Lifelong nemesis to the Man of Steel, Lex Luthor has long since established himself as the direct opposition to every value Superman stands for. Despite this, Lex Luthor is often positioned uniquely within stories to make the choices a man like Superman never could. DC vs Vampires shows readers that despite their constant bickering over values, Lex Luthor is actually the one hero better for humanity than Superman.
In DC vs Vampires, readers are shown the abandoned Legion of Doom's headquarters after being ransacked by a vampire hit squad. The vampire Andrew Bennett reveals that he was on the trail of a vicious murderer and while tracking down evidence, was lead to The Legion of Doom's secret base. Upon arriving there, he was met with the grisly scene of almost half the Legion's members slaughtered and left to rot. Among these villains was Lex Luthor, the lone living survivor. As part of his final act, Luthor gave Bennett a vial containing his blood, as well as an antidote for vampirism. Luthor was so sure of this serum's success that he asked Bennett to simply deliver the news "Lex Luthor saved the world" in exchange for the vial.
Related: Superman's Boyfriend Makes A Classic Movie Moment Even More Kickass
Compared to Lex Luthor's contributions in James Tynion IV, Matthew Rosenberg, and Otto Schmidt's DC vs Vampires #1, Superman did absolutely nothing to solve the vampire problem slowly plaguing the world. In fact, Superman's negligence and actions cost them the entire fight and the lives of several Justice League members. Superman's inaction when it came to solving the dispute between the vampire Wonder Woman and Green Lantern and the human Batman and Green Arrow was the direct cause of his own turning. Lex Luthor had already developed and completed an antidote by the time Superman even found out about the vampire issue. Superman's absolute failure to stop the vampire invasion in any measure was only exacerbated by his failure to stop Batman of all people- an event which caused the Last Son of Krypton to become a vampire himself.
Even worse than that, the fact that Luthor had the time to create the antidote means that Superman was being especially negligent prior to the vampire invasion. As stated a couple times within the series, supervillains often go off the grid in between jobs, which means it takes a while for anyone to realize that they are missing. Superman apparently had zero tabs on Lex Luthor, one of the most dangerous men on the planet. Beyond that, Superman's decision-making when it came to the schism was undeniably contrived. He can quite literally hear people's heartbeats and by that logic should also be able to hear the flow of blood within someone. Superman would quite literally be the first person to know if someone around him was "off." He also doesn't volunteer to hold the Lasso of Truth, as one of the few people who could fight off Wonder Woman, in order to prove that he hadn't been turned yet.
Lex Luthor may be Superman's nemesis throughout the years, but this story alone proves just how naive the Man of Steel really is. Even after the hit success of the grisly zombie infested DCeased, DC vs Vampires seems to be in the beginning stages of something completely different. With Superman now transformed into a vampire, the odds of victory are slimmer than ever and the man who was once Earth's greatest hero is now humanity's greatest threat.