-piece, he can't help but also impose twisted generational parental trauma on him is so fascinating to me!

Part of why I prefer having Conner move in with Lena (instead of the Kents) is that she's the missing nuance in their family story. Conner's often talking to Clark about Lex since they know each other as rivals, but imagine how much insight he could have if he talked to someone who knew Lex personally. Lena's (at least her CW Supergirl version) someone who survived much of what her brother did and didn't come out the same way. Conner would be intrigued by that, surely.