Warning: major spoilers ahead for Episode 12 of Supergirl Season 2, entitled "Luthors."
Supergirl has been teasing big names from DC Comics from its very first episode, and Season 2 has gone so far as to debut a new version of the Man of Steel and tease the existence of the Dark Knight. Now, Supergirl has introduced one of the most legendary supervillains of DC Comics fame, but not necessarily in the way that most of us would have expected. We finally met Lex Luthor himself... just a couple of decades before he became Superman's archnemesis.
"Luthors" put a great deal of focus on Lillian and Lena Luthor, and the episode featured a flashback to the day that Lena was adopted into the Luthor family. Lex was expertly playing chess with his mother when Lionel brought Lena into their lives. Lex was young, reasonably friendly, and had a full head of hair. All things considered, our first glimpse of Supergirl's Lex Luthor was a far cry from the Lex Luthor we've seen in most other adaptations.
Of course, Supergirl has established that Lex Luthor did not stay a friendly young man forever. He's currently serving 37 life sentences for his crimes after finally being captured by Superman, and one of his first moves after incarceration was to order the assassination of his baby sister. In "Luthors" alone, we learned that Lex and Clark Kent used to be best friends before Lex went full villain. The episode did a pretty thorough job of illustrating why Lena was going to so much effort to distance the family company from Lex's legacy.
An adult Lex didn't show his face in "Luthors," but he still had a major impact on the plot. After Lillian used Metallo to break herself out of custody and then kidnap Lena, they joined forces with Cyborg Superman and sought refuge in one of Lex's hidden safe houses. As it turns out, Lex built strongholds all over the world. They housed weapons specifically designed to take down aliens like Kryptonians. In this particular safe house, Lex had a Black Mercy, an Atomic Axe, and a Warsuit.
We already saw back in Season 1 that a Black Mercy parasite can actually cause the death of a Kryptonian, and DC Comics fans know the Atomic Axe as a weapon (usually wielded by the villainous Persuader) that can cut through just about anything. Throw in the Warsuit, and it's safe to say that Lex was not kidding around when it came to stocking his strongholds with anti-alien weaponry. Given that this seemed to be just one of many safe houses, we can bet that Lex has other stashes of dangerous items that will pop up at very inconvenient times for our Girl of Steel.
Luckily, this particular safe house was destroyed when the synthetic Kryptonite in Metallo's chest caused an explosion. Still, we shouldn't count old Lex out just yet. It's hard to believe that Supergirl would introduce and then blow up a Lex Luthor Warsuit within the span of a few minutes if another wasn't going to turn up somewhere. Personally, I'd be shocked if we didn't see a Luthor - whether Lex, Lena, or Lillian - wearing a Warsuit and wreaking havoc at some point in the series.
We'll have to wait and see. Lena is back with her pal Kara in National City, but Lillian is on the loose, and there's no saying at this point if she has plans for trying to bust Lex out of prison. What we can say for sure is that the Luthor family has an awful lot of skeletons in their various closets, and none of them may be exactly what they seem.
Tune in to The CW on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET to see what's next for the Luthors on Supergirl. The focus next week will be on none other than the classic comics baddie Mr. Mxyzptlk, but I'm sure plenty of Luthor drama still awaits. Take a look at our midseason TV premiere schedule to see what else you can catch on the small screen nowadays.
