John Glover as Lionel Luthor
Lionel Luthor is portrayed by John Glover in the show,
Smallville. Lionel grew up in Metropolis Suicide Slum area, and his parents, Lachlan and Eliza Luthor, were Scottish immigrants. Growing up, Lionel did not have many friends and was apparently abused by his father. His only childhood friend, Morgan Edge, has attested that Lionel’s mother was an alcoholic. His friendship with Edge eventually turned to a criminal partnership, and Lionel has continued to show deep resentment for his late father, who died along with Lionel’s mother in a fire. He then went on to attend an Ivy League School and began to build a new life in order to cover up his poor history. After his schooling, he used the insurance money from the fire to set up his own company, LuthorCorp., and eventually married Lillian, a woman from a rich family. Wanting desperately to conceal his past, Lionel continued with his façade, and even imported a mansion from Europe into Smallville, and passed it off as the Luthors’ ancestral home.
He and Lillian had one son, Alexander “Lex” Luthor, with whom he has never had a strong relationship. Lillian pitied Lex when he was a child, and constantly asked Lionel to spend more time with him. Because Lionel was disappointed at Lex’s apparent timidity, he never agreed to his wife’s wishes. He distanced himself even more when Lex lost all of his hair due to the meteor shower. Not wanting Lex as his sole heir, he impregnated Lillian again, despite her already fragile health. He named their second son, Julian, but Lillian, who knew that Lionel would someday pit the two brothers against each other, killed Julian shortly after he was born. Covering for his mother’s actions, Lex told Lionel that he was responsible for Julian’s death, which consequently led Lionel to attack Lex. A few months later, Lillian passed away.
His relationships outside the home has been just as tumultuous, and instead of trying his best to gain the acceptance of the townspeople, he has often provoked their hatred for him, believing that hate is what renders people weak. He hired the services of Martha Kent after he went blind, despite his feud with her husband, the late Jonathan Kent. His relationship with Jonathan soured after he blackmailed Jonathan into letting him build his highly toxic LuthorCorp. Plant in Smallville.
(Photo courtesy of Shane Harvey)