Lena Luthor

Lena Luthor is the name of two fictional comic book characters in DC Comics. The first one, introduced in 1961, is the sister of Superman's nemesis Lex Luthor, while the second one, introduced in 2000, is Lex Luthor's daughter who is named after her aunt.

On live-action television, the original Lena Luthor was portrayed by Denise Gossett in a 1991 episode of Superboy, Cassidy Freeman in three seasons (2008–2011) of Smallville, and by Katie McGrath in five seasons (2016–2021) of Supergirl.

Publication history
Lena Luthor first appeared in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #23 and was created by Jerry Siegel and Kurt Schaffenberger.

First Lena Luthor
In Silver Age continuity, Lena is Lex Luthor's younger sister. After Lex began his villainous career, his family changed their last name in shame to the anagram "Thorul" and told Lena that Lex had been killed in a mountain-climbing accident. Soon after this they were killed in an auto accident. As a result, Lena never knew she had an older brother, as Lex Luthor himself (with occasional help from Supergirl and Superman) worked to keep her from learning the truth. Lena appeared irregularly in DC Comics' from 1961 to 1975. Lena had psychic/empathic abilities, gained from touching a Space Brain that Luthor was experimenting on before he became a villain. In 1981, Lena lost her powers after brain surgery, and the decision was made to tell her the truth about Luthor. After the initial shock, there were signs of reconciliation after Luthor discovered he had unwittingly aided another criminal's conspiracy against Lena, and he was deeply apologetic.

In Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #3, Legionnaires Polar Boy, Wildfire, and Dawnstar travel to Smallville during the 20th century, back to when Superman was still a suburban legend. The three heroes arrive to the Luthor household, where they hear a young Lex Luthor arguing with his father about his mother and sister.

In the pages of Superman: Secret Origin, Lena Luthor cared about Lex even when he ran away after their mother died when she was young and their father died of a heart attack.

In the revived Adventure Comics, Lex made certain to cover up his Smallville history, and that included disavowing a connection to his sister. Lena is now paralyzed, living in Smallville with her daughter Lori Luthor. Lori became friends with Superboy who was attracted to Lori's petty crimes when trying to take care of her mother. Both were shocked to find Lex Luthor on Lori's doorstep, intent on taking control of Superboy again and claiming he can cure Lena's condition. With Superboy's help Luthor indeed cures Lena, but he then undoes his cure, claiming he only helped her to prove to Superboy that he could and that so long as Superman lives, he will never reveal how he did it. Currently, Lena is under the care of Wayne Enterprise doctors, thanks to Red Robin.

In 2011, "The New 52" rebooted the DC universe. Lena Luthor is paralyzed as a result of a childhood illness, with Luthor initially claiming to Bizarro that he never tried to save her because he was afraid of failure, only to admit privately later that he actually tried and failed to save her and instead left her paralyzed. He was eventually able to treat her paralysis, but delayed the treatment as it involved technology he did not invent himself, leaving Lena enraged that he expected her to be forever under his shadow.

In 2016, DC Comics implemented another relaunch of its books called "DC Rebirth" which restored its continuity to a form much as it was prior to "The New 52". A desperate Lex tried to use Doctor Omen's Super-Man technology to cure Lena only for it to make her more paralyzed and give her a higher intellect as well as developing a psychic link to her Mother Box. What Lex didn't know yet is that Lena Luthor created a bunch of binary clones of herself and Superwoman of Earth-3 with one of them becoming Bizarress. Lena later proceeded to use the Mother Box's power to merge with one of Lex Luthor's exo-armors to gain mobility. The Lana Lang version of Superwoman defeated Lena and returned her to LexCorp. Lex locked up Lena as he vowed to find a way to help his sister.

Second Lena Luthor
After Crisis on Infinite Earths, Lena Luthor is the daughter of Lex Luthor and Contessa Erica Del Portenza. She is named after Lex's foster sister of the same name who had been killed by their foster father Casey Griggs. After Lena's birth, Lex takes advantage of Contessa Erica's wish to be unconscious at child birth by keeping her permanently drugged and unconscious at his corporate headquarters, not wishing to share his daughter's love with anyone else (although he himself avoids attending the birth to provide himself with a clear alibi for an assassination attempt he arranged at the time).

When Brainiac 13 arrives from the 64th century, the modern Brainiac possesses the infant Lena to escape being deleted by his future self. Even after Brainiac leaves Lena's body, Luthor trades her to Brainiac 13 for control of the future technology that has transformed Metropolis.

Lena returns to visit Lex Luthor during the Our Worlds at War event, where she has apparently been aged to adolescence by Brainiac 13. Lena plays a sneaky role during the event, helping Luthor and his allies defeat Imperiex by feeding her father information, while secretly manipulating events to benefit Brainiac 13. She is ultimately convinced at the end to side with her father. At the end of the crossover, Brainiac 13 and Imperiex are both destroyed, and Lena is regressed to infanthood and returned to her father by Superman, who tells Luthor that he now has a second chance to try to be a man instead of a god.

