Post by Lois Lane on Dec 19, 2009 18:37:21 GMT -5
First Name: Lois
Middle Name: Joanne
Last Name: Lane-Kent
Age: I'd say early 30s, but it's not listed.
Height/Weight: 5'6" 120 pounds
Eyes: Blue (though some artists use brown for some reason... this really isn't standard...)
Hair: Originally Brown, But now Dyed Black
Persuasion: Good
Powers/Weapons: Expert Combatant: Lois has extensive combat training: from an early age her father taught her how to fight and how to handle guns and knives; Lois later trained with the Special Crimes Unit and is a Black Belt in at least one form of martial arts. Lois also has extensive investigative skills owing to her long career as an investigative reporter.
Blaster Rifle (hidden in apartment for protection)
History: Lois was born the older of two daughters to Sam Lane, a career military officer, and Ella Lane. Her father, desiring a boy and getting two girls, treated them both as though they were in his unit growing up. This included combat training, and Lois once admitted that he even taught them to throw knives with their toes.
Being an army brat, Lois moved around a lot with her family growing up. When she was fifteen, however, her family was living near Metropolis and she went to the Daily Planet to ask for a job from Perry White. She had met White once before, when she had visited the newspaper with her class. She lied and said that she was nineteen, but her sister Lucy (who had come with her) told Perry the truth. Overhearing some reporters say that whomever gets a scoop on Lex Luthor would get on Perry's good side, Lois decided to attempt the seemingly impossible. She snuck out of the house (which, considering her family lived on base, was no small feat) and managed to break into Luthor's tower and swipe some files. She was caught by Luthor himself, however, who gave her a paddling and sent her on her way. Perry was so impressed that he did agree to hire her.[1]
Lois would quickly rise as a premier reporter at the Daily Planet, winning multiple awards before one of the biggest stories of her career turned up: the day she met Superman. Lois was invited aboard an experimental space shuttle, the Constitution, that was supposed to land at Metropolis airport. Unfortunately, the shuttle began to crash. Suddenly, a mysterious flying man appeared and grabbed hold of the plan, guiding it to safety. As soon as the shuttle was on the ground, Lois burst out of the shuttle, running right for the man (a young Clark Kent who had not yet fashioned his costume). She cornered him, and Clark would later describe the meeting to his parents: "She's...I don't know...not as beautiful as a movie star, but she has...a quality. Something I've never seen in any other woman. Almost a fire in those big, dark eyes. For just a moment, it seemed as if something passed between us. A spark..." Unfortunately, a crowd quickly tried to mob the mysterious man, so he flew away. Lois got the byline for the newspaper and was the first to call him by the name the whole world would soon know: Superman.[2]
It is also revealed that at some point in the recent past (prior to Superman's debut in Metropolis), Lois had a failed relationship with Lex Luthor.
After many unsuccessful attempts to track down Superman, Lois decided to fake an accident to get his attention--she drove her car into the bay. Superman was right on cue, and after pulling her (and her car) from the water, he agreed to a brief interview. Much to Lois's chagrin, however, when she tried to file the story with Perry, she found that a new reporter Perry just hired had beaten her on the exclusive story of Superman -- a young reporter named Clark Kent.[3]
It took Lois quite some time to forgive Clark for beating her to the punch, but eventually she got over it and they became good friends.
Lois was one of the first people from the outside world who got to visit Themyscira on Paradise Island. As a gesture of goodwill, Wonder Woman invited twelve hand picked delegates, each representing different perspectives (a Rabbit, an architect, etc) to come to the island for a goodwill tour. Diana initially asked Clark Kent to come, but as he was busy he suggested Lois, and she gratefully accepted. While on the island, Lois had to help Wonder Woman fight against Dis, daughter of Ares, who was sowing discord among the Amazons and the delegates.[4]
After being together for some time, Clark finally proposed to Lois with the Kent family engagement ring. Lois did not answer immediately, as she was distracted with her mother's illness, but seeing Clark's committment to her she accepted the proposal later that night.[5] Jimmy Olsen threw the couple an engagement party at the Planet the same day that Lex Luthor apparently died in a plane crash. [6]
It wasn't a few weeks or months after that Clark finally got around to revealing that he and Superman were one and the same.[7] Lois accepted the the dual identity and now was in a better position to help Superman. This was about the time that the Daily Planet employees went on strike over a labor dispute.
Although at first, Lois was a little peeved to think that Clark had been using his role as Superman to gain an advantage over her. After Clark beat her to the punch on a story involving the Parasite, Lois was determined to one up him. The strike organizer was a man named Jeb Friedman, a southern "good ol' boy" who took a strong interest in Lois, despite her engagement to Clark. Lois was initially only interested in Jeb for any Intergang connections he might have. She then challenges Clark--can he scoop her on a story without using any of his powers. Lois went home to her parents, her mother almost completely recovered, where her father was attacked by Angstrom. Lois managed to hold him at bay until Superman, tipped off to Angstrom's escape and his intent by Emil Hamilton, could turn up and subdue him. Lois offered to call off the bet, but Clark insisted on keeping it. Lois promised to tell Angstrom's story, but the true facts were lost when he was cured at STAR and they sold the story to Newstime. Despite his obivious intentions, Lois and Jeb actually became friends, although it made Clark more than a little jealous.[8]
Lois is as skeptical of the new Lex Luthor II as the rest of Metropolis when he shows up claiming to be the son of the "late" Lex Luthor. Lois and Clark are present when Hellgrammite tries to assassinate the new Luthor (which Superman foils of course).[9]
A friend Lois made down at a soup kitchen, Charlie, alerts her to a plot by the Underworlders, stirred up by remnants of Warworld's warriors that were stranded on Earth after the Panic in the Sky, to conquor Metropolis. She follows the tip to the main power plant in the city, where she is captured by Clawster and taken as a prisoner into the caves beneath the city as the Underworlders prepare their attack. Fortunately, Keith Robert alerts Superman to the plot and the Man of Steel foils the Underworlders and rescues Lois (who was going to be set free by Charlie anyway).[10]
DC had planned on Lois and Clark being married in 1993's Superman #75. However, with the then-upcoming television show Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, DC decided they did not want to have the two married in the comics and not married on TV (as it turned out, they desired to have the wedding occur simultaneously in both the comics and the television program). Partially as a result of this, Superman was killed in Superman #75 instead, dying in Lois's arms at the foot of the Daily Planet Building after a battle royal with the monster Doomsday. On scene, Lois was given the heart wrenching task of writing the story about the death of Earth's greatest hero.[11] Devestated by the loss, Lois realized she also had to keep up the pretense that Clark and Superman were two different people. She attended his funerals, lost in the crowd of many thousands of people, and then finally called the Kents to speak with them.[12] The Kents and Lana Lang came to Metropolis to help clear out Clark's apartment and together they all agreed to keep the secret of his double life.[13] When Superman's body was stolen from the tomb, Lois followed the trail with some help from Charlie and other Underworlders, learning that Cadmus had stolen it. When she broke the story, Supergirl (Matrix) recovered the body and returned it to the tomb.[14] Weeks later, when Jon Kent collapsed of a heart attack, Lois went to Smallville to be with Martha. Jon survived, and when he awoke he announced that he had seen Clark and brought him back with him. When Lois got back to Metropolis, multiple Superman stories began to flood in from all over the city. Going with Commissioner Henderson to the tomb, they found that it was empty.[15]
Not only was there one Superman flying around, there were four--The Man of Tomorrow, The Last Son of Krypton, The Man of Steel, and The Metropolis Kid. Lois got to interview them all, but despite proof from the first two, she remained skeptical that any of them were the real Superman. As a matter of fact, she was among the first to recognize the Cyborg Superman for the villain that he really was.
