Lex Luthor quotes from Superman (1978)

View Quote [watching Otis approaching the hideout] It's amazing that brain can generate enough power to keep those legs moving.

View Quote Because if any human being were going to perpetrate such a fantastic hoax, it would've been me!

View Quote This is Lex Luthor. Only one thing alive with less than four legs can hear this frequency, Superman, and that's you. In approximately five minutes, a poison gas pellet containing propane lithium compound will be released through thousands of air ducts in the city, effectively annihilating half the population of Metropolis.

View Quote I told you. That's Kryptonite, Superman. Little souvenir from the old home town. I spared no expense to make you feel right at home.

View Quote [after he's explained how a meteor from Krypton can kill Superman] Doesn't it give you kind of a, a, a...shudder...of electricity through you to be in the same room with me?

View Quote [repeated line; screams bloody murder] MISS TESCHMACHER-R-R-R-R-R!!!!

View Quote I have to leave you now. No hard feelings. We all have our little faults. Mine's in California.

View Quote [to Otis] Do you know why the number 200 is so vitally descriptive to both you and me? It's your weight and my I.Q.

View Quote Some can read War and Peace and come away thinking it's an adventure story. Others can open the wrappers of chewing gum and unlock the secrets of the universe.

View Quote You were great in your day, Superman. But it just stands to reason, when it came time to cash in your chips, this old "diseased maniac" would be your banker. Mind over muscle?

View Quote There's a strong streak of good in you, Superman. But then nobody's perfect...almost nobody.

View Quote [After Lex caused a cop to get pushed in front of a train]
Miss Teschmacher: Sick! Sick. You're really sick!
Lex Luthor: Sick, Miss Teschmacher? When I'm mere days away from executing the Crime of the Century? How do you choose to congratulate the greatest criminal mind on our time? Do you tell me that I'm brilliant? A bit obvious, that, I grant you. Charismatic, then? Fiendishly gifted?
Miss Teschmacher: [laughs] Try twisted.
Lex Luthor: Miss Teschmacher, you don't know the half of it. [both laugh as Miss Teschmacher begins to search through a cabinet] Get away from there! Hey! I said get away from there!!
Miss Teschmacher: [closes the drawer] Tell me something Lex, why do so many people have to die for the Crime of the Century?
Lex Luthor: Why? You ask why? Why does the phone always ring when you're in the bathtub? Why is the most brilliantly diabolical leader of our time surrounding himself with total nincompoops?
Otis: [enters the room] I'm back, Mr. Luthor.
Lex Luthor: Ah yes, Otis, I was just talking about you. You were followed again, weren't you? [Otis spins around, knocking over a lamp] In spite of those catlike reflexes.
Otis: Mr. Luthor? Mr. Luthor, I'm sorry.
Lex Luthor: Otis, is that the newspaper I asked you to get me?
Otis: [looks at the newspaper] Yeah.
Lex Luthor: Why am I not reading it?
Otis: [thinks for a second] 'Cause I haven't given it to you yet?
Lex Luthor: [smiles] Right. [snatches the newspaper from Otis' hand and reads it] At last it's official! [shows the front page of the newspaper, the headline reading "TWIN NUCLEAR TESTS CONFIRMED".] Thanks to the generous help of the United States government, we are about to be involved in the greatest real estate swindle of all time!
Miss Teschmacher: Lex, what is this obsession with real estate? All the time-land, land, land.
Lex Luthor: Miss Teschmacher, when I was six years old, my father said to me...
Miss Teschmacher: "Get out!"
Lex Luthor: [laughs] Nope. Before that...He said, "Son...Stocks may rise and fall, utilities and transportation systems may collapse, people are no damn good, but they will always need land, and they will pay through the nose to get it. Remember", my father said...
Otis: Land.
Lex Luthor: Right. It's a pity he didn't live long enough to see how, from such humble beginnings, I've created this empire.
Miss Teschmacher: An empire? This?
Lex Luthor: Miss Teschmacher, how many other girls do you know who are lucky enough to have a Park Avenue address like this one?
Miss Teschmacher: Park Avenue address? 200 feet below?
Lex Luthor: Do you realize what they're all paying per square foot up there for a few miserable rooms off a common elevator? [in unison with Otis] What more could anyone ask?
Miss Teschmacher: How about...sunshine. A night on the town instead of under it.

View Quote [Lex Luthor is swimming in his pool, listening to the TV news about Superman]
Lex Luthor: Miss Teschmacher! Turn it off.
Miss Teschmacher: [lying under sunlamps, turns off the TV] Lex, what's the story on this guy? Do you think it's the genuine article?
Lex Luthor: If he is, he's not from this world.
Miss Teschmacher: Why?
Lex Luthor: Because, if any human being were going to perpetrate such a fantastic hoax, it would have been me! Otis! My robe!
Otis: Right away, Mr. Luthor!
Lex Luthor: It all fits somehow, his coming here to Metropolis. And at this particular time. There's a kind of cruel justice about it. I mean, to commit the crime of the century, a man naturally wants to face the challenge of the century. [lost in his thoughts, and stops at the top step of the pool where his feet are still submerged]
Otis: Listen, Mr. Luthor, maybe this guy that flies is just sort of passing through, you know? [enters the pool and starts helping Lex on with the robe, but the bottom of it then proceeds to get soaked]
Lex Luthor: [as Otis helps him putting on his robe] Passing through? Not on your life. Which I would gladly sacrifice, by the way, for the opportunity of destroying everything that he represents. And, Otis, by the way, next time put my robe on AFTER I've left the pool.

