2025 marks the 85th anniversary of this iconic antagonist, who first appeared in Action Comics #23 in 1940. Throughout his extensive comic book history, the brilliant billionaire has schemed against Superman, run for president, created countless doomsday devices, and even temporarily attained godhood. However, in a strange twist of comic book fate, Luthor’s most culturally pervasive moment—the infamous “40 cakes” incident—didn’t originate in the pages of a mainstream Superman comic book at all. Instead, this peculiar piece of villainy that has dominated internet culture for years came from a children’s educational book, proving that even the most unexpected sources can cement a character’s pop culture legacy.
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The unlikely origin of Luthor’s most notorious heist traces back to a 1978 publication called The Super Dictionary, a children’s educational book designed to teach vocabulary through DC Comics characters. Among the thousands of alphabetically arranged definitions was an entry featuring Luthor fleeing with a cart full of baked goods, accompanied by the deadpan text: “When no one was looking, Lex Luthor took forty cakes. He took 40 cakes. That’s as many as four tens. And that’s terrible.”
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The absurdity of seeing a criminal mastermind committing such a petty crime and the redundant explanation of basic mathematics created perfect fodder for internet humor. As meme culture blossomed in the mid-2000s, scans of this peculiar page began circulating on forums and image boards, ealing Lex Luthor’s fate. The simple scenario got endlessly remixed and repurposed across different contexts, with the phrase “And that’s terrible” becoming a punchline in its own right. Lex Luthor’s cake heist became so crucial for the character’s legacy that it came full circle, becoming DC Comics canon in 2011.
DC Comics Made Lex Luthor’s 40 Cakes Meme Canon
In a brilliant acknowledgment of fan culture, DC officially incorporated the cake theft into Superman lore with Superman #709, published in March 2011. Written by J. Michael Straczynski and Chris Roberson with art by Eddy Barrows, the issue features a flashback to Clark Kent’s high school years in Smallville. During detention, Clark encounters a young Luthor, whose presence is explained through a caption revealing he’s there for “stealing forty cakes from the school’s bake sale.” The panel adds that this was “his revenge on a school administration that refused to let him enter a fission-powered toaster in the science fair.”
This clever retcon transformed the once-silly educational snippet into legitimate Superman history while maintaining Luthor’s core character traits. Rather than dismissing the popular meme, DC embraced it, providing Luthor’s theft with motivation that aligned perfectly with his established personality. The scene encapsulates everything that defines the character: scientific brilliance, disproportionate responses to perceived slights, and a lifelong pattern of rebellion against authority. Just like that, a single issue of Superman turned the 40 cakes meme upside down, using it to foreshadow Lex Luthor’s prolific criminal career. And that’s not terrible at all.
What’s your favorite Lex Luthor 40-cakes meme? Share it with us in the comments!
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