Luthor's quest involves a conversation with Death herself and finally leads him to face a powerful and deadly entity released from the Phantom Zone. Luthor infuses himself with Kryptonian technology and grapples with the creature. The two fuse and Luthor learns it evolved in the Phantom Zone and now seeks to escape, driven mad by sensing the grief and anger of the Zone prisoners. With the creature's power at his command, Luthor draws out Superman to him and attempts to drive the hero mad by forcing him to experience real human emotions, believing the Last Son of Krypton only fakes humanity in order to be trusted. The ploy fails and Luthor's new abilities reveal that Superman is really Clark Kent, a well-meaning man raised by Earth people who loved him and who still mourns the loss of his beloved human father Jonathan Kent. Luthor is enraged by how this upbringing and emotional nature clashes with his own motivations, unhappy childhood and anger towards his own father.