#either due to Lillian directly or not

[the-whumping-hour]

i see these both and raise you: giving whumpees an upper and a downer at the same time :). whumpee whose lungs are too slow and whose heart is too fast, so disoriented but unable to pass out as whumper blurs in their sight, every touch agonizingly sharp yet so prolonged. so so aware of everything, including how much they feel like they're sinking to the core of the earth.

Drugged whumpees my BELOVED. All dizzy and out of it, leaning against whumper for support. Looking at Whumper with hazy-eyed fear, their words slurred when they ask what whumper's done to them <3

[dragonmp93]

Post-Crisis Supergirl doesn’t make any sense

The post-Crisis status quo of Lex Luthor being the Man of the Year, and the World’s Greatest Hero and all of that blablablá is the best example of the problems of the CW’s Supergirl suffers in general.

It was meant as huge twist for the season, but they disregarded the effect that it would have in the context of what the show had already shown us and it’s established timeline.

Or in other words, in this case, Lex Luthor being considered a good person renders the event that have happened post-season 1 largely non-canon, i.e. since the show moved to the CW; so either the timeline is actually consistent to the previous continuity but drastically changed, or a lot of stuff never happened in this reality in the first place.

For instance, just look at the events of 2x01, given that the show places originally Lex’s plan to kill Superman running on parallel to the events of season 1, along with his defeat, trial and imprisonment, by the time of the start of second season, Lena had taken over and renamed it L-corp, so Lex tries to kill Lena, while a resentful Lillian, as the leader of CADMUS, went Rogue.

But in the Earth-prime reality, Lex never tried to kill Superman, never went to jail, Lena never took over, the drone attack never happened, and Lillian runs the Luthor Foundation instead. So either the CADMUS part of season 2 never happened, or someone else for some other reason carried out that plot.

Queen Rhea probably still tried to attack the planet, but without Lena’s portal, the invasion probably happened very different; the part of M’gann and the White Martians probably still happened, along with Alex dating Maggie.

Another example is season 3, due to Kara being one of the Paragons and Lena keeping her Earth-38 memories thanks to the deal between Lex and the Monitor, we don’t know how the relationship between was in the new reality, they could been have just allies, or maybe just actual friends instead of what we know they are instead.

So maybe Morgan Edge never had an axe to grind against Lena, Lena never bought CatCo, Sam never came to National City, and Lena never was attacked in the docks, and Sam’s powers never activated to save Ruby, and the falling dominoes effect of that awakening never activated the other worldkillers; so for season 3 to still happened in this new reality, Sam’s powers had to be activated in some other circumstances while she was living away in Metropolis.

So that brings us to season 4, if the events of season 3 still kind-of happened, then Red Daughter has to exist, as shown in the 100th episode, other ways to take down Reign without the kryptonite always ended up with a lot of collateral damage and lots of deaths; so where is she ?.

And it’s likely that Lockwood still became Agent Liberty but without Lex Luthor’s resources, i doubt that he went that far, and given that Earth-Prime’s US president doesn’t seem to be an alien, then what happened with the Graves siblings and who tried to take over the world if it wasn’t Lex Luthor ?.

Finally, we have season 5, Andrea could bought CatCo directly from Cat from all we know, and according to M’gann, J’onn’s brother’s return helped to end the civil war between the Martians, so god knows how that happened.

Anyways, what this wall of text is meant to say is that Supergirl’s storytelling quality is so horrible that in with rather simple change, they retconned most of the show out of existence. Some would say that it’s so bad that it’s not even funny, but i would say to it’s so bad that crosses the line twice and it’s back at being funny.

But do you want to know the kicker of all of this, it’s that they cheated out themselves of a way of getting ridding of SuperCorp once and for all, also out of an actual evil Lena Luthor, but that would have required starting with a fresh new Lena and leaving Lena’s hurt and the Proyect Non Sense at S5A instead of dragging into S5B.

[witchoflegends]

@strengthcfcharacter the idea came to me and I couldn’t stop myself.

Bellow reads a snippet from an article in the most resent copy of American’s daily newspaper. Featuring the upcoming MACUSA employees, Percival Graves and Lillian Flores.

The young Percival Graves has just accepted a promotion within the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Where he now holds the title of Head Auror. Working directly under the Director of Magical Law Enforcement. His promotion comes not even a week after his girlfriend, Lillian Flores’ own promotion within the Department of Mysteries. While some speculate his fast ascension amongst the ranks are either due to his well known family name or his own girlfriend’s history with Divination, the new Head Auror has refused to comment. Flores on the other hand, was more than willing to share her thoughts.

“Percival’s quick rise to the top is solely due to his ambition and hard work. He devotes his life to that department, and it shows. Anyone who thinks I had any part in it, doesn’t know how divination works,” she stated.

While we had her, we took the time to ask Flores more about her own growth within the Department of Mysteries. As no one has been able to rise so quickly within its ranks in recent history.

“The Department of Mysteries is rigid and filled with outdated practices,” she began. “It’s not surprising that new innovations and practices within the department would take off so quickly. I can only hope that this momentum continues for the department, and we can continue to work more with other departments.”

As has come to be expected from the young Auror, Graves has refused to comment on his plans for the future or where he hopes the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to go. So it looks as though we will all have to wait for what he has in store for the Aurors he now leads. Regardless, it is seemingly apparent that Flores and Graves are making waves and changing things up within MACUSA. It wouldn’t be surprising if we managed to see both of them at the head of their respective departments by the turn of the century.

While some do not like the direction these two are taking MACUSA, they have also garnered increasing support as interdepartmental cooperation and safety has grown. If what the pair has already done is any indication of where we as a community are heading, I’d say we are in good hands.

[dracox-serdriel]

Supergirl: Season 3

One of the things I really want for Season 3 of Supergirl is for Lena to become more of an antagonist. Before you freak out, note that I didn’t say VILLAIN.

Under the cut due to length and spoilers for all episodes of Supergirl through 02x22 Nevertheless, She Persisted.

Lillian Luthor has plenty of villain in her for the entire Luthor family. And Season 2 ended not only with Cadmus taking credit for stopping the Daxamite invasion but also Lillian insisting that this incident proved her right. (Let’s skip the fact that the only reason anyone knew about the Daxamite allergy to lead was because Mon-El had been on earth. Let’s also overlook the fact that Supergirl and Mon-El both participated in the resistance, along with J’onn J’onzz, M’gann M’orzz, and countless other White Martians.) Despite the fact that aliens not only helped to protect Earth but also provided the intelligence required to end the invasion, Lillian Luthor will be entering Season 3 with a single thought in her head: not only is she absolutely right about aliens, but the world also knows just how right she is.