Eventually, a fifth person--wearing a black costume and not having superpowers--showed up in Metropolis claiming to be the real Superman returned to life, and Lois was one of the ones on scene to meet him. She was again skeptical, thinking it was a trick like the others, but this one knew far more than any of the others, and before taking off for a battle at Engine City he reaffirmed his love for her.[16] When he returned from Engine City, back in costume and fully powered, there was not a doubt left in her mind (or in any one else's the world over).[17] Along with Supergirl (Matrix), Lois helped work out the return of Clark Kent--the ruse being that he had supposedly been buried in rubble leftover from Doomsday's rampage (over three hundred people were still missing).[18]
Lois began a series of investigations regarding LexCorp itself. A recent building under construction had collapsed and there was suspicion of insurance fraud. Lois did some investigating and found those suspicions were true--several buildings had been destroyed and the damage blamed on Doomsday. She did not think that Lex Luthor II was involved, however. She attended his "Welcome Back Superman" party aboard his blimb (surviving an attack by Underworlders who were after Paul Westfield) and he agreed to an interview the next day. During the interview, Luthor confesses that he does have dreams for a shining new city, but says he has had nothing to do with the fraud. He also makes a pass at her, infuriating Lois and causing her to remark to Clark that father and son are not so very different after all. She filed her story, although she left Luthor's name out of it specifically, even though she was beginning to suspect he was not the golden boy he had been playing himself to be. Lois also covered a fake hostage situation at a retirement home--the residents staged it to draw attention to the squalid conditions they had been living under. She then learned that the foreman of the site she had interviewed for the fraud story was almost killed by a group called Nuclear Waste. Superman saved the foreman [Beasley]. Lois talked to him again in the hospital where Beasley told her that Luthor had fired him. He was convinced Luthor was behind the hit.[19]
Clark was feeling particularly rejuvenated since his return from the dead. He surprised Lois on a Sunday morning and asked her if she would like to go to Paris for the day. The two spent the day in Paris, arriving back and heading into work Monday morning to learn some terrible news--Cat Grant's son Adam had been kidnapped and murdered.[20] Cat was devestated at the loss, and Lois tried to be there for her as much as possible. She was relieved to find that Cat did not start drinking again. She and Clark came to Adam's funeral. Lois heard from Cat about Sasha Green, a former personal trainer of Lex Luthor II's, had gone missing. Rumor was that she moved to Coast City just before it was obliterated. Lois decided to do some digging, talking with another of Luthor's trainers as well as one of the cleaning women for LexCorp Tower. Lois remembered meeting Sasha once, when Superman's body had been stolen from the tomb, and saw Sasha knock Luthor flat. Luthor had threatened her in anger. That was the last day anyone had seen her. The cleaning woman confessed that the day Sasha went missing, the changing room had been closed, presumably for renovations.[21] The only clue Lois had was that Sasha's gym bag (which had her name on it) was left behind at LexCorp.[22]
When Luthor decided to try and create another Bizarro, his creation rebelled and fled from LexCorp. His memories a jumble, Bizarro showed up at Lois's apartment and kidnapped her.[23] Bizarro took her to a warehouse where he had recreated scenes from Superman's life as best he could remember (resulting in a surreal, Bizarro World environment). Lois managed to escape on her own.[24] After Bizarro, dying from his unstable condition, is recaptured by Luthor, Lois goes with Superman into LexCorp to try and free him. Bizarro dies in Lois's arms, and immediately afterwards Lois learns that Lex Luthor II is badly ill--and that maybe he much more than that! A source whom she referred to as "Deep Quote" helps her escape when Superman is distracted.[25] Thanks to her contact, Lois learns the horrible truth--that Lex Luthor II is really the original Lex Luthor, just in a clone body. She attempts to out Luthor, but thanks to Luthor's machinations she is publically discredited.[26] Luthor's continued scheming makes Lois look more and more crazy--he also plants evidence implicating her for embezzlement from the Planet, prompting Franklin Stern to order Perry to fire her. White reluctantly follows orders, which in this instance is one of the hardest things he's ever done.[27] Luthor even fire bombs Lois's apartment, destroying such evidence as a tape revealing that Luthor (at least) attempted to kill Sasha Green. With some more help from her contact, who is eventually revealed to be Dr. Gertrude Kelly, Lois manages to prove to Stern and Perry the truth about the cloned Luthor and also expose his work at discrediting Lois. She also uncovers Luthor's insane plan to detonate bombs all over the city (dying from the Clone Plague, Luthor has decided to take Metropolis down with him. With Metropolis erupting into a battleground, Lois retreats across the river with the other Daily Planet staffers even as Luthor launches several missiles into the heart of the city, destroying most of the major buildings--including the Daily Planet itself. Lois is saved from being crushed by the Planet's globe by Superman.[28] Lois decides to remain in Metropolis and tough it out, helping Superman during his fight with Massacre and meeting the Riot Grrrls.[29]
After Zero Hour, Clark is targeted for several hits, some of which look like accidents. Lois insists that Clark find out who is trying to kill him, but the bad guy makes himself known by attacking Lois and Clark at his apartment--Conduit, whom Clark discovers much to his horror is really an old friend from Smallville, Kenny Braverman.[30] When a body is discovered in Superman's tomb, Lois temporarily has her doubt that the living Man of Steel is the original, but all is set to right when the body turns out to be an illusion created by Brainiac.[31]
Lois, Clark, and Jimmy went to Washington D.C. for a reporter's convention. While there, they were all three attacked by thugs hired by Arclight, who had a grudge against all reporters. Lois was alonewhen Agent Liberty saved her from an attack and she insisted on tagging along with him for the story. Even with Superman's help, Arclight managed to escape, vowing revenge against all reporters. Arclight would turn up in Metropolis a few weeks later, however, and working with Jimmy Superman was able to aprehend him. However, when Perry used Ron Troupe's story instead of Jimmy's, Olsen quit the Daily Planet.[32]
Thanks to a villain named Shadowdragon, Conduit learned that Superman and Clark Kent were one and the same. Enraged, Conduit decided to come after not only Clark but everyone he cares about. Lois managed to illude him at first, but he managed to track her down and detonate a bomb even as Superman was rushing to the scene. Superman was lead to think that she had died, but the ever resourceful Lois had managed to escape the trap.[33] With Conduit also thinking she was dead, Lois managed to keep one step ahead of his operatives as she tried to track down Clark and his parents, who had gone into hiding. During her search, she met Shadowdragon himself, who told her that he had purged all of Conduit's information on Superman and also that Jimmy Olsen was alive but taken by Conduit. Lois finally manages to track down the Kents outside Fawcett City. When Clark expresses a feeling that he might have to give up being Clark and just be Superman, Lois managed to convince him to change his mind after showing him how much he would be missing.[34]
Before and after their run from Conduit, Lois was on the case of a serial killer named Saviour (see that entry for more information, including an excerpt from one of Lois's articles).
Shortly after returning to Metropolis, the Alpha Centurion arrives in the city for the first time. Superman is uneasy around him, however, having met an alternate version of him back during Zero Hour. In tha alternate timeline, Lois was involved with the Centurion, so Clark found himself a little jealous when the real one turned up, despite assurances from Lois that there could never be anyone for her but him.[35] Neverthelees, Marcus does hit on Lois repeatedly.
