Supergirl (TV Series)

The House of L (2019)

Jon Cryer: Lex Luthor

Photos 

Quotes 

• Lex Luthor : I'll be direct. Black Kryptonite. The Harun-El. You have it, and I need it.

  Lena Luthor : You know it doesn't grow back hair.

• Lex Luthor : I just realized, you haven't asked me why I need the black rock.

  Lena Luthor : I assumed homicide.

  Lex Luthor : Just the opposite. I'm dying.

• Lex Luthor : [appearing in Lena's office at L-Corp]  Hey, sis. Hate what you've done with the place.

• Eve Teschmacher : [seeing a Kaznian soldier]  That's the one who made her uncomfortable.

  Lex Luthor : Get rid of him.

  Minister of Defense : I will re-assign him elsewhere on the base. She will not see him again.

  Lex Luthor : She can see through walls.

  Minister of Defense : Pitor. Come here.

  [the soldier approaches and salutes; as he's led away, the Minster takes a pistol and a gunshot is heard] 

  Lex Luthor : [to Eve]  Next time, don't flinch.

• Lex Luthor : And how is my darling sister?

  Eve Teschmacher : Obsessed. About to have a breakthrough with the Harun-El. But she hasn't produced results yet.

  Lex Luthor : See that she does.

  Otis Graves : So... so do I stay and hang with the commies?

  Lex Luthor : What? No, you're driving.

  Otis Graves : Oh, sure.

• Lex Luthor : You've read that one more than the others. Gatsby. Why?

  Snowbird : It's beautiful. Lush. I, uh... I think that's the word. The language... it's hard to even imagine the world that way.

  Lex Luthor : I didn't give it to you because it's pretty. This is a book about vapid, profligate fools. Money is always acquired at someone else's expense.

  Snowbird : But you have money. You must. The way you come and go...

  Lex Luthor : I do. Because it is their weapon. The way their world works. Read it again.

• Lex Luthor : [in Kara's loft]  One day, you may have to be just like her. Move like her, think like her. So, what do you see?

  Snowbird : [looking around]  She likes comfort. She's undisciplined.

  [opening the fridge and seeing the food inside] 

  Snowbird : All of this is for her?

  [closing the fridge, she notices a picture of Kara with Alex] 

  Snowbird : She is like a princess in a tower.

  Lex Luthor : And on a reporter's salary.

  Snowbird : [hearing the front door unlock]  Someone is coming.

• Eve Teschmacher : I have an idea, but you're not gonna like it. What we...

  Lex Luthor : You're right. I have to give myself cancer.

  Eve Teschmacher : Whoa, whoa, whoa. That is not what I was gonna say.

  Lex Luthor : No, you were gonna tell me that I need to work with Lena. And you're right, except she won't buy it. She'll never work with me, but she will save me.

• Supergirl : You have powers?

  Lex Luthor : I have powers.

• Lex Luthor : You had a good run, but this time, the planet hits back.

  Supergirl : How are you doing this?

  Lex Luthor : How do you think I did it? I'm Lex Luthor.

• Eve Teschmacher : Wow. Nice prison you got here.

  Lex Luthor : It's for conjugal visits. But still, after this, it's back to concrete and iron.

  Eve Teschmacher : Sounds lonely.

  Lex Luthor : Stryker's is a petri dish. Bottle city. I've even managed to teach some of the inmates chess. I like mentoring.

  Eve Teschmacher : It's a waste. You're a once-in-a-generation mind, and the only man standing between us and total annihilation.

• Eve Teschmacher : You know, I used to write you letters.

  Lex Luthor : I read them. You're literate for a Manson girl.

  Eve Teschmacher : You are not Manson. And for the record, I'm not just some girl. I've got degrees from Yale in literature and physics, and I am a former Junior Miss North Carolina.

  Lex Luthor : I don't need your résumé.

  [getting an idea] 

  Lex Luthor : Although I may know someone who does.

• Lex Luthor : Ms. Tessmacher, I need you to do me a favor. What do you know about CatCo Magazine?

