Page "Lex Luthor" Paragraph 34

The initial story arc of the Superman / Batman ongoing series depicts the fall of Luthor's reign as U. S. President.

In " The World's Finest " ( more commonly referred to as " Public Enemies "), a cadre of superheroes eventually break ranks from the Justice League to oppose Luthor.

Batman, who had previously forbidden any attempt to unseat Luthor from office by force, led the storming of the White House.

This was predicated by an attempt on Luthor's part to link Superman to a kryptonite asteroid that is hurtling toward Earth, claiming that he had ' evidence '- which he declined to share while claiming that it would make the public laud his actions if they knew it-that the asteroid was being drawn to Earth by Superman, offering a billion dollar reward for Superman's capture that pitted Superman and Batman against an army of villains, all of whom they defeated.

Luthor even attempted to send a team of heroes after them under the leadership of Captain Atom-the team consisting of Major Force, Black Lightning, Power Girl, Starfire, Katana and Green Lantern, but this plan failed when Katana and Power Girl quickly sided with Superman and Batman and Major Force was apparently killed, Power Girl noting that Luthor had assumed in his arrogance that the heroes would obey him simply because he was President.

When the Justice Society's forced attempt to stop them by sending Hawkman and Captain Marvel against them met with failure and resulted in Superman and Batman briefly infiltrating the White House, Luthor, in an enraged and desperate gambit after Superman's rapid defeats of his plans, used a variant combination of the " super-steroid " Venom ( a chemical associated with the Batman villain Bane ), liquid synthetic Kryptonite, and an Apokoliptian battlesuit to fight Superman directly.