That makes it all the more awkward when Superman is kidnapped by aliens, as Lois is forced to call on him for help.[36] The Alpha Centurion quickly puts together a Superman Rescue Squad and goes off into space, where Superman is successfully rescued from the Tribunal. Lois is overjoyed when Superman returns safe, but admits that sometimes she misses Clark very much.[37]
Things then become very strained between Lois and Clark. More and more, Clark finds little time for Lois, as his duties as Superman begin to take up so much of his days and nights. Compounding matters are when Lori Lemaris shows up in Metropolis. Lois was a little put off by the beautiful Lori, despite the fact that she was really a telepathic mermaid (and she was married, although her husband went pscyho and tried to kill her before being turned to stone). Against her better judgment, Lois decided to let Lori live with her for a while. Lori reveals that Clark once asked her to marry him (back in their college days, before he knew she was a mermaid), angering Lois that he never mentioned this to her.[38]
As if things were not going badly enough, Lois is then poisoned by the Joker in an insane plot to get Superman to murder him. Thanks to Batman, Superman does not kill Joker, even if it means the death of Lois, but she pulls through, as it was all just a sick joke on the part of the Clown Prince of Crime. Lois is very shaken by this, however, unsure of how she feels that Superman would not kill even to save her life. When Superman's duties again get in the way of Clark's life, Lois breaks off their engagement and hands him back her ring.[39] Despite Clark's best efforts, Lois remains adamant that she won't marry him. Even Mister Mxyzptlk is unable to get them back together, doing everything in his considerable power to try.[40] His antics do allow Lois to think about things, and to stop placing all the blame on Clark. The two of them fly to Mt. Fuji to have a long talk, where she tells him that Superman belongs to the world and that she can't take him away from it. Even as they're speaking Superman gets a call to help save astronaunts. Lois finds her own way back home.[41]
Back in Metropolis, Lois decides that she needs a hot scoop to take her mind off things. She begins some digging on the Contessa Erica Alexandra del Portenza, the CEO of LexCorp ever since Luthor's fall from power and subsequent flight from the law, and learns that the Contessa and Luthor are not only secretly working together but that they plan to marry as well. Unfortunately, Jimmy Olsen, recently hired by GBS after quitting the Planet, steals the scoop right out from under her.[42] Lois continues to get more angry as the days go by, having a bizarre transformation into an "angry feminist" personality, yelling at Superman no matter what he tries to do (rescuing her, not rescuing her, etc). Finally deciding that she just needs some time away from everything, she takes a job as a foreign correspondant and leaves Metropolis after seeing everyone one last time--a heartsick Clark sees her off at the airport.[43]
Lois does not make an appearance again until the end of that year, when the decision was made to have Lois and Clark finally get married. The Powers that Be wanted the event to coincide with the "Lois and Clark" television program, forcing Lois and Clark to hastily get back together before finally being wed in the one-shot special Superman: The Wedding Album, which featured the work of nearly every then-living artist who had ever worked on Superman. The Wedding Album itself, however, was forced to spend part of its opening pages accommodating and reconciling the then-current comic storyline of Lois and Clark having broken off their engagement (the television program's producers had failed to provide adequate lead time for the Superman comics' writers). Curiously enough, much like when Clark proposed to Lois he was powerless, when they got married he was also lacking his super abilities, this time because of the recent Final Night. Lucy Lane and Jimmy Olsen were the Maid of Honor and Best Man. Lois got into a fight with her dad during the rehearsal dinner, prompting him to almost not come, but he showed up at the ceremony just after it began. Also, Bruce Wayne suprises the couple with a wedding present by allowing them to lease a spacious apartment at 1938 Sullivan St. in Metropolis.
Lois decided to keep her maiden named, going by "Ms. Lane." Her sister Lucy gave her a wedding present in the form of ticket to Hawaii. While in Hawaii they were attacked and Clark was kidnapped, prompting "Mrs. Superman" to go after him.[44] Going commando (literally) Lois managed to track down her husband and single handedly rescue him from a den of terrorists.[45]
The week before the wedding, Clark had been approached by Maxima with another offer to be her mate. Realizing he was powerless, she flew off in disgust. Once Superman got them back, however, shortly after the honeymoon, Maxima returned and made her offer again. When Superman turned her down again--this time with a very good reason--she actually attacked him, but he was able to drive her off.[46]
When a man who looks like Clark is murdered outside the Daily Planet building, Lois and Clark begin their own investigation--and discover that Intergang is back![47]
Things rarely stay "normal" for long when you're married to Superman. Clark had just gotten his powers back when suddenly they begin to go haywire--Lois goes with him on a trip to the Fortress of Solitude, but the situation only gets worse as he seems to begin to phase in an out of reality.[48] As his situation worsenes, the Atomic Skull escapes custody and kidnaps Lois, thinking she is really his long lost love, Zelda. Working with the SCU, Lois is able to help Superman defeat the Atomic Skull, but the two of them wonder if Superman will ever be the same.[49] Superman continues to transform into pure energy, but at the last second, some suspicous help from Lex Luthor and the Contessa allow him to stabilize his condition, leading to his phase as Superman Blue.[50] Now an energy being as Superman, he transforms into a perfectly human Clark Kent (which means he is perfectly vulnerable) and Lois has to help him work on it.
Things get strained, however, when Superman is split into two beings: a Superman Red and a Superman Blue.
After Superman was restored to normal, he was drawn into a plot by the villain Dominus to try and find Kismet. Dominus altered Superman's perceptions of reality, causing him to live in four different time periods: the 1940s, 1960s, late 1970s, and the distance future. Lois existed in each of these, of course, and was just as strong willed and determined as ever. In one of the realities, as Superman and Lois battle the Nazis in WWII, they kiss--and their kiss breaks through the illusions of Dominus's power.[51] Superman still has to continue the battle against Dominus, but he eventually is able to get back to the right reality and defeat Dominus...or so he thinks.[52]
Lex Luthor decides to be more vindictive. He buys the Daily Planet, which was recently struggling for money, and subsequently shuts it down, firing everyone but Lois, Jimmy, and two others, whom he transfers to his new company, LexCom.[53] Luthor has no room for traditional journalism, however--the job at LexCom involves scouring the Internet for stories as they happen and posting them together on LexCom's website. Lois is miserable--but Luthor uses the elevator system in the LexCom building to keep her from going out and doing any real journalism.[54]
The day they took the globe down from the Daily Planet, Lois discovered that her sister was pregnant and that Ron Troupe was the father (she was somewhat relieved it was not Jimmy Olsen).[55]
Superman soon starts to act strange--believing that he is having prophetic dreams, he begins a frantic 24/7 patrol of Earth, trying to stay one step ahead of every disaster. Lois is shocked when he announces that he has to give up being Clark Kent and go to live at the Fortress. She refuses to go there with him, thinking that something is terribly wrong with her husband.[56] She joins the Kents in trying to talk some sense into him, but they are as unsuccessful as the rest of the Justice League and the Superman family.[57] As Superman continues to go farther in his obsession to keep the world safe, building an army of Super-Robots to help him patrol the earth, Lois writes a scathing article denouncing this change in his attitudes, citing that the last thing the world needs is a "Superman Rex."[58] As Superman and his army continue to go out of control, Lois decides to take matters into her own hands. With some help from STAR Labs, she ventures to the Fortress of Solitude, arriving and discovering that it has grown substantially and has incredible defenses. As the JLA and the U.N. battle Superman and his robots on the outside, Lois manages to get inside the Fortress.[59] Tearfully, she confronts her husband on what he's become, and after kissing him, Superman seems to come out of a trance and realize the depth of his mistakes--he was being manipulated by Dominus all along![60] After a long hard fight, Superman manages to win the day, returning his life to normal (for him) at long last, much to Lois's joy.[61]
However, Superman's reputation has been tarnished, with many people feeling they can either no longer trust him or that he is not the same old Superman. Lex Luthor offers to allow Lois to host an interview with Superman, giving him the opportunity to explain himself. Lois realizes, however, that Luthor had planned on releasing Metallo into Metropolis while Superman was doing the interview, making him look even worse for not being there to save the day, so Superman has to cancel the interview.[62]
Lois is shocked when Lana Lang and her then husband Pete Ross show up with an infant--not so much them having a baby, but the fact that they named the baby Clark Peter Ross! Clark had failed to mention that they named the baby after him, which obviously caused Lois discomfort. Even Pete told her he understood if it felt like they had taken a namesake away from Lois and Clark.[63]
During the Day of Judgment storyline, Superman is called to literally go into Hell with other heroes to help reignite the fires that have been put out by Asmodel. While in Hell, Superman's soul is seperated from his body (which is then possessed by Neron) and Lois is captured by the Silver Banshee. Superman is made to endure a series of nightmarish realities, the commonality in all of them being he is without Lois. Luckily, their love proves too strong, and Superman is able to free his soul, free Lois, and return to Earth and the good fight.[64]
