[ ◈ ] N A M E
Albert Adrianus Luthor
[ ◈ ] A L I A S E S
Percy, Al, Adrian
[ ◈ ] A G E
29
[ ◈ ] B I R T H P L A C E
Metropolis
[ ◈ ] A L L E G I A N C E
Justice League United
[ ◈ ] P O S I T I O N
Envoy, Strategist, Senior Leaguer, Team Leader, Combat Expert
[ ◈ ] A P P E A R A N C E
Luthor has a strong resemblance to his infamous father, with the same strong jaw and high cheekbones. He is also tall, standing at 6'2 and has a powerful, athletic build sculpted by intense physical training and the rigors of combat. Luthor's skin is also sun-bronzed, a testament to his Mediterranean heritage and active lifestyle, but is still youthfully smooth. Unlike his father, Luthor's eyes are a striking aquamarine evoking the sea rather than the famous light green. His hair, shortly cut, is a dark blonde instead of auburn and he wears a closely trimmed beard.
His Perseus persona features a form-fitting jumpsuit of Kryptonian make. The suit is dark purple in color and features a golden stylized Gorgon's head on the chest. The outfit also features black boots and gloves and a translucent helmet that can materialize from the outfit and also take on an ornate golden appearance. The suit is rounded out by a golden cape draped over one shoulder.
[ ◈ ] A B I L I T I E S // S K I L L S // E Q U I P M E N T
- Like his father and siblings, Perseus has a genius-level intelligence and an eidetic memory. He was classically educated and has a wide-ranging knowledge of art, history, philosophy, and literature. He has two doctorates, one in psychology and the other in Metahuman studies. Perseus is thus an expert in psychological examination and is able to evaluate and form countermeasures against virtually all documented metahuman archetypes. Perseus is also fluent in English, German, Italian, Greek, Latin, and Kryptonese.
- Unlike his father or brother, Perseus has embraced the idea of empowering himself beyond human limits. While Perseus trained himself to peak physical perfection, he augmented his impressive physicality even further with genetic augmentation. Perseus is stronger than ten men is faster and more agile than the most fleet Olympian athletes, is able to run for four days without sleep, and is catch arrows in-flight. Perseus' skin and bones were also toughened, making him more resistant to blunt trauma. His senses have also been heightened, allowing him to perceive the infrared spectrum among other superhuman feats of perception. Perseus is able to resist toxins that would kill normal humans and recovers from serious wounds more quickly and comprehensively than is mortally possible. He will likely live far beyond a hundred, perhaps even two.
- Perseus is also an incredibly-skilled hand-to-hand combatant. He trained at a young age under the tutelage of Mercy Graves and upon joining the Titans, sparred with members of the Bat Family. He was beaten several times, but has only improved over time. Upon becoming a full-fledged Leaguer, he is widely recognized as one of the League's top melee fighters, even besides his enhancements. Perseus is an expert in several martial arts styles but and his true mastery lies in boxing, wrestling, blade combat, and spear and shield techniques.
Perseus' mental fortitude is likewise formidable, allowing him to ignore extremes of temperature or pain that would debilitate lesser men.
- His daily equipment includes a mono-molecular knife that can extend into a spear with a taser attachment. On his forearm is a gauntlet that can extend into a carbon nanotube shield that protects against projectile weaponry, explosions, and energy weapons. Perseus' nano-gloves allow him to scale sheer surfaces while his mag-boots allow him to fight effectively in zero-g environments. Perseus is also an expert marksman, especially with handguns, but does not include firearms in his daily arsenal.
[ ◈ ] L I M I T A T I O N S // W E A K N E S S E S
- Despite his enhancements, Perseus is far from the mightiest of the metahumans. His augments allow him to compete head-to-head with the likes of Batman or Deathstroke, but they are woefully inadequate against his Kryptonian allies and those in their weight-class. It is also an exaggeration of the media when he is said to dodge bullets. Rather Perseus can track movements of the gun barrel and thus avoid it.
- Perseus' shield can protect against small-arms fire well enough, but more powerful weaponry could pierce or even collapse the shield, forcing the gauntlet to fabricate it once more. And though he is more resistant to physical damage, Perseus is still mortal. Blades will still cut him and bullets will still harm him. He is able to shrug off severe wounds for a time due to adrenaline and his enhanced physiology, but a bullet in the gut is just as serious to him as a normal human if left untreated. Perseus' healing ability also only applies in the long-term, and doesn't help with wounds on the battlefield. He also has no special protection against magic or psychic attack besides an incredibly strong will.
