Lena Luthor

"I'm just a woman trying to make a name for herself outside of her family."

- Lena Luthor

Lena Luthor (born 1993) is the billionaire CEO of L-Corp, having succeeded her half-brother Lex following his incarceration. She is a close friend and ally of Kara Danvers and her alter-ego Supergirl, despite this, she is currently unaware that the two are one-and-the same.

Early life
Lena was born in 1993 in Metropolis to the billionaire Lionel Luthor and an unnamed woman with whom he was having an affair. After the death of her biological mother, when she was four, Lena was adopted by the Luthor family. However, despite being loved deeply by her half-brother Lex, who made her feel especially welcome in the new family, and her father Lionel, who considered her his favorite, Lena had a difficult upbringing with her adoptive mother Lillian, who never considered her a "real Luthor" and always favoured Lex over her. Also, the truth on her parentage was left unknown to her and she was convinced that she was simply adopted.

Lena went to boarding school with Veronica Sinclair, but she never really get along with her. In their youth, she and her half-brother Lex used to be very close but, as adults, Lex grew cold, power-mad and delusional; when he started targeting Superman she grew concerned for his well being and tried to help him, but he ignored her  and proceeded with his plans to destroy Superman which resulted in many people being killed.

Transforming Luthor Corp into L-Corp
After her half-brother, Lex, was sentenced to 37 life terms in prison, Lena interrupts any contact to her mother, took over as the CEO of Luthor Corp, moved to National City to helm the company, and immediately set about atoning for her brother's crimes.

She was given the opportunity to travel on the suborbital spacecraft Venture but had to back out at the last minute due to an important business meeting regarding the renaming of her company. After the spacecraft exploded, Clark Kent and Kara Danvers ventured to Luthor Corp to investigate her. However, she urged that she had nothing to do with it, simply wanting to start anew outside of her family, giving the two a flash drive with information on the Venture's destroyed oscillator that a subsidiary of her company had manufactured. Later that day she boarded a helicopter. However, before the helicopter could get very far, two drones appeared and targeted Lena. Supergirl and Superman intervened, preventing Lena from being shot. The latter went looking for more drones, while the former took out the two, helping to safely land the helicopter and let Lena know that she was being targeted. The following day, at a presentation, to unveil Luthor Corp's renaming to L-Corp, Lena began to give a speech. However, it was cut short by a number of explosions, causing her to run to safety. She encountered a police officer, but he was revealed to be her targeter. Alex Danvers helped to hold him off, but she was overpowered. Before he could escape, she shot him in the back. The day after, Clark and Kara visited Lena's office and she offered her thanks for a pleasing article about L-Corp published in the Daily Planet.

Befriending Kara
When the US President came to National City to sign a decree on the alien embassy act, Kara came to Lena as she needed a comment from "the sister of the most famous alien hater". She tells her that L-Corp developed a new device that will identify aliens and offers Kara to test it. When Lena turned, Kara used her laser vision to sabotage the device and then agrees to test it, so it gives a negative result. Lena believes that people have the right to know who is an alien and who is not, therefore, she plans to put the device in all the country stores. Later Kara came back to Lena, who praised her for her wonderful article, although she admitted that initially thought that Kara would "mix it with mud" because of their different views. Bringing up her past with Lex, Lena then notes that some people are inherently evil, even if their ill intents are not obvious at first, and that those closest to them are also the ones hurt the most once the former show their true colors; protecting one's self from them is all that can be hope for.

A few days later Kara came to Lena, to ask her if she knew the place where the next clandestine alien battle hosted by Roulette will take place. Lena says that she was, of course, invited as she is a Luthor, and gives the address to Kara, who thanks her and says that she owes her a great debt, to which Lena replied she did not, as she know that she would help her when the time comes.

Later, Lena came to CatCo and invites Kara to a charity event to raise funds for a children's hospital as the latter was practically the only bonafide friend Lena has in National City. The next day Lena, presumably deduced a close correspondence between her friend and the city's alien protector after noticing the connection between Supergirl's taking down of Sinclaire's fight club operations not long after she herself handed the coordinates to Kara, came to Kara's apartment and asked her to arrange a meeting with Supergirl, so, in the evening, Kara arrives at the L-Corp in the guise of Supergirl and Lena invited her to the same party in the case of gang attacks. The next evening, Kara and Winn arrive at the charity event, where Kara supports two conversations at once with Lena, both as Supergirl and in her civilian identity, by rapidly changing clothes. After some time a gang of criminals broke at the party starting a struggle with Supergirl, Winn hides under one of the tables, where he met Lena, who tried to establish a black burst generator, which would cut down their weapons. Together they were able to fix the device, destroying the criminals' weapons so that the gang would be captured. In the evening Kara, in the guise of Supergirl, flew back to Lena thanking her for her help; at this point Lillian Luthor enters her daughter's office apologizing for having missed her evening and Lena asks what she can do to help her.