Shortly before the end of 1999, Lex Luthor inexplicably sells back the Daily Planet building for $1. Everyone is hired back as the grand old newspaper is restored--Clark is assigned foreign correspondent and Lois gets her job on the city beat again. No one but Lois knows the real reason why Luthor sold back the Planet--she made a deal with him, bring it back, and she would bury one story of his choosing (no matter what it was). Lois kept this secret from everyone, even Clark, reversing the traditional dynamic of the two.[65]
Lois is in Metropolis when Brainiac 13 upgrades the city duing Y2K. During the upheaval, Lois saves the life of baby Lena Luthor. Lex indicates that he might consider dropping their "deal" in gratitude, but Lois refuses this offer, angry at the insinuation that she only helped the daughter to gain a favor with the father.[66]
After Y2K, Clark spends some time in Smallville with his folks, trying to hide the fact that Lois has been acting very cold lately. No matter what he does, Lois continues to grow distant and even hostile towards him. Even a vacation to a distant planet where the depth of his love for her is revealed does not help, nor does any advice from Perry or Jimmy. A confrontation at home causes Lois to attack him--knocking him clear out of a window. Superman realizes then that it is not the real Lois. A running battle reveals that it is actually the Parasite, whose powers have been altered. He touched Lois during Y2K, finding out the truth, and had been disguised as her ever since. He had to keep her alive in order to keep up the disguise, however. During the battle, Parasite collapses, having contracted through Superman whatever malady had recently been affecting Big Blue. He dies before he can reveal where Lois is located.[67]
Superman, who had in fact been ill since just after Y2K, begins to grow steadily worse. As he literally begins to glow green from his illness, Superman turns to Batman to track down his missing wife. Batman is successful, but the weakened Superman collapses just as they find her hidden in a cave outside Metropolis.[68] Superman is rushed to STAR Labs for treatment, where John Henry Irons, Superboy, and Supergirl are shrunk by the Atom so they can go into Superman's body and destroy a Kryptonite based tumor. While they are busy, La Encantadora shows up, saying that she was the one who planted the poison in Superman during their first meeting--and that Deathstroke has been hired to finish her so she can't help out. During his fight with her, he stabs Lois in the chest, and only through the efforts of Supergirl and 'Dora is Lois saved--and her presence gives Superman the force of will to recover as well, once the tumor has been beaten. Lois and Clark enjoy a passionate evening to make sure he's fully recovered--the Man of Steel is back.[69]
After months of delays and pressure from her family, Lucy Lane and Ron Troupe were finally married in a small ceremony during Lucy's ninth month of pregnancy (Lois and Lucy crashed Ron's bachelor party, hiding in the giant cake). Lois is with Lucy when she gave birth a few weeks later.[70]
Lois was as annoyed as everyone else at the Daily Planet when Lex Luthor was elected President of the United States. To make matter worse, he named her father, Sam Lane, as his Secretary of Defense, further straining the relationship between father and daughter
Lois then got to work investigated who hired La Encantadora to poison her husband. The trail first led to Africa, and she took Jimmy Olsen along with her. She had to match wits with an assassin called the Scarlet Scythe, but luckily he was a pushover.[72] Lois discovers that the man responsible for the hit is from Pokolistan, a small former Soviet sattelite state, but is attacked by Kancer befoe she can disclose this to Superman--but he learns it anyway. Before his investigation can begin, Superman has to rescue Lois from an alien pastiche of the Borg. After Superman decides to go to Pokolistan alone, Lois assmebles Supergirl, Superboy, and Kelex, wearing Steel's armor, to tail Superman there and back him up. The backup is needed to fight against Kancer and Ignition--especially when an armored "general" shows up and breaks Superman's jaw with a sucker punch. The super-team withdraws, and Superman admits to Lois that as soon as he saw the "general" he knew that he was responsible for his poisoning and for Kancer--and that Superman was afraid.[73]
Lois also got an opportunity to talk with Wonder Woman in the form of a long interview that began with an around the world tour and that ended in a round of pool in Suicide Slum. Lois, having long had feelings of jealousy towards the Amazon Princess, took the opportunity to clear the air somewhat...she explained that's it difficult with Diana seeming so perfect and the whole world being convinced that Superman and Wonder Woman must be an item. Diana adamentally maintains that the two of them are and will always be just close friends. [74]
Soon the world comes under invasion again, and this time Superman is needed more than ever to defeat the coming of Imperiex (see Our Worlds at War!). An alien armada, lead by Darkseid, arrive at Earth to make a last stand against the Destroyer of Galaxies. As battles erupt across the globe, Lois makes her stand at the White House. When Hippolyta dies, and Superman thinks it is Diana and rushes to her side, he is not able to hear Lois's calls for help as the White House comes under attack--and she has to watch as her father sacrifices his life to save the capital. Despite their often rocky relationship, Lois is devestated at the loss of her father.[75]
Sam Lane gets a full state funeral. Afterwards, Lois comes with Clark back to Kansas, where the farmhouse has been destroyed and the Kents are both missing. With so much death and destruction, Superman is forced to wonder if they really won the war.[76] Lois stays with Clark as he rebuilds the farmhouse--luckily, Ma Kent turns up alive and well and a few weeks later, so does Pa. Lois decides to take some time off from work to travel the globe with her mother, who needs her daughter very much.[77] Lois and her mother travel extensively throughout Europe, including Rome and Venice. This prompts more than one person back home to wonder if there is trouble between Lois and Clark, despite Clark's protests that Lois just needed some time away. He actually manages to catch up with her more than once throughout her vacation and spend some quiet time. In Vienna, Lois decides to die her hair black.[78]
Lois finally returns to Metropolis. She has a talk with Clark, and admits that part of her blames him for the death of her father, but that she loves him and needs him. They also have to work out the small problem of Lois's mother seeing Lois kissing Superman and thinking she's having an affair.[79] Lois then gets on the trail of President Luthor, as she suspects that he knew about the invasion before hand but said nothing. Amanda Waller sends the remnants of her Suicide Squad to try and scare Lois off. Hope comes to her and tells her that Frank Rock, who apparently died during the War, could have given ther the proof she needed. All Hope can tell her is that Luthor must have known about the attack on Topeka beforehand because Brainiac 13 warned him well in advance about Imperiex. When Lois gets home, President Luthor is there--and demands that she live up to the deal they made and bury that story. She confesses everything to Clark. Deciding to beat the devil by his own rules, Clark writes up the story instead of Lois. However, this promptly results in his being fired by the Daily Planet when he can produce no evidence (even a mindscan from Martian Manhunter comes up negative on Luthor). Clark is not really fired, however, as Perry keeps him on undercover to continue to investigate Luthor.[80]
Superman is approached by a group of gods who offer to elevate him to godhood so as to help them better understand the modern world. Across town, Lois is being interviewed a young journalism student who questions her about Superman and her father's death. Lois admits that it's hard to trully understand her husband sometimes, given how much power and responsibility he wields. When asked if she could be a goddess of something, Lois responds after a minute of thought by saying "the goddess of integrity." The student transports her to the other gods and Lois is made into one of them. Lois, half crazed with so much raw power, attacks the gods, who are now revealed to be demonic deities. She leaves Superman to battle them and goes to her father's grave, thinking about how she could resurrect him now that she has so much power. Wonder Woman is on scene, calming talking to Lois about why she would do such a thing, and talking to her about how so much godly power often corrupts. After Superman defeats the evil gods, he finds Lois at the cemetary, and after rejecting her power in her heart she reverts to normal.[81]
Manchester Black, longing for revenge against the Man of Steel, decides to hit him where he knows it will hurt the most. Using his vast mental abilities, Black is able to either control or convince nearly all of Superman's enemies to attack Clark Kent's relatives and friends, kickstarting an event known as Ending Battle. Lois is attacked at the Daily Planet by Evil Star. Superman removes her from the building, quickly explaining the situation, and asks her to implement a plan they talked about. Lois begins making phone calls, disguising her voice and referring to herself as Superman's Security Coordinator, rounding up dozens of Clark's friends and family members at Steelworks. With them safe, Superman can go on the offensive. Lois eventually can't stand the wait and leaves, heading first to the apartment, but there she is caught by Manchester Black himself. Black tortures her both physically and psychologically--he shows her images of her father severely beating her, as well as Superman and Diana sharing an embrace. When Superman finally defeats Black's legion of villains, he races to the apartment--but Lois lies dead at Black's feet. Superman fantasizes about killing Black, but refuses to do so, saying that if he did it would not bring Lois back--it would only disgrace her memory and change himself into Black. Stunned, realizing that Superman really is who he says he is, Black dispells the illusion--Lois was not dead, Black wanted Superman to kill him and realize his error afterwards. Lois and Clark hold each other for several days, at the end of which Lois assures him that he did the right thing, and that it was time to get back to work.[82]
For the sake of continuity, I'm cutting it off here... Lex is not president here on CF, that has LONG past...
Comic character is from: First Appearance in DC's Action Comics, she's been in all Superman titles, as well as a couple of her own personal titles, and in JLA... guest appearances across the DC U.
