‘Superman & Lois’: Who Is Captain Luthor & Is He Connected to Lex?

‘Superman & Lois’ is one of the most successful CW superhero shows to date, and as such, it presented us with live-action versions of some of the most beloved characters from DC Comics. Besides Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Lana Lang, and many others, we’ve also seen some other popular characters that were adapted to the screen but aren’t as similar to their comic counterparts. This is what led us to explore the so-called ‘Captain Luthor,’ who he is & how he is connected to Lex Luthor anyway? 

Captain Luthor is the version of John Henry Irons from Earth-TUD22. He was originally introduced as Superman’s enemy because Superman’s evil doppelganger was responsible for the destruction of his home Earth. After spending some time around Superman from Earth-TUD25, he realized he was mistaken in the way he treated Clark and eventually joined him in his fight against various villains. John Henry Iron’s only connection to Lex Luthor is the fact that he was a weapons-builder for Luthor Corp back in his home universe, and he joined forces with Lex in an effort to defeat the evil version of Superman from Earth-TUD22. 

Now that we’ve covered who Captain Luthor is, it’s time to analyze his origins and what happened to him in a bit more detail. If you’re interested in more, stay with us and keep reading! 

‘Superman & Lois’ takes place in another reality 

Initially ‘Superman & Lois’ series was supposed to be part of the same reality and continuity as the rest of the Arrowverse, but showrunners decided to take another approach and keep the two realities separate. This was confirmed in the Season 2 finale of ‘Superman & Lois.’ 

As such, we know that there are numerous realities inside ‘Superman & Lois’ as the series takes place on Earth-TUD25. This is the key to understanding who Captain Luthor is or where he is from. 

Captain Luthor is a man named John Henry Irons, who is most notable to DC Comics fans under the alias Steel. John Henry Irons hails from Earth-TUD22. He was a weapons builder for Luthor Corp and was married to Lois Lane of that reality, they had a daughter named Natalie Irons. 

John Henry Irons was a former soldier and a friend of Sam Lane, which is how he met Lois Lane in the first place. Life was good until Superman of Earth-TUD22 started wreaking havoc upon Metropolis and Earth in general. 

One of Superman’s victims was Lois Lane of Earth-TUD22, who was killed during a live interview when she revealed Superman’s main weakness, Green Kryptonite. 

Shocked and desperate, John Henry took some tech from Luthor Corp and built himself an exosuit with which he believed that he would be able to defeat Superman. Eventually, this didn’t prove to be enough, and John Henry Irons started working with Lex Luthor in order to create a Red Solar Missile to weaken and defeat Superman once and for all. 

John never got to see whether the plan worked as the wave of anti-matter started sweeping through Earth-TUD22 reality during the Anti-Monitor Crisis. John was able to escape through an anti-matter portal breach that suddenly formed in front of his ship and arrived at Earth-TUD25’s Arctic, the home reality of ‘Superman & Lois’ series. 

Natalie Irons escaped as well, but she was stranded in nothingness for six months before she was able to arrive at the new reality. 

John Henry Irons was at first Superman’s enemy 

When John realized that this reality also had Superman, he was extremely wary of him. John knew that Superman’s name was Kal-El ( he wasn’t using a secret identity on Earth-TUD22), but for some reason, he didn’t connect Clark Kent of Earth-TUD25 to that identity.

John frequently tested Earth-TUD25’s Superman and challenged him to fight. He even tried working with Same Lane, warning him not to trust Superman under any circumstances. 

Earth-TUD25’s Lois Lane further complicated matters. Since John was married to alternative Lois, he hadn’t figured out on time that Earth-TUD25’s Lois was different, which led to many awkward interactions between him and Lois and between Natalie and Lois. 

John eventually made peace with Superman, and the two worked together in numerous situations. Most recently, John and Clark worked together on taking down Bruno Mannheim, who was responsible for the death of Earth-TUD25’s John Henry Irons. 

Is Captain Luthor connected to Lex Luthor? 

Despite his code name, Captain Luthor, aka John Henry Irons, is not connected to Lex Luthor. He worked as a weapons developer for Luthor Corps, and the two worked together to develop the Red Solar missile, but that’s about it regarding their connection. Captain Luthor was his code name while he was associated with the Corp, but that’s about the extent of it. 

What happened to Earth-TUD25’s John Henry Irons? 

Now, if Earth-TUD22’s John Henry Irons is currently living on Earth-TUD25, you must be wondering what happened to the original John of that reality. 

Well, as it turns out, Earth-TUD25’s John had a similar life to his Earth-TUD22 counterpart. He was a weapons developer and counter-insurgency specialist until he got into some shady business with Lex Luthor and Bruno Mannheim.

He started building and dealing weapons to them until one of their deals had gone awry, and Bruno Mannheim sent Onomatopoeia, his wife, to murder him in cold bold.

Like his Earth-TUD22 counterpart, this version of John Henry also had a sister named Darlene Irons. The two versions of John were connected because their fingerprints were identical.  

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