Medusa
When Kara comes to ask Lena about her mother, she says they did not have a very good relationship, and often disagreed. However, after Kara's departure, Lena calls her mother and says they need to talk. As Lillian comes, Lena tells her that a reporter are investigating about her, and asks if she's hiding something, Lillian says that she has no idea, however, Lena realizes that her mother is lying. Later Cyborg Superman comes to the L-Corp, to take a substance that Cadmus needed to spread the Medusa virus, but Supergirl arrives and a fight between the two ensured. Lena comes to the site of their fight and, noticing her, the cyborg throws her a piece of a broken bench, Kara manages to cover her and asks her to leave. After a while Kara went back to Lena's office in the guise of Supergirl and Lena thank her for saving her life, then Supergirl tells her that her mother runs Cadmus, but Lena refuses to believe it and despite her requests for help asks Kara to leave. Later, Lena had another meeting with her mother at the L-Corp, and tells her that she knows that she runs Cadmus, then she says that if she will help her, and opens the suitcase on the table giving her the essential substance to spread the virus- 454 isotope. After that they went together to the National City port, where they intend to release the virus. Lilian gives her the key that activates the rocket launcher to prove that she is with her. Martian Manhunter and Supergirl arrives and the latter asks Lena not to do this, but she replied that she is "a Luthor". Then she turns the key, launching the rocket in the air. Kara flies after it, but Lillian make the rocket explode from the ground and spreads the virus across the sky. However, none of the aliens get hurted and Lillian realizes that Lena has substituted the isotope, making the virus inert. Lena confirms her hunch, and reports to her that she also called the police who arrived in the next moment to arrest Lillian for her crimes.

Kara's trust
When Lena testified against her mother for her actions as the leader of Cadmus, the media was divided between calling her testimony the rant of scorned child, or the bravery of a hero, though some also called her a bitch. Kara came to her and suggested that even though her relationship with Lillian wasn't the best, it didn't changed the fact that she was her mother. Lena went to prison to see her mother where she revealed that Lionel Luthor was indeed her true father and her mother was a woman that he had been having an affair with. When her mother died, Lionel had adopted Lena instead of letting her go into foster care. When Metallo broke himself and Lillian out of custody, fingers immediately began being pointed at Lena. The police arrested her when footage was found that had her taking Kryptonite from a vault the day before their escape. Lena's arrest made the headlines and everyone began to believe that she was just like her brother Lex, except for Kara. Metallo then came and broke her out of prison despite interference from Guardian. He brought her to Lillian who told her that now no one would believe in her now and that they could be a family again as they were the only Luthors left. Lillian took Lena to a vault created by Lex but had to be opened with her DNA which Lena was livid about as that was the only true reason that they broke her out of prison. The vault was filled with anti-alien weapons. Supergirl tracked them down and quickly told Lena that Kara Danvers still believed in her and asked her to help her friend. Supergirl and Martian Manhunter managed to take her out of there before Metallo's body exploded. Lena was happy to see that Kara managed to prove that the incriminating footage was falsified and had her office filled with thank you flowers. Kara visited her and Lena thanked Kara for never have stopped trusting her despite so much trying to tell her otherwise. Kara told Lena that she was her friend but Lena told Kara that she wasn't just her friend, but her hero.

When Lena came to Catco to look for Kara since they had plans, Kara told her that she was busy with trying to publish an article about Cadmus and had completely forgotten. Kara told her that her mother had managed to steal the Alien Registry and was now abducting aliens across the country but Snapper Carr wouldn't publish without a second viable source. Lena suggested that if she had to send fast word to the people then she should try be a citizen journalist with an online blog. Kara thought it might be a good idea. Lena also volunteered to check into her company's history as her mother had been on the board and might've left a trail which could help in being a second source. Lena checked the records and found a Luthor Corp facility that was supposed to be defunct yet her company was billed for its utilities recently. She asked her assistant for the records but she didn't realize that she was a mole for her mother who warned Lillian about Lena and was ordered to halt her. Two men arrived to jump Lena as she was trying to contact Kara and they accidentally caused her to fall off the edge of her balcony. Luckily, Supergirl arrived and caught her and took the men down. Lena then told her where her mother was operating from.