Thank you DC Database for the wonderful information!
Middle Name: Joanne
Last Name: Lane-Kent
Age: I'd say early 30s, but it's not listed.
Height/Weight: 5'6" 120 pounds
Eyes: Blue (though some artists use brown for some reason... this really isn't standard...)
Hair: Originally Brown, But now Dyed Black
Persuasion: Good
Powers/Weapons: Expert Combatant: Lois has extensive combat training: from an early age her father taught her how to fight and how to handle guns and knives; Lois later trained with the Special Crimes Unit and is a Black Belt in at least one form of martial arts. Lois also has extensive investigative skills owing to her long career as an investigative reporter.
Blaster Rifle (hidden in apartment for protection)
History: Lois was born the older of two daughters to Sam Lane, a career military officer, and Ella Lane. Her father, desiring a boy and getting two girls, treated them both as though they were in his unit growing up. This included combat training, and Lois once admitted that he even taught them to throw knives with their toes.
Being an army brat, Lois moved around a lot with her family growing up. When she was fifteen, however, her family was living near Metropolis and she went to the Daily Planet to ask for a job from Perry White. She had met White once before, when she had visited the newspaper with her class. She lied and said that she was nineteen, but her sister Lucy (who had come with her) told Perry the truth. Overhearing some reporters say that whomever gets a scoop on Lex Luthor would get on Perry's good side, Lois decided to attempt the seemingly impossible. She snuck out of the house (which, considering her family lived on base, was no small feat) and managed to break into Luthor's tower and swipe some files. She was caught by Luthor himself, however, who gave her a paddling and sent her on her way. Perry was so impressed that he did agree to hire her.[1]
Lois would quickly rise as a premier reporter at the Daily Planet, winning multiple awards before one of the biggest stories of her career turned up: the day she met Superman. Lois was invited aboard an experimental space shuttle, the Constitution, that was supposed to land at Metropolis airport. Unfortunately, the shuttle began to crash. Suddenly, a mysterious flying man appeared and grabbed hold of the plan, guiding it to safety. As soon as the shuttle was on the ground, Lois burst out of the shuttle, running right for the man (a young Clark Kent who had not yet fashioned his costume). She cornered him, and Clark would later describe the meeting to his parents: "She's...I don't know...not as beautiful as a movie star, but she has...a quality. Something I've never seen in any other woman. Almost a fire in those big, dark eyes. For just a moment, it seemed as if something passed between us. A spark..." Unfortunately, a crowd quickly tried to mob the mysterious man, so he flew away. Lois got the byline for the newspaper and was the first to call him by the name the whole world would soon know: Superman.[2]
It is also revealed that at some point in the recent past (prior to Superman's debut in Metropolis), Lois had a failed relationship with Lex Luthor.
After many unsuccessful attempts to track down Superman, Lois decided to fake an accident to get his attention--she drove her car into the bay. Superman was right on cue, and after pulling her (and her car) from the water, he agreed to a brief interview. Much to Lois's chagrin, however, when she tried to file the story with Perry, she found that a new reporter Perry just hired had beaten her on the exclusive story of Superman -- a young reporter named Clark Kent.[3]
It took Lois quite some time to forgive Clark for beating her to the punch, but eventually she got over it and they became good friends.
Lois was one of the first people from the outside world who got to visit Themyscira on Paradise Island. As a gesture of goodwill, Wonder Woman invited twelve hand picked delegates, each representing different perspectives (a Rabbit, an architect, etc) to come to the island for a goodwill tour. Diana initially asked Clark Kent to come, but as he was busy he suggested Lois, and she gratefully accepted. While on the island, Lois had to help Wonder Woman fight against Dis, daughter of Ares, who was sowing discord among the Amazons and the delegates.[4]
After being together for some time, Clark finally proposed to Lois with the Kent family engagement ring. Lois did not answer immediately, as she was distracted with her mother's illness, but seeing Clark's committment to her she accepted the proposal later that night.[5] Jimmy Olsen threw the couple an engagement party at the Planet the same day that Lex Luthor apparently died in a plane crash. [6]
It wasn't a few weeks or months after that Clark finally got around to revealing that he and Superman were one and the same.[7] Lois accepted the the dual identity and now was in a better position to help Superman. This was about the time that the Daily Planet employees went on strike over a labor dispute.
Although at first, Lois was a little peeved to think that Clark had been using his role as Superman to gain an advantage over her. After Clark beat her to the punch on a story involving the Parasite, Lois was determined to one up him. The strike organizer was a man named Jeb Friedman, a southern "good ol' boy" who took a strong interest in Lois, despite her engagement to Clark. Lois was initially only interested in Jeb for any Intergang connections he might have. She then challenges Clark--can he scoop her on a story without using any of his powers. Lois went home to her parents, her mother almost completely recovered, where her father was attacked by Angstrom. Lois managed to hold him at bay until Superman, tipped off to Angstrom's escape and his intent by Emil Hamilton, could turn up and subdue him. Lois offered to call off the bet, but Clark insisted on keeping it. Lois promised to tell Angstrom's story, but the true facts were lost when he was cured at STAR and they sold the story to Newstime. Despite his obivious intentions, Lois and Jeb actually became friends, although it made Clark more than a little jealous.[8]
Lois is as skeptical of the new Lex Luthor II as the rest of Metropolis when he shows up claiming to be the son of the "late" Lex Luthor. Lois and Clark are present when Hellgrammite tries to assassinate the new Luthor (which Superman foils of course).[9]
A friend Lois made down at a soup kitchen, Charlie, alerts her to a plot by the Underworlders, stirred up by remnants of Warworld's warriors that were stranded on Earth after the Panic in the Sky, to conquor Metropolis. She follows the tip to the main power plant in the city, where she is captured by Clawster and taken as a prisoner into the caves beneath the city as the Underworlders prepare their attack. Fortunately, Keith Robert alerts Superman to the plot and the Man of Steel foils the Underworlders and rescues Lois (who was going to be set free by Charlie anyway).[10]
DC had planned on Lois and Clark being married in 1993's Superman #75. However, with the then-upcoming television show Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, DC decided they did not want to have the two married in the comics and not married on TV (as it turned out, they desired to have the wedding occur simultaneously in both the comics and the television program). Partially as a result of this, Superman was killed in Superman #75 instead, dying in Lois's arms at the foot of the Daily Planet Building after a battle royal with the monster Doomsday. On scene, Lois was given the heart wrenching task of writing the story about the death of Earth's greatest hero.[11] Devestated by the loss, Lois realized she also had to keep up the pretense that Clark and Superman were two different people. She attended his funerals, lost in the crowd of many thousands of people, and then finally called the Kents to speak with them.[12] The Kents and Lana Lang came to Metropolis to help clear out Clark's apartment and together they all agreed to keep the secret of his double life.[13] When Superman's body was stolen from the tomb, Lois followed the trail with some help from Charlie and other Underworlders, learning that Cadmus had stolen it. When she broke the story, Supergirl (Matrix) recovered the body and returned it to the tomb.[14] Weeks later, when Jon Kent collapsed of a heart attack, Lois went to Smallville to be with Martha. Jon survived, and when he awoke he announced that he had seen Clark and brought him back with him. When Lois got back to Metropolis, multiple Superman stories began to flood in from all over the city. Going with Commissioner Henderson to the tomb, they found that it was empty.[15]
Not only was there one Superman flying around, there were four--The Man of Tomorrow, The Last Son of Krypton, The Man of Steel, and The Metropolis Kid. Lois got to interview them all, but despite proof from the first two, she remained skeptical that any of them were the real Superman. As a matter of fact, she was among the first to recognize the Cyborg Superman for the villain that he really was.