So in terms of Luthors being traditional villains of the Super-world, Lillian’s got that bit covered.

No, I said I want Lena to become more of an antagonist. A frenemy, if you will. And not to Supergirl but to Kara.

One of the things that has bothered me so far about this show is that Kara seems to categorized people as “good” or “bad” - occasionally she’ll accept someone’s redemption arc as a kind of gray area, but for the most part, you’re either one or another.

In Season 1, Cat Grant served as a kind of antagonist (frenemy?) to Kara. She wasn’t a villain by any means, but she did challenge Kara’s views both personal and professional. And she didn’t do this by way of supportive pep talks, either. She was harsh and at times hurtful.

In Season 2, Snapper filled a similar roll, pushing Kara to become a better reporter... he ordered her to write a less bias article about L Corp’s new alien-identifier. He also pushed her to prove that she had real facts, real sources when she tried to write an article about Cadmus abducting aliens. It was much harder to see Snapper as someone trying to help Kara, because we the audience know that Kara has the facts right. He doesn’t know she’s Supergirl and doesn’t know that she works with the DEO. He’s asking the question people in the news should be asking - Can you verify your information?

But I felt like last season, most of the conflicts Kara/Supergirl faced could be boiled down to black/white. Yes, there were times when there was a conflict when J’onn was “following orders” or took a path to protect Earth that violated Kara/Supergirl’s code, and there were even times when Alex and Kara couldn’t see eye to eye on things. Winn and James also didn’t agree with her -- for example, on Lena’s innocence.

But in a lot of these situations, everything was boiled down to “right” and “wrong” categories. Winn, James, Alex, and J’onn were all wrong about Lena’s innocence. J’onn was wrong to even consider following the president’s orders of not engaging the Daxamites rather than jumping in to rescue Mon-El.

Sometimes these conflicts didn’t play out directly between Kara and the other characters. Consider how Alex was wrong about aliens at the beginning of Season 2. She mentioned that, when it came to good aliens, she could count them on one hand with two fingers to spare (namely Supergirl, Superman, and J’onn J’onzz). This was before Maggie took her to the Alien Bar -- before she met all the neutral aliens... not to mention the president of the United States being an alien. She was right that she only knew of 3 good aliens, but she was wrong to assume that meant all other aliens were probably bad.

Since most of the characters on the show are aligned with the DEO/Supergirl, it makes sense that they’re all “on the same side” most of the time. But there are times when the DEO and/or Supergirl has it wrong.

In City of the Lost Children, we finally see a real gray area situation. An unknown alien (later identified as a Phorian) goes on a rampage, and naturally, the DEO sees her as a major threat. Despite being discouraged from assisting with the investigation, James looks into it anyway, discovering Marcus (the unknown Phorian’s son) and establishes a rapport with him. The DEO pursues Marcus’s mother as if she is a criminal, when in reality, she was being affected by technology being tested by L Corp.

The problem is that the episode focuses on the DEO’s approach vs. James’ approach. Kara wasn’t really involved in handling the “dangerous Phorian situation” until Marcus was the one affected by the technology--and arguably, it was much easier to observe that he was being affected by something rather than him going on a rampage of his own choosing.

We don’t see Kara’s black/white view really, truly challenged by anyone. Snapper challenges her opinions (especially when it comes to being a reporter, where “opinion” transmutes into “bias” very easily), and J’onn and Alex challenge her idealism from time to time, but... how often does the show give us a conflict where the sides aren’t good/right or bad/wrong? Where nobody is the VILLAIN? Not nearly enough...

So, why Lena, out of everyone else on the show? She’s in a unique position to challenge Kara’s views. They’re close friends, but unlike everyone else on the show, Lena doesn’t work (as in job/occupation) with Kara in any capacity. Lena doesn’t work at CatCo nor does she work with the DEO. Yes, she’s assisted Supergirl (and by logical extension, the DEO) in several situations, but Lena has elected to help -- it’s not her job to do so. Compare this to Winn, Alex, or J’onn. I suppose you could argue that James, Snapper, and Cat Grant are in similar boats, but all of them work (again as in job/occupation) with Kara at CatCo. Their jobs are similar/connected to hers, as are their goals.

Lena, on the other hand, runs a powerful company. We’ve already seen her develop technology, such an “alien identifier,” that Kara clearly disagrees with. And while we know that Kara has her own reasons not to be outed as from another planet, Lena’s reasons for developing the technology are things like, “people have a right to know” and...

“L-Corp is in the business of making money and this device is going to make us a fortune.”

-- Lena, 02x03 Welcome to Earth

While you could try to call Lena a cold-blooded capitalist willing to make a buck at the expense of other people, it’s not nearly that simple. Even Kara admits later that episode that there are “bad aliens out there” and says she understands why Lena made such a device. Her point is proven when Lena uses the device to identify Rhea as non-human. (Too bad it doesn’t have a good/evil detection setting, huh?)

I want to see more of this dynamic, where Lena develops technology Kara disapproves of, and their friendship forces Kara to really consider her own bias in these matters. Kara knows and trusts Lena, and she knows that she’s not Lillian -- she's not anti-alien. If we think of Kara as pro-alien and Lillian as anti-alien, then Lena is squarely in the middle. She’s not anti-alien or blind-sighted by hatred/revenge like Lillian, but she’s also not driven by the DEO’s policies on protecting aliens.

In a world where people can be abducted and sold as slaves on Slaver’s Moon, I think it’s reasonable for people to ask, “How can I protect myself from something like that?” Especially when you consider the fact that the DEO is covert, meaning nobody is supposed to know it exists. And it’s not just aliens in this universe, either. There are other super-human dangers (like metahumans), too. 

Unfortunately, the show has given us the dynamic of “Kara’s pro-alien side” and “those who hate aliens and use fear to justify prejudice/genocide.” You’re either someone who trusts Supergirl will rescue you in the nick of time, or you might as well sign up with Cadmus.