  Eve Teschmacher : Their circulation's down?

  Lex Luthor : Jimmy Olsen works there. He's been a thorn. But he's connected to the second Kryptonian. And I happen to know that Cat Grant needs a new assistant. A woman of your talents would have no problem finding a job there.

  Eve Teschmacher : Consider it done. But you do know there's a lot more that I can do...

  Lex Luthor : And you will. We're gonna make you undeniable.

• Lex Luthor : [conversing in Russian]  Minister. Been a long time.

  Minister of Defense : You said to call if something interesting came up. Another Kryptonian. She is a copy of Supergirl. Her memory is absent.

  Lex Luthor : You're sure?

  Minister of Defense : Yes, Mr. Luthor.

  Lex Luthor : Does it have powers?

  Minister of Defense : She has powers. Come as soon as possible.

• Lex Luthor : [in Russian]  Hello.

  [switching to English as he sees Mikhail] 

  Lex Luthor : He has nothing to fear, and neither do you. My name is Lex.

  Snowbird : Alex?

  Lex Luthor : Sure. Alex.

• Judge : Mr. Luthor, you are charged with murder, ecoterrorism, and crimes against humanity. Since you have chosen to represent yourself, have you anything to say before I render the verdict of this court?

  Lex Luthor : [getting to his feet]  Superman made me do it.

  [murmurs in the gallery] 

  Lex Luthor : This is a paradigm shift. Aliens are among us. And for the rest of human history, there will only ever be "before Superman" and "after". I am protecting mankind from an extinction event. And if this pearl-clutching jury of my... peers... wants to put me behind bars for it, they are welcome to try. But know this. I will always have my thumb on the scales.

  Judge : Alexander Joseph Luthor, you've been found guilty on all counts and will serve 31 consecutive life sentences.

  Lex Luthor : [she begins coughing and choking]  Maybe we should make it 32.

• Lex Luthor : Did your husband enjoy those Knights tickets?

  Warden : Oh, yes. Courtside? He felt like Nicholson. And uh, the other inmates, they seemed to like all that lobster you trucked in.

  Lex Luthor : Lobster's 18th century peasant food, only fit for the indentured and the incarcerated.

• Warden : I, uh, didn't know you did artwork.

  Lex Luthor : It's just geometry. Hannibal crossing the Alps.

  Warden : So, what's it, like, represent?

  Lex Luthor : Boredom. Can I help you, Warden?

  Warden : Sorry. You have a call, from the Kaznian embassy.

• Lex Luthor : Warden, I'm going to need to leave for 72 hours.

  Warden : What?

  [incredulous laugh] 

  Warden : You... you can't just...

  Lex Luthor : Your mother still lives at 245 Maple Drive, right? Bingo night every Friday at St. Joseph's? We wouldn't want that awful Betty Byrom woman to finally have a chance at winning. Would we?

  Warden : 72 hours. How are you gonna leave without...

  Lex Luthor : Leave that to me. I'll need my effects and my tailor. Oh, and my jet.

• Lex Luthor : I can show her how to master her powers and help you contain her.

  Minister of Defense : I know you're the man for the job. Lex Luthor; foremost specialist on everything Krypton. You will make her Kaznia's weapon, hmm?

  Lex Luthor : She'll hate whomever you want. Operant conditioning is a specialty of mine. But you'll need to follow my instructions to the letter. Can't break a Kryptonian, but maybe we can bend one.

  Minister of Defense : And for this?

  Lex Luthor : Money, as discussed.

  Otis Graves : Not as liquid as he used to be.

  Minister of Defense : I warn you, you are only a consultant.

  Lex Luthor : Cross my heart.

• Lex Luthor : [conversing in Russian]  I lived in a place like this for a long time. Do you like it here?

  Snowbird : I don't know what I like.

  Lex Luthor : [switching to English]  Did they teach you any English?

  Snowbird : Little.

• Snowbird : Are you angry at me?

  Lex Luthor : For saving a child? No. You did the right thing.

