The thread "WILL WE EVER SEE LANA LANG AS SUPERWOMAN AGAIN?" made me think about which role plays Lana Lang in the modern Superman mythology. Or which she could play.

Her last appearance was as weird Superwoman who resembled like the electrical female version of Superman red/Superman Blue event after gained powers from the death of the Lois Lane from the New52 era. Pretty much contrived. But that seems to will change after the Reborn retcon in the Superman books and her appearance as a reporter in the issue of 20 of Superman, so we can scratch all that Superwoman bussiness era as a retcon? It is not clear yet, but it is most probable than Bronze age Lana is back. WHich I don't think is the best move.

Let's start with Lana. I think than the forum member The World says right when he explain it:

Quote Originally Posted by The World View Post
I doubt it. Post-Crisis has always never really been sure on what to do with the character and she just bounces around between concept to concept. Lana's a character I'd really say is more a pre-crisis character lost in a post-crisis world makes sense they don't really know what to do with here.
And he is right. When we start looking at her origin Lana Lang is born to be the analog, the teenage version of Lois Lane for Superboy. We must thanks the creatives for the effort, I mean, a lazy writer would just retconned Lois Lane in to be also a resident of Smallville. But she is a character who only can exists in Smallville. She is the first love and the first romance before the coming of the real romance (Lois). It merits to mention than she was popular enough to be even a member of the Legion of Superheroes.

And then it came the bronze age and changes were made, one of them made Lana a reporter, same as Clark. Naturally, if you take the old flame and put him again in the world, you have a romantic triangle to make your stories more interesting (it was a triangle? Or it was an square?). Anyway, you must admit than having her and Lois with the same motivations, working in the same place, with the same objetives, it made Lana nothing more than a cipher.

Until then you had a Lana Lang than if still was a copy of Lois, she at least had a coherent development, even if it was only to make her a lot more like Lois. Post Crisis, with the vanishing of the old elements of the Silver Age, Lana was reinvented more close to the original, She was the representation of the old life left behind. Later developments make her wife of Pete Ross, divorced him, First Lady, CEO of LexCorp, mentor to Supergirl. Always searching a direction, but at least searching. And remembert than for those times already Superman was married to Lois, so her presence was uncomfortable. With Superman/Clark married, her redundance is even more annoying. I mean, which role she does have?

And then they did the New52 retcon and Lana was retconed into that engineer or explorer. Her most relevant role was in the Superman New52 series with Greg Pak and Aaron Kuder There she was more like a female Indiana Jones almost. It was ok. It was a more assertive Lana, but she was using a role which we already were used to see Lois in. You could replace her with Lois in her role and the story would had not changed a lot. This story, I must add, was from the time when DC was trying to erase the married couple from the readers. Lois were the perfect fit of that story, but they put her perpetual replacement, with the other strategy being push the Superman/Wonder Woman romance.

In Rebirth you have her again playing the role of replacement of Lois. Never more obvious. Not the first time than Lana had powers, but always for brief time. The many iterations of different powers, same as Jimmy Olsen, is kind of joke in the world of Superman. And eventually always she and jimmy will return to his human forms.

And where is Lana now? Even if the identity of Superboy was erased from the past of Superman (right now I'm not so sure which is the status), Lana still was the old romance of Clark. And now, as I said, she is back to be a tv reporter, but with the twist of being a competition for Lois. How much of the old background is keep in continuity is unknown. Was she Superwoman? Is she an engineer or always was a reporter? Bendis seems to have a plan for her but it will stick? WHich role in that case should play Lana in the Superman myths?