Lana Lang

Lana Lang
Lana Lang
Lana Lang 02.jpg
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Superboy #10
(September/October 1950)
Created by Bill Finger
John Sikela
In-story information
Full name Lana Lang
Team affiliations Daily Planet
LexCorp
Legion of Super-Heroes
Supporting character of Superboy (Kal-El)
Superman
Supergirl
Notable aliases Gravity Girl, Insect Queen

Lana Lang is a fictional supporting character in DC Comics' Superman series. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist John Sikela, the character first appears in Superboy #10 (September/October 1950). Across decades of Superman comics and adaptations into other media, Lana has most consistently been depicted as Superman's teenage romantic interest growing up in Smallville; as an adult, she is a distant friend of Superman in his civilian identity as Clark Kent.

Lana is also one of many Superman characters with the alliterative initials "LL", the most notable other examples being Superman's principal love interest Lois Lane and archnemesis, Lex Luthor. In the Silver Age, she regularly appeared in comic books depicting the adventures of Superman's teenaged self, Superboy, and also appeared as an adult in numerous Superman titles, vying with Lois Lane for his attention. In modern revisions to DC Comics continuity, she and Clark are shown to have remained close friends since their teenage years. The precise story varies across differing revisions of Superman's origin story. For example, in Superman: Secret Origin (2009-10), Lana becomes privy to Clark's unusual abilities at an early age and becomes his earliest confidant outside of his parents and the futuristic Legion of Super-Heroes.

Lana has been featured in most other media adaptations of Superboy media, typically as a teenager. These portrayals include both the Adventures of Superboy television series (1988-92), where she is portrayed by Stacy Haiduk, and the WB/UPN television series Smallville (2001-11), in which she is played by Kristin Kreuk. Lana appears in all 100 episodes of Adventures of Superboy, and in Smallville is teenage Clark Kent's primary romantic interest throughout the show's first seven seasons. She has also appeared in many adaptations of Superman stories, although her role is generally smaller. In the 1983 film Superman III, she is played by Annette O'Toole (who would later portray Martha Kent in Smallville).

Contents

Fictional character biography

Silver Age and Bronze Age

Earth-One version

In the original Superboy stories, Lana was the girl who lived next door to the Kent family in Smallville, and was a romantic interest of Superboy. In the Silver Age stories, Lana often behaved like a younger version of Lois, spending much of her time trying to prove that Superboy and Clark Kent were one and the same.

At one point, Lana once rescued an insect-like alien trapped by a fallen tree in Smallville. In gratitude, the alien gave her a "bio-genetic" ring which allowed Lana to gain insect (and insect-like, such as arachnids) characteristics. Lana created a yellow honeybee-like costume and mask, and took the name "Insect Queen", under which identity Lana had several adventures.

Lana also had various adventures with Superboy, and several with the futuristic superhero team the Legion of Super-Heroes. Also appearing in some Silver Age stories was Lana's uncle, Professor Potter, an eccentric inventor.

After Clark and Lana graduated from high school, Lana went to college, and eventually became a television reporter; as an adult, she became a rival to Lois Lane for Superman's romantic affection in various 1960s stories, often appearing in the title Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane.

During the 1970s and early 1980s, Lana became an anchorwoman for WGBS-TV's evening news in Metropolis, as a co-anchor to Clark Kent. Her attraction to Superman during this time had also died off, leaving Superman to Lois. Lana later became romantically linked to the alien super-hero Vartox. Eventually, she and Clark Kent became romantically involved in stories prior to the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Earth-Two version

In the early 1980s, with the use of the multiverse system DC had in place, Lana Lang was also shown in several stories to have had an Earth-Two counterpart (Earth-Two at the time the home of the Justice Society of America and DC's Golden Age versions of its characters, versus its mainstream universe of "Earth-One"). The Earth-Two Lana Lang was introduced in Superman Family #203 (September–October 1980). In this story, set in the early 1950s, Lana Lang joins the Daily Star staff as a television critic. She relates to Clark Kent that she and her family left Smallville when she was very young, explaining why they hadn't met during their youth unlike the Earth-One versions.

