One of the most famous couples to ever come out of comic books has to be one of the most enduring in pop culture, since their first appearance together all the way back in 1938. I’m of course talking about Lois Lane and Clark Kent (aka Superman). Lois Lane debuted alongside Superman in Action Comics #1. Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, she was inspired by fictitious reporter Torchy Blane and real one Nellie Bly. Lois is an ambitious journalist who will always go after the big story. She’s smart, brave, fearless, and the love of Clark Kent’s life.
After eighty years, Lois and Clark are one of the single most iconic, beloved and immediately recognizable fictional couples in the world. The relationship between these two still defines a massive amount of what we understand about superheroes. In the early years, Lois had a curious crush on Superman, but as for Clark? Well Clark was competition for her at the Daily Star, and wasn’t really someone that caught her attention. Superman was the vision of the ultimate power fantasy, Clark on the other hand was the idea of a reality; kind of shy, a little awkward and not great at getting dates.
Clark and Lois spent the majority of their earliest years as total opposites, as far back as the early ’40s. Lois even began to suspect that Clark was Superman, so Clark himself had to repeatedly make moves to keep Lois off his trail, and foil whatever plans she had come up with to prove her theory.
Through the years, Lois and Clark shared an on again off-again flirtation, that always kept fans coming back for more. The first official DC Comics story where Superman marries Lois Lane was in Action Comics #484 in June 1978. In this 40th anniversary of Superman issue, a wizard wanted to rid the world of Superman but 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, finally became a man with a backbone. The new take charge Clark Kent became very 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, fell in love and eventually he proposed and the couple got married.
In John Byrne’s 1986 reboot, The Man of Steel, Clark’s character became not only the more dominant personality of the Clark Kent/Superman character but also 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 finally married in Superman: The Wedding Album in December 1996.
Over an 80 year span, the romance between Lois and Clark has been explored over and over again in various editions of the Superman comic book, and even in a TV series, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman which debuted in 1993.
Lois and Clark have not always had the easiest path, but they’ve always found a way to get back together. Across eight decades, and through countless crises, impossible imaginary stories and untold amounts of drama, Lois and Clark appear in virtually every Superman comic and media adaptation and they continue to be an essential part of the Superman mythology.
