Superman and Lois Lane are a fictional couple. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, both characters, including Superman's alter ego Clark Kent, first appeared in DC Comics' Action Comics #1 in 1938. They have remained in a complicated relationship ever since. A supercouple and the first superhero comic book romance, they are among the best-known fictional couples and have appeared in multiple media adaptations.
The characters' relationship was based for a long time in a love triangle in which Clark was interested in Lois who was smitten with the superhero Superman. Clark, unable to reveal to Lois that his mild-mannered demeanor was a ruse, was unable to compete for Lois's affection. The irony being he was his own rival in that Clark and Superman are, in fact, the same person. This love triangle and the dual identity were originally conceived in 1934. Following John Byrne's 1986 reboot, The Man of Steel, Clark's character became the more dominant personality of the Clark Kent/Superman character and more outgoing, aggressive, and assertive. This allowed a more natural romance to develop between Lois and Clark.
In the 1990s, Clark proposed marriage to Lois and revealed his identity as Superman to her. They began a long engagement, which was complicated by the death of Superman, a breakup, and several other problems. The couple married in Superman: The Wedding Album (December 1996). Clark and Lois's biological child in DC Comics canon was born in Convergence: Superman #2 (July 2015), a son named Jon Kent, who becomes Superboy.
Lois is the character most prominently featured with Superman; she appears in virtually all Superman comics and media adaptations and continues to be an essential part of the Superman mythos. Across decades of comics and other media adaptations, in some stories, Lois knows or suspects that Clark is Superman; sometimes this is explored for humour or plot development.Superman (1978) Delete scene: Lois suspects and attempts to prove Clark is Superman by jumping out a window at the Daily Planet. Superman II (1980) Lois attempts to prove Clark is Superman by jumping into a river at Niagara Falls. Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (2006) Lois suspects and successfully proves Clark is Superman, by shooting him with blank gun.
Creation The characters, Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane, were created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Superman was conceived as the ideal Hollywood romantic hero of the time, portrayed in films by actors such as Douglas Fairbanks, Clark Gable, and Rudolph Valentino. Siegel and Shuster were both fans of silent film actor Douglas Fairbanks, his films The Mark of Zorro (1920), Robin Hood (1922), and The Black Pirate (1926) became a huge influence on their writing and art for Superman. The idea of making Superman an alien from another planet was inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars stories. Clark Kent's character grew out of Siegel and Shuster's own personal lives. Clark Kent's name is the combined names of actors Clark Gable and Kent Taylor. Clark Kent's demeanor was based on Harold Lloyd. Lois Lane was inspired by actress Glenda Farrell's portrayal of the fictional reporter Torchy Blane in a series of 1930s films. Siegel took her name from actress Lola Lane. Shuster based Lois Lane's physical appearance on a model named Joanne Carter. Carter later married Jerry Siegel in 1948.
On the conception of Superman's dual identity, Siegel said in the 1983 Nemo magazine interview: "That occurred to me in late 1934, when I decided that I'd like to do Superman as a newspaper strip. I approached Joe about it, and he was enthusiastic about the possibility. I was up late one night, and more and more ideas kept coming to me, and I kept writing out several weeks of syndicate scripts for the proposed newspaper strip. When morning came, I had written several weeks of material, and I dashed over to Joe's place and showed it to him. [This was the story that appeared in Action Comics #1, June, 1938, the first published appearance of Superman.] You see, Clark Kent grew not only out of my private life but also out of Joe's. As a high school student, I thought that some day I might become a reporter, and I had crushes on several attractive girls who either didn't know I existed or didn't care I existed. As a matter of fact, some of them looked like they hoped I didn't exist. It occurred to me: What if I was real terrific? What if I had something special going for me, like jumping over buildings or throwing cars around or something like that? Then maybe they would notice me. That night when all the thoughts were coming to me, the concept came to me that Superman could have a dual identity and that in one of his identities he could be meek and mild, as I was, and wear glasses, the way I do. The heroine, who I figured would be a girl reporter, would think he was some sort of a worm, yet she would be crazy about this Superman character who could do all sorts of fabulous things. In fact, she was real wild about him, and a big inside joke was that the fellow she was crazy about was also the fellow whom she loathed. By coincidence, Joe was a carbon copy [of me]."
Siegel objected to any proposal that Lois discovers Clark Kent is Superman, as he felt that, as implausible as Clark's disguise is, the love triangle was too important to the stories appeal. Siegel stated: "If Lois should ACTUALLY learn Clark's secret, the strip would lose about 75% of its appeal—the human interest angle. I know that a formula can possibly prove monotonous through repetition but I fear that if this element is removed from the story formula that makes up SUPERMAN, that this strip will lose a great part of its effectiveness."
