hey how well versed are you on the luthor family tree? because i'm trying to research it and the dc wiki was not that helpful and made my brain want to explode
if you can't help, don't worry about it
i am somewhat well versed in the luthor family, but mostly with the women! yay women <3
his current canon family members are (as far as i know):
Leticia and Lionel Luthor, his parents
Lena Luthor, his sister (she hasn't appeared in a significant way since superwoman (2016), but she was mentioned in steelworks (2023) in the collateral damage analysis at the end of the first issue. so really who's to say if she's still canon or not!)
Lena Luthor II, his daughter that he had with Erica Alexandra del Portenza
and then other family members he has that are not currently canon are (again, as far as i know):
Nasthalthia "Nasty" Luthor, his niece (her parents are unnamed, so pre-crisis lex has an additional sibling no one knows about. her last appearance was in all star superman (2005) and before that in Kara's adventure comics (1938) run back in the 70s)
Lori Luthor, his niece (Lena's daughter. she appeared in adventure comics (2010) and superboy (2011) back before flashpoint)
Val Colby, his nephew (Lena's son. he appeared in a handful of issues back in pre-crisis)
Ardora was the wife of pre-crisis!Lex and they had a son named Lex Jr. together (they both end up dying tragically. RIP)
and i never ended up reading it, but superman's pal, jimmy olsen (2019) made jimmy and lex distantly related somehow. that might still be canon, but i couldn't tell you.
i'll elaborate more about his family members under a cut since it's going to get quite long, but luthorheads feel free to chime in if i got something wrong or if you want to add something <3
if i find that one of their wiki pages is up to date, i'll just link that, but otherwise i'll try to explain what their deal is!
Leticia and Lionel Luthor
these are lex's parents! i know very little about them tbh, but lionel is typically portrayed as being abusive to his children (lex + lena), with leticia not being able to protect them. lionel's story usually ends with lex secretly getting him killed and using the insurance money to start his business in metropolis. i'm not sure how accurate or thorough lionel's page is, but leticia's dcwiki page is up to date with her current backstory and appearances!
leticia somewhat recently appeared in joshua williamson's superman run (superman (2023) #7-12) and in superman: lex luthor special (2025).
for lionel, i'd recommend reading superman: secret origin (2009) #1-2 and superman: lex luthor special (2025). and apparently he had some sort of storyline in justice league (2018)? i can't speak to it's quality though as i haven't read it. he also had a very slayful adaptation in smallville.
also all of the above refers to their current history. pre-crisis lex's parents were named jules and arlene luthor, and the only significant thing they really did was disown lex after be became a criminial, and then immediately die in a car accident (RIP).
Lena Luthor I
lena is lex's younger sister, and her whole deal changes a lot between continuities:
in pre-crisis, her and her parents moved away from smallville and changed their last name (to Thorul, an anagram of Luthor) after lex turned to a life of crime. shortly after they moved away, jules and arlene (the pre-crisis luthor parents, like i mentioned above) died in a car accident and lena got sent to live in an orphanage. since she was so young when this happened (and since her last name had been changed), she had no idea that she was even related to lex at all until years later when her mother-in-law finally revealed that to her. pre-crisis lex is shown to be very loving and protective of lena, and does what he can to keep her safe from afar (usually teaming up with kara in some way to do that)—including keeping his true relationship with lena a secret so that she doesn't have to bear the shame of being related to him.
also she has ESP (extra sensory perception) because of an accident that occurred in lex's lab years ago when they still lived together. she wanted to work with the FBI but was rejected because of her relation to lex (they knew because kara told them, but that wasn't relayed to lena), and she ended up getting married to an FBI agent (jeff colby) and having a son with him (val colby) who also had telepathic abilities. this is the version of lena that was friends with kara in the silver and bronze age! some good comics for her are: action comics (1938) #295-298, 313, 317; the superman family (1974) #168, 211-214
initially in post-crisis, lena was portrayed as lex's foster sister instead of his biological sister. she ended up getting murdered by their foster father because she refused to help him steal lex's money. this is who lex names his daughter after. i believe that her only appearance was in superman (1986) #131
later on in post-crisis (i think after infinite crisis?), lex had his history rebooted to reflect his pre-crisis origin, and lena went back to being his biological sister. her dcwiki page is accurate so i'll link it here. i will say that this version of lena has an unnamed disability that geoff johns handles strangely (because he's geoff johns and he just can't help himself). she has a small appearance in superman: secret origin (2009) #1 and otherwise appears in adventure comics (2010) #6 and superboy (2011) #5
new 52 and rebirth lena is again lex's biological sister, but they're around the same age this time. her dcwiki page is thorough so here it is! this is the most recent version of lena. again, i think her disability is handled strangely (there's just so much focus on lex being a "failure" for not being able to cure her paralysis). anyway, her important appearances are in: justice league (2011) #35-38, 41, 52; superwoman (2016) #1-8
this is the character that is played by katie mcgrath in CWSG! and i believe that tess mercer in smallville is also supposed to be an adaptation of her.
