Well… um. The Superman thing.
At the time Lex gives away his plan to nuke California and Hackensack, Supes doesn’t have the Kryptonite chain around his neck, right? The entire Evil Plot has not come to fruition; Luthor only guesses that Superman will try to discover the launch codes; he only hopes that Superman will investigate the lead-lined safe wherein the Kryptonite pendant lies; and Luthor hasn’t exactly got the bell on the cat, yet, has he? The Kryptonite is only a backup plan, a mere possibility.
He does say confidently that Superman cannot stop both missiles, so even if Luthor mis-calculated (and Supes flew off instantly to catch the first missile), Superman would presumably only catch the first one. We can guess that he would catch the closest one first, so we can also guess that Metropolis is closer to Hackensack than it is to California. If Metropolis and NYC are the same place, great; Luthor is putting Superman in the position of saving Metropolis to guarantee his (Luthor’s) California real estate dreams.
However, Superman does fall for the lead-lined safe bit, so both missles are assured to hit. The question is, why didn’t Luthor send Miss Tessmacher to save Superman in the pool in order to assist Superman with saving Hackensack and, presumably, Luthor’s lair itself? Or did he? And if he did – he could have picked Hackensack on purpose, could he have not? – then why does he seem surprised when the missiles change course?
He’s just too evil for his own good, that’s why. I guess. Or something.
FISH
Maybe if he’d used some sort of 1920’s style death ray…