View Quote [Lex Luthor, Miss Teschmacher and Otis are reading a newspaper article titled "I SPENT THE NIGHT WITH SUPERMAN"]
Lex Luthor: [referring to Superman] Now then...given the location of the galaxy that he mentions, in proximity to our own solar system...it's amazing. AMAZING! But too good to be true!
Miss Teschmacher: It's too good to be true! He's 6'4", has black hair, blue eyes, doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, and tells the truth!
Lex Luthor: Miss Teschmacher, some people can read War and Peace and come away thinking it's a simple adventure story. Others can read the ingredients on a chewing gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe.
Miss Teschmacher: Lex, what has chewing gum got to do with the secrets of the universe?
Lex Luthor: [sighs] Right, Miss Teschmacher. Right.

View Quote [Lex stands on his library sliding ladder searching for a book]
Lex Luthor: N...N...N...
Otis: 'M'! You want 'M', Mr. Luthor? Comin' right up! [moves the sliding ladder Lex is standing on, leaving Lex hanging from a shelf] So, there you go, 'M'.
Lex Luthor: 'M' as in Moron, Otis? No, no, no, it's 'N'! 'N' as in Neanderthal, Nincompoop, Nitwit! And 'L' as in Ladder!

View Quote [Lex Luthor has torn a page from a magazine from his library]
Miss Teschmacher: [reading the article] A meteorite found in Addis Ababa. I know I'm gonna get rapped in the mouth for this, but so what?
Lex Luthor: So what. You mean, to us, they're just meteorites. Fair enough. But the level of specific radioactivity is so high, to anyone from the planet Krypton, this substance is lethal.
Otis: Wait a minute, Mr. Luthor. You mean, fire and bullets can't hurt this guy, but this stuff here ...
Miss Teschmacher and Otis: [in unison] ...will kill him!
Lex Luthor: Doesn't it give you, like, a shudder of electricity to be in the same room with me?
Miss Teschmacher: Not like the shudder you're gonna get when you try to lay that rock on him. He can see you coming for miles with those super-peepers of his.
Lex Luthor: "Oh, Lord. You gave them eyes, yet they cannot see". Nor can Superman, through lead.
Miss Teschmacher: [understanding] He can't see through lead!
Lex Luthor: And Kryptonite will destroy him. Any questions, class?
Miss Teschmacher: [thinking to herself] I wonder what they're wearing in Addis Ababa?
Otis: [looking at the picture in the article] Looks like a burnoose. [gasps] Are we going to Addis Ababa, Mr. Luthor?
[Lex, in a resigned look, shakes his head, puts his hand to his forehead and closes his eyes]

View Quote [Superman breaks down Lex Luthor's door]
Lex Luthor: It's open, come in. My attorney will be in touch with you about the damage to the door. Otis, take the gentleman's cape.
Otis: [approaches Superman, who glares at him] I don't think he wants me to, Mr. Luthor.
Superman: All right, Luthor. Where's the gas pellet?
Lex Luthor: Somewhere...hidden in the back of my mind, actually. It's a little idea I was toying with.
Superman: Is that how a warped brain like yours gets its kicks? By planning the death of innocent people?
Lex Luthor: No. By causing the death of innocent people.

View Quote Lex Luthor: [pointing to a map of California and the San Andreas Fault] Everything west of this line is the richest, most expensive real estate in the world: San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco. Everything on this side of the line is just hundreds and hundreds of miles of worthless desert land, which just so happens to be owned by... [whaps Otis with his pointer]
Otis: Uhhh...Lex Luthor, Incorporated.
Lex Luthor: Now, call me foolish, call me irresponsible, it occurs to me that a 500 megaton bomb planted at just the proper point would, uh...
Superman: Would destroy most of California. Millions of innocent people would be killed. And the West Coast as we know it would-
Lex Luthor: Fall into the sea. Bye-bye, California. Hello, new West Coast. My West Coast. [Otis overlays map with new map]
Lex Luthor: Costa Del Lex. Luthorville. Marina del Lex. Otisburg...Otisburg?
Otis: Miss Teschmacher, she's got her own place. ["Teschmacher Peaks"]
Lex Luthor: Otisburg?
Otis: It's a little bitty place.
Lex Luthor: [angrily] Otisburg?!
Otis: Okay, I'll just wipe it off, that's all. It's just a little town. [erases Otisburg]

View Quote [Last lines]
[Superman has just arrived at the jailhouse with Luthor and his bumbling sidekick Otis. Both men are bossing him around as he lowers them and himself to the ground]
Superman: Good evening, Warden. I think these two men should be safe here with you now till they can get a fair trial.
Warden: Who is it, Superman?
Lex Luthor: [removes his wig to reveal his bald head] Lex Luthor, the greatest criminal mind of our time!
Otis: Of our time!
Lex Luthor: I hereby serve notice-
Otis: He's serving notice to you-
Lex Luthor: ...that these walls-
Otis: That these walls here-
Lex Luthor: [to Otis] Would you shut up, please! Ya fat, li'l fool!
Superman: Alright, take 'em away, boys!
[Luthor and Otis continue their verbal bickering as the guards escort them into the prison]
Warden: This country is safe again, Superman, thanks to you.
Superman: No, sir. Don't thank me, Warden. We're all part of the same team. Good night.