Member-only story
Why Lex Luthor Never Actually Explained His Master Plan
Lex Luthor Is Real (& So Is The Need For Vision) Part One
Part of the series: Lex Luthor Is Real (and So Is the Need for Vision)
We’ve all seen the trope.
The villain stands tall in front of a glowing world map, a laser cannon humming in the background, minions circling like clockwork.
The camera zooms in. The music swells.
The fate of the world hangs in the balance. Then comes the big line: “And now… I will have my revenge!”
Cool. But revenge for what, exactly?
Cue the awkward silence. The henchmen glance at each other. The audience blinks. Because somehow, once again, Lex Luthor never actually says what the plan is.
And more importantly — why it matters.
We Knew He Was Smart. We Knew He Was Rich. We Just Didn’t Know What He Wanted.
Especially in the Christopher Reeve-era films, Luthor was a caricature with charisma — charismatic enough to steal scenes, but not clear enough to anchor a story.
He had nuclear codes. He had real estate schemes. He wore fur-lined collars. But what did he want, really?
