Page "Lex Luthor" Paragraph 21

Many times, Luthor has stated that he could have aided the entire human race if not for Superman's interference, claiming that he gives humanity a goal that they could realistically strive to duplicate, while Superman makes them reach for the impossible.

However, both Superman and Conner Kent have called him out on the hypocrisy of this statement, noting that he has regularly turned down easy opportunities to willingly help others, simply because he would have sacrificed an opportunity to kill Superman by doing so.

They believe this shows that Luthor's ego is more important to him than humanity.

Even when Superman was depowered after the Battle of Metropolis and remained out of sight for a year, the only thing Luthor accomplished in that time was the self-sabotaged ' Everyman ' project, where " found a big destructive machine so could break things ", claiming that Superman drove him to it.

This idea was further reinforced when Luthor was briefly merged with a near-omnipotent entity that sought peace after its difficult ' childhood '.

While merged with the entity, Luthor had the power to bring peace and bliss to the entire universe, potentially becoming a hero greater even than Superman, but Luthor fought against that power simply because he would have had to share that bliss with Superman as well.