Lena is the only one who stands outside of this paradigm. She’s proven that she isn’t aligned with Cadmus time and time again, but she also isn’t aligned with the DEO. And since she’s friends with Kara, Lena has the ability to get Kara to actually listen to her. To consider things differently.

To be clear, I don’t want Lena to be a villain/enemy. She’s far more interesting as a friend/ally, and she has infinitely more potential as friend/ally-with-different-viewpoints than she ever would as the tired “friend turned enemy” trope. But I want to see her challenge Kara more this coming season.

Addendum: In Supergirl, James has mentioned the fact that Clark saw the good in Lex and that they were friends for a long time... and that Clark refused “to see the truth” for a long time because he and Lex had been friends for so long.

However, in Smallvile (for example), Clark knows that Lex is involved in some pretty sketchy (not just illegal, but human-rights-violations-illegal) crap for years before they have a falling out. LuthorCorp is implicated in a number of things, namely illegal human experimentation. Even though LuthorCorp does a good job covering up evidence/destroying proof, Clark seems all to willing to give Lex a pass on things he can’t blame on rogue agents at LuthorCorp or the mettling of his father, Lionel Luthor -- such as Lex investigating Clark and/or the Kent family more than once.

I don’t want Lena to match this pattern of “bad guy trying to be good despite doing tons of unjustifiably cruel things for no reason other than personal obsession.” If we’re going will Smallville parallels, I’d rather her match Oliver Queen... especially when he first turns up, he as the Green Arrow challenge’s Clark’s view of right and wrong (for example, by stealing goods bought on the black market and using them to fund charitable donations). Despite different methods and ideologies, Oliver and Clark are on the same side.

That’s what I am hoping for Lena/Kara.

[rachelillustrates]

Attention all artists – my dear friend Jen Goodsell and I are running a charity print project, and we would like your help!

Prompted by the unfair treatment of yet another queer character and queer relationship in a recent DC Comics event, we have created our own event in honor of the LGBTQIA+ characters who have been silenced throughout years of comic storytelling.

Representation matters. Obviously, in comics, safety is never a guarantee. Characters die all the time. But to kill off one of the only prominent, visibly queer characters in that universe, and have her girlfriend be one of the prime suspects, feels very much like a slap in the face. I can’t help believing that the impact and treatment of this situation would be far different if the characters had been a straight-presenting couple. A little bit of attention was given to Harley mourning Ivy, but I feel like much more weight would have been given to the characters’ relationship if it had been Bruce suspected of killing Selina, or Clark suspected of killing Lois, etc. As it is, it simply feels like a cheap ‘wow’ factor played to get attention and remove an “obstacle” to any assumptions of heterosexuality.

So, in honor of Pamela Lillian Isley and all other characters like her, and loves like hers that have been silenced before, we are running a charity print event!

Here’s the plan:

~ Event title: Prints for Pam-a-Lamb. Please use #printsforpamalamb when promoting.

~ All proceeds to the National LGBTQ Task Force.

~ Pieces due by March 1st, with the event to launch that day. Content is up to the artist, as long as it’s LGBTQIA+-related. Nods or direct references to the characters in question are very welcome.

~ Prints should be available for sale through the end of May, shipping in early April.

~ Each artist will handle their own sales, shipping and getting their share of the donation money to the Task Force. That’s very easy to do – there’s a donation link right on their website. IF you’re unable to handle printing, shipping or managing the donation yourself, let me know, though. I will happily handle that for you through my own site, if you’d still like to participate.

Please contact either me or Jen if you’d like to sign up, you can message me here or email me directly at rachelillustrates@yahoo.com. Same with any questions.

