Following the success of 2025’s SupermanDirector James Gunn and stars David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult revealed the name for the sequel, Man of Tomorrow. This was done using new images that featured Superman and Lex Luthor standing next to each other and in battle against each other. While fans already suspected that Lex Luthor would be back for the sequel, the images revealed that his iconic green and purple warsuit would also be making an appearance.
Lex Luthor has always been known for his brain as opposed to Superman’s brawn. However, he has frequently used his brain to create powerful exoskeletal mech suits, also known as Lexosuits or Warsuits. These incredibly powerful suits allowed him to stand up to Superman physically as well, though he was never able to overcome the Man of Steel. However, he was able to elevate his status as a supervillain, start a new path as a superhero, and even outfit his own security forces using designs from his collection of incredibly powerful warsuits that have evolved over the years.
Lex Luthor’s First Warsuit Was His “Battle Array” Costume
Table of Contents
- Lex Luthor’s First Warsuit Was His “Battle Array” Costume
- LuthorCorp Outfitted Planetwatch’s Soldiers In Flying Raptor Gear
- Lex Luthor II Briefly Wore His Own LexCorp Team Luthor Armor
- Alexander Luthor Became Earth-3’s First Hero Wearing Armor
- Ultraman’s Hammer of Boravia Armor Is a Proto-Lexosuit
- Luthor Upgraded His Villainy With the Lexorian Power Armor
- The Kryptonian Warsuit Inspired Luthor’s Apokoliptian Lexosuit
- Luthor Briefly Bonded With Brainiac To Gain a Powerful New Suit
- Luthor Took Over as Metropolis’s Protector in his Superman Suit
- Lex Luthor Joined The League in His Streamlined New 52 Armor
For most of Lex Luthor’s earliest days, he dressed largely as a mad scientist turned business tycoon would dress. Unfortunately, this didn’t make for great toys, so a new costume was created using the familiar villainous color scheme of purple and green. However, it was still equipped just like a mad scientist, with all kinds of bells and whistles and deadly gadgets.
This costume became known as his “Battle Array” suit, and it was the first time Luthor was able to really go toe-to-toe with the Man of Steel. While it’s become associated with his time on the Super Friends cartoon, modern versions of the suit have advanced teleportation capabilities and serve as a flight suit for his larger suits that came along over the years.
LuthorCorp Outfitted Planetwatch’s Soldiers In Flying Raptor Gear
Many of Luthor’s personal designs have been repurposed over the years for use in his company’s various military endeavors around the world. This was represented well in James Gunn’s Supermanwhich introduced Luthor’s PlanetWatch organization and its flying Raptor soldiers.
Luthor’s private militarized unit wore advanced body armor with flying capabilities that made them an aerial threat as well. An arm-mounted cannon, along with each private mercenary’s own weapon training, upped the ante. Of course, both Mister Terrific and Superman made short work of the Raptors when they encountered them in the film.
Lex Luthor II Briefly Wore His Own LexCorp Team Luthor Armor
For a brief time in the ’90s, Lex Luthor II took over his father’s empire after his death from cancer due to kryptonite exposure. The younger version of Luthor was just like his father. Actually, he was his father, in a new cloned body that he used to restart his life free from his former criminal activities.
Luthor II had the public on his side, and he devoted his company’s tech and resources to relaunching a private security force called Team Luthor to help protect Metropolis and ensure his celebrity. Team Luthor wore armored flying body suits, much like the Raptors seen in 2025’s Superman. Of course, Luthor II picked the best suit for himself and wore the experimental LX-20 armored body suit. It turned him into a flying tank, which made him nearly unstoppable when coupled with the leader of Team Luthor and his then-girlfriend, Matrix/Supergirl.
Alexander Luthor Became Earth-3’s First Hero Wearing Armor
Lex Luthor II wasn’t the first Luthor to play hero. Before the Crisis on Infinite EarthsDC’s multiverse was a bit of a mess. The evil Luthors from both Earth-One and Earth-Two teamed up to target Earth-Three, inspiring that world’s Luthor to create an armored suit to protect his world.
Luthor became Earth-Three’s first superhero and wore a powerful suit that used Superman’s primary colors instead of his usual villainous motif. He would later father Alexander Luthor II, who would play a huge role in events like Crisis on Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis. Earth-Three’s Alexander Luthor was given a modern reimagining for the animated Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths that gave him a black and gold suit with enough power to take on Earth-Three’s Ultraman.