Eventually, a fifth person--wearing a black costume and not having superpowers--showed up in Metropolis claiming to be the real Superman returned to life, and Lois was one of the ones on scene to meet him. She was again skeptical, thinking it was a trick like the others, but this one knew far more than any of the others, and before taking off for a battle at Engine City he reaffirmed his love for her.[16] When he returned from Engine City, back in costume and fully powered, there was not a doubt left in her mind (or in any one else's the world over).[17] Along with Supergirl (Matrix), Lois helped work out the return of Clark Kent--the ruse being that he had supposedly been buried in rubble leftover from Doomsday's rampage (over three hundred people were still missing).[18]
Lois began a series of investigations regarding LexCorp itself. A recent building under construction had collapsed and there was suspicion of insurance fraud. Lois did some investigating and found those suspicions were true--several buildings had been destroyed and the damage blamed on Doomsday. She did not think that Lex Luthor II was involved, however. She attended his "Welcome Back Superman" party aboard his blimb (surviving an attack by Underworlders who were after Paul Westfield) and he agreed to an interview the next day. During the interview, Luthor confesses that he does have dreams for a shining new city, but says he has had nothing to do with the fraud. He also makes a pass at her, infuriating Lois and causing her to remark to Clark that father and son are not so very different after all. She filed her story, although she left Luthor's name out of it specifically, even though she was beginning to suspect he was not the golden boy he had been playing himself to be. Lois also covered a fake hostage situation at a retirement home--the residents staged it to draw attention to the squalid conditions they had been living under. She then learned that the foreman of the site she had interviewed for the fraud story was almost killed by a group called Nuclear Waste. Superman saved the foreman [Beasley]. Lois talked to him again in the hospital where Beasley told her that Luthor had fired him. He was convinced Luthor was behind the hit.[19]
Clark was feeling particularly rejuvenated since his return from the dead. He surprised Lois on a Sunday morning and asked her if she would like to go to Paris for the day. The two spent the day in Paris, arriving back and heading into work Monday morning to learn some terrible news--Cat Grant's son Adam had been kidnapped and murdered.[20] Cat was devestated at the loss, and Lois tried to be there for her as much as possible. She was relieved to find that Cat did not start drinking again. She and Clark came to Adam's funeral. Lois heard from Cat about Sasha Green, a former personal trainer of Lex Luthor II's, had gone missing. Rumor was that she moved to Coast City just before it was obliterated. Lois decided to do some digging, talking with another of Luthor's trainers as well as one of the cleaning women for LexCorp Tower. Lois remembered meeting Sasha once, when Superman's body had been stolen from the tomb, and saw Sasha knock Luthor flat. Luthor had threatened her in anger. That was the last day anyone had seen her. The cleaning woman confessed that the day Sasha went missing, the changing room had been closed, presumably for renovations.[21] The only clue Lois had was that Sasha's gym bag (which had her name on it) was left behind at LexCorp.[22]
When Luthor decided to try and create another Bizarro, his creation rebelled and fled from LexCorp. His memories a jumble, Bizarro showed up at Lois's apartment and kidnapped her.[23] Bizarro took her to a warehouse where he had recreated scenes from Superman's life as best he could remember (resulting in a surreal, Bizarro World environment). Lois managed to escape on her own.[24] After Bizarro, dying from his unstable condition, is recaptured by Luthor, Lois goes with Superman into LexCorp to try and free him. Bizarro dies in Lois's arms, and immediately afterwards Lois learns that Lex Luthor II is badly ill--and that maybe he much more than that! A source whom she referred to as "Deep Quote" helps her escape when Superman is distracted.[25] Thanks to her contact, Lois learns the horrible truth--that Lex Luthor II is really the original Lex Luthor, just in a clone body. She attempts to out Luthor, but thanks to Luthor's machinations she is publically discredited.[26] Luthor's continued scheming makes Lois look more and more crazy--he also plants evidence implicating her for embezzlement from the Planet, prompting Franklin Stern to order Perry to fire her. White reluctantly follows orders, which in this instance is one of the hardest things he's ever done.[27] Luthor even fire bombs Lois's apartment, destroying such evidence as a tape revealing that Luthor (at least) attempted to kill Sasha Green. With some more help from her contact, who is eventually revealed to be Dr. Gertrude Kelly, Lois manages to prove to Stern and Perry the truth about the cloned Luthor and also expose his work at discrediting Lois. She also uncovers Luthor's insane plan to detonate bombs all over the city (dying from the Clone Plague, Luthor has decided to take Metropolis down with him. With Metropolis erupting into a battleground, Lois retreats across the river with the other Daily Planet staffers even as Luthor launches several missiles into the heart of the city, destroying most of the major buildings--including the Daily Planet itself. Lois is saved from being crushed by the Planet's globe by Superman.[28] Lois decides to remain in Metropolis and tough it out, helping Superman during his fight with Massacre and meeting the Riot Grrrls.[29]
After Zero Hour, Clark is targeted for several hits, some of which look like accidents. Lois insists that Clark find out who is trying to kill him, but the bad guy makes himself known by attacking Lois and Clark at his apartment--Conduit, whom Clark discovers much to his horror is really an old friend from Smallville, Kenny Braverman.[30] When a body is discovered in Superman's tomb, Lois temporarily has her doubt that the living Man of Steel is the original, but all is set to right when the body turns out to be an illusion created by Brainiac.[31]
Lois, Clark, and Jimmy went to Washington D.C. for a reporter's convention. While there, they were all three attacked by thugs hired by Arclight, who had a grudge against all reporters. Lois was alonewhen Agent Liberty saved her from an attack and she insisted on tagging along with him for the story. Even with Superman's help, Arclight managed to escape, vowing revenge against all reporters. Arclight would turn up in Metropolis a few weeks later, however, and working with Jimmy Superman was able to aprehend him. However, when Perry used Ron Troupe's story instead of Jimmy's, Olsen quit the Daily Planet.[32]
Thanks to a villain named Shadowdragon, Conduit learned that Superman and Clark Kent were one and the same. Enraged, Conduit decided to come after not only Clark but everyone he cares about. Lois managed to illude him at first, but he managed to track her down and detonate a bomb even as Superman was rushing to the scene. Superman was lead to think that she had died, but the ever resourceful Lois had managed to escape the trap.[33] With Conduit also thinking she was dead, Lois managed to keep one step ahead of his operatives as she tried to track down Clark and his parents, who had gone into hiding. During her search, she met Shadowdragon himself, who told her that he had purged all of Conduit's information on Superman and also that Jimmy Olsen was alive but taken by Conduit. Lois finally manages to track down the Kents outside Fawcett City. When Clark expresses a feeling that he might have to give up being Clark and just be Superman, Lois managed to convince him to change his mind after showing him how much he would be missing.[34]
Before and after their run from Conduit, Lois was on the case of a serial killer named Saviour (see that entry for more information, including an excerpt from one of Lois's articles).
Shortly after returning to Metropolis, the Alpha Centurion arrives in the city for the first time. Superman is uneasy around him, however, having met an alternate version of him back during Zero Hour. In tha alternate timeline, Lois was involved with the Centurion, so Clark found himself a little jealous when the real one turned up, despite assurances from Lois that there could never be anyone for her but him.[35] Neverthelees, Marcus does hit on Lois repeatedly.
