Removal From Office

The initial story arc of the Superman/Batman ongoing series depicts the fall of Lex'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 Lex. Batman, who had previously forbidden any attempt to unseat Lex from office by force, led the storming of the White House. This was predicated by an attempt on Lex's part to link Superman to a kryptonite asteroid that is hurtling toward Earth. In a desperate gambit, Lex uses 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.

The madness that is a side effect of Venom takes hold, and during the ensuing fight with Superman and Batman, Lex admits he had traded the creature Doomsday to Darkseid in return for weapons during the Our Worlds at War crisis; in doing so, he inadvertently provides a confession which is captured on video by Batman. Returning to the LexCorp building to regroup, Lex finds that the acting C.E.O., Talia Head, has sold the entirety of the company assets to the Wayne Foundation, forcing Lex to escape and go into hiding. Following Lex's bankruptcy and total disgrace, Vice President Pete Ross briefly assumes his place as President. Lex serves fewer than three years.

In 2009, the story of Lex's rise and fall as U.S. President was adapted as a direct-to-video animated film entitled Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.[47]