Comics 1938–1986
Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane first appeared in Action Comics #1 (June 1938). Their first story together features a sequence in which Clark behaves cowardly, leaving Lois to defend herself against an aggressive man, from whom Superman later saves her. From then on, Clark was established as a shy man attracted to Lois, while she was interested in his heroic alter ego, Superman. This remained the status quo in the comics for decades.
Although Clark pursues Lois romantically, he does so while assuming a guise of abject cowardice that inevitably repulses Lois, and while rebuffing her own romantic overtures to his Superman identity. Noting this, and the way in which Clark laughs at Lois behind her back after he first learns she is in love with Superman, comics writer Michael Fleisher has described the underlying relationship between Lois and Clark during the Golden Age period as one of "mutual contempt", arguing that "Although Clark Kent rationalizes his need to play the coward on the ground that it helps him protect his secret identity, there is no way of easily rationalizing his openly stated desire to fool Lois into believing that she has him wrapped around her little finger."
As early as the 1940s, Lois began to suspect that Clark Kent was Superman; the first instance of this appears in Superman #17 (July–August 1942) in a story titled "Man or Superman" by Siegel and Shuster. Across decades of comics, Lois would suspect Clark is Superman and fruitlessly tries to prove it, with Superman always thwarting her. This theme became particularly pronounced in the 1950s and 1960s comics. In the Bronze Age of Comic Books, Lois became more of a heroic figure, more independent from Superman, and was less interested in his secret identity.
The first DC Comics story where Superman marries Lois Lane (not dreams, hoaxes or imaginary tales, but in DC canon) was in Action Comics #484 (June 1978). In this issue, celebrating Superman's 40th anniversary, The Wizard wanted to rid the world of Superman, however, he had no idea that Superman had a secret identity. Clark, with no memory of being Superman and therefore no need to pretend to be a coward, became fearless and bold, thus becoming attractive to Lois Lane—proving that it was more about attitude and personality than superpowers that attracted her to Superman. Lois and the new Clark began dating and fell in love. Eventually, he proposed, and the couple got married. 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. To further prove this, Lois tried to cut a lock of his hair, and the scissors she used broke. As much as she loved the new Clark with no memory of being Superman, Lois knew that the world needed Superman, and found The Wizard, who had cast the spell, and made him reverse it. Clark remembered he was Superman, but also his marriage to Lois. He then took Lois to the Fortress of Solitude and married her again in a Kryptonian ceremony as Superman. From that point on, Lois and Clark/Superman of the alternate universe known as Earth-Two remained married in DC Comics. This version of the character stars in The Superman Family comic book in the series Mr and Mrs Superman, which features the adventures of the Earth-Two Superman and his wife, Lois Lane Kent. The couple later appeared in the 2005 Infinite Crisis limited series.
In the main DC universe, however, things stayed the same, with Lois still not being allowed to discover Superman's dual identity. She loved Superman, but he said he belonged to the world and could not commit to anyone. In 1985, the DC universe went through a revamp with the Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series. The purpose of the year-long event was to get rid of some character histories, conflicting continuity, and overlapping worlds.
In the 1986 two-part story Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? by Alan Moore and Curt Swan, that told the final tale of Superman (which was being rebooted following the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths, before his modern introduction in the John Byrne series). The story is a frame story, set ten years after Superman was last seen, where Lois Lane recounts the end of Superman's career to a reporter. The story includes numerous attacks against Superman by his enemies, the public revelation of his secret identity as Clark Kent, and a number of deaths of his friends. At the end of the story, it is revealed that Lois' husband, the car mechanic Jordan Elliot, is Superman. He is without powers and lives as an ordinary man with Lois and their son Jonathan. The final image is of Jordan delivering a classic Superman wink to the reader, as he and Lois continue to "live happily ever after". The story was designed to honor the long history of the Superman character and serves as a complete conclusion to his mythology.
1986–2011
Following Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC Comics released the six-issue limited series The Man of Steel by John Byrne, which told the story of Superman's modern origin. Superman was now never Superboy in his youth, with Clark Kent becoming the real person and Superman the disguise. With this retelling, there was now a setting in which Lois could logically fall in love with Clark Kent, as he was the real person this time. Even with this, however, it would take years for Lois to have romantic feelings for Clark after he scooped her on the exclusive Superman story.
In Superman #44 (June 1990), the couple made peace, began dating, and fell in love. In Superman #50 (December 1990), Clark proposes to Lois, and she accepts. Clark did not tell Lois his identity as Superman until weeks later in Action Comics #662 (February 1991). After contemplating the revelation and its implications, Lois decides it all comes down to love. She loves Clark and wants to spend the rest of her life with him.