Thanks so much for any interest and/or good vibes in the project’s direction!

~~~~~

Check out “Tock the Gnome” on Patreon ~*

Shop for prints ~*

Buy me a coffee ~*

[theexperiment-hq-blog]

Sample App - Lex Luthor, played by Admin Lex

OOC Info

Name: Lex

Age: 21

Pronouns: she/her

Triggers: (redacted)

Second Choice Character: N/A

Discord: (redacted)

IC Info

Muse Name and Alias: Lex Luthor

What is your primary canon(s) for this character? Smallville through s3, though I don’t care much for the particulars, just the friendship between Lex and Clark is mostly what I’m after, and of course Lionel. After this it becomes simplified pre-nu52 comics canon. Lex’s views on Superman and his ideals/beliefs are taken from the Lex Luthor: Man of Steel comic.

Approximate Age: 50

OTPs, BroTPs, NoTPs:

OTP: Lex/Clark, big time, although I am more than happy to play it onesided, which is just as fun. Other ships I have are Lex/Bruce, Lex/Dick, Lex/Oliver--basically, I’ll just pair him up with any of the male heroes.

BroTP: Lex/Diana, Lex/Mercy, Lex/Kara, and I love having Lex play father to Kon. Lex becoming part of the superfam in general is something I’m weak for.

NoTP: Nothing in specific, though I do play Lex as gay so ships involving ladies are out.

Give us a bulletpoint outline for what your character’s history might look like:

Lex was born into the extremely wealthy (but new money) Luthor family, son of business mogul Lionel Luthor and his wife Lillian.

When he was 9, in Smallville on a business trip with his father, Lex was caught in the same meteor shower that brought Kal-El down to Earth.  Lex, a sick and asthmatic child, was all at once cured after the meteor shower, though he lost all his hair from exposure to the Kryptonite radiation. It wouldn’t be until much later, doing his own research on his condition in his 20s, that Lex realized the exposure to the radiation had also caused him to become a metahuman. Lex’s abilities are quiet and easy to hide: A superhuman immune system and increased healing factors. As of being abducted, only one person (Jason Todd) is aware that Lex is a metahuman.

No longer the perfect Luthor heir, Lex was regarded with disinterest by Lionel (who hadn’t established a particularly fatherly relationship with Lex before, either) and somewhat discarded once Lionel found out Lillian was pregnant again.

Shortly after Lillian gave birth to Lex’s brother Julian, she realized Lionel’s true intentions--to eventually pit the two brothers against each other for who would get to be the true Luthor heir. Terminally ill herself, and afraid that once she was gone there would be no one to protect Lex, she smothered Julian in his crib, reasoning it was better to have one dead son than two sons damaged and tormented by their father. Lex, once he realized what happened, told Lionel he killed Julian by accident, in order to protect his mother.

After Lillian and Julian were gone, Lionel had no choice but to raise Lex as his heir.

Excelling in his schoolwork, Lex graduated high school at 16 and went off to Princeton to study chemical and biological engineering (Lionel was, predictably, not impressed with his son’s desire to be a scientist instead of a businessman).

Admittedly, Lex did much more partying than attending class, quickly spinning out of control. He never failed a class, but... also had to spend two months in rehab after an overdose.

Lionel decided, five years later, that enough was enough and forced 21 year old Lex to come back to Kansas. Not to Metropolis, like Lex had assumed, but to be exiled to boring, middle of nowhere Smallville to run a LuthorCorp fertilizer plant as a punishment, Lionel having hopes that Lex might… shape up a little.

Upon arriving in Smallville, however, Lex wasted no time in accidentally crashing his Porsche into the river—only to be pulled out and resuscitated by a teenage boy, whose name happened to be Clark Kent.

Lex and Clark became fast friends, despite disapproval from both of their fathers, and despite Lex’s nagging feeling that Clark had been keeping secrets, lying to him all along. He set out, naturally, in search of the truth—was Clark one of the superhuman mutants that plagued the town due to the mysterious meteor shower? Was he something else entirely? Lex became obsessed. With Clark, with  the meteor rocks, with the super powers, obsessed with finding out the truth, and it was this obsession coupled with Clark’s need to protect his own secret at any costs that tore their friendship apart, as close as they had become.

Lex returned to Metropolis three years later, and took up a vice presidency at LuthorCorp while finishing his studies at Metropolis University. For the next few years he focused his energy on quietly expanding his own sphere of interest in LuthorCorp with the intention of dethroning Lionel, whose business practices had become a little too unsavory for Lex’s liking, and who also had no intention of handing the business over to his son.

One boardroom coup later, a livid Lionel Luthor was removed from his position as CEO and forced into an early retirement. Lex rebranded the company as LexCorp and cleaned up business practices considerably. It was around this time that the costumed entity the newspapers dubbed ‘Superman’ surfaced in Metropolis.

Where the citizens of Metropolis saw a savior, Lex saw the destruction of human potential. As Lex understood, it was the drive to be mythic that inspired greatness. It was inherently dangerous when something real became mythic, that we then lose the part of ourselves that yearns to be great. Because when faced with a myth? We can’t win.

The Justice League formed not too long after, and Lex found himself threatened by not only the Alien, but an entire organized council of superhuman beings that thought they had the right to govern humanity’s decisions, stifling the potential of mankind to rise up and handle any obstacle thrown at them. The League, Lex was certain, would mean the accidental destruction of the common man. A council of superhumans and aliens could not be trusted with this sort of power. Mankind, Lex maintained, should be responsible for itself. This was the main reason for his descent into supervillainy, and all his schemes to date have been directly targeted at the heroes, with as little civilian involvement as possible. There are risks Lex cannot afford to take.

Lex has also kept his name impeccably clean in the public eye. Lex being a supervillain is not common knowledge.

His most recent project is complicated to describe, and Lex won’t define it himself if asked. The Justice League, of course, assumes Lex was attempting to create a superweapon, cloning Superman like that. Lex disagrees with the word cloning, seeing as his DNA was also in the mix, but... how do you explain that this was one fucked up, last ditch effort to have a family? Anyway, a father-son supervillain team sounds stupid when you say it out loud. Lex lets them think what they want.

Interview

What would it take for you to switch sides? (hero to villain; villain to hero; neutral to either)

Lex laughs, actually laughs, and it’s silvery rather than malicious. There’s a knowing edge to his easy smile. He leans back, relaxed, amused rather than hostile--as he’s sure some of his villainous peers would be.

“You know, I don’t think the allegiance lines are as clear cut as they would have you think.” It’s just a touch dismissive. They, like a curse, it falls from his lips scornfully. “Their side has stooped to heinous acts too, haven’t they? Is it so hard to think those of us who oppose them are capable of good, too?”

If you ask Lex, nearly everything he does is good. Still, he plays along.

