You couldn't kill Lex Luthor and you can't kill me!—Gretchen Kelly, to Superman, A Bolt from the Blue
Gretchen Kelly was a recurring villain in the second season of the series.
She was the former physician and admirer of Lex Luthor who looked after his dead body, eventually succeeding in bringing him back to life.
History[]
Not much is known about Gretchen except that she was a scientist and Lex's physician who secretly admired him. When Lex committed suicide to avoid capture, Gretchen worked with Lex's ex-wife Arianna Carlin to steal the body from the police morgue and work began on bringing Lex back to life.
Season 2[]
Gretchen caring for Lex's body
Like Arianna, Gretchen was full of rage and hatred and also blamed Lois and Superman for Lex's death: Superman for not saving him and Lois for "driving him to his death" by refusing him at the altar.
While Arianna concocted a scheme of framing Lois Lane with a clever double of the reporter, using subliminal messaging to turn the public against the Man of Steel and then killing him with a Kryptonite bullet, Gretchen was entrusted to care for Lex's body which was frozen in a metal casket in her laboratory.
However Arianna failed and she and the Lois double were imprisoned, leaving Gretchen behind to care for Lex's body. She told Lex what had happened but said that he would always have her. (Madame Ex)
Gretchen in the thunderstorm
Some time afterwards, Gretchen moved the corpse to a crypt under a cemetery. She then saw a thunderstorm involving Superman and a man named William Waldecker who was visiting his mother's grave and planned to commit suicide. Both men were struck by lightning and sometime later Waldecker was soaring around Metropolis as a new superhero named Resplendent Man.
Gretchen soon realized that Superman's powers could be transferred and was determined to get them for herself and Lex.
She tried to persuade Resplendent Man to help her find the secret of his superpowers but he refused so in the disguise of a nurse, she asked his sister Wandamae who told her that he had indeed got his powers from Superman.
She then had Wandamae kidnapped and placed in a electronic prison cell that that had sensitive bars that would send off an electromagnetic pulse if the bars were so much as touched. She also capture Lois who had been staking out the cemetery and held her prisoner too.
Gretchen then found Resplendent Man and forced him to help her gain superpowers otherwise his sister would die. With no other choice, he followed her to her lab where she had developed a machine that copied the lightning that had struck Superman and Waldecker that night.
She made him stand on a plate at one end with a cage with a rat on the other side.
Gretchen foiled by Superman and Resplendent Man after she attempts to steal superpowers for herself
After several frustrating failed experiments, Gretchen successfully transferred Waldecker's powers to her, while revealing to Lois that she had Lex encased all this time. The evil scientist accused Lois and Superman for Lex being that way in the first place before dueling with the Man of Steel, who was unwilling to fight back against a woman. Waldecker however was more than willing to fight Gretchen in retaliation for kidnapping his sister. Gretchen was punched into Lex's equipment that was keeping his body stable, causing it to malfunction which drove her into a state of panic.
Both men decided to use this moment to reverse the polarity and give Superman his powers back. But Gretchen decided to use her final trump card by detonating the electronic cage with Lois and Wandermae still inside. However they managed to escape unharmed when Lois realized that Gretchen had set the release code with the exact date of Lex and Lois' wedding.
While all this was happening Gretchen managed to escape and later disguised as a coroner moved Lex's body under the sewers of Metropolis. (A Bolt from the Blue)
Gretchen and Nigel witnessing Lex's revival
Gretchen later contacted Lex's former PA Nigel St. John and more work began in bringing Lex back to life. It proved to be a struggle after the damaged caused in the cemetery and it looked like Lex would never make it.
She then stabilized his electromagnetic field, but it seemed like Lex's body would never recover. Gretchen had now lost all hope and Nigel put his hand on her shoulder, telling her it was a noble experiment.
Suddenly, to both their shock and amazement, Gretchen had actually succeeded when Lex's hand smashed through his frozen chamber and he lifted himself out.
Gretchen with the now revived Lex Luthor
Gretchen was overjoyed and at once began to see to his treatments. However Lex was none too pleased when he realized that as a side effect, he was losing his hair and was furious with Gretchen for allowing this to happen to him. Gretchen explained that it was only temporary and his hair would eventually grow back. He then told her to shave if off, making him bald.
Lex was also furious to learn that his former attorney Sheldon Bender had swindled him out of his whole fortune so he sent her, Nigel and his friend Ramine to kidnap Bender and bring him to him for a "little meeting".
They succeeded and she watched Lex and Nigel torture Bender who said he would be able to find Kryptonite to help Lex kill Superman.
After making arrangements with Rollie Vale who had agreed to give Lex the Kryptonite in exchange for his freedom from imprisonment and half a million dollars, they set up a diversion involving a bomb and Daily Planet editor Perry White to keep Superman out of way while they gathered the equipment they needed to break Vale out.
Despite her true love for Lex, his feelings were only for Lois and he saw Gretchen as "uninspiring" but she was determined to prove her love for him.
Gretchen and Lex witnessing Bender's murder
After Bender arranged for Vale to be moved to the courthouse for another hearing, Lex returned him to his home, but then arranged for Nigel to kill him after he found out that Lois and Clark were investigating and that he may have turned them in. Lex and Gretchen both watched the murder from a van with Lex complimenting how he had always admired Nigel's "creativity".
While Lex and Nigel set off to break out Vale, Gretchen was assigned to bring Lois to him, which she succeeded in doing when she found the reporter near the entrance of their hideout.
She tied Lois up and waited for Lex to return. Lois tried to tell her that Lex was an insane psychopathic criminal capable of killing her as well as anyone else. But Gretchen refused to listen, saying that Lex would never harm her as she had brought him back to life.
Gretchen killed
Lex returned and managed to get the Kryptonite from Vale who had hidden it in his robotic arm the entire time. Lex then gave it to Nigel for safekeeping. However as Lex was about to double-cross Vale, Nigel himself and Ramine double-crossed them all. Nigel revealed to be an agent for a new crime organization called Intergang and had been secretly working for them, this whole time.
Gretchen pleaded with Nigel not to do this, but Nigel shot Lex with a crossbow bolt, knocked out Vale and escaped. The scientist saw to Lex's wounds and when Lois tried to intervene, she angrily threw her into a rat pit.
This proved to be a fatal mistake as Lex was horrified by what she had done and tried to rescue the reporter. Gretchen desperately held him back saying Lois had never truly loved him and she was the one who did as she had sacrificed everything to bring him back to life.
Lex however got frustrated and pushed her away with such force that it knocked her into a high voltage fuse box which electrocuted her to death. (The Phoenix)
Episode Appearances[]
Season 2[]
- 1. Madame Ex
- 8. A Bolt from the Blue
- 13. The Phoenix
Trivia[]
- Nigel was later killed when he tried to double-cross another employer named Jason Mayzik and a year later Lex died again, but this time because of Gretchen's murder, he had no one to bring him back.