Later, she became an Insect Queen like her Earth-One counterpart; in this case, Lana had received a mystic amulet from her archaeologist father, said amulet having been created to allow a Pharaoh to control and divert the locust hordes that threatened ancient Egypt. Unfortunately, the charm associated with the amulet was set to be energized by the sound of approaching insect wings; by unfortunate coincidence, the sound of Superman's super-speed flying was similar enough to activate the spell. Lana was thus compelled to create a Chitinous golden-brown costume (woven by silkworms under her control) and adopt a villainous alter ego, the Insect Queen. After an initial clash with Superman, the Insect Queen fell under the mental influence of Superman's enemy, the Ultra-Humanite, who kept her under the spell's compulsion and prevented her from reverting to normal. Earth-Two's Superman was able to locate an antidote to the spell, which Lois Lane used to remove the compulsion (Superman Family #213, December 1981), letting Lana break free of Ultra's influence and making her able to use the amulet's power at her own discretion. The Earth-2 Insect Queen would later use her abilities to aid Superman in times of need. This version of Lana Lang phased out of existence during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Modern Age

After the 1985-1986 miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths was written, various aspects of Lana's history were retconned, starting with comics writer John Byrne's miniseries The Man of Steel, which was designed to rewrite Superman's origin from scratch. In the post-Crisis version of events, Lana was a childhood friend of Clark, with a certain degree of romantic tension in the air as Lana had long pined after Clark, who had loved her only platonically in return.

After they graduated from high school Clark took Lana on a private walk, saying that he had to tell her something important, which Lana honestly expected to be a marriage proposal. He then divulged to her that he had superpowers, displayed by flying her around the world, before explaining that he felt he had to leave Smallville to help humanity as a whole. Kissing her goodbye "like a brother," Lana was left in considerable shock, not only over the revelation of Clark's superpowers, but also over the final realization that he held no reciprocal romantic feelings towards her, leaving Lana heartbroken and alone. When Lana finally aired her grievance with him years later[volume & issue needed], Clark felt very badly over how he had hurt her.

When Clark appeared in public as Superman some years later, the lonely and depressed Lana deduced his true identity and became something of a stalker, to the extent that Lex Luthor noticed the frequency with which she appeared in the vicinity of the hero and actually had her tortured in an attempt to gain whatever inside knowledge of Superman she might have.[volume & issue needed] However, Lana bravely kept Clark's identity a secret and upon his rescuing her their relationship became more healthy once again, albeit still at a distance. Unlike the pre-Crisis Earth-One continuity, Lana did not go on to have a journalistic career, compete with Lois for Superman's affections, nor play a significant role in Clark's life in Metropolis.

Lana's relationship with Clark is again altered in 2003's Superman: Birthright limited series by Mark Waid, which again revises Superman's origins. This storyline, which takes some inspiration from the TV show Smallville (such as the appearance of Ma and Pa Kent), also shows Clark and Lana to have had a mutual romantic relationship during their youth. At the start of the storyline, Lana has already left Smallville prior to Clark's return from his world journey. Upon his arrival home, a disappointed Clark is told that Lana left some time prior and has not been heard from since. Following this storyline, there is never again made mention of her past history regarding Clark or Superman.

Lana's "Birthright" history has been yet again re-made following the events of the Infinite Crisis, which has revived Clark's pre-Crisis Superboy alter-ego. In this new history, Lana had a deep romantic relationship with Clark, that was often interrupted by her two obnoxious brothers (which she lacked in previous versions). The full extent of her history and her connection to Superboy/Clark has not yet been fully disclosed. Again, her previous history has not been mentioned since this revision.

Years later, the post-Crisis Lana eventually married Pete Ross.[volume & issue needed] The two settled into a quiet life in Smallville, where they had a son they named after their mutual friend, Clark, after Lana asked Clark to save the baby's life when a car accident caused him to be born eight weeks premature; although Clark's efforts to take him to receive care were interrupted by the attack of the Brainiac-controlled Doomsday, Brainiac's subsequent attempts to use the baby's DNA to create a new body for himself brought the baby to full term.[volume & issue needed] Pete began a career in politics that got him elected to the Senate.[volume & issue needed] In 2000, Senator Ross became Lex Luthor's vice presidential running mate in Luthor's bid to become President, and after the two won, Lana moved to Washington, D.C.[volume & issue needed] Eventually, Luthor was forced from his office, and Pete Ross became President (and Lana the First Lady)[volume & issue needed]. As she and Pete began to drift apart, Lana began to subtly attempt to regain Clark's affections, much to the anger of his (now) wife Lois Lane[volume & issue needed]. Pete and Lana briefly reunited after Superman saved them from being killed by the villainous Ruin in Adventures of Superman[volume & issue needed].