“If the world were in danger, I suppose. I couldn’t see myself not stepping in to protect my fellow man. It’s a shame, isn’t it, how often mankind gets caught in the crossfire of their cosmic disputes?”

And as playful as his tone is, there’s something hard and sharp underneath too.

How would you describe yourself? How would your friends describe you? How would the public describe you?

This is an easy one. He’s answered the same question dozens of times, magazine interview upon magazine interview, how does one define the famous Lex Luthor?

“Ruthless,” he throws out carelessly, that smile still playing at his mouth. Lex rarely looks out of place, never uncomfortable, never phased, never anything but put together and prepared for anything.

He’s a good actor. He has his dad to thank for that. Don’t get caught, don’t cause a scandal was the unofficial motto in the Luthor house, and Lex still finds himself repeating the words decades and decades later.

“I’m sure that’s one you’d hear from any side. Charismatic. Powerful. Intelligent. A gifted strategist. Sexy, if you read the magazine spreads,” and there’s another laugh here. “Of course, if you ask the Alien, I’m sure the description would run the gambit of morally corrupt, megalomaniac, power hungry. And several things it wouldn’t be polite to repeat. I won’t pretend not to be any of those things, but I’d also agree with the public assessment.”

If you could gain any superpower/swap your superpower for another, what would it be and why?

Swap your power for another? Well, if it were up to Lex, he’d have no power at all, as dependent as he’s become on his superhuman healing. He toys with the question in his head, debates on just flatly saying he wouldn’t take a superpower, but...

“I’ve always wondered what it’s like to fly,” Lex settles on finally, an odd tone to his voice, a shadow over his words. “When I was younger, I thought it would be the best thing. You read the comic books too, right? There was that superhero they milked the hell out of, Warrior Angel, and what kid doesn’t look up to some fictional hero and want cool superpowers like theirs? It’s funny, looking back on it. Kill your darlings, or so the phrase goes. Now, I’m more curious what it is he sees, looking down on this world like God above men.”

What is a secret you have never told someone?

This question gives him pause. Lex doesn’t particularly like giving away his secrets, but then, who does? Fine, he’ll throw them a bone. There’s a lot he could say without saying too much, omitting names and dates and identifying details.

“You know how they say you never forget your first love?” And any lingering genuine humor is gone from Lex’s voice now, just an amused sort of ruefulness lingering. “Would you believe I’m still hung up on mine, thirty years later? Maybe it’s the idea of him.” Actually, Lex is pretty sure that’s exactly it. When Lex thinks of him, it’s as that fifteen year old boy, certainly not the Alien.

Lungs full of water; a smile like the scorching sun glinting off the river; golden corn fields as far as the eye can see.

“I was in my twenties, he was a teenager. Our fathers hated each other. We were from completely different walks of life. All excellent reasons not to say anything about it, and I never did, but at the time I used to think I would have followed him anywhere, I would have done anything to keep him, even if it was just as a friend. Made it hurt like hell when he turned his back on me.”

If there was one choice in your past you could change, what would it be?

Lex’s eyes narrow slightly, a frown settling into the curve of his lips. He looks older, without the slight smile. He’s had a long life, a lot has happened to him. But if it’s only one thing he could change, one mistake...

“I would have been at Cadmus Labs they day they took my son,” and it’s about as cold as he ever gets in public these days, icy rather than a slight coolness. He’s made a point of doing that, referring to Kon that way, as his son--and Kon-El is an abhorrent name. Lex thinks of the would-be birth certificate, locked away in his desk with all the other forged papers that would have allowed the boy to legally exist. He was a Luthor by birthright, Lex is the one who wanted him, the one who created him with his own two hands, hours on end spent in the lab. “Perhaps I could have, ah, prevented their acquisition of Superboy.”

If you had one day where you could do anything you want, free of consequences, what would you do?

No doubt they’re expecting some grand scheme, the death of Superman perhaps, or a plot to dissolve the Justice League once and for all. The truth is far less exciting.

“I’d track down my father, wherever it is he’s retired to.” Lionel could be dead, for all Lex knows. He hasn’t gone searching for him, and anyway Lex is sure if he tried, Lionel would be trying to block him at any corner. He hasn’t spoken to his dad since the takeover. He’s not sure what he’d say, there’s always been too much unsaid between them, but it’s... it’s easier, looking back on this as an adult, to reconcile Lionel’s actions with the fact that despite everything, Lex did love his father.

Extras

Lex is half Mexican through his mother. He speaks Spanish (and several other languages) fluently, but his accent is slightly southern.

A few years ago, with some information stores stolen from Brainiac, Lex was able to crack the Kryptonian language and work out the rules of grammar and a vocabulary of a few thousand words. It hasn’t been especially useful yet, but half the fun was learning it in the first place.

Prior to being abducted for the Experiment, Lex had been drawing up plans to run for President in 2020, which is, incredibly, unrelated to his status as a supervillain.

He has a scar bisecting his upper lip from the single time Lionel hit his son--he had forgotten to take his wedding ring off. This is the only still visible scar on Lex’s body, as the rest of his injuries happened after gaining his healing mutation.

[eichy815]

Jungle Wars: The Top Forty ‘Survivor’ Blindsides

This week, the 34th season of Survivor premieres.  It will be the fourth full all-star edition of the franchise.  Entitled Survivor: Game Changers, Season 34 brings back twenty contestants from past installments whose competitiveness drove them to make big, memorable moves.  In many cases, these moves altered the course of that season’s gameplay – whereas, in other cases, their moves backfired or petered out...and they will need to “change their game” if they want a shot at winning, this time around.

Last spring, I wrote a Survivor-themed profile entitled “Survivor: The Best Never to Win.”  In that piece, I featured twenty of the most adept and “game-hungry” past contestants who went deep into the competition...but fell short of winning the million-dollar Sole Survivor title.

Here are forty additional players (including a few overlaps from my February 2016 article), who were the victims of epic blindsides.  In most cases, they didn’t see their eliminations coming; although, in some cases, they knew it was going to happen...but it was the audience (or fellow tribemates) who were the ones blindsided!

Also, let me make one thing clear:  I don’t know any veteran Survivor contestants personally.  I realize that many of them are totally different, in personality, outside of the game compared to when they’re stranded on an island competing for seven figures.  My criticisms of certain contestants is based primarily on what the editing showed us of their behavior and character while they were competing during their respective seasons.  

