What level should be lois lane - the fighter be at?

[manwhohaseverything]

Since, lois is an army brat.The level of combat provess she should posses in your mind. Finally, which dc villains would she be able to take in a standard bout at her best?

[Kuwagaton]

I would give her "can beat two guys with knives" at best

[manwhohaseverything]

I would give her "can beat two guys with knives" at best

Well, she beat harley quinn. That instantly puts her as the most powerful being in the entire universe. Darkseid will tremble at the mere mention of her name.
Really, though i think she can take two face. He is just a lawyer with tommy guns.

[Kuwagaton]

In coming up with my post, I actually immediately stopped on the idea of Lois vs Joker...

Which she should win, because she can actually fight. But for whatever reason, Batman and his crew are impossibly good fighters who commonly fail at taking those guys out. It's like diamond socks are Batman's Kryptonite. Up to the early 90s Batman looked pretty human and could be taken out by less than half a dozen guys if they really pressed him. But now most of the Bat family can take out dozens of armed opponents as a normal thing, so what's the problem?

I suppose if we keep the Bat villains as inexplicably tough, it means Lois might be good enough to just "fend them off."

[manwhohaseverything]

In coming up with my post, I actually immediately stopped on the idea of Lois vs Joker...

Which she should win, because she can actually fight. But for whatever reason, Batman and his crew are impossibly good fighters who commonly fail at taking those guys out. It's like diamond socks are Batman's Kryptonite. Up to the early 90s Batman looked pretty human and could be taken out by less than half a dozen guys if they really pressed him. But now most of the Bat family can take out dozens of armed opponents as a normal thing, so what's the problem?

I suppose if we keep the Bat villains as inexplicably tough, it means Lois might be good enough to just "fend them off."

And then they say batman is "realistic". Also, if we can "level up" batman villains and family shouldn't that courtesy be given to lois as well? What about flash villains or any non powered rogue like boomerang or trickster aside from batman side of things? Or some of the non powered pulp characters and superheroes dc has?

[John Venus]

I like that fact that she beat Harley but that's more to do with the fact that I find modern Harley to be the equivalent of nails on chalkboard.

I remember Lois picking up and firing a machine gun in the Fleischer series. I like that.

Lois is a fighter but it's not anymore than, can handle several types of firearms and leave two grown men moaning with pain on the floor before she makes a dash for it. It's her journalism and biting wit that scaths the bad guys the most. If Superman never showed up Lois would have died a long time ago.

[Kuwagaton]

And then they say batman is "realistic". Also, if we can "level up" batman villains and family shouldn't that courtesy be given to lois as well? What about flash villains or any non powered rogue like boomerang or trickster aside from batman side of things? Or some of the non powered pulp characters and superheroes dc has?

In the bronze age, Simyan and Mokkari made a miniature clone army of the Justice League. Cadmus responded with a set of Lois Lane clones that systematically took them out (earrings with gold Kryptonite, Klurkor on Black Canary, etc.)

[Restingvoice]

In coming up with my post, I actually immediately stopped on the idea of Lois vs Joker...

Which she should win, because she can actually fight. But for whatever reason, Batman and his crew are impossibly good fighters who commonly fail at taking those guys out. It's like diamond socks are Batman's Kryptonite. Up to the early 90s Batman looked pretty human and could be taken out by less than half a dozen guys if they really pressed him. But now most of the Bat family can take out dozens of armed opponents as a normal thing, so what's the problem?

I suppose if we keep the Bat villains as inexplicably tough, it means Lois might be good enough to just "fend them off."

Joker's good with knives, with a lot of tricks, and he fights like the Drunken Master type, meaning the way he moves is very unpredictable. Unlike disciplined fighter, the Bat fam can't guess what his next move's gonna be. He also can go feral, fight wildly, stab, and bite like an animal. In some cases Joker venom also acts as an enhancer or painkiller.

That's the modern explanation.

Old golden age Joker can actually fight toe to toe with Batman though. He's supposed to be a good fighter.

That said most of the time the Batfam has no trouble fighting their villains. One punch is all it takes unless Joker went to feral mode. The problem is in their arsenal. Guns, goons, traps, hostages, juiced muscles they hire, Joker venom, fear gas, hypnotized henchmen, or metahumans. One or two of them may hire Deathstroke... stuff like that.

[Sacred Knight]

Something like an intermediate level of fighting prowess. One on one against a common thug the guy's out cold. Two on one, still a good shot. Surrounded? She has the know-how to make an opening and bounce. Going up a notch into actual named villains and the like? That's about when she's over her head.

[Robanker]

I would give her "can beat two guys with knives" at best

Boom, right here. She has self-defense training, but she's no badass. Her strength is in her pen, not the metaphorical sword.

[Vordan]

I would give her "can beat two guys with knives" at best

Yeah, she can disarm your average mugger, but she isn’t a master of martial arts.

[Jon Clark]

Yeah, she can disarm your average mugger, but she isn’t a master of martial arts.

I've probably stated it badly, but this is sort of my point with Lois. I don't want her totally useless, but i also don't buy her training with Sam Lane making her a commando or one-woman SWAT team.

Lois investigating a run of the mill robbery (average Joes with guns enter bank) should have a chance of handling them solo, if she is shown using some strategy (not four armed men getting their asses kicked simultaneously by unarmed Lois).
Lois investigating InterGang begins to raise the stakes to where either another "hero" should be involved or the writer makes it clear that Lois' has some lucky breaks and this could have ended badly.
Lois against Faora or Ursa requires the writer to tilt all the odds in Lois' favor for her to survive, let alone win. This type of thing should only be shown in rare instances as the most probable outcome should be "Daily Planet needs new reporter".
And Lois trying to join or lead the Female Furies should result in at best a very battered Lois (if they actually accepted her) and more likely Lois being tortured by Granny (because the Furies couldn't be bothered wasting the time to kill her).

[DochaDocha]

Disarming guys with knives is pretty standard fare in the action genre, but I think in real life even the most trained guy is going to get cut if he tried to disarm a knife-wielding bad guy without a weapon of his own. So maybe I'd split the difference by saying she'd beat two guys with knives by catching them while they're distracted and throwing blunt, heavy objects at them. The other option I'd pick is pretty unpopular; she'd just show her conceal/carry piece and the guys would go running...