In Superman #654, Perry White reported that Lana had become CEO of Lexcorp following the ousting of founder Lex Luthor. In Superman/Batman #49, it is revealed that she sold Kryptonite to the government to prevent Lexcorp from going under, and had caches of Kryptonite placed all over the planet, as a last-ditch defense if Superman should ever go rogue. When Superman and Batman come to remove the Kryptonite, Lana refuses to hand it over, and pushes a button which turns the caches into "dirty bombs" which spread Kryptonite molecules through the entire planet, forcing all Kryptonians to vacate. However, Toyman uses special nanobots to remove all of the Kryptonite molecules, undoing the damage. Superman meets with Lana again, with Lana telling him she was left with no choice. Superman responds by telling her that, while he does sometimes wonder what things would have been like if he had married her rather than Lois, there is a reason he is with Lois instead of her: Lois would never have pushed the button. After Superman flies off, someone is shown watching Lana crying on a screen, saying to her "you did perfect". Superman/Batman #63 suggests that this was Gorilla Grodd.

She later tries to help Superman, facing the time-traveling strongman Atlas, by sending the Luthor Squad. This act activates a dormant program inside the Lexcorp mainframes, an holographic version of Luthor. The holographic copy of Luthor informs Lana that by helping Superman she has violated the Lexcorp standard contract of employment ("very, very fine print"), that forbids Lexcorp employers to use Lexcorp resources for helping Kryptonians, under the penalty of termination. Lana is given five minutes to leave the building, or she will be shot to death.[1]

New Supergirl writer Sterling Gates tells Newsarama "We're integrating Supergirl's book more into the Superman universe, and that includes having a supporting cast that overlaps with that world. I'm very interested in tying her back in to Metropolis and making sure that her world is a part of the Superman universe. Cat Grant will be a regular supporting cast member, as will Lana Lang."[2]

Lana takes it upon herself to reach out to Supergirl. She offers her advice and friendship. Around the same time, Perry White has been actively pursuing Lana to take over the Business section of the Daily Planet, a position which Lana was afraid to accept, following her bad experience with Lexcorp. Eventually, Lana and Supergirl decide together that Lana will accept the position, and that Supergirl will take on the secret identity of Linda Lang, niece of Lana Lang. Lana now lives in Metropolis with Supergirl, and is working as the editor of the Business section of the Daily Planet.

She briefly returns to Smallville to attend Jonathan Kent's funeral. However, unable to muster enough resolve to patch up things with Clark, Lana leaves before giving him her condolences.[3]

While attending a student journalism award ceremony with Jimmy Olsen and Cat Grant, Lana suddenly collapses, with blood pouring out her nose.;[4] She receives a call from her doctor telling her that he has "bad news" for her.[5] Following another collapse, Lana is taken to hospital and operated on. She apparently dies on the operating table, but her body is later encased in a cocoon by black insect-like creatures, which then starts to crack open.[6] The hospital is soon engulfed by a gigantic cocoon-like structure, and a number of workers as well as the Science Police and the Guardian are taken hostage by an army of giant insects. Supergirl is soon captured and awakens bound and gagged at the feet of Lana, who is now possessed by the Insect Queen. The Queen reveals to Supergirl that during her last encounter with Lana, she injected her with a portion of her DNA and has been slowly taking control of her body for the past year, with the ultimate goal of capturing a Kryptonian to use as a template for an army of hybird insects. Supergirl breaks free and is able to expel the Queen from Lana's body with help from Kryptonian technology, and Lana returns to her normal state. While recovering, Lana is visited by Supergirl, who tells her she can no longer be a part of her family due to her lies about her condition.[7] Lana and "Linda" have since reconciled and are currently living in the Hammersmith tower building in Metropolis. [8]

Other versions

Dark Knight Lana Lang

In Frank Miller's classic miniseries Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Lana is an overweight, middle-aged woman, and The Daily Planet's managing editor. Over the course of the story, she becomes Batman's most outspoken supporter, appearing in a series of TV debates in which she and others argue over his methods and influence.

