Part 4: The Essential Lois Lane
Lover’s Lane
Before pondering whether or not love changes Lois Lane, the first question should be why, with so many women in the world to choose from, did the most powerful being on Earth fall so incurably in love with Lois Lane? She’s certainly attractive, street smart and can hold her own in a fight, but again with the whole world to choose from, those attributes could easily apply to a lot of other women. So what was it?
To understand Superman’s attraction to Lois Lane, you first have to understand Superman.
A Harmony of Opposites
To build a “super” man, the foundation requires a “good” man. Clark Kent didn’t decide to become Superman to avenge someone’s death, or to become a vigilante, or even because “with great power comes great responsibility.” His reason was the most basic of all, he wanted to help.
Possessing an innate goodness cultivated by his human parents who gave him strong ethical and moral values as well as instilling in him an incorruptible sense of right and wrong, Clark Kent was, as he would say himself, “your basic goody two-shoes.”
Given that Superman is and should be too good to be true, he requires a genuine foil as his mate to keep him on his toes, not someone who merely echoes his goodness. While Lois Lane’s heart will always be in the right place, she is no paragon of virtue.
Instead, Lois remains better defined by what some might deem her negative qualities.
Pushy, reckless, combative, sarcastic, quick tempered, slow to forgive with a tendency to bend the truth when it suits her purpose, yet reaching for the bottle labeled ‘brutal’ when it comes to honesty, Lois Lane is about as opposite a personality can be from Superman without actually being a villain. But it’s those qualities, particularly her recklessness and attraction to danger that set her apart.
She is quite human and that’s important because Lois Lane accomplishes her particular brand of heroism without super powers, magic, or special abilities in a comic book universe where such things are expected. It not only puts her in believable jeopardy, but has put her on Superman’s radar for 70 years.
Lois Lane is that one indefinable and unpredictable element in Superman’s otherwise well ordered black and white world. In Lois he finds someone who is at once fascinating and infuriating. A woman who seems to thrive on danger and turns a deaf ear to the voices of better angels. However, he also discovers that she has a great capacity for love and compassion, at least when she lets her guard down. But it would be naive to say that everything that Superman finds appealing about Lois exists purely on an internal level.
The Devil in Ms. Lane
Lois has always been attractive, but one facet that has come into its own in the last twenty years is her sensuality and sex appeal. No more tweed suits and pillbox hats. Nor is Lois oblivious to this attribute. On the contrary, she exploits it.
If dressing provocatively or flirting will get her something when a traditional approach fails, Lois Lane is ready to step up to the plate … or pole.
No doubt part of the sensual upgrade was for prurient appeal, but it also grants Clark an enviable private life while still protecting Superman’s Boy Scout public image.
And though there were imaginary stories of marriages and children for decades in the comics as well as a marriage in the newspaper strip, which was also a fantasy, sex was basically a taboo subject. It wasn’t until the fortieth anniversary of Superman’s debut that the famous couple, at least in the alternate comic book universe, got married for real and finally crossed the intimacy threshold. Two years later the movie couple followed suit.
It was a long journey to the boudoir for Superman and Lois Lane, but they’d probably agree that even after forty years it was worth the wait. In many ways the legendary couple lead a normal life simply by redefining normal. They both have jobs, and even though Clark moonlights in a cape, he’s just as likely as any husband to say, “Hi, honey, I’m home,” but might be more inclined to utter the line while entering a window, rather than a door.
Days of Whine and Roses
So does love change Lois Lane? Of course, because true love changes most people. However, Lois can’t be totally overhauled by love and marriage or she loses the very traits that made her iconic in the first place.
Her rougher edges can be softened a bit, but not sanded down so much that she’s left with a dull finish. She doesn’t take crap from anyone and that includes her husband, even if he does happen to be Superman.
As a wife she remains a passionate lover and a passionate fighter, but there is one place Lois Lane has never gone before, at least not until the most recent move.
In Superman Returns, a vague sequel to the first two original Christopher Reeve Superman movies, Lois discovered that her night of passion with Superman paid off in a little dividend.
However, most would agree that her parenting skills need work. She took her son into a dangerous situation and if his super genetics had not kicked in when they did, Lois and her son might have met a grisly end.
On the other hand, her super child may learn a thing or two from his impetuous mother that he could never learn from his very self-controlling father. Although a superhero possessing Lois Lane’s attitude and Superman’s powers has actually been explored.
In the story “The Son of Superman,” by Howard Chaykin and David Tischman, the title character held Lex Luthor aloft and threatened to drop him.
Lex, having dealt for years with the boy’s father, smugly dismissed the threat, secure in the knowledge that no son of Superman would do such a thing.
But as you can see from the dialogue, the boy quickly reminded Lex that he was also Lois Lane’s son and that she was not nearly as predictable as his father. Nor as forgiving.
By turning the clock back thirty years to the Silver Age where Superman was the real person and Clark Kent was merely a disguise, Superman Returns recreated the romantic problems inherent to that era.
A public romance would not be possible because, as mentioned, it would not only put Lois in danger, but their son would also be a target.
A good compromise would be for Lois to suddenly find Clark Kent a whole lot more fascinating than she used to and have the unlikely couple fall in love in front of plenty of witnesses. This would also lend the movie some much needed humor.
In the final analysis …
From her first defiant stance in 1938, Lois Lane began her journey towards becoming a well known pop culture icon. As time passed she no longer needed Superman as a qualifier to lend her recognition legitimacy. She was a force to be reckoned with on her own terms.
Lois Lane has endured and prospered for seventy years through depression, recession, wars and a dozen presidents. Why? Because even Superman needs a hero.
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