WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Superman: Man of Tomorrow #6 by Robert Venditti, Paul Pelletier, Drew Hennessy, and Adriano Lucas, available now.

One of the more interesting facets of the modern Lex Luthor is that he views Metropolis as his personal fiefdom. After raising himself up from the gutter and building his own fortune with the aid of his own not-inconsiderable genius, Lex came to view Metropolis not just as his hometown but as his town. But for Lex, it's not enough that two-thirds of the people of the city work for him whether they know it or not; it's not enough to be a billionaire oligarch who can buy and sell people on a whim; it's that he must outdo Superman at all costs.

In Superman: Man of Tomorrow #6, that desire to one-up the eponymous Man of Steel has Lex pull out all the stops to take his arch-nemesis down for good and prove himself to be the true protector of Metropolis by turning one of its most iconic features, the top of the Daily Planet building, into a weapon.

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Previously, Lex had established a series of security cameras across the city that enabled him to weaponize the city against any supervillain threats. Initially, Luthor's weapons defeated a few Superman villains and drove some of Superman's rogues' gallery out of Metropolis to seek greener pastures. Despite that initial success, the flaws in Luthor's plans became apparent when the system tried to use lethal force against someone who skipped out on a dinner bill. Fortunately, Superman was able to take the blast and protect the low-level criminal.

The system's definition of "security" has no sense of scale, and it will attack a person skipping out on paying a dinner bill with the same level of lethality as it would if Doomsday were rampaging through the streets. With the entire city effectively turned into a giant maze of lasers, Superman is nearly overwhelmed until he gets reinforcements from the people of Metropolis themselves. Led by Perry White, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen, they rally the people to attack the machines with pipes, bats, and bricks to charge to Superman's rescue.

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Monitoring the attack on Superman from Lexcorp, Luthor decides that Superman is the real problem. As long as he's there to rally the people, they'll always resist him and never accept his "benevolent" rule. Accordingly, he activates his ultimate weapon and turns the globe that sits atop the Daily Planet building into a giant laser cannon that fires on Superman and the crowd of citizens rallied around him. Superman hurls himself into the path of the beam and pushes himself past his limits to save the people below. He then destroys the globe and flies to Lexcorp tower to foil Lex's plans. Superman argues that while Luthor only sees Metropolis as property and possessions, he recognizes that a city is comprised of people whose compassion and courage act to inspire him.

Taken with Superman: Man of Tomorrow #5, this issue itself presents an interesting meditation on the relative merits or embracing security or freedom on a societal level. Luthor and his lasers present the argument that peace can only come about through an emphasis on security, a militarization of the city of Metropolis to the point the city itself becomes an automated police state. However, Superman argues that the freedom inherent in people looking out for each other is preferable to a cold and mechanical order that would put the safety of citizens at risk in order to ensure security.

While Luthor's order is ultimately dependent on the whims of a despotic genius, Superman advocates for the choices of the individual, which can lead to both the courageous actions of the Metropolis citizenry and the very supervillains and assorted mayhem that Superman himself combats on a regular basis. While the larger debate over the relative merits of freedom vs. security has no easy answers, this story comes solidly down on the side of Superman.

When Luthor tried to turn the heart of Metropolis into a weapon, Superman proved that the true beating heart of Metropolis was in the collective spirit of its ordinary citizens.

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