Superman: Red Son

In Superman Red Son by Mark Millar, Lana is re-imagined as Lana Lazarenko. Lana who grew up in the Ukraine along with a young Superman. She becomes a tour guide in a Superman museum and occasionally accompanies Superman to public events.

JLA: The Nail

In JLA: The Nail, Lana is a doctor at a research facility dedicated to studying metahumans in the belief that they are alien invaders, although she secretly helps smuggle various heroes out of the facility to hide with the Kents (who in this reality never found Kal-El's ship)

In other media

The Adventures of Superboy

Bunny Henning as Lana Lang in The Adventures of Superboy.

In the failed 1961 TV pilot The Adventures of Superboy, Lana Lang made her first live-action appearance, portrayed by Bunny Henning, alongside Johnny Rockwell as Superboy.

Beginning in 1966, Lana appeared in The Adventures of Superboy segments that were featured in the animated series The New Adventures of Superman and other series. She was voiced by Janet Waldo.

Superman: The Movie

In Richard Donner's Superman in 1978, Lana Lang had a brief appearance in a scene at Smallville High. She was shown to be a cheerleader at the school with a fairly obvious crush on Clark, even though her current boyfriend was a football player named Brad. She was portrayed by Diane Sherry.

Superman III

In the 1983 movie Superman III, Lana was played by Annette O'Toole. In an interview for the documentary Look Up In The Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman, O'Toole states that the producers of Smallville (where she plays Clark's own adoptive mother, Martha Kent) were not aware that she had appeared in Superman III until after she was cast in the TV series. In Superman III, Lana is a divorcee with a son named Ricky. Lana's former boyfriend Brad, a former jock and Clark's childhood bully, is now a security guard and is still vying for her attention.

Superboy (TV series)

In the late 1980s-early 1990s Superboy television series, Lana was played by Stacy Haiduk. In this version, she was a lifelong friend of Clark, who accompanied him to Shuster University (named after Superman's co-creator) and later the Bureau for Extra-Normal Matters, where she and Clark investigated all of the unusual incidents that took place in Capitol City, Florida.

Superman (1988 TV series)

Lana also appeared in the Superman 1988 animated Saturday morning television series produced by Ruby-Spears Productions and had a 13-episode run. It's also notable for being the first appearance of the Superman mythos following John Byrne's major relaunch of the character from 1986. The final four minutes of each Superman episode were devoted to a brief snapshot from the "Superman Family Album." These biographical segments deviated from the contemporary comics to have Clark have his powers fully developed since infancy as opposed to developing as he matured. These stories depicted the Smallville misadventures of the young Kryptonian immigrant as he faces typical childhood trials with his first day at school, an overnight scouting campout, getting a driver's license, his first date, and more. Lana was featured in some of these "Superman Family Album" flashback segments, but never appeared during the regular episode story segment.

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

Lana made one appearance in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, where she was played by Emily Procter (best known as Calleigh Duquesne in TV's CSI: Miami). Lana's appearance was in an episode set in an alternate universe where Lois had vanished on a trip in the Amazon before Clark's arrival in Metropolis and a blonde Lana was engaged to Clark, encouraging him to keep his abilities secret, constantly telling him that he would be locked up and sent to a government laboratory if people knew what he was capable of. When the mainstream universe's Lois persuaded that world's Clark to become Superman to battle the villain Tempus, Lana ended their relationship.

Superman: The Animated Series

The pilot episode of Superman: The Animated Series followed the "post-Crisis" comics, with Lana being the first person Clark confided in about his superpowers. The young Lana was voiced by Kelley Schmidt, and the adult version by Joely Fisher. She mentioned she had a crush on him since the age of three. Lana, as an adult, appeared in later episodes as a world-famous fashion designer and still retained romantic feelings for her old friend (it is mentioned that they used to date).

Adult Lana first appears in "My Girl", already having deduced Superman's identity, when her relationship with Lex Luthor breaks off after she tries to pass information on to Clark about Luthor's plots. She later plays a prominent role in "Obsession" and a cameo in the ending of the episode "The Late Mr. Kent", providing a cover story for Clark's reappearance after he was presumed dead after an attempt on his life.

