A chance encounter between The Sandman’s Death and Lex Luthor may have revealed a way to take Superman’s enemy out of the picture permanently. When Lex found himself temporarily off the mortal coil, the remarkably patient Endless challenged Lex to see what it would take for him to move on into the great beyond.
Despite the overwhelming number of powers he possesses, the Man of Steel has found himself eternally flummoxed by the evil Lex Luthor. With a genius intellect, a lack of morals and unlimited capital, Luthor has been narrow-mindedly focused on destroying his archenemy since Superman’s first appearance in public. While Lex has come close, he’s never been able to defeat Superman for good. And by that same measure, the Big Blue Boy Scout has yet to find a way to end Luthor’s criminal endeavors for good (in a way that won’t make him compromise his morals).
However, when Lex got his ticket punched on his own account, one enigmatic being almost found a way to eliminate the Luthor problem for good. In Action Comics #894 by Paul Cornell and Pete Woods, Lex has just been shot by Gorilla Grodd and now stands face-to-face with The Sandman’s Death. As Death smiles and nods while Lex works through the various stages of grief, she occasionally chimes in with suggestions on how to help him accept the fact that his life is over. Believing a fear of the afterlife may be what’s holding Lex back, she makes time to discuss the possibilities with him. While Lex acknowledges that Hell is a real place, Death counters that notion by offering up the possibility of a personal Heaven for him. Death even ups the ante by offering a world of pure bliss for him and every single person in creation.
Even though this is yet another chance for Lex Luthor to save the universe, he passes it over because of his giant ego. In the same way that Lex cannot accept that someone like Superman could actually live the boring life of a human like Clark Kent, Luthor refuses to accept a reality that doesn’t conform to his worldview. However, someone like Death is the perfect counter to Lex and could ultimately be the one to take him off the board for good.
To be fair, Death always wins in the end, and while this was more of a dry run for the real thing, there’s little doubt the sister of Sandman’s Dream will one day come to claim Lex. But this was a good experiment for Death as few people are as resistant to confronting reality as Luthor. The dynamic between Death and Lex is essentially the unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. Death has all the time imaginable to wait for Luthor to finally accept his fate, while Lex’s ego simply won’t let him accept anything that challenges his beliefs. The only way The Sandman’s Death can truly defeat Superman’s enemy is to try and change his mind, which she may be able to do once Lex’s big day actually comes.
