Big Jim Renny from THE DOME by Steven King is a great antagonist. At the same time, King portrays a man who is large in size and in his ability to manipulate the people of his town, but still cowardly in a way. He's cunning and when the Dome falls he is able to consolidate power faster than the protagonists can respond.
They must have changed Lex Luthor's origin story. I remember reading it back in the 1960s and it was basically this: Superboy and Lex were friends. One day, Lex's lab catches on fire while Lex is in there working on a cure for green Kryptonite. Because Superboy can't go into the lab (green K, right?) he blows out the fire from behind a tree outside. But by doing so, he blows some chemical all over Lex's hair which makes it fall out. Lex is so pissed, he becomes a super-villain and pledges revenge against Superboy... all because he went bald.