52

In the opening weeks of 52, the Gotham City Police Department finds what appears to be Lex'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. During a press conference, the genuine Lex 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.[48] Though Lex'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 Lex, and that Luthor had it altered before the police discovered it.[49]

Lex immediately sets out to build a church, which he names the Luthoran Church; he becomes spokesman for a new procedure, created by the Everyman Project, that engineers ordinary citizens to develop superpowers. During the autopsy of Lex, he secretly exposes John to the chemicals involved in his creating his new army of super-heroes, turning John into a literal man of steel. When approached by John's niece Natasha Irons, Lex gladly allows her to be one of his first test subjects. Using Natasha and several other volunteers, Lex forms his own team of superheroes which are introduced as the new [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity_Inc. Infinity Inc.] In Week 21, Infinity Inc. is in the midst of a battle with Blockbuster (which Lex has created as well), when he demonstrates that he can 'shut off' the powers of each of his agents; this results in the death of his speedster, Trajectory.[50]

At the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, Lex sets in motion a calculated plot to discredit Supernova, a new hero who has taken over defending Metropolis in Superman's absence. Lex triggers a mass-shutdown of the powers of everyone who has undertaken the Everyman program, except for the members of Infinity Inc. As multiple flight-powered Everymen plummet to their deaths, underground gas mains rupture from the impact, which adds civilians to the death toll. Millions of dollars worth of damage is caused. Lex's plot ultimately fails when Supernova is able to minimize the disaster with a spectacular rescue.[51]

While investigating Lex in order to root out his motive, Natasha Irons discovers that Luthor has been testing himself to see if he is compatible with the artificial meta-gene treatment.[52] John Henry Irons leads an assault on Lex's building; despite the destruction of his armor during the fight, he confronts Lex - only to find himself badly outclassed, as Lex demonstrates nearly all of Superman's powers. Lex considers conquering Earth and renaming it Lexor. However, Natasha uses her uncle's hammer to trigger an electromagnetic pulse which shuts down the synthetic metagene long enough for Steel to knock Lex unconscious.[53] Lex is disgraced as a result, and later faces indictment when the members of the Everymen realize they have been used.