As one example:  Terry Deitz is someone whose gameplay I absolutely despised watching during Season 12 – but, based on interviews I’ve read with other Survivors who’ve interacted with him, it sounds as though Terry is a fantastic person to socialize with and relate to, in real life (I also found him to be extremely likable in his abridged return appearance, ten years later, during Survivor: Cambodia).  The reverse can probably be true when it comes to past contestants who were given favorable edits (in the audience’s eyes).

This piece isn’t solely about those who were blindsided.  It also refers to contestants who had actively participated in each of the blindsides.  And, as I’ve always said, Survivor is a microcosm of life.  Sometimes the bullies win.  Sometimes the good-hearted people win.  Sometimes people are given the short end of the stick due to bad luck or other factors beyond their control.  Sometimes people can manage to coast to victory based on the biases or stupidity of others.  Plus, the same individual might act completely differently when thrown into a new set of circumstances surrounded by a different combination of people (as can be seen from many of those who’ve been invited back to play Survivor for two, three, or even four times).

So, for me (as a hard-core fan!), here were the forty blindsides that were the most satisfying – in my ascending order of preference...

#40 – DEENA BENNETT IN SURVIVOR: THE AMAZON

She was the feminist warrior of the Battle-of-the-Sexes-themed Survivor: the Amazon.  Deena Bennett – who became a narrative treat for viewers with her acerbic confessionals and constantly-spinning wheels – thought she had the game in the palm of her hand when Jaburu and Tambaqui merged into Jacaré on Day 19.  As soon as the merge hit, Deena helped to orchestrate the consecutive eliminations of the misogynistic Roger Sexton and the charming Dave Johnson.

But then Deena got too comfortable – and she became the next victim of Season 6’s continuously-shifting alliances.  On Day 25, she plotted to take out her newest male victim, the personable Alex Bell – but Heidi Strobel and eventual winner Jenna Morasca assembled a fairweather alliance of Matt Von Ertfelda, Butch Lockley, and Rob Cesternino to spare Alex and nip Deena’s scheming in the bud.  After losing Day 27’s Immunity Challenge to Matt due to her squeamishness over having to eat a grub, Deena found her torch snuffed as the third member of that season’s jury.

#39 – BURTON ROBERTS IN SURVIVOR: PEARL ISLANDS

Due to Season 7’s infamous “Outcasts” twist, the cocky Burton Roberts ended up being the first Survivor contestant to be voted out twice within the same season.  Burton proposed, on Day 12, that his Drake tribe should intentionally throw that day’s Immunity Challenge so they could vote off the disposable (and nauseating) Christa Hastie.  But when Rupert Boneham was unexpectedly kidnapped by the Morgan tribe in a surprise twist, Burton’s plan directly backfired on him...five other Drakes (including Burton’s own buddy, Jonny Fairplay) got together and ousted him from the game.

After reentering the game on Day 20, Burton (along with scoutmaster Lillian Morris) joined the merged Balboa tribe.  After breezing through five more rounds of elimination, Burton finally saw his game draw to a close once again on Day 36 after he attempted to blindside his alliancemate, Lillian – who, beknownst to Burton, had already plotted against him with Darrah Johnson and eventual winner Sandra Diaz-Twine.  Interestingly, six days earlier, Burton had also become the first Survivor contestant to have his immunity “stripped” from him...after host Jeff Probst belatedly realized he’d prematurely called Burton’s Immunity Challenge victory.

#38 – TYSON APOSTOL IN SURVIVOR: HEROES VS. VILLAINS

The snake-like schemer had already been blindsided once during his previous season, Survivor: Tocantins.  As a returning player amid Season 20’s all-star cast, Tyson Apostol thought he was sitting pretty within the majority alliance on the Villains tribe.  His alliance’s de facto leader, Rob Mariano, had devised a plan to flush out Russell Hantz’s not-so-secret immunity idol by targeting Russell’s closest ally, Season 16 winner Parvati Shallow (who was playing for her third time).  But this was the point where Russell’s mastery of deception ultimately doomed Season 18’s oily Mormon.

Russell approached Tyson right before Tribal Council on Day 15, pretending that he’d totally be willing to vote out Parvati in order to save himself.  Knowing that members of the majority alliance would split their votes between himself and Parvati, Russell gambled his own life in the game on the long-shot possibility that Tyson might switch his vote that night to Parvati.  Yet, Tyson fell for it – and when Russell pulled out his hidden immunity idol to save Parvati (negating all of the votes cast against her), the votes that he, Parvati, and their alliancemate, Danielle DiLorenzo, had cast against Tyson were enough to outnumber the votes that Boston Rob and Sandra Diaz-Twine had cast against Russell himself.  Tyson’s nonsensical move not only cost himself the game...it changed the entire course of the game itself, as Jeff Probst pointed out during that season’s live reunion show – paving the way for Parvati, Sandra, Russell, and Jerri Manthey to glide right into the Final Four...and giving rise to Sandra becoming the franchise’s first (and, to this date, only) two-time winner.  Not to be deterred, Tyson would return again, four years later, to masterfully win Survivor: Blood vs. Water.

#37 – JEREMY COLLINS IN SURVIVOR: SAN JUAN DEL SUR

The second “Blood vs. Water” installment of Survivor saw two of the most unbearable (for me, as a viewer) players within the same season:  the arrogant Jeremy Collins and the bratty Baylor Wilson.  Jeremy was a part of the dominant alliance (with his closest ally being that season’s eventual winner, former Amazing Race competitor Natalie Anderson), and, as a physical threat, he stood a good chance of steamrolling his way to the end.  Jeremy’s “Blood vs. Water” partner – his wife, Val – had already been voted out on Day 6.  And a Day 11 tribal-swap enabled him to persevere up to the merge on Day 16.  But after he orchestrated the merged Huyopa tribe’s ouster of Broadway performer Josh Canfield, it turned out Jeremy would be in for a rude awakening of his own.

After Baylor won immunity on Day 24, Jeremy and Natalie decided to target the dimwitted Keith Nale.  However, Josh’s vengeful fiancé, Reed Kelly, floated the idea of letting himself be targeted by former alliancemates Keith, Wes (Keith’s son), and Alec Christy.  Jeremy and Natalie wanted to use this divide to their advantage so they could split the votes with the intention of voting out Reed while simultaneously flushing out Keith’s hidden immunity idol (which was a not-so-well-kept-secret amongst the tribe)...except that Reed managed to rally dating duo Jon Misch and Jaclyn Schultz along with Baylor and Missy Payne (Baylor’s mom) into taking out the potential challenge beast that Jeremy could become.  Jeremy was blindsided in a 5-3-2 vote – prompting the memorable outburst from Natalie of “What the fuck, Missy?” (bleeped out by TV censors, of course), since Natalie had assumed Missy and Baylor would be voting for either Keith or Reed.  In a twist of irony, this move ultimately helped Natalie construct an epic and satisfying victory for herself in front of the jury when she made the Final Three alongside of Jaclyn and Missy.  Overall, a very delectable blindside that created a suspenseful new direction for what could have otherwise been a lame, predictable season.  One year later, Jeremy himself played a much smarter, more humble game when he returned for the “Second Chances”-themed season of Survivor: Cambodia – where he won a unanimous jury vote at the Final Tribal Council.