[ ◈ ] B I O G R A P H Y
Albert Luthor was the eldest son and firstborn child to Alexander Luthor II, better known as Lex Luthor and his one-time wife Eris Alexandra Pallas, the Countess. Lex and Eris had an extremely volatile relationship, one moment completely in love and the next at each other's threats. They separated while Albert, his brother Alex, and his sister Lena were still young. They would spend an equal amount of time growing up in Metropolis and Athens. Albert was taught all the intricacies of business and developed a keen interest in astronomy and athletics under his father. His mother immersed him in a world of mythology and literature, studying the Greek philosophers and the Romantic poets. He became a lover of art, music, and theatre. Both of his parents taught him how to manipulate people, how to dominate them, how to intimidate. Albert grew to have deep respect and love for both of his parents, though both often tried to put him against the other.
Lex Luthor had long lived with the spectre of scandal looming over him. He was a public critic of Superman and all costumed heroes, and was on numerous occasions tied to criminal conspiracies. However, most of the charges never stuck and he was only imprisoned once. He would soon be pardoned for his help in defeating the Justice Lords when they temporarily disabled the Justice League, publicly teaming up with Superman and even going on to join the Justice League as a member for a time. His public image was restored, and his supposed criminal activities became ever more elusive. During a period of seeming amity with his former rivals, Lex made a grand gesture of producing a young Albert for membership in the Teen Titans. Albert was accepted but was not welcomed by most. In a team of outcasts, loners, mavericks, and rejects, Albert was still an outsider. The son of a supervillain. Albert, who somehow maintained a strong sense of justice and idealism despite his parents, was at first vehemently opposed to the idea that his father was the criminal people said he was. He was distrusted and ostracized. But as he spent more time with the Titans a mutual respect grew between them as they risked their lives to save one another on multiple occasions. He would grow to be especially close to Lara Kent, the future Supergirl, though he never warmed to her older brother Jon.
Eventually, Perseus would grow to be a trusted member of the team, even if those in the Justice League had their reservations. And all the while, his father asked him for updates on the team's operations through a hidden communicator. To Albert it seemed like innocuous material and his father justified it by saying that even the heroes were not above the law and that someone should be holding them accountable, that the intelligence would be passed on to the authorities to ensure the heroes were acting within the law. Albert believed him. Until one day, when Albert had graduated into the Justice League and firmly established himself, a mission that Albert had described some details of was compromised and several members of the team were severely injured. Their target had also somehow gotten possession of Kryptonite. Though his father denied it, Albert suspected that Lex had informed the villains of the mission. In his heart, he knew that everything said about his father was true.
Though he never had a public falling out with Lex, Albert became less and less visible in Lexcorp functions and devoted more and more time to heroics. He stopped referring to himself as Albert Luthor in public and went solely by his heroic alias, Perseus. It came as little surprise then when Lex stepped down as CEO of Lexcorp to become Chairman of the Board and named Alexander Luthor III, Albert's younger and even more intelligent brother, CEO instead. Perseus seemed to take the snubbing in stride and became a spokesperson for the Justice Foundation, a consortium of corporations and non-profit organizations that supported and augmented the Justice League's operations. He has proved to be a polarizing figure in the Justice League with an equal amount of friends and admirers as well as detractors and rivals. His charm and dependability won over many while others were put off by his overconfidence that bordered on arrogance, his sometimes ruthless methods, and his name. Despite all this, Perseus has come to be recognized as one of the premier figures of the modern League, and a face of the new generation of heroes.
During the E-Day attacks, Perseus was a strong stabilizing element. He worked tirelessly to help organize the resistance to the Legion's attacks and fought where the chaos and carnage was worst. He saw many friends maimed, comrades killed, and civilians slaughtered. His resolve only deepened. Though he seethed with fury, he was one of the driving voices for the summit to negotiate a cease-fire. Perseus was one of the Leaguers to sign the Armistice, and his father and brother both signed as supposed independent witnesses. He knew the truth, that they were as much responsible for the destruction and death as figures like Black Adam or Queen Bee were. It was a hardened Perseus that returned to duty. Perseus remains determined to keep the bloodshed from spilling over once more, believing that the Legion can be overturned with surgical precision rather than all-out war. And yet Perseus is also fast growing into an advocate of the idea that the League should take an even more active role in world affairs, as the failures of mundane government abound. Perseus perceives that divisions are fast growing in the Justice League, and it is his fear that the League that he loves will tear itself asunder along with the world should war break out once more. He is resolved to do everything he can to stop either from occurring.
[ ◈ ] N O T E S
- Perseus is pansexual and polyamorous, having had rumored liaisons with several prominent costumed heroes and villains. It is whispered that he is currently romantically involved Lara Kal-El, the current Supergirl and sister to the current Superman.
- Perseus is known to have a cool relationship with his father and a rivalry with both his younger brother and his brother-in-law Superman. He is known to be close to his sister Lena, Hope, his half-sister by Mercy Graves and Kon-El, who is genetically his brother.
- Perseus was named Albert for his father's hero, Albert Einstein.
[ ◈ ] S O U R C E
- Greek demigod heroes of myth.
- All-Star Superman, where Lex gave himself superpowers, though to a much lesser extent.
- The implied Greek heritage of Lex in Superman:TAS combined with the German-American Lex in BvS.