I Can't Decide So You Guys Help Me!!!

I can't decide so you guys help me!!! 🥹💚

Hab keine Angst. (Do not be afraid)

Jesncin, your reply is so educated and polite (which I love!!! And huge agree btw), yet I am SCREAMING at once again seeing someone (this anon) misunderstanding Lex Luthor's character and clearly having no knowledge whatsoever of him in actual DC media.

This constant ignorance about Lex's motivations and reasons behind his evilness make my head hurt. It's almost as ridiculous as people who think Joker would be homophobic.

And yes! Lex has been coded as a person of color for years. From being written as the child/grandchild of migrants to have explicit non white features.

And I think there's something to be said about how fandom has this weird tendency of ignoring coding when it comes to characters that don't satisfy stereotypes while also encouraging headcanons based on hurtful stereotypes (coff coff thinking that making characters who are killers Mexican is cool for some reason).

People get SO uncomfortable when forced to acknowledge Lex's coding as a person of color and queer man, as well as a past victim of abuse. He is not a perfect victim, he does wrong, he shows evilness, he has power, he is arrogant. He doesn't feed people's fantasy about what people of color should be, and it makes them angry.

(P.S. Sorry for the spam, Jesncin! Your post is 1000/10 and I loved it. Extra kudos to you!)

I really hope this doesn’t come across as rude, but why did you decide to make Lex Luthor, whose motivation is basically racism and xenophobia from my understanding, a person of color? This isn’t like, a criticism, more just, I really like your JL remix stuff and you usually have cool reasons for the stuff you change, so I was surprised by this one

I understand the curiosity! But I have to point out that "you usually have cool reasons for the stuff you change, so I was surprised by this one" made me laugh, haha. Long answer coming because I have a lot of feelings- but the point in the very end is worth it, trust me.

So for one, Lex is Afro-Greek in my version. This comes from the popular headcanon that STAS/DCAU Lex is Black (and his design is based on a Greek man). His character design, skin tone, and Clancy Brown's enigmatic performance became unintentional perceived representation for Black fans (and even DC writers). And now in the Harley Quinn show, that's become canonized! For why they like it, that's not my place to say as a non-Black person- so I listen!

I don't agree that Lex's motivation is "basically racism and xenophobia"- his themes are much broader than that. It's the desire to be the Man of Tomorrow, his jealousy of Superman, the way his intellect alone is a match against Superman's strength. Sometimes that jealousy is expressed through bigotry, but it's all a means to an end for Lex. My approach is: if Lex being Black is something we want to integrate more into his character, what opportunities does that open up narratively? Because there's rich potential for him and the characters connected to him.

When discussing MAWS I talk a lot about how when you're writing a bigoted marginalized character, there needs to be specifity with where that internalized bigotry is coming from. So a change like that for Lex Luthor could, for example; discuss how privileges like wealth can assimilate otherwise marginalized people into the kind of power that harms others in their community.

The ripple affect this has on a character like Superboy/Conner is that we get to see how -even though they're both Luthors- Conner is profiled, othered and further marginalized as a Kryptonian and a Black homeless teen because he doesn't get to benefit from any of Lex's privileges. This is just part of the many reasons why I think Conner would be infinitely more interesting if he didn't look like Kal El despite being a clone. You get to see a new intersection of how the Kryptonian identity intersects with Blackness on Earth. The potential ripple effect for a character like Lena is also really fun! What if she's struggling with her own model minority pressure when she's making up for her brother's crimes? It's all very compelling!

And MOST importantly, in a 3 trillion IQ Lex Luthor-style move-making Lex Luthor Black means that some version of Matt Fraction & Steve Lieber's Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen arc exists in my au. Which famously hinges on the twist that LEX LUTHOR AND JIMMY OLSEN ARE DISTANTLY RELATED. THEREFORE!!! We have now found a convoluted way to have Wacky Renaissance Artist Jimmy Olsen connected to The Manifestation Of Black Excellence Evil Edition Lex Luthor in this au.

"And I will love with urgency, but not with haste" -

I'm probably making up things but I have been thinking about how Tim's relationship to the Batman and Robin mantles resemble the one of a noble lady to her title back in the golden era of monarchies.

Like a lady, Tim can only be Robin as long as a Batman allows it.

His title taken from him by whoever man takes the Batman cape, as Tim has no right to it due to his status. Tim can only have what the Batman will allow, whether it's little (Jean-Paul) or simply nothing (Dick).

Something something Tim loses his status when Bruce dies and the only way he can do anything it's with the support of a marriage (the deal with Ra's) and yet Tim's crucified over it.

... Ra'sTim in Red Robin being basically a convenience marriage. Tim who can never inherit the Batman title, condemned to have Robin only as long as the Batman allows it. Yes, he's a child of the bat but that means nothing when it comes to inheritance. So he must get his power by marriage, and who better to give him that than the most powerful and dangerous king to ever exist?

(Taken from a rambling at discord.)

I find it laughable that people eat up the FANON thing of Ra's being a sexist jerk (put it next to conservative Lex Luthor please) and the few terrible NEW retcons done to his character. People not only eat it, but preach it, yet if you dare to pull this same "canon" card with his daughter you will get crucified.

If the poc female character has nasty retcons then that's not canon! How convenient.

But if the poc male character has nasty retcons then it's canon? Huh, definitely has nothing to do with the constant need of society to label poc men as dangerous and abusers ☠️

Anyway! Never forget that the original story of Ra's (that people who swear to love his daughter should read again, apparently) has him mourning his wife to the point he can't endure the idea of loving someone else, the only reason he approached Bruce was because his daughter loved him and he never dated to underestimate women in the field ✨

(yes I love my fic Ra's a bit evil but GOD these takes...)

you'd think Ra's and Poison Ivy would hang out more given their broadly similar interest in killing tons and tons of people to "let the planet heal" or whatever. obviously there are editorial reasons for not constantly throwing two big-name villains together but from an in-universe perspective I'd like to imagine they tried to chill exactly one time and discovered they cannot fucking stand each other for reasons completely unrelated to the eco terrorism. they had like the platonic version of a one night stand and now the vibes are so rancid they can't make eye contact.