Lena Luthor II
lex's daughter with erica alexandra del portenza, she had her first appearance in superman (1986) #131. her dcwiki page can explain her history better than i can, but tl;dr: lex traded her to brainiac in exchange for technology, so that's why she has those circles on her forehead. superman ended up rescuing her and giving her back to lex (crazy move tbh). i THINK this all happened in the Y2K and Our Worlds at War storylines back in post-crisis, so i'd read those if you want to learn more about that situation!
she initially only appeared back in post-crisis as a baby (and as a teen that was raised in the future by brainiac? before getting rescued and turned back into a baby? it's been a while since i read any of this), but joshua williamson brought her back (as a teenager, she's currently 18/19 years old according to sophie campbell) for his superman run! i'd recommend reading that [superman (2023)] along with the House of Brainiac event—these comics also explain what her backstory is if you don't feel like reading her older appearances.
recently, she's been appearing in supergirl (2025) and hanging out with kara in midvale! typically, this isn't the character that kara is friends with (that's Lena I, like i mentioned above), but i think their relationship is pretty cute.
Nasthalthia "Nasty" Luthor
my all time favorite luthor <3 lex's niece (her parents are unnamed) who is also evil. she mainly spends her time trying to prove that kara is supergirl—which causes her to follow kara around from stanhope college to san francisco so she can stay close to her. all of her major appearances occur in adventure comics (1938) #397-424 (here's a link to her dcwiki page). she also appeared in all star superman (2005)!
Lori Luthor
lex's niece and the daughter of post-crisis lena luthor! she lives alone with her mother (her father is unnamed and not around) and takes care of her all by herself. when the doctor in smallville refused to treat lena after their insurance stopped covering her medication, lori began fucking with him (vandalizing the smallville clinic, putting sugar in his gas tank, etc). her and kon became friends after he caught her vandalizing the clinic one night. she appears in adventure comics (2010) and superboy (2011)!
Val Colby
lex's nephew and the son of pre-crisis lena luthor and jeff colby! val inherited his mother's telepathic abilities and has them enhanced by a "strange space jewel" given to him (secretly) by lex. briefly, lex tries train val to be a criminal like him (even revealing that he's actually his uncle), but they inevitably get caught by supergirl. i believe his only appearances are in adventure comics (1938) #387-388 and the superman family (1974) #212-214.
and finally, Ardora and Lex Jr.! i know literally nothing about either of these characters (except that they die), but i think they were pretty significant to pre-crisis!Lex. here's Ardora's dcwiki page, which can 100% explain her deal to you better than i can! and while i'm talking about Lex's wives: here's Erica Alexandra del Portenza's dcwiki page since i also know very little about her.
and that's everything i have cataloged in my brain about the luthor family tree! i'm probably missing something since i'm really not that well-read on lex himself, but there ya go! again, if anyone wants to add anything to this: go crazy, i don't mind.
i love that being evil and gay and stupidly obsessive about your kryptonian arch-nemesis just runs in the family. she literally followed kara across TWO different cities after they graduated college and thus far her big evil plans have mostly been “manipulate supergirl into revealing her secret identity” which has had a roughly 0% success rate.
she has the vibes of like… the mean girl in a kids show who is still inexplicably friends with the other kids. she wants so badly to be a supervillain and unironically thinks lex is THE coolest person she knows. most of her villainy just involves stalking kara and trying to get pictures of her changing into her costume. she is the most fashionable person on panel at any given moment but also she is a massive loser.
i love her. i’m obsessed with her. i need her to be brought back into modern continuity.