Ultraman’s Hammer of Boravia Armor Is a Proto-Lexosuit
James Gunn’s DCU Superman reboot opens with the Man of Steel’s first career loss to the powerful armored villain called the Hammer of Boravia. The mysterious villain served the fictional nation of Boravia, as its name suggested. However, it was actually Luthor’s cloned Superman/Ultraman inside the armor, which accounted for the villain’s incredible power.
While the Hammer of Boravia’s armor was largely used to disguise Ultraman and Lex Luthor’s involvement in the global crisis, it also served as a trial run for what could presumably become Luthor’s own warsuit in Man of Tomorrow. The suit follows a similar visual design to some of Luthor’s other war suits. It would just need to be further weaponized to give Luthor some firepower, given the loss of Ultraman and his Kryptonian abilities.
Luthor Upgraded His Villainy With the Lexorian Power Armor
Lex Luthor received yet another armored upgrade after first outfitting himself with his Battle Array costume. This came after he saved an advanced planet from certain doom, earning their love and admiration. That planet named itself Lexor in his armor, and he eventually used its advanced resources to create his high-tech Lexorian Battle Armor.
This bulky purple and green armor was Lex Luthor’s first real warsuit. His Battle Array suit allowed him to challenge the Man of Steel with his various gadgets, but the Lexorian Battle Armor actually gave him the physical enhancements to face Superman. The Lexorian Power Armor would be worn in the Post-Crisis era by Luthor’s private security force as he donned the business mogul look and abandoned armored supervillainy for a while.
The Kryptonian Warsuit Inspired Luthor’s Apokoliptian Lexosuit
Superman’s Kryptonian Warsuit was a massive mecha designed both for battle and survival. Luthor was inspired by the Kryptonian Warsuit to create his own powerful exoskeleton in the Post-Crisis era. During his presidency, Luthor was able to use his New God connections to forge a powerful new suit of armor using tech from Apokolips.
However, the suit was so powerful that Luthor also needed to enhance his own body physically to operate it. He did this through a unique injectable steroid that combined the Venom drug with kryptonite. This powerful Warsuit also featured Kryptonite-powered weaponry, though it still couldn’t stand up to an enraged Superman fighting to free his country from a mad ruler. While this is one of Luthor’s most recognizable warsuits, it falls in the rankings due to how fast Superman tore through it in the “Public Enemies” storyline.
Luthor Briefly Bonded With Brainiac To Gain a Powerful New Suit
Lex Luthor and Brainiac were two of the biggest threats in the DC Animated Universe. Both villains transcended their original series (Superman: The Animated Series) and continued to plague DC’s heroes in shows like Justice League Animated. That threat continued even after their apparent deaths (in Luthor’s case), when Brainiac reanimated his body by bonding with it.
This gestalt form became colloquially known as “Luthoriac” by fans, even though Luthor appeared to be the dominant personality. Luthor’s power increased exponentially while bonded to Brainiacand his armor allowed him to stand up to the combined might of the League. Unfortunately, their bonding would turn into something straight out of a body horror movie, but this still stands tall as one of Luthor’s most powerful warsuits.
Luthor Took Over as Metropolis’s Protector in his Superman Suit
Lex Luthor eventually got his hands on a Motherbox after the Darkseid War, following some time spent on Apokolips. While there, Motherbox helped him forge a powerful new suit of armor that he used to turn over a new leaf when he returned to Metropolis. The city was apparently without its protector after the death of the New 52 Superman, and Luthor found a hole he could fill.
He adopted Superman’s “S” shield as his own and debuted as Metropolis’ new hero. His Superman armor put him on another level and made him a target for a whole new class of villains. However, when the Post-Crisis Superman returned to Metropolis, Luthor would take the tech from his heroic suit and use it to further streamline and enhance his most powerful warsuit yet.
Lex Luthor Joined The League in His Streamlined New 52 Armor
In the New 52 era, Lex Luthor spent years building and refining his personal warsuit. His scientists kept updating it, even when he was in prison. However, it never really came together the way he wanted it until he was able to get his hands on the technology from Superman’s Kryptonian Power Armor.
This allowed him to streamline the armor, giving him the strength and armaments of his bulkier warsuits. However, it was nearly form-fitting and was the warsuit he wore during his short tenure as a member of the Justice League. The main difference with this warsuit is that it largely removed the Kryptonite-powered weaponry from his newfound albeit short-lived respect for Superman.
