By the time Lex actually starts shooting, he's seen Clark demonstrate his powers to save Kyle.
He's seen Clark demonstrate super speed and strength just then, plus speed in Rogue and strength in Jitters. Those two are all he knows for sure. He suspects invulnerability due to the car crash, but has no other proof as yet. He doesn't, I think, have any way of knowing about the X-ray vision or floating.
He has no reason to think all these powers come as a set. None. He doesn't know this is a show about Superman. ;)
I don't believe that he'd risk the life of his *one* real friend for a hypothesis (invulnerability) that he *knows* is wacky and for which he has little proof. Even if you eliminate altruistic and sentimental motives altogether and go with an entirely ruthless Lex, it makes no sense to test Clark in such a drastic way--if he's wrong, there goes his asset. He could easily have stabbed him in the arm with a pocketknife instead.
The only reasonable conclusion is that Lex was way beyond rational thought, and since we didn't see any evidence of hard drugs but DID see a man with mutant powers of persuasion there in the office, I think it's clear that he shook hands with Rickman.
They didn't show it for reasons of drama--so that we wouldn't know, in the few minutes between Clark calling Lex and Lex dousing the car with gasoline, whether Lex was himself or controlled by Rickman.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2002-08-20 02:37 am (UTC)He's seen Clark demonstrate super speed and strength just then, plus speed in Rogue and strength in Jitters. Those two are all he knows for sure. He suspects invulnerability due to the car crash, but has no other proof as yet. He doesn't, I think, have any way of knowing about the X-ray vision or floating.
He has no reason to think all these powers come as a set. None. He doesn't know this is a show about Superman. ;)
I don't believe that he'd risk the life of his *one* real friend for a hypothesis (invulnerability) that he *knows* is wacky and for which he has little proof. Even if you eliminate altruistic and sentimental motives altogether and go with an entirely ruthless Lex, it makes no sense to test Clark in such a drastic way--if he's wrong, there goes his asset. He could easily have stabbed him in the arm with a pocketknife instead.
The only reasonable conclusion is that Lex was way beyond rational thought, and since we didn't see any evidence of hard drugs but DID see a man with mutant powers of persuasion there in the office, I think it's clear that he shook hands with Rickman.
They didn't show it for reasons of drama--so that we wouldn't know, in the few minutes between Clark calling Lex and Lex dousing the car with gasoline, whether Lex was himself or controlled by Rickman.