That makes it all the more awkward when Superman is kidnapped by aliens, as Lois is forced to call on him for help.[36] The Alpha Centurion quickly puts together a Superman Rescue Squad and goes off into space, where Superman is successfully rescued from the Tribunal. Lois is overjoyed when Superman returns safe, but admits that sometimes she misses Clark very much.[37]
Things then become very strained between Lois and Clark. More and more, Clark finds little time for Lois, as his duties as Superman begin to take up so much of his days and nights. Compounding matters are when Lori Lemaris shows up in Metropolis. Lois was a little put off by the beautiful Lori, despite the fact that she was really a telepathic mermaid (and she was married, although her husband went pscyho and tried to kill her before being turned to stone). Against her better judgment, Lois decided to let Lori live with her for a while. Lori reveals that Clark once asked her to marry him (back in their college days, before he knew she was a mermaid), angering Lois that he never mentioned this to her.[38]
As if things were not going badly enough, Lois is then poisoned by the Joker in an insane plot to get Superman to murder him. Thanks to Batman, Superman does not kill Joker, even if it means the death of Lois, but she pulls through, as it was all just a sick joke on the part of the Clown Prince of Crime. Lois is very shaken by this, however, unsure of how she feels that Superman would not kill even to save her life. When Superman's duties again get in the way of Clark's life, Lois breaks off their engagement and hands him back her ring.[39] Despite Clark's best efforts, Lois remains adamant that she won't marry him. Even Mister Mxyzptlk is unable to get them back together, doing everything in his considerable power to try.[40] His antics do allow Lois to think about things, and to stop placing all the blame on Clark. The two of them fly to Mt. Fuji to have a long talk, where she tells him that Superman belongs to the world and that she can't take him away from it. Even as they're speaking Superman gets a call to help save astronaunts. Lois finds her own way back home.[41]
Back in Metropolis, Lois decides that she needs a hot scoop to take her mind off things. She begins some digging on the Contessa Erica Alexandra del Portenza, the CEO of LexCorp ever since Luthor's fall from power and subsequent flight from the law, and learns that the Contessa and Luthor are not only secretly working together but that they plan to marry as well. Unfortunately, Jimmy Olsen, recently hired by GBS after quitting the Planet, steals the scoop right out from under her.[42] Lois continues to get more angry as the days go by, having a bizarre transformation into an "angry feminist" personality, yelling at Superman no matter what he tries to do (rescuing her, not rescuing her, etc). Finally deciding that she just needs some time away from everything, she takes a job as a foreign correspondant and leaves Metropolis after seeing everyone one last time--a heartsick Clark sees her off at the airport.[43]
Lois does not make an appearance again until the end of that year, when the decision was made to have Lois and Clark finally get married. The Powers that Be wanted the event to coincide with the "Lois and Clark" television program, forcing Lois and Clark to hastily get back together before finally being wed in the one-shot special Superman: The Wedding Album, which featured the work of nearly every then-living artist who had ever worked on Superman. The Wedding Album itself, however, was forced to spend part of its opening pages accommodating and reconciling the then-current comic storyline of Lois and Clark having broken off their engagement (the television program's producers had failed to provide adequate lead time for the Superman comics' writers). Curiously enough, much like when Clark proposed to Lois he was powerless, when they got married he was also lacking his super abilities, this time because of the recent Final Night. Lucy Lane and Jimmy Olsen were the Maid of Honor and Best Man. Lois got into a fight with her dad during the rehearsal dinner, prompting him to almost not come, but he showed up at the ceremony just after it began. Also, Bruce Wayne suprises the couple with a wedding present by allowing them to lease a spacious apartment at 1938 Sullivan St. in Metropolis.
Lois decided to keep her maiden named, going by "Ms. Lane." Her sister Lucy gave her a wedding present in the form of ticket to Hawaii. While in Hawaii they were attacked and Clark was kidnapped, prompting "Mrs. Superman" to go after him.[44] Going commando (literally) Lois managed to track down her husband and single handedly rescue him from a den of terrorists.[45]
The week before the wedding, Clark had been approached by Maxima with another offer to be her mate. Realizing he was powerless, she flew off in disgust. Once Superman got them back, however, shortly after the honeymoon, Maxima returned and made her offer again. When Superman turned her down again--this time with a very good reason--she actually attacked him, but he was able to drive her off.[46]
When a man who looks like Clark is murdered outside the Daily Planet building, Lois and Clark begin their own investigation--and discover that Intergang is back![47]
Things rarely stay "normal" for long when you're married to Superman. Clark had just gotten his powers back when suddenly they begin to go haywire--Lois goes with him on a trip to the Fortress of Solitude, but the situation only gets worse as he seems to begin to phase in an out of reality.[48] As his situation worsenes, the Atomic Skull escapes custody and kidnaps Lois, thinking she is really his long lost love, Zelda. Working with the SCU, Lois is able to help Superman defeat the Atomic Skull, but the two of them wonder if Superman will ever be the same.[49] Superman continues to transform into pure energy, but at the last second, some suspicous help from Lex Luthor and the Contessa allow him to stabilize his condition, leading to his phase as Superman Blue.[50] Now an energy being as Superman, he transforms into a perfectly human Clark Kent (which means he is perfectly vulnerable) and Lois has to help him work on it.
Things get strained, however, when Superman is split into two beings: a Superman Red and a Superman Blue.
After Superman was restored to normal, he was drawn into a plot by the villain Dominus to try and find Kismet. Dominus altered Superman's perceptions of reality, causing him to live in four different time periods: the 1940s, 1960s, late 1970s, and the distance future. Lois existed in each of these, of course, and was just as strong willed and determined as ever. In one of the realities, as Superman and Lois battle the Nazis in WWII, they kiss--and their kiss breaks through the illusions of Dominus's power.[51] Superman still has to continue the battle against Dominus, but he eventually is able to get back to the right reality and defeat Dominus...or so he thinks.[52]
Lex Luthor decides to be more vindictive. He buys the Daily Planet, which was recently struggling for money, and subsequently shuts it down, firing everyone but Lois, Jimmy, and two others, whom he transfers to his new company, LexCom.[53] Luthor has no room for traditional journalism, however--the job at LexCom involves scouring the Internet for stories as they happen and posting them together on LexCom's website. Lois is miserable--but Luthor uses the elevator system in the LexCom building to keep her from going out and doing any real journalism.[54]
The day they took the globe down from the Daily Planet, Lois discovered that her sister was pregnant and that Ron Troupe was the father (she was somewhat relieved it was not Jimmy Olsen).[55]
Superman soon starts to act strange--believing that he is having prophetic dreams, he begins a frantic 24/7 patrol of Earth, trying to stay one step ahead of every disaster. Lois is shocked when he announces that he has to give up being Clark Kent and go to live at the Fortress. She refuses to go there with him, thinking that something is terribly wrong with her husband.[56] She joins the Kents in trying to talk some sense into him, but they are as unsuccessful as the rest of the Justice League and the Superman family.[57] As Superman continues to go farther in his obsession to keep the world safe, building an army of Super-Robots to help him patrol the earth, Lois writes a scathing article denouncing this change in his attitudes, citing that the last thing the world needs is a "Superman Rex."[58] As Superman and his army continue to go out of control, Lois decides to take matters into her own hands. With some help from STAR Labs, she ventures to the Fortress of Solitude, arriving and discovering that it has grown substantially and has incredible defenses. As the JLA and the U.N. battle Superman and his robots on the outside, Lois manages to get inside the Fortress.[59] Tearfully, she confronts her husband on what he's become, and after kissing him, Superman seems to come out of a trance and realize the depth of his mistakes--he was being manipulated by Dominus all along![60] After a long hard fight, Superman manages to win the day, returning his life to normal (for him) at long last, much to Lois's joy.[61]
However, Superman's reputation has been tarnished, with many people feeling they can either no longer trust him or that he is not the same old Superman. Lex Luthor offers to allow Lois to host an interview with Superman, giving him the opportunity to explain himself. Lois realizes, however, that Luthor had planned on releasing Metallo into Metropolis while Superman was doing the interview, making him look even worse for not being there to save the day, so Superman has to cancel the interview.[62]
Lois is shocked when Lana Lang and her then husband Pete Ross show up with an infant--not so much them having a baby, but the fact that they named the baby Clark Peter Ross! Clark had failed to mention that they named the baby after him, which obviously caused Lois discomfort. Even Pete told her he understood if it felt like they had taken a namesake away from Lois and Clark.[63]
During the Day of Judgment storyline, Superman is called to literally go into Hell with other heroes to help reignite the fires that have been put out by Asmodel. While in Hell, Superman's soul is seperated from his body (which is then possessed by Neron) and Lois is captured by the Silver Banshee. Superman is made to endure a series of nightmarish realities, the commonality in all of them being he is without Lois. Luckily, their love proves too strong, and Superman is able to free his soul, free Lois, and return to Earth and the good fight.[64]