  Snowbird : I heard pain. I did not know my strength.

  Lex Luthor : Would you like to?

• Snowbird : Alex, your name is only thing I remember.

  Lex Luthor : Let's just say we were... besties.

  [seeing she's confused, he switches to Russian] 

  Lex Luthor : Friends. Good friends.

  Snowbird : [switching to Russian, too]  Where do I come from? I am different. Why?

  Lex Luthor : [the alarm on his watch rings]  Time's up, and I have to go.

  [offering her a package of Chocos] 

  Lex Luthor : Go on. You need to see the world as they do. I'll send you books. Materials for you to study. And when I return...

  [switching back to English] 

  Lex Luthor : English.

• Lex Luthor : Pennies from heaven. How does this happen? Clone?

  Eve Teschmacher : I think I know. It's called Harun-El. Black kryptonite. It splits Kryptonians in two. Supergirl must have come into contact with it.

  Lex Luthor : But she's a blank slate. Doesn't she share Supergirl's memories?

  Eve Teschmacher : We don't know exactly how this works, yet.

  Lex Luthor : "We"?

  Eve Teschmacher : It's Lena, and she has more.

  Lex Luthor : [impressed]  Brava.

  Eve Teschmacher : I told you I'd be more useful at L-Corp than CatCo.

• Otis Graves : So what's the play?

  Lex Luthor : Paper tigers.

  Otis Graves : [confused]  Uh...

  Lex Luthor : Chinese idiom. Paper tigers threaten, but are destroyed easily. Kaznia wants to move on the U.S. They're crazier than Russia. They wanna bring back the glory days of the Soviet Union.

  Eve Teschmacher : So you wanna help them?

  Lex Luthor : I don't care about their politics. Regimes change. Kings die. But if Kaznia attacks America, and I foil the attack, America will hail me as a hero. To do that, I'm gonna need patsies in both the East and the West. So, Otis, fetch your sister and find me a real American. Someone charismatic, a radical.

  Otis Graves : I think I know just the guy, Mr. Luthor. Name's Ben Lockwood, seems smart.

  Lex Luthor : I'm glad someone does.

  Otis Graves : Wait. Where you going?

  Lex Luthor : Back to Stryker's. Prison's the best alibi the world has yet devised, and I'm about to need a lot of alibis.

• Lex Luthor : [playing chess with Snowbird]  When I was a boy, I learned this game from a grand master, Anatoly Karpov. That's how I learned to speak your language. Seems fitting that it should teach you mine.

  Snowbird : I think your books handled that.

  Lex Luthor : Have they? Okay. Philip of Macedon.

  Snowbird : Ruled from 359 BC until his assassination. Father of Alexander the Great, your namesake. Philip had a small power base. He wanted to build an empire. But, in the end, we only have one lifetime. Alexander inherits his father's work, but he does more than Philip ever could have dreamed.

  Lex Luthor : He conquers the world.

  Snowbird : This appeals to you?

  Lex Luthor : You sound like my sister.

  Snowbird : Lena.

  Lex Luthor : Yes. You pay attention. You remind me of her sometimes. I used to think we were inseparable. That we were going to change everything.

  Snowbird : What happened?

  Lex Luthor : People disappoint.

  [she looks for a move to make; seeing she's checkmated, she mutters in Russian and surrenders] 

  Lex Luthor : Not bad, though.

• Snowbird : I'm sorry you have to be alone so much. I'll try to visit more.

  Lex Luthor : The night she saved you, why were those men attacking?

  Mikhail : They were thieves. It is just me and my mother.

  Lex Luthor : Why?

  Mikhail : My father was a bad man. He left us.

  Lex Luthor : I had a bad father, too.

  Mikhail : What did yours do?

  Lex Luthor : He stayed. I used to pray for a hero like the one you got. Took a long time, but...

  [more to Snowbird] 

  Lex Luthor : Here you are.

• Snowbird : I don't understand. Why we are in such a hurry?

  [hearing an explosion, she turns and see the sky turn green] 

  Snowbird : What is that?

