Lex Luthor knowing Superman's secret identity

[spocksbrain]

I distinctly remember a story that may very well have been an Elseworlds story where Luthor is in some sort of secret fortress place and he tells either Superman or Superboy something along the lines of "Yes, I always knew that Superman was Clark Kent". What was the story? I'd love to see it again. Does anyone remember this?

 

[M.A.C.O.]

Luthor did discover Superman's identity in Superman #2 (volume 2), but just as soon as refused to believe it.

Up until Luthor's death in 2011 in Action Comics 900 "The Black Ring", Luthor never pieced together Clark and Supes were one in the same.

If Luthor said it to Superboy (Conner) then it may have been a Teen Titans story. Since Superboy (Conner) was a clone of Superman with Luthor's DNA as a bonding agent.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

This Superman Wiki entry references the story above about Luthor refusing to accept that someone with such power would ever conceal themselves as a man of the people, but it also says that he knew Clark Kent and Superman were one and the same some time after he became president. I'm unfamiliar with the comics and the Wiki unfortunately doesn't list which comics those events originated in, though.

(Scroll down to the second paragraph of the "President of the United States" section)

Lex Luthor finally accepted Superman's secret identity as Clark Kent which he had been aware of from almost from their earliest meetings but refused to accept for his own personal belief that people of power always crave and reflect themselves as people of power, never as one of the masses, thus to Luthor a being like Superman would never try to pass himself off as Clark Kent who was no one of extreme note. In a story published in 2002, when a lowly scientist was able to get a meeting with Lex and reveal top secret government documents showing the rocket containing baby Superman crashing near the farm of Martha and Jonathan Kent. Killing the scientist, Lex surprisingly decided to keep the knowledge a secret even as Clark Kent took the fall for Lois publishing proof that Lex Luthor knew of the alien invasion of "Our Worlds At War" but had opted not to make any defensive plans to save the people of Kansas from attack.

http://supermanrebirth.wikia.com/wiki/Lex_Luthor

 

[Mr Light]

there was a circa 2001 storyline where Luthor was told Superman's secret identity by archvillain Manchester Black... but at the end of the story Black erased it from Lex's mind so he forgot it again.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

FWIW, Luthor's explanation there is honestly the best explanation for how Clark's disguise would work. Why would Superman need a secret identity anyway?

I was bothered that the movie pretty much went in the opposite direction and broadcasted that Kal-El was hiding among the Earth population pretending to be human. Granted, it's fine, but it definitely makes it harder to believe his identity won't be figured out.

 

[Mr Light]

Modern day comic book movies have pretty much jettisoned the idea of secret identities. Too much bother. Also god forbid if we can't see the actors pretty faces every second!!!

 

[spocksbrain]

I'm afraid it's none of those. The one with the computer is pretty famous (right after the Man of Steel reboot) and long before what I'm thinking of. The one with Manchester Black also isn't right. The more I think about it, I think it might have been an Elseworlds tale or just one of the "alternate world" or "alternate future" stories that weren't technically Elseworlds. Thanks for the attempts, though.

 

[Doctorwhovian]

I think the woman seen in the comic excerpts above appeared later on in the comics, eventually becoming the catalyst for the Dark Knight Over Metropolis storyline.

 

[Anwar]

The glasses thing can get a bit ridiculous at times. Once Darkseid sent a teleporting beam to bring him Superman and when Clark Kent appeared he wondered how he got the wrong guy.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

FWIW, Luthor's explanation there is honestly the best explanation for how Clark's disguise would work. Why would Superman need a secret identity anyway?

Most secret identities exist so the bad guys won't retaliate against a superhero's family.

 

[Servo]

FWIW, Luthor's explanation there is honestly the best explanation for how Clark's disguise would work. Why would Superman need a secret identity anyway?

Most secret identities exist so the bad guys won't retaliate against a superhero's family.

I think you missed the point.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

FWIW, Luthor's explanation there is honestly the best explanation for how Clark's disguise would work. Why would Superman need a secret identity anyway?

Most secret identities exist so the bad guys won't retaliate against a superhero's family.

And why would a superhuman alien's family be on Earth to retaliate against?

 

[Anwar]

FWIW, Luthor's explanation there is honestly the best explanation for how Clark's disguise would work. Why would Superman need a secret identity anyway?

Most secret identities exist so the bad guys won't retaliate against a superhero's family.

Doesn't exactly apply to a guy who is the last of his kind.

 

[Nerys Myk]

The whole "protect their family" thing was a late addition anyway.

 

[Anwar]

I'm remembering back in the 60s and 70s Lois Lane kept thinking that if she found out Superman's secret identity he'd have to marry her. Don't quite follow her line of thinking there, unless she was going to blackmail him.