The 'Lex Luthor Took Forty Cakes' meme stems from a panel in the 1978 'The Super Dictionary,' an educational book designed to teach children basic vocabulary using DC Comics characters. The entry for the word 'forty' depicts Lex Luthor wheeling away a cart of stolen cakes from a school bake sale, accompanied by the hilariously earnest caption, 'And that's terrible.' Its popularity grew in the late 2000s as internet users rediscovered the absurdity of a billionaire genius engaging in such low-stakes larceny. Today, it is used to satirize corporate pettiness, minor inconveniences, or any situation where a trivial act is framed as a world-class villainous deed.