Personality
Despite being raised by them, Lena is a stark contrast to what the public perceives to be a Luthor. Where as they are delusional, egotistical, amoral, and murderous, Lena is kind, caring, dutiful, selfless, moral and honorable. While proud of her family name, she is determined to return her company to its former good status and use it to help people. However, she is not above withholding crucial information from known allies if it meant the smooth proceeding of any plans she orchestrates, but has thus far done in good conscience. In addition, she is shown to be quite clever, as she feigned allegiance to Lillian Luthor in order to destroy the Medusa virus and at age four, beat her older brother in chess upon being brought home by Lionel. Lena mentioned she is not fond of flying, even though it is statistically the safest way to travel.

She seems to admire those with strong resolve. This was shown when she accused Clark Kent of suspecting her based on her last name, and he did not back off and she responded by showing respect for his steel resolve. She is also perceptive enough to know that Kara was actually trying to milk from her intel concerning Lilian.

Lena is disgusted by the horrible acts committed by her family, as she makes no attempt to defend her half-brother, Lex Luthor for his crimes, and doesn't blame Superman for his imprisonment, as she knows full well that the latter brought it on himself, but did attempted to reach out to Lex and reprimanded him; she was even disgusted by her step-mother, Lillian for her attempt to wipe out all alien life on Earth, as Lena had no qualms about turning her step-mother over to the authorities for her crimes; the reason why she never had a good relationship with Lillian, partly due to her step-mother always favored Lex over her and and mainly because Lillian has always been cold to Lena, because she is a living reminder of Lionel's affair.

Despite her estranged relationships with her half-brother and step-mother, Lena had a good relationship with her father, Lionel Luthor (prior to his death), as he was always loving towards her and treated her warmly, Lena held her father in high esteem, so much that she became angry when her step-mother spoke ill of him, although she did not know Lionel was her biological father until she was an adult and years after her father passed away, after finding out that Lionel was her biological father, Lena showed no signs of anger or bitterness that he never told her the truth about their relationship.

Despite proving herself very different from her family, other individuals, such as Winn Schott and James Olsen (incorrectly) believe that Lena is secretly like the rest of her family when suspicions regarding her step-mother are raised. The only individuals who do not immediately hold her accountable for her half-brother and step-mother's misdeeds and gives her the benefit of the doubt is Clark Kent and Kara Danvers. However, Lena does worry, especially after learning of her true biological relation to Lex, that she may become like him and Lillian one day.

Abilities

 * High-level Intellect/Great Business Acumen/Expert Tactician/Leader: Lena is highly intelligent, able to often beat her prodigious older half-brother in chess in her toddler years. Later, her intelligence was proven enough to CEO of the L-Corp, overseeing its daily activities and ensuring its success as a multibillion-dollar corporation, as well as rebranding it as a force of good. She is also clever enough to deceive Lillian Luthor feigning an allegiance to her in order to destroy the Medusa virus. She was also able to beat her older brother Lex in chess at age four when Lionel brought her home.
 * Expert Engineer: Lena was able to construct a black body field generator that effectively disabled the Cadmus-supplied alien weaponry that Miner's gang used; though she needed assistance from Winn to render the device functional. Still, she was nonetheless praised by the latter for her ingenuity; the D.E.O. had thought up of a similar approach, but was beaten to the punch by Lena.
 * Skilled markswoman/Firearms: Lena is quite proficient in the use of firearms, as she proves gunning down John Corben.
 * Expert Pugilist: Though mostly "unpolished", Lena has shown some aptitude in unarmed fighting when she traded blows with Beth Breen, a self-proclaimed black belt, and was resilient enough to take one of Beth's kicks to the gut before retaliating herself and knocking Beth down twice.

Trivia

 * This version of Lena Luthor is legally Lex's adoptive sister, instead of his biological sister. However, it was later revealed that Lena does have biological ties to Lex by being his paternal half sister. This is the second instance the two siblings appear to share only one parent, with the first one being the TV show, Smallville, though on which Lena (Tess Mercer) is never adopted by the Luthors.
 * Lena is 24 years old and thus at least a couple of years younger than Kara on the physical level; but chronologically, the latter is much older taking into account her stymied aging during her stay in the Phantom Zone.

Behind the scenes

 * Lena Luthor first appeared in Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane #23 (February 1961) and was created by Jerry Siegel and Kurt Schaffenberger. She usually appears as Lex Luthor's younger, and in some versions estranged or foster, sister. The current version appears to be a former handicapped, who turns into the villain known as Ultrawoman.
 * Not to be confused with the character of the same name, who is Lex's daughter with his eighth or ninth wife and is named after her aunt, the original Lena.
 * Supergirl marks Lena's third live action television appearance; previously appearing in Superboy, and most notably, Smallville (although in Smallville the character was initially introduced under the name Tess Mercer in the show's eighth season, with her true identity not being revealed until the tenth season as Lutessa Lena Luthor).