#36 – ERIK REICHENBACH IN SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA

Nearly every hard-core Survivor fan remembers Erik Reichenbach’s fatal mistake during Season 16’s “Fans vs. Favorites” installment:  the mop-headed ice cream scooper was outnumbered by an all-female “Black Widow Alliance.”  His only hope to make it into the finals was by going on an individual immunity run.  And he did – on Day 30, Day 33, and Day 36.

But with fellow fan Natalie Bolton being the Black Widows’ odd-woman-out, Natalie wasn’t ready to go down without a fight.  As she brainstormed with veteran contestants Parvati Shallow (the season’s eventual winner), Cirie Fields, and Amanda Kimmel, a long-shot suggestion was made by Cirie:  ask Erik to give up his immunity idol to Natalie by persuading him that it would make the jury see him in a more favorable light.  Natalie, Cirie, and Amanda all proceeded to come at Erik from different angles, while Parvati sat back and watched:  Natalie appealed to Erik as a fellow fan; Amanda heaped guilt onto Erik for having personally betrayed her, earlier in the game; and Cirie used charming-and-sly delivery to further plant those seeds in Erik’s head.  At Tribal Council that night, Erik succumbed to the collective pressure – bestowing his immunity necklace upon Natalie, while the jury watched in shock and awe.  A now-vulnerable Erik was promptly voted out by the four Black Widows that night – ultimately earning him the title of “Dumbest Survivor Ever” at that season’s live reunion show.

#35 – NATE GONZALEZ IN SURVIVOR: COOK ISLANDS

On the racially-divided Survivor: Cook Islands, shoe salesman Nate Gonzalez survived Season 13’s inaugural Tribal Council along gender lines within the all-black five-person Manihiki tribe.  He and two of his Manhiki tribemates – Stephannie Favor and Rebecca Borman – were then tribe-swapped onto Rarotonga alongside a bevy of newfound white, Latino, and Asian allies.  Still, Nate’s athletic prowess and amicable demeanor allowed him to remain under-the-radar for six more rounds of eliminations .

Unfortunately, Nate had been inconsistent at remaining on the right side of the majority when he was attending Tribal Councils.  On Day 27, Nate was voted out in a close 5-4 split that came down to an either/or choice between him and the season’s eventual winner, Yul Kwon.  While I enjoyed Nate as a contestant (and would love to see him featured in a future season of returnees), if he’d just managed to endear himself to Jonathan Penner earlier-on – and convinced Penner to turn against the “Aitu Four” – it would probably have changed the entire course of the game.  In that scenario, Nate would have had a very good chance of winning Survivor: Cook Islands if he’d been part of a Final Three alongside any combination of Penner, Candice Woodcock, Adam Gentry, Parvati Shallow, Becky Lee, and/or Sundra Oakley.

#34 – GRETCHEN CORDY IN SURVIVOR: BORNEO

Among the sixteen contestants who’d pioneered Survivor’s inaugural season in the Summer of 2000, survival instructor Gretchen Cordy quickly became a Fan Favorite alongside of advertising student Colleen Haskell and retired Navy seal Rudy Boesch.  While the devious Richard Hatch finagled every which way as a sneaky mover-and-shaker on the Tagi tribe, Gretchen’s Pagong tribe was much more laid-back and less focused on strategic thinking.  Tagi and Pagong merged into the combined Rattana tribe on Day 19, but the former Pagong tribe members still hadn’t quite grasped the concept of forming alliances. Richard, meanwhile, recruited the loyalty of fellow Tagi tribemates Rudy, Susan Hawk, and (for awhile) Kelly Wiglesworth.

As a result, Richard’s Tagi alliance took advantage of Sean Keniff’s inane “alphabetical voting” technique (knowing upfront that Sean’s vote would be against Colleen), and they collectively targeted Gretchen.  It didn’t help that the former Pagong members – Gretchen, Colleen, Jenna Lewis, Gervase Peterson, and Greg Buis – each voted for a different person at the Day 21 Tribal Council.  Pagong, in theory, had the numbers to effectively oust any one of the Tagi members (due to Sean’s unwillingness to get his hands dirty)...but they missed the boat, and Richard and Susan’s team proceeded to pick all of them off, one-by-one.  This dynamic established the common Survivor trend of a dominant alliance choosing to wipe out a minority alliance – aka “a Pagonging.”

#33 – OZZY LUSTH IN SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA

I love Ozzy!  I would have jumped at the chance to be an additional number for a #DudePerfect alliance of his, had I been on his tribe.  But after Ozzy Lusth was very narrowly defeated by Yul Kwon in the Final Three of Survivor: Cook Islands, his reputation as a challenge beast most certainly made him a threat going into his second time playing.  The Malakal tribe of returning players initially viewed Ozzy as an athletic asset to help them get ahead.  When Malakal acquired four new fans from the Airai tribe in a Day 12 switcheroo, Ozzy continued to serve as an integral lynchpin for his reconfigured tribe.

After the merge, however, Parvati Shallow (that season’s winner) and Cirie Fields – chief orchestrators of the “Black Widow Alliance” – set their sights on him.  Along with Natalie Bolton and Alexis Jones, Parvati and Cirie made Ozzy feel secure...they convinced him that oddball fan Jason Siska was actually the entire group’s target.  With Jason completing their voting bloc of five, the Black Widows carried out their first power play of Season 16...sending the sexy jungle boy home with a hidden immunity idol tucked away in his pocket.  If only the flabbergasted Ozzy had followed through with his earlier Day 17 promise to “jump naked off the pier” upon being potentially blindsided!

#32 – CHRISTY SMITH IN SURVIVOR: THE AMAZON

The children’s adventure guide made history by becoming Survivor’s first deaf contestant, for whom production made no special accommodations in Season 6.  Christy Smith originally perceived herself as an outcast from the “pretty girls” – Jenna Morasca, Heidi Strobel, and Shawna Mitchell – of her all-female tribe.  But after a six-day tribe swap, she made it to the merge by ending up on the right side of the numbers on the newly-coed Tambaqui tribe.

After being left out of the loop on Day 27 when the rest of the tribe had blindsided Deena Bennett – one of her closest allies – Christy survived one more round before finding herself as a pivotal swing vote in Rob Cesternino’s plan to vote out Heidi.  However, she hemmed-and-hawed a little too indecisively for Rob’s patience level...and, with Butch Lockley as their latest post-merge odd-man-out, the rest of Jacaré banded together and voted out Christy to eliminate a potential wild card.  Upon exiting the game, Christy angrily vowed revenge on her “wicked stepsisters,” Jenna and Heidi – until Jenna ultimately made it to the Final Two...and earned a begrudging Christy’s million-dollar vote for outplaying them all.

#31 – MARTY PIOMBO IN SURVIVOR: NICARAGUA

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains was a tough act to follow.  But the franchise certainly tried, dividing two tribes of ten by age (“old” versus “young”) in Season 21 – the first edition filmed in Nicaragua.  Assigned to the Espada tribe composed solely of contestants over the age of 40, tech exec Marty Piombo proved to be an astute and cutthroat player – helping his alliancemates take out Wendy Jo DeSmidt-Kohlhoff, Jimmy Johnson, Jimmy Tarantino, and Tyrone Davis in short order.  Also memorable was Marty’s contentious feud with the Fan Favorite, spunky dog trainer Jane Bright.