Shortly before the end of 1999, Lex Luthor inexplicably sells back the Daily Planet building for $1. Everyone is hired back as the grand old newspaper is restored--Clark is assigned foreign correspondent and Lois gets her job on the city beat again. No one but Lois knows the real reason why Luthor sold back the Planet--she made a deal with him, bring it back, and she would bury one story of his choosing (no matter what it was). Lois kept this secret from everyone, even Clark, reversing the traditional dynamic of the two.[65]
Lois is in Metropolis when Brainiac 13 upgrades the city duing Y2K. During the upheaval, Lois saves the life of baby Lena Luthor. Lex indicates that he might consider dropping their "deal" in gratitude, but Lois refuses this offer, angry at the insinuation that she only helped the daughter to gain a favor with the father.[66]
After Y2K, Clark spends some time in Smallville with his folks, trying to hide the fact that Lois has been acting very cold lately. No matter what he does, Lois continues to grow distant and even hostile towards him. Even a vacation to a distant planet where the depth of his love for her is revealed does not help, nor does any advice from Perry or Jimmy. A confrontation at home causes Lois to attack him--knocking him clear out of a window. Superman realizes then that it is not the real Lois. A running battle reveals that it is actually the Parasite, whose powers have been altered. He touched Lois during Y2K, finding out the truth, and had been disguised as her ever since. He had to keep her alive in order to keep up the disguise, however. During the battle, Parasite collapses, having contracted through Superman whatever malady had recently been affecting Big Blue. He dies before he can reveal where Lois is located.[67]
Superman, who had in fact been ill since just after Y2K, begins to grow steadily worse. As he literally begins to glow green from his illness, Superman turns to Batman to track down his missing wife. Batman is successful, but the weakened Superman collapses just as they find her hidden in a cave outside Metropolis.[68] Superman is rushed to STAR Labs for treatment, where John Henry Irons, Superboy, and Supergirl are shrunk by the Atom so they can go into Superman's body and destroy a Kryptonite based tumor. While they are busy, La Encantadora shows up, saying that she was the one who planted the poison in Superman during their first meeting--and that Deathstroke has been hired to finish her so she can't help out. During his fight with her, he stabs Lois in the chest, and only through the efforts of Supergirl and 'Dora is Lois saved--and her presence gives Superman the force of will to recover as well, once the tumor has been beaten. Lois and Clark enjoy a passionate evening to make sure he's fully recovered--the Man of Steel is back.[69]
After months of delays and pressure from her family, Lucy Lane and Ron Troupe were finally married in a small ceremony during Lucy's ninth month of pregnancy (Lois and Lucy crashed Ron's bachelor party, hiding in the giant cake). Lois is with Lucy when she gave birth a few weeks later.[70]
Lois was as annoyed as everyone else at the Daily Planet when Lex Luthor was elected President of the United States. To make matter worse, he named her father, Sam Lane, as his Secretary of Defense, further straining the relationship between father and daughter
Lois then got to work investigated who hired La Encantadora to poison her husband. The trail first led to Africa, and she took Jimmy Olsen along with her. She had to match wits with an assassin called the Scarlet Scythe, but luckily he was a pushover.[72] Lois discovers that the man responsible for the hit is from Pokolistan, a small former Soviet sattelite state, but is attacked by Kancer befoe she can disclose this to Superman--but he learns it anyway. Before his investigation can begin, Superman has to rescue Lois from an alien pastiche of the Borg. After Superman decides to go to Pokolistan alone, Lois assmebles Supergirl, Superboy, and Kelex, wearing Steel's armor, to tail Superman there and back him up. The backup is needed to fight against Kancer and Ignition--especially when an armored "general" shows up and breaks Superman's jaw with a sucker punch. The super-team withdraws, and Superman admits to Lois that as soon as he saw the "general" he knew that he was responsible for his poisoning and for Kancer--and that Superman was afraid.[73]
Lois also got an opportunity to talk with Wonder Woman in the form of a long interview that began with an around the world tour and that ended in a round of pool in Suicide Slum. Lois, having long had feelings of jealousy towards the Amazon Princess, took the opportunity to clear the air somewhat...she explained that's it difficult with Diana seeming so perfect and the whole world being convinced that Superman and Wonder Woman must be an item. Diana adamentally maintains that the two of them are and will always be just close friends. [74]
Soon the world comes under invasion again, and this time Superman is needed more than ever to defeat the coming of Imperiex (see Our Worlds at War!). An alien armada, lead by Darkseid, arrive at Earth to make a last stand against the Destroyer of Galaxies. As battles erupt across the globe, Lois makes her stand at the White House. When Hippolyta dies, and Superman thinks it is Diana and rushes to her side, he is not able to hear Lois's calls for help as the White House comes under attack--and she has to watch as her father sacrifices his life to save the capital. Despite their often rocky relationship, Lois is devestated at the loss of her father.[75]
Sam Lane gets a full state funeral. Afterwards, Lois comes with Clark back to Kansas, where the farmhouse has been destroyed and the Kents are both missing. With so much death and destruction, Superman is forced to wonder if they really won the war.[76] Lois stays with Clark as he rebuilds the farmhouse--luckily, Ma Kent turns up alive and well and a few weeks later, so does Pa. Lois decides to take some time off from work to travel the globe with her mother, who needs her daughter very much.[77] Lois and her mother travel extensively throughout Europe, including Rome and Venice. This prompts more than one person back home to wonder if there is trouble between Lois and Clark, despite Clark's protests that Lois just needed some time away. He actually manages to catch up with her more than once throughout her vacation and spend some quiet time. In Vienna, Lois decides to die her hair black.[78]
Lois finally returns to Metropolis. She has a talk with Clark, and admits that part of her blames him for the death of her father, but that she loves him and needs him. They also have to work out the small problem of Lois's mother seeing Lois kissing Superman and thinking she's having an affair.[79] Lois then gets on the trail of President Luthor, as she suspects that he knew about the invasion before hand but said nothing. Amanda Waller sends the remnants of her Suicide Squad to try and scare Lois off. Hope comes to her and tells her that Frank Rock, who apparently died during the War, could have given ther the proof she needed. All Hope can tell her is that Luthor must have known about the attack on Topeka beforehand because Brainiac 13 warned him well in advance about Imperiex. When Lois gets home, President Luthor is there--and demands that she live up to the deal they made and bury that story. She confesses everything to Clark. Deciding to beat the devil by his own rules, Clark writes up the story instead of Lois. However, this promptly results in his being fired by the Daily Planet when he can produce no evidence (even a mindscan from Martian Manhunter comes up negative on Luthor). Clark is not really fired, however, as Perry keeps him on undercover to continue to investigate Luthor.[80]
Superman is approached by a group of gods who offer to elevate him to godhood so as to help them better understand the modern world. Across town, Lois is being interviewed a young journalism student who questions her about Superman and her father's death. Lois admits that it's hard to trully understand her husband sometimes, given how much power and responsibility he wields. When asked if she could be a goddess of something, Lois responds after a minute of thought by saying "the goddess of integrity." The student transports her to the other gods and Lois is made into one of them. Lois, half crazed with so much raw power, attacks the gods, who are now revealed to be demonic deities. She leaves Superman to battle them and goes to her father's grave, thinking about how she could resurrect him now that she has so much power. Wonder Woman is on scene, calming talking to Lois about why she would do such a thing, and talking to her about how so much godly power often corrupts. After Superman defeats the evil gods, he finds Lois at the cemetary, and after rejecting her power in her heart she reverts to normal.[81]
Manchester Black, longing for revenge against the Man of Steel, decides to hit him where he knows it will hurt the most. Using his vast mental abilities, Black is able to either control or convince nearly all of Superman's enemies to attack Clark Kent's relatives and friends, kickstarting an event known as Ending Battle. Lois is attacked at the Daily Planet by Evil Star. Superman removes her from the building, quickly explaining the situation, and asks her to implement a plan they talked about. Lois begins making phone calls, disguising her voice and referring to herself as Superman's Security Coordinator, rounding up dozens of Clark's friends and family members at Steelworks. With them safe, Superman can go on the offensive. Lois eventually can't stand the wait and leaves, heading first to the apartment, but there she is caught by Manchester Black himself. Black tortures her both physically and psychologically--he shows her images of her father severely beating her, as well as Superman and Diana sharing an embrace. When Superman finally defeats Black's legion of villains, he races to the apartment--but Lois lies dead at Black's feet. Superman fantasizes about killing Black, but refuses to do so, saying that if he did it would not bring Lois back--it would only disgrace her memory and change himself into Black. Stunned, realizing that Superman really is who he says he is, Black dispells the illusion--Lois was not dead, Black wanted Superman to kill him and realize his error afterwards. Lois and Clark hold each other for several days, at the end of which Lois assures him that he did the right thing, and that it was time to get back to work.[82]
For the sake of continuity, I'm cutting it off here... Lex is not president here on CF, that has LONG past...
Comic character is from: First Appearance in DC's Action Comics, she's been in all Superman titles, as well as a couple of her own personal titles, and in JLA... guest appearances across the DC U.
Thank you DC Database for the wonderful information!
