Lex Luthor had to admit that he had been utterly defeated.
At least in this exchange, he had not won a single sentence. For the smartest man in the world, it was a disaster. Yet Lex suddenly felt a sense of relief.
Ever since the other party had revealed his true identity, Lex had felt as though he were sitting in a church, facing a genuine Jesus Christ: powerful, wise, omniscient.
He suddenly began to reflect. Where exactly did the resistance and hatred toward Superman in his personality come from?
Was it Superman's strength? No, it came from Superman not being strong enough.
If Superman did not exist, the most perfect creature Lex could imagine was himself. But if Superman existed, then Superman was the perfect lifeform in his mind, the limit of his imagination for the most perfect state an intelligent lifeform could achieve.
But Superman was not perfect. He had many flaws, and in Lex's eyes, Superman's flaws vastly outweighed his virtues. Those flaws were like a black hole, swallowing Lex's vision of perfection.
That was why his malice toward Superman, every act of persecution he had inflicted upon him, carried a punitive quality—like crucifying Jesus to prove that he was not the Son of God.
As long as he proved Superman truly was not so perfect, he could conceal the fact that "a perfect Superman chose to remain imperfect."
At heart, he simply could not understand why Superman wanted to be a human riddled with flaws.
This still stemmed from his arrogance. Rather than calling Lex Luthor a humanist, it would be more accurate to call him a Luthorist. The humans he protected were humans like Lex Luthor, not those stupid ordinary people. That was why he could not understand why Superman would rather step down from