In the Superman's Metropolis miniseries, the artificial intelligence controlling the B-13 technology believes itself to be Lena Luthor. When it creates a human body (female, but bald) to pursue a romantic relationship with Jimmy Olsen, Superman confronts her with the real Lena Luthor, making her realize her personality is a computer simulation of Lena's.

Lena returned in Superman #850 visiting Lex in Stryker's Island Penitentiary with her grandmother, Leticia Luthor.

Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade
Lena Thorul is a main character in the series. She is Lex Luthor's thirteen-year-old sister who attends the same boarding school as Supergirl. Lena hates superheroes, and specifically blames Supergirl for the recent misfortune that has befallen her brother (in the first issue Supergirl was accidentally responsible for Lex Luthor's capture). Unaware that Linda Lee is really Supergirl just as Linda is unaware that Lena Thorul is related to Lex Luthor, the two become best friends and roommates. Though sweet and fun when interacting with Linda (whom Lena perceives as an outsider, just like herself), Lena is hostile and suspicious towards everyone else. This is particularly true in regards to Linda's evil doppelganger Belinda Zee (Superiorgirl). As the series progresses, Lena's xenophobia becomes increasingly apparent. It is revealed that Lena is in secret communication with her older brother, waiting for the correct time to enact a complicated revenge scheme against Superman. When Linda'a identity is inadvertently exposed to Lena by the time-lost duplicate of Supergirl known as Supragirl, Lena goes over the edge and takes control of the minds of half the students in the school (the other half being transformed into Bizarro versions of themselves by Superiorgirl). Lena begins to question her hatred when confronted by the manipulations of reality by Mister Mxyzptlk and by Supergirl's willingness to save all of reality from the fifth dimensional imp. While Supergirl is battling Mxyzptlk, Lena is critically injured. Supergirl forces a truce between Luthor and Superman so that they can save Lena. Luthor saves his little sister, but the cost of her survival is that her hatred is now directed at her own brother. At the series end, Lena is referenced to be recovering in the hospital.

Lena Luthor (Earth-9)
A variation of the character appears in Tangent Comics: Wonder Woman #1 (September, 1998). Lena Thorul was an Element Girl scientist who saw the inevitable futility of the gender war between the Element Girl and Beast Boy Gothamites, in which she felt the Gothamites had lost touch with each other and with their true potential. That they were stronger as a race when the two sexes truly comprehend each other. Thorul sought to create a symbol of what the Gothamites could be if they were united as a people, through the use of outlawed technology, she successfully created a unique and powerful female Gothamite with the attributes of both the Element Girls and Beast Boys which she named her as Wanda. Upon revealing Wanda to the Gothamites as a symbol of unity, however, this was greeted with revulsion from the Gothamites who ironically agreed together that Wanda was an abomination and Thorul was immediately killed for creating her.

Live-action

 * The original Lena Luthor appears in the Superboy episode "Know Thine Enemy", portrayed by Denise Gossett as a young adult and by Jennifer Hawkins as a child. This version faked her death to start a new life after Lex Luthor killed their parents.
 * A character based on the original Lena Luthor, among other characters, named Tess Mercer appears in Smallville, portrayed by Cassidy Freeman as a young adult and by Leigh Bourke as a child. This version, born Lutessa Lena Luthor, is Lex Luthor's half-sister and the illegitimate daughter of Lionel Luthor and Lex's nanny Pamela Jenkins. After being left at Granny Goodness's orphanage, she had her memories suppressed and was eventually adopted by the Mercer family in Louisiana. In the present, Tess becomes Lex's protégé and later the acting CEO of LuthorCorp following his disappearance. In the series finale, Tess is mortally wounded by Lex, but erases his memories with a neurotoxin before dying.
 * The original Lena Luthor, full name Lena Kieran Luthor, appears in Supergirl, portrayed by Katie McGrath as an adult and by Lucy Loken as a teenager. This version is Lex Luthor's paternal half-sister through an affair that Lionel Luthor had with a witch named Elizabeth Walsh (also portrayed by McGrath). After Lex is imprisoned, Lena becomes the CEO of LuthorCorp, moves to National City, and rebrands the company as "L-Corp" to distance it from Lex.
 * Additionally, McGrath portrays several alternate universe variants of Lena, such as one who underwent the "Metallo Procedure" and conquered National City, in the episode "It's a Super Life".

Animation

 * The second Lena Luthor appears in Robot Chicken DC Comics Special 2: Villains in Paradise, voiced by Sarah Hyland. This version is an intern of the Legion of Doom who is in a relationship with Superboy.
 * The original Lena Luthor appears in DC Super Hero Girls (2015), voiced by Romi Dames. This version is the leader of the Legion of Doom who became a supervillain after being rejected from Super Hero High.
 * The original Lena Luthor appears in the DC Super Hero Girls (2019) episode "#SweetJustice", voiced by Cassandra Lee Morris.

Video games
Lena Luthor appears in DC Super Hero Girls: Teen Power, voiced again by Cassandra Lee Morris.

Miscellaneous
Tess Mercer appears in Smallville Season 11, in which Lex discovers her consciousness residing in his body before it is eventually transferred to an aerokinetic android body. Taking the name "Red Tornado", she later joins the Justice League and begins dating Emil Hamilton.