  Lex Luthor : We got to get you inside.

  Snowbird : [she's led inside]  What is happening to me?

  Lex Luthor : There's only one thing on this Earth that can hurt you, and the Americans just seeded the skies with it.

  Snowbird : [in Russian, groaning in pain]  It hurts!

  Lex Luthor : You will never feel like this again. I will protect you. But there's something we have to do first.

  [taking out a pin and a pair of earrings] 

  Lex Luthor : Your flesh is weak. It's the only time we can do this.

  [piercing her ears] 

  Lex Luthor : Someday, you may have to match her.

  Snowbird : Who?

• Lex Luthor : It's time for you to know your full truth. You are strong. You are Kaznia. But you are also something more. That green flash you saw, it's poison to your species. Made of fragments of your home planet. You are one of the last daughters of Krypton.

  Snowbird : Krypton?

  Lex Luthor : You will usher in a new era of peace. Equality. Nations unlike Kania who believe in greed will rise against you. And its greatest champion will stand between you and your work.

• Lex Luthor : I told you, English. You need to keep your accent.

  Snowbird : Why?

  [realizing] 

  Snowbird : You want me to go to America.

  Lex Luthor : Someday. You're not ready yet.

  Snowbird : Yes, I am! I want to see it. I want to know more. Who is this Supergirl to me? Why does she look like me?

  Lex Luthor : Put simply, your sister. She has usurped your position in the world. Taken from you.

  Snowbird : Like your Lena.

  Lex Luthor : Yes. Maybe you should see more.

• Lex Luthor : National City. You know Kaznia, Krypton. Now you need to experience Babylon.

• Lex Luthor : What did you see?

  Snowbird : A pig trough. One of the men had a pin with the AmerTek insignia. They make weapons.

  Lex Luthor : America's exports, movies and bombs. Kaznia suffers so that Americans can live like this.

  Snowbird : And Supergirl defends those men?

  Lex Luthor : Yes, because she's... soft. Accustomed to a certain lifestyle.

  [cut to them in an apartment building] 

  Lex Luthor : You wanna understand her? This is her place. This is where Supergirl lives. Or, as some know her, Kara Danvers.

• Snowbird : Kara Danvers has an Alex, too?

  Lex Luthor : You have a lot in common except for what counts. Field trip's over. I have to go back to...

  Snowbird : To prison.

  Lex Luthor : Yes. Go back to Kaznia. Make sure you weren't seen. No one can know that you exist.

• Eve Teschmacher : We've got a problem. Your little project's got a mind of her own, and she's about to star-spangle you right out of world domination.

  Lex Luthor : Panic is a bad color on you, Ms. Tessmacher. I can fix this. You and Otis will have to go to Kaznia.

  Eve Teschmacher : What? What for?

  Lex Luthor : Because that's where the thing she loves most is. And she's gonna be ever so sad when the Americans take it away from her.

• Snowbird : [in the rubble of Mikhail's home]  Who would do this?

  Lex Luthor : You already know.

  Snowbird : [spotting a piece of a missile with her x-ray vision]  AmerTek. The greedy Americans.

  Lex Luthor : Don't do this. Listen to me. Luthors bide their time. This is just an American...

  [she takes off into the sky] 

• Lex Luthor : You could have compromised all of our work.

  Snowbird : They killed Mikhail!

  Lex Luthor : What is one life? One life is nothing next to the world! You risked everything, and you did not listen to me!

  Snowbird : You don't give me commands.

  Lex Luthor : I am helping you. They saw your face. If you were identified, the world would hunt you down! I'll make this look like an accident. Sabotage, friendly fire. I will clean up your mess!

  Snowbird : Is that what you think of me? That I am some pet you clean up after?

  Lex Luthor : Of course not.

  Snowbird : Some solider, then? Alexander's conquering army! What am I? Why am I here? Why does Kara Danvers have an Alex? And why is she friends with your sister?

  [noticing his reaction] 

  Snowbird : That's what this is about. This is about Lena.

