Page "Lex Luthor" Paragraph 40

In the opening weeks of 52, the Gotham City Police Department finds what appears to be Luthor's body in an alley.

John Henry Irons examines the body at S. T. A. R.

Labs and notes that the corpse was altered postmortem to make it resemble Lex Luthor.

During a press conference, the genuine Luthor publicly states that the body is that of an impostor from another Earth, and the true culprit of the crimes with which Luthor is being charged.

Though Alexander's body had a missing finger and a different appearance from Lex at the time of his death, 52 editor Stephen Wacker has confirmed that the body found in Gotham is indeed Alex, and that Luthor had it altered before the police discovered it.