Free DC Comic Character Profile : Lois Lane

June 1938: the first super hero in the history of comics made his debut when Superman graced the pages of Action Comics #1. In that comic there was no Daily Planet, Smallville, kryptonite, Lex Luthor, Perry White or Jimmy Olsen, but there was Lois Lane. In fact, Clark Kent asked Lois out on a date in that first comic, but things went badly. When a gangster demanded that Lois dance with him, Clark adhered to his disguise as a coward, which meant Lois had to defend herself against the intruder's advances. The outraged gangster kidnapped Lois after running her taxi off the road. Superman rushed to the rescue and saved Lois and thus the "love triangle built for two" was born. Clark would pine for Lois and she would pine for Superman.

This remained the status quo in the comics for a number of years, though Lois did warm up to Clark for the most part. Yet their relationship couldn't really advance with Lois left out of the secret and with Clark Kent's persona being a disguise. This changed in a comic from 1978 (the 40th anniversary of Superman). A wizard wanted to rid the world of Superman, but he had no idea that Superman had a secret identity. With Superman gone and no memory of being Superman and therefore no need to pretend to be a coward, Clark Kent finally became a man with a backbone.

The new 'take charge' Clark Kent, who was fearless and bold, became very attractive to Lois Lane, which proved it was more about attitude and personality than super powers that attracted her to Superman. Lois and the new Clark Kent began dating, fell in love and eventually he proposed and the couple got married. Then, on their honeymoon, when Lois saw Clark caught in a crossfire that should have killed him, but left no mark on him, she began to suspect he was really Superman. She tried to cut a lock of his hair and the scissors broke. As much as she loved Clark with no memory of being Superman, she knew the world needed Superman and so found the wizard who had cast the spell and had him reverse it.

Clark remembered he was Superman, but he also remembered being married to Lois and didn't want to back out of the marriage. Instead, he took her to the Fortress of Solitude and married her again, but as Superman and a Kryptonian marriage ceremony. From that point until the revamp, Lois and Clark of the alternate universe known as Earth-2, remained married; on Earth-1, however, it was business as usual. Lois loved Superman, but he said he belonged to the world and couldn't commit to anyone. Also Lana Lang, who had been created for the Superboy comics, was introduced into the Superman comics as an adult rival against Lois for Superman's affections. Lois won that competition, but still was not told of Superman's dual identity. However, a big change was coming...

In 1985, the DC Comics universe went through an enormous overhaul and revamp called Crisis on Infinite Earths. The purpose of the year-long event was to get rid of some character histories, conflicting continuity and overlapping worlds and create a more logical universe. When the Crisis ended, Clark never was Superboy as a youth and Clark Kent became the real person and Superman the disguise. There was finally a setting in which Lois could logically fall in love with Clark Kent because he was the real person this time; although it would take a couple of years for Lois to feel anything romantic for Clark after he scooped her on the Superman exclusive.

In Superman #44 (A Dark Knight over Metropolis), the couple buried the hatchet and began dating and fell in love. In Superman #50 (Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite), Clark proposed to Lois and she accepted, but Clark didn't tell Lois his secret until weeks later in Action Comics #662. That threw Lois for a loop and she needed time to think it over. After contemplating the revelation and its implications, Lois decided it all came down to love. She loved Clark and would accept and share his complicated life and secret. Then, due to the pending debut of the series Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, a chain of events were put into motion to prevent Lois and Clark in the comics from getting married until the TV couple was ready to walk down the aisle.

Superman was killed by Doomsday in Superman #75. Then, after a year of mourning, searching and resurrecting, Superman returned to the land of the living and the arms of Lois Lane. But the comics still had to drag their feet because Lois and Clark on the TV series met as strangers when the show debuted and it would take 3 years for them to make it to the altar. The comics launched into a series of arcs designed to keep the couple apart including a broken engagement arc, but Lois and Clark on the TV series finally married in October 1996 and so did their comic book counterparts.

More than a decade later, the legendary couple are still married and have recently adopted a boy, Chris Kent, the natural son of Kryptonian villains General Zod and Ursa.