  Lex Luthor : I thought you were stronger. But... people disappoint. I'm done here.

• Lex Luthor : We pushed her too far.

  Eve Teschmacher : Lex.

  Lex Luthor : I mean, maybe the black kryptonite caused unchecked cell growth. That'd be cancer-symptomatic.

  Eve Teschmacher : Lex.

  Lex Luthor : Could be a telomere problem. We need to stabilize the sensecence...

  Eve Teschmacher : No. Lex!

  Lex Luthor : What?

  [seeing her look] 

  Lex Luthor : Oh, right. The Harun-El. It made her. It might stabilize her. Bring it to me.

  Eve Teschmacher : It's not ready yet. Lena's trial still has a 100% mortality rate.

  Lex Luthor : Then I'll solve it.

  Eve Teschmacher : The girl is dying.

  Lex Luthor : What do you suggest I do? She is everything I have worked for. She's a... a miracle. The skies opened up and gave her to me. I... I can't lose her.

• Lex Luthor : Don't be pedestrian. You're a Luthor.

  Lena Luthor : I seem to remember some disagreement on that point.

  Lex Luthor : Not from me. I swabbed your cheek the day after you moved in. I've always been interested in our genes. Strengths, weaknesses. Alcoholism.

  Lena Luthor : So that's your plan. Come here to talk about our drunk father? What's next? You tell me you love me?

  Lex Luthor : Love is valueless. I respect you.

  Lena Luthor : No. You don't get to do that. You can't just come in here and take what you want.

  Lex Luthor : Lena, I'm a hologram. I can't take anything.

• Lex Luthor : You don't wanna give up your research. It's cozy, the comfort of obssession.

  Lena Luthor : I'm not like you. I wanna help people.

  Lex Luthor : I'm people. And you're using the black rock to make supersoldiers. Who is that helping? I've had some time, done some thinking, some leaf-turning-over.

  Lena Luthor : It's a big leaf.

  Lex Luthor : Don't do what I did. Don't harm when you can heal.

• Lex Luthor : [preparing a Harun-El transfusion for Snowbird]  Well... here goes everything.

• Snowbird : I thought you were gone.

  Lex Luthor : Well... you made me very, very angry. But I promised that I wouldn't let you get sick again.

  Snowbird : You saved me.

  Lex Luthor : I had a lot invested in you. And I shouldn't have left the way that I did. This is not about Lena. This is about you and me. Can you forgive me?

• Snowbird : Supergirl acts on her emotions. It's selfish, ugly. I will not be her. I will be me. I will be disciplined. I will follow you and destroy her.

  Lex Luthor : Do you remember that story about Alexander the Great and his father?

  Snowbird : I remember.

  Lex Luthor : You thought I was Alexander. But I'm Philip. I only get one lifetime. But you're... forever. My gift to the world, my legacy.

  [switching to Russian as he unveils a superhero costume] 

  Lex Luthor : My Red Daughter.

• Lex Luthor : [deleted scene]  Deny. Remain distant. Create longing. Absence will make her work that much harder to win back my approval.

  Eve Teschmacher : But you'll re-establish that approval once she falls in line, right? You'll lose the patient if you don't.

  Lex Luthor : You think flattery will work?

  Eve Teschmacher : Worked on me.

• Lex Luthor : [deleted scene]  Okay. Take you. Champion fencer. Almost made the Olympics. That is expertise that is earned over thousands of work hours.

  Lena Luthor : He didn't earn it, I...

  Lex Luthor : Yeah, it's just a lucky gift. From the sun!

  [shrugs] 

  Lex Luthor : I mean, how can you measure up?

  Lena Luthor : [husky voice]  I'm not sure I'm quite as concerned with measuring.

  Lex Luthor : [shakes his head]  Don't. Insults are pedestrian. You're better than that.

  Lena Luthor : Lex, you are a horrible brother.

  [sighs] 

  Lena Luthor : And very hard to like. But...

  [scoots nearer] 

  Lena Luthor : I do love a challenge.

  Lex Luthor : Good. Because I've got one for you.