Justice League

Lana appears in a cameo in the episode "Hereafter", at Superman's funeral. She also makes an appearance (as a combination of Lois and Lana) as Superman's wife in the dream induced by Mongul in "For The Man Who Has Everything", under the name of Loana. In this dreamworld, they both live on Krypton, along with Jor-El, and have a son named Van-El.

Smallville

Kristin Kreuk portrays Lana Lang in Smallville

In the 2000s television series Smallville, Lana, played by Kristin Kreuk, is again the love interest of the young Clark Kent. In a marked contrast to the redhead Lana Lang who appears in the Superman comic books, Kreuk is a brunette with an olive complexion. Lana is said to be descended on her mother's side from a French witch, Countess Marguerite Isobel Theroux, whose vengeful spirit returns to possess her in a story line taking up much of season 4.

In Smallville, Lana and Clark's relationship is depicted (at least initially) as the complete reverse of the post-Crisis version, whereby it was "Clark who long pined over Lana without the other really knowing." This initial scenario also incorporated elements of the 1978 movie continuity by introducing the character of Whitney Fordman, Lana's quarterback boyfriend and Clark's antagonist at the beginning of the series. Following Whitney's departure at the end of the first season, their relationship varied over the next few years, Clark occasionally attempting to date Lana before his fears over her reaction to his secret caused him to retreat, these fears made even worse since he blames himself for the death of Lana's parents in the same meteor shower that brought him to Smallville. Although the two begin dating at the end of Season Four after Clark's powers are taken from him by Jor-El as punishment for disobeying him, he begins to draw back after he regains his abilities because he is afraid of hurting her if they are intimate.

Although he reveals his secret in the mid-season finale of Season Five, he turns back time and erases this confession when Lana is killed in an accident, subsequently breaking up with her after his father's death- due to Jor-El saving his life at the beginning of the season, the life of someone he loved was taken in his place- because he feels guilty about lying to her. Although Lana goes on to date and marry Lex Luthor after discovering that she is apparently pregnant, the two divorce when Lana learns that Lex faked her pregnancy to get her to marry him, Lana once again dating Clark after he admits his secret to her. Although they are involved for most of Season Seven, Lana's attempts to plan to take down Lex while spying on him without Clark's knowledge, along with such factors as her spending two weeks involved with Clark's Phantom Zone duplicate without realising the difference or being attacked and sent into a coma by the machinations of Brainiac, culminate in Lana leaving him at the end of the season.

Lana returned in Season Eight after acquiring superpowers which equally matched that of Clark due to a special suit developed by Lex Luthor. Both Clark and Lana worked together to save people but it takes a twist when one of Lana's powers involved having the ability to drain power from kryptonite, resulting in her being constantly 'irradiated' by kryptonite, weakening Clark when he got close to her. Lex Luthor, as a last attempt for revenge, threatens to blow up the entire Daily Planet building with kryptonite explosives unless Lana drained all the radiation from them, leaving her a walking piece of kryptonite. She and Clark share a kiss before they decide she has to absorb the kryptonite from the bomb. Later at the barn, Clark heart broken attempts to kiss Lana despite his agony, and as he does green veins crawl up his face, showing that he is dying from the intimate exposure. Lana breaks off the kiss, not being able to stand the pain it was causing Clark, and she runs off with tears to go on her own quest. Clark is left on his knees devastated.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Lana makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "The Battle of the Superheroes!", an episode that pays tribute to a number of Silver Age Superman stories. In a scene that directly homages the cover to Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane #26, Lana and a Red Kryptonite-infected Superman are shown relaxing together on a beach while a stunned Lois watches them in horror.

DC Universe Online

Lana appears in the DC Universe Online video game, voiced by Lorrie Singer.

References

  1. ^ Superman #678
  2. ^ "Wwc-Gates And Igle Named As Supergirl Team". Newsarama.Com. http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080627-WWCSupergirlteam.html. Retrieved 2010-12-25. 
  3. ^ Superman: New Krypton (2008)
  4. ^ Supergirl (Vol. 5) #40
  5. ^ Supergirl (Vol. 5) #45
  6. ^ Supergirl (Vol. 5) #49
  7. ^ Supergirl (Vol. 5) #50
  8. ^ Supergirl (Vol. 5) #53

External links


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