After the tribes were reshuffled on Day 12, Marty used public knowledge of his hidden immunity idol to try to deincentivize others from voting against him.  He picked up new allies in Jud “Fabio” Birza (Survivor: Nicaragua’s eventual winner) and Matthew “Sash” Lenehan, but his battle with Jane raised the eyebrows of Brenda Lowe and NaOnka Mixon.  After outcast Alina Wilson was scapegoated and voted out on Day 22, Marty was eliminated in a narrow Day 24 showdown against Jane on the newly-merged Libertad tribe.  Had Jane gone home instead of Marty that night, Marty could have led a formidable male alliance to push Brenda, NaOnka, Holly Hoffman, Kelly Shinn, and Chase Rice right out of the game over the course of the next 12-15 days.  In this scenario, either Marty or Sash probably would have wound up winning Survivor: Nicaragua.  

CONTINUE TO #30 THROUGH #21

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Power Suit Up: The History of Lex Luthor’s Iconic Armor

Throughout the second season of “Supergirl,” the Luthors have become an important part of the series. Between Lex Luthor’s mother, Lillian, perpetuating his villainy to his (adopted) sister, Lena, trying to do good to make up for her family’s evil history, the Luthor family name has been front and center. In this week’s episode, Lillian Luthor revealed a veritable treasure trove of weapons and other items of power. One of the items that we saw was the famous Luthor war suit…

RELATED: Supergirl Promo Teases Debut Of Lex Luthor’s Iconic Warsuit

Seeing the war suit displayed on the series, it shows just how iconic the Luthor battle suit has become over the years. Here, we’ll take a look at how Luthor’s power suits have evolved in the past few decades.

When Lex Luthor debuted, he was hilariously enough a redhead warlord! As it turned out, artist Paul Cassidy saw Luthor’s first appearance in “Action Comics” #23 and got confused who Luthor was supposed to be. He thought that the bald guard was Luthor (the bald guard is oddly heavily featured in the story, so while you would understand that he wasn’t Luthor if you read the story closely, it is not crazy if you only glanced at the issue to think that the bald guy was Luthor).

For the next few decades, as Luthor became Superman’s greatest enemy, he typically fought Superman in either regular clothes or a general nondescript prison jumpsuit, like the one he wore here in “Action Comics” #277.

Generally speaking, Luthor did not attempt to fight with Superman on a hand-to-hand combat level (unless Superman was powerless due to, say, a red sun or something like that). He fought Superman through elaborate plots often involving some sort of machine built by Luthor. It was not until 1974 that Luthor finally made a change to become more active in fights against Superman. In “Superman” #282 (by Elliot S! Maggin, Curt Swan and Kurt Schaffenbeger), Luthor uses a special ray to reduce Superman in age to being just a young man. Luthor determined that that was enough to make Superman weak enough for Luthor to take him down with a special battle suit that Luthor had designed for himself…

That purple jumpsuit also contained a number of powerful weapons that Luthor had devised to take Superman down. It was this costume that appeared in the hit TV series, “Challenge of the Super Friends,” as Luthor was the leader of the Legion of Doom…

The purple jumpsuit look continued throughout the end of the 1970s and into the 1980s. In 1983, though, DC was preparing for a new toy line that was going to debut in 1984. Dubbed “Super Power,” the Kenner toy line opened up an interesting way for artists to make money. If you designed a figure, the company would pay you a design fee. Thus, DC used this to have some of their more prominent artists do new designs for characters so that they could get a cut of adapting that character into a figure. DC specifically used this approach to have Jack Kirby re-design some of his Fourth World characters and therefore actually indirectly get paid for his early DC comics work. One of these artist was George Perez, who designed a new, much more powerful battle armor for Lex Luthor that debuted in “Action Comics” #244 (in a story by Cary Bates, Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson).

Due to its inclusion in the “Super Powers” toy line, the Luthor battle armor from this time period is perhaps Luthor’s best known look for a while generation of comic book fans…

RELATED: The Worst Things Lex Luthor Has Ever Done

After “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” Lex Luthor was revamped into a businessman who was only secretly a super-criminal…

Because of that, he could not very well go around wearing a suit of armor. Instead, he had a series of goons working for him at his company, LexCorp, wearing special LexCorp battle armors. During a period where Lex Luthor was presumed dead, he actually returned to life in a cloned body, pretending to be his son, Lex Luthor II. As Lex Luthor iI, he actually did wear a suit of battle armor and fight alongside his other LexCorp armored members (at this point in time, young Lex was dating Supergirl). He helped pick up the slack in Metropolis during the period where Superman was presumed dead…

Soon after Superman returned to life, so, too, did Luthor return to his older body (part of a deal with the demon Neron). Luthor then ran for and was elected President of the United States. Things like that could not last for Luthor, so finally, he snapped in the opening story arc of “Superman/Batman” dubbed “Public Enemies,” where he was unable to turn the world against Superman and Batman, so he decided to kill them himself wearing a special suit of armor given to him by Darkseid. This was his newest war suit…

He wore a variation of that suit for the next few years, until he was given a new armor during a period when Paul Cornell wrote Action Comics and Luthor was briefly the main character in “Action Comics”…

That was the set-up when “Flashpoint” occurred and everything rebooted into the “New 52.”

RELATED: Lena Luthor’s Behind Bars in Latest Supergirl Photos

when the “New 52” happened, Luthor was once again revamped so that he was a brilliant genius who did not use suits of armor to fight Superman directly, but rather he worked behind the scenes to hurt Superman, either as a military consultant or just a straight out criminal. Over time, though, he could not help but find war suits that he could use. One was an over-sized unit that ended up being used on the covers of the “Villans Month” comic books….

However, soon afte that, during the “Forever Evil” crossover, when the Crime Syndicate of America showed up on Earth and took out the Justice League, Luthor had to fight back alongside other supervillains. Luckily, he had been on the side developing a new suit of armor that he debuted in “Forever Evil” #2 (by Geoff Johns and David Finch)…

After helping to save the world, Luthor joined the Justice League for a time, using a slightly different armor than the one he debuted in “Forever Evil.” Soon after that, the New 52 version of Superman died in battle. Luthor decided to become his replacement, and he had a new suit of armor built with an “S” on the chest that he is currently using in the pages of “Action Comics,” where the real Superman is dealing with this interloper…

As we can see, the concept of a “war suit” is such a compelling one that the writers can’t help themselves from returning to it, time and again. It seems likely that even though the warehouse with the Luthor armor in on it this week’s “Supergirl” wad destroyed, we will see a member of the Luthor family wearing that armor at some point in a future episode.

The post Power Suit Up: The History of Lex Luthor’s Iconic Armor appeared first on CBR.com.

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